Dribbles of Brandy (Brothers in York)

Here’s a sweet jig from Paul Hardy’s Session Book. It’s in Aird's, 1788.
I’ve included vids of New York which I believe go very well with this tune


https://youtu.be/czqzZy2-19k

X:1
T:Dribbles of Brandy
T:Brothers in York
R:Jig
C:Trad. Aird's 1788
O:England
Z:Paul Hardy's Session Tunebook 2021 (see www.paulhardy.net). Creative Commons cc by-nc-sa licenced.
M:6/8
L:1/8
Q:3/8=100
K:Em
"Em"EGE G2A|"G"B2e dBG|"Am"A2B cBA|"Em"BAG "Bm"FED|
"Em"EGE G2A|"G"B2e dBG|"Am"A2B cBA|"Em"BGE E2z:|
|:"Em"e2f g2e|"D"fag fed|"Em"e2f g2e|"D"fed "Em"e3|
"Em"e2f g2e|"D"fag fed|"Em"e2B "Bm7"B2A|"Em"BGE E2z:|

That really is very nice, and another good arrangement. Do you have access to additional instruments, or are we hearing a creative use of those online drones you discovered a while ago? I really liked the accordion or accordion effect at the end. But, of course, the octave carries the tune perfectly.

Many thanks Dennis, yes that is a good question. I have one new musical instrument, but it's A a piece of software on my iPad. DrumJam. I use it for percussion and in fact it's quite useful because most of the percussion needs only one input per beat. I have to say though that it is a bit interesting Tapping away on a screen instead of having a full arm movement on a real drum.
Yep, the drone is the same one that I used before. I really would like to get a hurdy-gurdy and use that for a basic accompaniment, a bit like using an electric bass, playing alternating bass for example. I think the reason why a hurdy-gurdy would be good it's because each tune has 4 or 5 melodic riffs but can be expressed percussively, and this instrument could be quite good. The main issue I imagine would be the lack of volume control.

Yes, I imagine an accordion would work quite well, I have a diatonic accordion but I prefer a more Woody sound.

One thing I did notice specifically is that in this recording I used a bodhran backing track which I think made the recording a bit lumpy in terms of rhythm.
So following John K’s often-stated advice I'll probably stop using a click track, though it did serve me well earlier on.

A fine tune and very well played, Simon. Your new set up seems to be suiting you really well and it is good to see (and hear) your developing productions.

A nice recording, Simon. I like the added accompaniment.

Thanks John, much appreciated and Frithjof yay! I’m trying to figure out some sort of drum pedal accompaniment that could use to operate the ‘eDrums’ although I actually much prefer just banging my foot into wooden floorboards!

Simon wrote: "I actually much prefer just banging my foot into wooden floorboards!"

Well you could always get into clogging while sitting down and playing an instrument, like some French-Canadian fiddlers do. It's a cool sound.

It's actually not that difficult to do - just takes some concentration at first (probably took me a month to get comfortable with it) but then the muscle memory takes over and you don't even have to think about it anymore, while playing.

I started clogging while playing fiddle when I was a teenager (yeah I know, unorthodox kid, eh) and then didn't do it again for like 50 years, but when I did try it again it immediately came right back as if it was only yesterday - hadn't lost any of it through lack of practice all those years. Rather surprising, I thought. Although nowadays I have hip problems which puts a damper on doing very much of that type of motion. Anyway I guess it's like the proverbial bicycle riding, once you learned it, you've learned it for life.

But, I'd only ever learned just one pattern/rhythm - I never tried any variances on that.

Anyway, clogging is fun to do, kind of the next logical step (ha no pun intended) from regular foot-tapping which I've never stopped doing.

(I think that the concentration that would be required to *not* do ordinary foot-tapping, or at least swaying in time to the beat, would result in music becoming far less enjoyable.)

Oh! And before I forget what I came here to say - your video is very nice! I listened to it the other day when I had internet and thought it sounded really good. Can't comment on specifics right now because I'm posting from my phone today and don't have the bandwidth to re-listen to any videos right now, but first impressions the other day were excellent.

"I started clogging while playing fiddle when I was a teenager"

Oh, that was you!

I imagine with clogging there are evolving rhythms that are more dance oriented than melodic riff oriented, so it would lead to a more diverse setting of the tune. And then again, I wonder how many tunes were written with clogging rhythms and dance moves in mind. Probably a lot.

Which came first, the dance or the melody?

I enjoyed this tune and recognized it from Far from the Madding Crowd. It wasn't a great book or movie but the music was good.

This recording sounds very fresh, Simon. Nice video.

Bertram wrote: "Oh, that was you! "

I had learned the sitting-down version of clogging though. There was a quasi-local fiddler at the time (next county over) who played that way, and he was able to explain it well enough - and he could slow down sufficiently that a beginner could see the exact foot/leg movements involved (we didn't have half-speed videos back then) so he helped some of us other fiddlers in the area to learn the technique. We didn't do it on every tune or anything like that, it was just a sort of a special thing on certain tunes (predictably, most were French-Canadian tunes which, for some unknown reason, were sometimes played in my area) where it seemed to really fit.

Simon wrote: "I imagine with clogging there are evolving rhythms that are more dance oriented than melodic riff oriented, so it would lead to a more diverse setting of the tune. And then again, I wonder how many tunes were written with clogging rhythms and dance moves in mind. Probably a lot."

Good points.