Brafferton Village (waltz)

  1. Martin Jonas
    Martin Jonas
    This lovely waltz was written by Kathryn Tickell, the great Northumbrian smallpiper. My recording on mandolin and tenor guitar is based on a transcription from Paul Hardy's session tunebook:

    https://pghardy.net/concertina/tuneb...n_tunebook.pdf

    Brafferton is a tiny village in County Durham, near Darlington. Its main claim to fame is that the original "Durham Ox" was bred there.

    1921 Gibson Ajr mandolin
    Vintage Viaten tenor guitar



    Martin
  2. Gelsenbury
    Gelsenbury
    Lovely melody, indeed. Another one for the list!
  3. Frithjof
    Frithjof
    Lovely waltz, Martin, and well performed. While playing through the music I stumbled over the “Durham Ox” in box 7 of the B part. Hope it is tameable…
  4. Christian DP
    Christian DP
    Very nice recording, Martin! With the temperatures being as high as they are at the moment, I looked for somthing not too difficult and found this tune in Paul Hardy's tunebook. But there are some places, that are a little tricky in the key of G, so I transposed it to A:
  5. Gelsenbury
    Gelsenbury
    Beautiful!
  6. Frithjof
    Frithjof
    Fine playing, Christian.
  7. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    Excellent performances Martin and Christian. Many, many thanks for helping me get the recording equipment out and practice this tune.
    I know you'll be disappointed that it's without the little banjo this time.
    But next time I promise.

    And who could refuse a Cathryn Tickell tune? Had to record this beauty.


    https://youtu.be/dfTvzT3yIAc
  8. Christian DP
    Christian DP
    Well done, Simon!
  9. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    What a great version of a fine tune, Simon. Your arrangement is excellent and the playing and recording just spot-on. I for one can live without the "wee banjo", especially on a tune written by such a fine Northumbrian piper. I somehow missed the original postings by Martin and Christian on this thread and have just been listening to all three now and each brings something of the individual player to the interpretation of the tune. I like your faster tempo on this one, Simon. - I have only played this tune with fiddlers before.
  10. Richard Carver
    Richard Carver
    I too hadn't hear the earlier versions, which I enjoyed, along with yours Simon.
  11. Gelsenbury
    Gelsenbury
    Stunningly good, Simon! One of your best.
  12. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    Many thanks Gents, I should add that it's a wonderful arrangement written by Barry Ruffell.

    I'm very happy with this performance, and I enjoy the intimacy of the melody and harmony lines.
    There is quite a lot of rubato (for me) so it took about ten takes of listening to my melody track that I'd prerecorded till I could remember the positions of all the tempo changes to lay down the harmony smoothly.
    Perhaps it's easier during a live performance to follow visual timing cues from the lead player.
    Is it different with the fiddlers John?
  13. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    Interesting point, Simon. I think it is always easier to play accompaniment in a live performance and follow whoever is playing the melody, using as you say visual clues. The other thing is to play along with the same individuals or group regularly and this creates an empathy among the players. When I was playing in a duo with Jemma (fiddle and guitar/mandolins) we worked up an interesting repertoire which included slow airs, waltzes, jigs, reels, hornpipes and Strathspeys and we quickly each knew how the other was going to be playing a particular piece. Eye contact was important but more importantly was the listening to each other - especially when we might both alternate the melody, she on fiddle and I on mandolin or guitar. Playing the backing to her fiddle melody was always easier, I think. I just sat back and listened and she in turn knew where my fill-in runs and arpeggios would be going and when to rejoin the tune. My accompaniment was only written out where we had devised a harmony line either for me or for her to play along with the melody. My chordal accompaniment is generally done "on the hoof".

    With the bigger group of fiddlers I play along with I am regularly the one who plays the intros on guitar or mandolin and does the counting in. There is less scope for rubato with a group than with an individual player, so rhythm and timing become less of a problem. If you listen to big fiddle ensembles playing slow airs you will hear a steadier beat or pulse and where there are variations in the tempo or dynamics they are generally carefully rehearsed so that the players are still in sync with each other.
  14. Frithjof
    Frithjof
    Great version, Simon.
  15. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    One alignment method I used, quite a long time ago, was to record a track and then while I was playing the harmony to watch the track on the iPad. I could see the waveform of the melody track moving and was able to lineup the tracks while playing. I think that was on the tune pretty little cat. I talked to some of my family members about it.
    My son said I could quantise the whole file and that a program Will actually line up the tracks for me. It can even change the tempo and key.
    This method is probably not that good if you want to learn to play the mandolin!

    I did wonder about the melody and harmony being so close. Quite a few of the notes from the two Instruments (the octave mandolin) overlap. I tried to figure out a way to drop the key and then fit the melody an octave above with a capo but it wasn't that comfortable.
    I do have a little ukulele tuned in fifths, maybe I should've use that.
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