The Gloucester Hornpipe

  1. Martin Jonas
    Martin Jonas
    I stumbled across this lovely English hornpipe in "The Greene Tunebook", a great free collection of tunes downloadable in PDF format from the Ceilidh Society web site (Link). The ABC for The Gloucester Hornpipe is also at the same site:

    Code:
    X:882
    T:Gloucester Hornpipe
    C:Trad
    G:Hornpipe
    M:4/4
    L:1/8
    E:8
    K:G
    |:(3DEF|"G"G2 g2 g2 d>B|"C"c>Bc>d e>fg>e|"G"d>BG>B e>dc>B|"C"A>Bc>A "D"G>FE>D|\
    "G"G2 g2 g2 d>B|"C"c>Bc>d e>fg>e|"G"d>BG>B "A"e>cA>F|"G"G2 "C"G2 "G"G2::\
    A2|"G"B2 B>A B>cd>B|"C"e2 e>d e>fg>e|"G"d>BG>B e>dc>B|"C"A>Bc>A "D"G>FE>D|\
    "G"B2 B>A B>cd>B|"C"e2 e>d e>fg>e|"G"d>BG>B "A"e>cA>F|"G"G2 "C"G2 "G"G2:|**
    It's a nice lazy type of hornpipe, like a pleasant stroll through a spring meadow.

    Here is the tune played on my Mid-Mo:



    After recording this, I also noticed another Youtube video of the same tune, played on guitar by the great Phil Beer (one half of Show Of Hands, and normally their fiddler and mandolin player):



    Martin
  2. Bertram Henze
    Bertram Henze
    Lovely tune Martin, though the smiley code mechanisms of this site seem to see the ABC differently...
  3. Martin Jonas
    Martin Jonas
    Fixed: putting the ABC into CODE tags stops the site from interpreting the smiley codes in the ABC.

    Martin
  4. Martin Whitehead
    Martin Whitehead
    That is a pretty little hornpipe. It doesn't quite have the "swing" of most hornpipes, but it is a lovely melody nevertheless.
  5. Martin Whitehead
    Martin Whitehead
    As I'm working on this I find this version a little easier to read as it is written with straight 1/8 notes like hornpipes usually are. I find the the dotted 1/8 + 1/16 to be too "busy" on the page.

    X:7015
    T:Gloucester Hornpipe
    R:Hornpipe
    C:Trad.
    O:England; Gloucestershire
    Z:Paul Hardy's Session Tunebook 2011 (see www.paulhardy.net).
    Z:Creative Commons cc by-nc-sa licenced.
    M:4/4
    L:1/8
    Q:1/4=140
    K:G
    (3DEF|"G"G2g2g2 dB|"C"cBcd efge|"G"dBGB edcB|"Am"ABcA GFED|
    "G"G2g2g2 dB|"C"cBcd efge|"G"dBGB "D"ecAF|"G"G2G2G2:|
    |:GA|"G"B2 BA BcdB|"C"e2 ed efge|"G"dBGA edcB|"Am"ABcA GFED|
    "G"B2 BA BcdB|"Em"e2 ed efge|"G"dBGB "D"ecAF|"G"G2G2G2:|
  6. Martin Whitehead
    Martin Whitehead
    And here we go . . .

  7. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    There’s nothing like reviving old threads!
    This is the sprightly, shake-a-leg, all hands dance on deck version.
    (It’s a resonator mandolele… maybe).


    https://youtu.be/myiKdPHWNao


    Here’s the notation and TAB: https://thesession.org/tunes/9327

    And here’s an interesting article about the shipwreck :
    https://www.theguardian.com/science/...-norfolk-coast
  8. John W.
    John W.
    Nothing wrong with reviving old threads at all. I’m intrigued by the instrument…and your location. Assuming you are still in England…surely you haven’t transported this instrument with you as well as the Ashbury…???
  9. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    Thanks John, it’s a 'have a play and see if you’re prepared to pay for it' sort of instrument.
    (Haven’t been quoted a price yet if that’s the intention, I don’t know).
    It does have some issues but looks pretty!
    Very heavy too.

    This recording was acoustic microphones on one track and the instrument’s pickup on the other track (though I have that track on low volume because it tends to saturate). And I didn’t play the tune as a hornpipe.

    I recorded this in ‘Paradise’ -the garden shed.
  10. John W.
    John W.
    All interesting. From recent comments of yours I’m assuming you have borrowed the instrument from Hobgoblin?

    The ‘shed’ looks a bit more comfortable than what I consider to be a ‘shed’… I can see very little of the building, but I’d broadly describe it as an outbuilding, partly breeze-block constructed, with some seating furniture in it.
  11. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    For some it’s a shed, a mere hovel… or it’s paradise itself!
    There’s been some heated debate as to the name of this funny little instrument.
    I tried to get a consensus on defining-parameters to no avail. (like body size and shape, tuning, number of strings, construction materials, form, history, geographical location…)

    Any ideas?
  12. Frithjof
    Frithjof
    Oh, Simon, this instrument looks very heavy for it’s size.
  13. Richard Carver
    Richard Carver
    Great tune and great playing. Well, I wouldn't part with my pension for it.... It would break the ice at parties, though.
  14. Martin Jonas
    Martin Jonas
    Nice playing and interesting tone. For what it's worth, 8-string ukuleles go by the peculiar name "taropatch". Don't ask why, it's a Hawaiian term apparently. However, if you have steel strings tuned in fifths on it you might as well call it a resonator mandolinetto.

    I started this thread back in 2011 but don't remember this tune at all. Must have another look at it...

    Martin
  15. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    An interesting instrument that, Simon. They are indeed very heavy - I tried one a few years back that a friend had in his possession. Harsh-sounding but certainly cuts through in sessions and it sounds great on that hornpipe you are playing.
  16. Bertram Henze
    Bertram Henze
    I have no doubt that it's heavy, Simon, just as my own RTG is - lots of metal and thicker-than-usual wood inside. These things are built like 18th century men-o-war, just without the cannon.
  17. Richard Carver
    Richard Carver
    Oh, I might change my mind if it had cannon. I'd certainly fit in around these parts.
  18. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    It’s heavier than a 12 string guitar!
    I think it’s really pretty but it doesn’t have the sound I’m looking for.
    And John’s right, it is very loud.
  19. Bertram Henze
    Bertram Henze
    Being loud, it should be exactly what your French neighbors were looking for
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