The Errant Elbow

This tune is associated with Donegal, and with An Píobaire Mór, Tarlach Mac Suibhne (pictured above).

Leo Rowsome played it, and I was reminded of it recently when I stumbled across Michael Cooney playing his nice rendition HERE.

I'm just getting used to this Benedict Koehler chanter that I'm trying out; it requires a very specific approach to the back D that I'm not quite getting all the time (pretty evident on the third part in places!)

The alternative title (eminating from Donegal) printed above is actually what we used to call The Concertina Reel in Belfast, presumably (for the same reason) because someone reckoned that the last part sounds a bit like a badger farting... I can't confirm the accuracy of that comparison but will stick my neck out and congratulate our subterraneous four legged friends on the musicality of their gaseous emissions.

Regards,

Harry.

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts: Play Now | Play in Popup | Embeddable Player | Hits (130)

Séamus Ennis played this one. He might have heard it from fiddler Frank O'Higgins who played in The Fingal Trio with his father, James Ennis. O'Higgins recorded it on a 78 record in the 1930s.

It's quite the E cran workout, and I'm adding in some Ennisean inverted D crans which lends an unusual rhythmic kink to the first and third parts.

I'm trying out a Benedict Koehler chanter on this clip.

Regards,

Harry.

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts: Play Now | Play in Popup | Embeddable Player | Hits (222)

Breandán Breathnach collected this 4-part version from his old pipes teacher John Potts. Potts moved to Dublin from Co Wicklow early in the 20thCentury. He's the great grandfather of the contemporary piper Sean Potts (Jnr.) and grandfather of gentleman whistler Sean Potts (Snr.) The remarkable fiddle innovator Tommy Potts was also a member of the family.

This tune was 'done to death' a bit in session over the years, but I recently enjoyed rediscovering it on the pipes and playing it with the implied tight or tightish pronunciations in the 3rd and 4thparts. By all accounts John Potts had a fine 'tight' piping style echos of which are to be found in the playing of his pupil Tommy Reck.

Bit of pointless reg playing on the repeat here... I'd forgotten to plan something.

Regards,

Harry.

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts: Play Now | Play in Popup | Embeddable Player | Hits (215)

(Image: Tom Busby, Anne Busby (nee Carney), Mike Carney & Pat Lavin circ. 1930s)

This is a reel that I usually associate with the Irish-US fiddlers (Andy McGann et al) and Seán Maguire, but I came across a nice setting on pipes on some old, informal homemade recordings that were donated to NPU by Tom Busby's widow, Anne (see above). This version is largely based loosely on that recording (or what I remember/forget of it!)

In the opening bar I play a 'C . ACA' tight run followed by an 'A . ACA' tightness... which was an interesting challenge of a Saturday morn (I even pull a few of 'em off!)

You can hear Emmett Gill play his take on this one HERE.

Regards,

H.

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts: Play Now | Play in Popup | Embeddable Player | Hits (253)

This version of the famous reel is based on one of the settings from Séamus Ennis. The first part is quite reminiscent of the version played by Tommy Reck on his LP 'The Stone in the Field'.

It has old piping associations: Francis O'Neill got it from the Co. Mayo piper James O'Brien. The Fiddler's Companion notes that O'Brien's habit of stopping for a wee chat (and a dram?) before he'd finish a round of a tune irritated O'Neill: 

 "...his loquacity was uncontrollable, and he never hesitated under such conditions to express a passing sentiment. Amiable and harmless at all times, he died at a comparatively early age in Chicago, a victim to conviviality, his only weakness."

I was reminded of this one recently on hearing a fine rendition from convivial piper Emmett Gill. Listen to it HERE.

Regards,

Harry.

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts: Play Now | Play in Popup | Embeddable Player | Hits (231)

This is my fist at the famous piping descriptive piece The Fox Chase. It's based on one of Seamus Ennis' renditions.

It's said to have been composed by the Tipperary piper Edward Keating Hyland (1780-1845). The piece came to be a standard by which pipers were judged, and it has been a solid fixture of the instrument's repertoire and lore since it's composition.

There are eleven main 'bits' to what I play here:

1. The Fox hunters Jig.

2. An Maidrín Rua.

3. A recurring melodic bridge.

4. A section of rolls representing the gallop.

5. A section representing the horns.

6. A repeat of the melodic bridge.

7. Another gallop/'chase' motif.

8. A section based on staccato double back Ds and the 'bark' of high G.

9. The cry of the fox and final chase.

10. The Lament for the fox.

11. The Fox hunter's Hop Jig.

An interesting alternative version (which shares some of the main features of this) appears in O'Farrell's Pocket Companion (circa 1805)... maybe I'll look at that setting some time.

There's a bit of invasive foot stomping on this recording I'm afraid... I blame it on the horses.

Regards,

Harry.

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts: Play Now | Play in Popup | Embeddable Player | Hits (239)

This is the last melody played in several versions of the chase. It's probably the section of the Fox Chase that's most played as a 'stand alone' tune in its own right; possibly due to Michael Coleman having recorded it along with 'Comb Your Hair and Curl it' on a popular 78 recording.

Because it shares the same time signature as a slip jig it's often considered one; but to my ear it has the phrasing and rhythm of a hop jig (such as The Rocky Road to Dublin, Top it Off, The Butterfly etc etc) so I think there is a clear distinction between those two forms that has been blurred in collections where hop and slip jigs have been printed in the same section (in real musical terms the time signature don't count for nuts!!!) Certainly the old pipers often made the distinction between hop and slip jigs in their identifying them as such.

It's a nice piping tune with that relentless hop jiggy rhythm.

Regards,

Harry.

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts: Play Now | Play in Popup | Embeddable Player | Hits (297)

Well, things don't go well for the poor fox and he or she is caught and killed.

The air that's played in his/her honour however is one of the most plaintive and beautiful in Irish music. There are several minor variations on it and I'm getting caught between a couple of them. The opening phrases of the first part involve some pretty tricky (for me, at least) fingering and chanter raising on the vented C natural so as to get the right tone and keep it more-or-less close to pitch.

Regards,

Harry.

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts: Play Now | Play in Popup | Embeddable Player | Hits (282)

The next section of the Fox Chase corresponds to the air of the macaronic song An Maidrín Rua, 'The Little Red Dog' (the name in Gaelic for the fox).

It's a very pleasent tune, and there are several versions of the song. I'm not sure which came first, the song or the piping piece (or the fox or the egg for that matter... foxes come from eggs, right? You'll have to excuse me, I 'm a city boy), but it is a song that many people would have learned in school in Ireland not so very long ago.

AN MAIDRÍN RUA

Ar ghabháil aduaidh dom thar Sliabh Luachra 'Gus mise 'cur tuairisc mo ghéanna; Ar chasadh dom anuas 'sea fuaireas a dtuairisc Go raibh maidrín rua dá maoireacht

Curfá [chorus]: Ó Maidrín rua, rua, rua, rua, rua, An maidrín rua tá dána. An maidrín rua 'na luí sa luachair, Is barr a dhá chluas in airde.

"Good-morrow fox," "Good-morrow, Sir." "Pray what is that you're eating?" It's a fine fat goose I stole from you, And will you come and taste it?"

"Oh no indeed, ní háil liom í, Ní bhlaisfinn pioc di ar aon chor, But I vow and I swear you'll dearly pay For my fine fat goose you're eating.

Hark, hark, find her, Lily and Piper Cruinnigí na gadhair lena chéile; Hark, hark, Trueman, tá leisce orm cuma, Is maith an fear cú thú Bateman.

Tallyho lé na bhonn, Tallyho lé na bhonn, Tallyho lé na bhonn, a choileáinin; Tallyho lé na bhonn, Tallyho lé na bhonn, Agus barr a dhá chluais in áirde.

Greadadh croí cráite chugat a Mhaidrín Ghránna Do rug uaim m'ál breá géanna, Mo choiligh mhóra bhreátha, mo chearca bhí go hálainn, Is mo lachain bheaga b'fhearr a bhí in Éirinn.

Regards,

Harry.

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts: Play Now | Play in Popup | Embeddable Player | Hits (272)

(Fig. 1: A fox... please be nice to them.)

No, this is not a post about the contours of an attractive woman's body; it's about the famous (maybe THE most famous) piping piece called The Fox Chase. It's a musical representation of a fox hunt with various parts, sound effects, tunes and motifs. There are different variations on it/ approaches to it that can be broadly classified into broad 'more abstract and musical' and 'more representative with sound effects' groups.

I'm going to be looking at Seamus Ennis' setting (as can be heard on '40 Years of Irish Piping') which falls into the 'abstract' category. You can hear Ennis play it HERE from a live recording made in Miltown Malbay in 1958. Great 'sound effect' versions which spring to mind are Felix Doran's and Finbar Fury's versions (Felix in particular went large on a variety of animal impressions).

The Ennis setting is based around four main pieces of music:

1. It begins with the jig/march I play here.
2. It goes into the march.
3. After some bridges and effects representing horns, the galloping horses and the cries of the dogs and fox there is a lament for the dead fox.
4. It concludes with the hop jig.

I'll go at each of these tunes individually and then, hopefully, put it all together with all the sound effects and bridges. The piece also has an illustrious piping history, so I'll consider that along the way.

Tally-ho!

Addendum: As Nicholas points out in the comments, this is not a slip jig as previously reported (I was thinking of the related slip jig). I looked around and this tune is classified as a jig or a march. Ennis certainly plays it at a slowish, stately pace suggesting that it's a jig-time march.

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts: Play Now | Play in Popup | Embeddable Player | Hits (305)