Still in the mood after St Patrick's Day medley, so here is a solo mandolin set of these two well-known jigs. Father O'Flynn is also known as The Top of the Cork Road.
You really are still in the mood, John. Lovely precise picking and drive. Like most people, I tried The Kesh as one of my first tunes when I began the mandolin - and it's that bit more tricky than it seems, mainly the high B at the end. Of course, you completely nail it. And a lovely tone to the instrument.
For the reason that Richard mentioned, I still haven't properly learnt the Kesh jig. You've put it in a very nice little set here. And your mandolin looks and sounds excellent!
Clear and clean as a thrush in the morning, John. Frankly, I never had the abovementioned problem with the Kesh, since I play it one octave below notation (and two octaves below John, in fact - if it's in G, why not start with the open G course?)
Excellent performance Sir! Agreed with Bertram, a very precise avian-like tone, a good vibrant location.
Thanks, all. I played about with a few possible sets before deciding on this combination. Tried Roaring Jelly, Dingle Regatta and a few others along with Father O'Flynn but settled on this pairing in D and G. Decided too to keep the recording as a solo piece following on from the St Pat's medley. The instrument is now almost 8 years old, Richard. I made it back in August 2015 and it has a cedar top and Indian Rosewood back and sides and the body is deeper than "standard" mandolin. I have never heard it described as having a "very precise avian-like tone", Simon, or likened to a thrush, Bertram - but I like the image!
What a fun set John! Spring is Here!!
Great set John, I’ve printed it out so may get to record it and join you later.
What a lovely jig Father O'Flynn's is, must put that on me "to learn" list! Great stuff John!
Ha Jill, I agree, and my ‘to learn’ lists are playalong vids. I really only use printouts now to improve motivation. I don't play music with other people, so I have a little list of strategies help me to overcome this particular handicap. I use the vids when I want to take it up to the next level, which is to actually learn it, for real. I really like the tune Father O'Flynn‘s too. It even sounds like a popular tune, and seems to fit together really well and it's relatively easy to commit to memory.
Thanks, Frank, Simon and Jill. Glad Father O'Flynn has proved popular with you all. I learned it away back in the mists of time when my dad used to sing it. Simon says It even sounds like a popular tune.." As a song it was indeed very popular along with the three other Irish songs I posted in my St Patrick's Medley a few days ago. All of those tunes I learned as songs first in my early years and have always had them in my head without the need for any notation. I suppose those are ones that I have "actually learned, for real" as Simon says. In contrast I have posted tunes here over the years which I have never actually committed to memory but just played from the notation and would still need to dig out the score were I to play them again; Simon's point about learning a tune for real is a very valid one. This is where tunes with lyrics (i.e. songs) have a big advantage - I can learn more easily because they have words. Simon talks about playing alone and what this involves and all of us who post here will certainly know what this feels like, and it is probably why we feel the need to share our musical offerings. Last night we had fifteen folk at our weekly pub session and there was just such a great buzz and atmosphere in the place and the tunes flowed from around 8pm till just about midnight! There is no substitute for playing along with others in a live setting but this of course is not possible for all of us. Making our video offerings is one of the creative substitutes. Looking forward to your Irish tunes, Simon (and anyone else).
The lovely tone of your solo mandolin playing is indeed unique in this recording, John.
Nice recording John, your mando sounds great.
Thanks, both.
My version. I put in some guitar, just to do something different. I'm afraid, as you can see, I am reading from the score.
Well played, sir. Reading from the score has not hindered your performance at all, Richard.
That's sight-reading taken to a new level! Sounds great.
Lovely triplets Richard, and I like the flow from one note to the next. Hey, yooo! Dennis!
A fine solo performance by John and a beautiful duet by Richard, both played wth an excellent mandolin tone.
Thank you, all. The truth is that I am terrible at memorizing tunes so just about anything that I play is read - I don't think you can call it sight-reading if I have practiced beforehand, but I do need the score as a prompt. A real weakness, and I'd never cut it in a session. Simon, it's taken me a while to get the hang of triplets in jigs, as opposed to reels and hornpipes. But, as your comment suggests, I find that the triplets (or trebles as Irish musicians would call them) do actually help the flow and avoid that choppiness that can come when I try to play a tune too fast on the mandolin.
That’s a very fine recording in my ears, Richard. Very fluent with all these triplets. Re the sight-reading: I need the sheet music most time while recording a tune. Even when I play the tune by heart on other occasions. I don’t really read it but need the sheet to focus on the tune and especially on the part that follows next.
I know that feeling, Frithjof. The written notation becomes a sort of comfort blanket as well as a point of focus.
I learned Top of Cork Road from O'Neill's years ago and still play it regularly. I had to look up the Kesh and brush up on it, haven't played it in awhile. I will learn a tune from the sheet music and memorize it and not use the sheet music again.
You play the two tunes at a gentle pace here, Dusty, and I like the effect you create.
Very nice, letting the music breath. And you seemed very much on top of the Kesh, despite what you said. Nice tone too (a bargain at $39).
Nice playing with your usual accuracy, David. I like the sound of your old Gibson.
A very nice recording indeed, no need to hurry.
Thought I'd join you Gents, here's an octave mandolin, and a pheasant at the end! First take and the pheasant join it at just the right time. So I decided to keep it. Not my kitten BTW. https://youtu.be/0lQQU-zbhvk
Lovely sets from all…and like others, Father O’Flynn has been added to my never ending list…
Nice video and great playing, Simon! (Compared to our cat, the cat in the video looks a bit malnourished )
Fine set and playing, Simon.
Great playing and a nice idea for the filming.
Thanks compatriots! I had a lot of fun recording this. Put the audio file from the H6 recorder into GarageBand so I could add some reverb. The kitten is about four months old, was the runt but now eats expensive food, hence the slim lines. She's just started to go outside... I believe the hope was that she'd be a house cat... but there are loads of nesting songbirds in this garden (even nesting ducks) so there are plenty of possibilities in terms of ecosystem destruction - or modification depending on your perspective.
This is really good, Simon. The kitten is heart-melting and the pheasant has a future that extends beyond braising, if it plays its cards right. By the way, how did you make the video? Was it another cat, trained in camerawork? Or did you just crawl very fast? In either case, a behind-the-scenes video would be most welcome.
Thanks Richard, I try to get kittens in my vids. I use FilmIc Pro on iPhone and I luckily bought it before they got famous so it has a cinematic mode with some really nice filters. The cinematic mode means I can walk bent over with the camera near the ground and the software smooths the panning out. There used to be a raw mode where you could access the camera directly and get 4k , but that's standard now and in any case even though it was better than iphone HD1080 at that time the mode used to overheat the iPhone. (Enough that it would crash in French summer weather). The kitten is very bright, has already learned how to negotiate for toys, games and snacks.
So, that's what cinematic mode does. I have it on my new(ish) iPhone but I have never discovered what it does. Thank you for the explanation. I'm not sure my back would cope with that. There isn't anything that isn't improved by the presence of a kitten. (Except, possibly, pre-dawn music practice, which has been hijacked by the cat sitting on either the music or the laptop.) And cats are very smart. They are very effective negotiators, in part because they never come across as needy in the way that dogs do.
