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COMMENT(S): pipetunes.ca presents . . . Tune of the Month
Published: July 26, 2009
Author: JimMcGillivray | (report inappropriate content) |
| Actually, Janette has convinced me that 9/8 marches are not written correctly either. Take, for example, "The Battle of the Somme," an earlier article in this series. I have not written it correctly there. The first left-foot note should be the first D. Everything before that is lead-in. In practice, it's awkward because there are a LOT of lead-in notes there -- more than a beat's worth -- and this is common in 9/8s. But if you play the tune this way you'll feel the 'rightness' of it almost immediately. Maybe that will be for a future article. |
Published: July 26, 2009
Author: JanetteMontague | (report inappropriate content) |
| LOL! Love it. I recently wrote out The Prince's Salute in straightforward simple notation by listening to a recording of Bill Livingstone play it on the Piob Soc soundclips. There's no need for all that complicated notation which doesn't reflect what's actually played. More people might play it if it was easier to read!! You're absolutely right, at the moment they're a misguide! |
Published: July 26, 2009
Author: Bagpipermann | (report inappropriate content) |
| Whoops! Looks like I'm the one getting carried away here. After a reread, the comments are in fact confined to 3/4.s! I'm in full agreeement with Hoss and Janette. Time to correct this historical oversight regarding the intro notes and proper pulsing. However, I still feel that a few of the "Piobroch" manuscripts should be revised. Some would say that they are only a guide. I would say "Let's not make them a misguide". |
Published: July 26, 2009
Author: JanetteMontague | (report inappropriate content) |
| -----and 9/8s of course but that's effectively the same thing as the 3/4s -three beats to the bar. |
Published: July 26, 2009
Author: JanetteMontague | (report inappropriate content) |
| Bagpiperman, you might not be referring to my post, but if so, I wasn't suggesting there's anything at all wrong with those other time signature notations (apart from fine details). What I'm asking about is confirmation about what drummers do after the rolls in 3/4s. I believe that's what Hoss is talking about too. So if you were referring to my bit, I'm only airing the point in relation to the 3/4s. |
Published: July 26, 2009
Author: Bagpipermann | (report inappropriate content) |
| Whoa!. Let's not get carried away here. I agree with the content of the previous comments, but I disagree with the scope. The misplacement of the upbeat is mainly confined to the 3/4 compositions. As far as I can see the 2/4's.4/4's, 6/8 & 9/8 Marches etc, the Strathspeys, Reels & Jigs for the most part are fine. Now "Piobroch", on the other hand..... |
Published: July 25, 2009
Author: JanetteMontague | (report inappropriate content) |
| Is the drumming problem the same one as the piping one? ie. is it caused by the doing away of the upbeat? -presumably the drum score is written in 3/4?? - surely not 4/4 - but I assume it comes out sounding like 4/4 not only because the 'rolls' are in 4/4 but because the upbeat is ignored and it becomes beat 1?? How can so many first class pipers and drummers be letting this trundle on for so long, when it's so blatantly musically wrong, and furthermore, not what the likes of John McLellan (Dunoon), GS McLennan, and Rossini originally wrote? Would that not be reason enough to change it back to what they actually wrote? You can't just wade in and move composers' barlines- it knocks the music out of shape, and makes no sense at all. It's disrespectful to these great composers, and musical nonsense. In as far as its possible to get down on your knees and beg on a website, that's what I'm doing - for the composers of the past, for musical sanity in the present, and for the generations of learners yet to come. Craig, please enlighten us as to what drummers should do with the intros to 3/4s and thereafter. Not being a drummer, I'd find it useful to have that information to put together with the piping situation, so that when I'm talking to people about it, the facts are correct. But there's not actually much a lowly piper like me can do about it, other than rant on websites. A top Grade 1 band needs to lead the way and set the standard for everyone to follow. |
Published: July 25, 2009
| (report inappropriate content) |
| I've been preaching this for over 25 years!
The pick up notes of "the song" as if you were singing it are played by Pipe Bands as beat one on the left foot in almost all cases.
This is totally musically incorrect, both theoretically and "song" wise.
To top it all of we have the bass and tenors playing in 4/4 over top of a 3/4 time signature with snare accompaniment and melody not knowing where the real beat 1 one is.
The change in the Scots guards books are a travesty and have set the music "wrong" now for a long time.
Fix it!
Play the pick up notes to the the tune as pick-ups with a shortened E intro and "the real" beat one landing on one with the first left foot after the intro.
I'd be happy to hear your band and follow you in a parade.
Imagine what the dancers would do if the Orchestra played the Tennessee Waltz with Beat one being the pick up from the bar before in the intro!
They'd wait and dance a perfect waltz with beat one on one after the band got started.
Go ahead make my day. |
Published: July 08, 2009
Author: Bagpipermann | (report inappropriate content) |
| At the risk of sounding repetative, good call on the intro foot issue. I wonder how long it will take before the rest of the piping community sees the light and changes their ways. |
Published: June 28, 2009
Author: dnicoll | (report inappropriate content) |
| I totally agree with you on the introductory note issue in 3/4 marches. I have long been tempted to switch, but have resisted because Green Hills and The Battle's O'er, prime candidates, are so often played as massed bands tunes that pandemonium is likely to break out if we try to change them now. It seems that we pipers are loath to start a tune on the right foot, preferring to play 'out of step' through the whole tune, reversing the natural emphasis in the first bar. It is interesting that the placement of the pickup notes alternates between left foot and right foot in successive bars in 3/4s and 9/8s. Of course if we had 3 feet these would be more natural march time signatures. |
Published: June 26, 2009
Author: JanetteMontague | (report inappropriate content) |
| I too love this section on the tunes. Is there anything worse really, than the death of a child? Although the title and the tune were matched up later, the story and the tune seem perfectly matched. The melancholy and yet the sweet, natural progression, of the tune. I like the way it starts off ambitiously climbing up the arpeggio ladder to the high A, and then falls nicely to the E- pauses- and then comes at it again, this time though not in leaps, but in step-wise movement all the way from low A a step at a time to F (very cleverly NOT to high A this time). And THIS time instead of descending a fourth to the E, he goes that bit further to the B for the marked half way point. Another thing I really like is the contrast in the second part of the tune, where in the first four bars, he keeps it more compact this time, not sprawling up an arpeggio, but nicely compact from low A-E with one short reach up to F, and then bar 5 of 2nd part, like in the first part he's coming from high A to E again, but very cleverly this time, high A on the strong first beat, emphasised again at the start of beat 2 and then (and I love this) curls around the E (FD on beat 3) before arriving at it strongly on the first beat of the next bar. His touches of genius are embedded in the tune, as simple a wee tune as it might appear to be. This reminds me of the innocence of the child, her smile in that poignant picture, and yet the enormous sense of loss and deep feeling about her premature death.
It's a perfect example of how getting the barlines in the appropriate place really does make all the musical difference in the world. One can see how GS placed the notes, and put them in certain positions in the bar, to make his musical points. To underline, to emphasise, to pass over, to reach up fleetingly for, or to rest for a while on. To disregard this would be to make a mockery of the tune. I believe, similarly with the other 3/4s and as Jim says, 9/8s. Whilst appreciating the few weeks between these articles, to really absorb and enjoy the tunes highlighted, I'm already looking forward to the next one! |
Published: June 23, 2009
Author: cromar | (report inappropriate content) |
| Jim,
Wonderful feature, I look forward to this with every tune you feature, many I have played for years and knew nothing about the history and the great Pipe Majors who created them.
Keep them coming | |
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