Here is a Scottish Strathspey composed by one of Scotland's finest traditional fiddlers, the late Donald Riddell of Inverness. My version is played here on octave, mandolin and guitar and the notation can be found in several places online. Here is a link to the notation I got from Nigel Gatherer's website, a great source of traditional music not only from Scotland but from many other parts of the world. http://www.nigelgatherer.com/tunes/t...gHT/MogHTt.pdf I am pretty sure this tune has not been posted anywhere here previously.
A beautiful John Kelly posting. Really enjoyed the three instruments so nicely synced. Another winner - was this result of the workshop you attended?
This is very strong, rhythmically. I picture a marching band following the snaps with sidesteps in perfect sync.
Another gem Strathspey. Love the languid pace John.
Many thanks, Ginny, Bertram and Simon. Maybe one of you fancies trying to play this one as a slow air now? It gives the tune a whole different feel while removing the strong dance rhythm of the Strathspey. Ginny, I first heard the tune as a slow air played by one of my fiddling friends but learned that Donald Riddell had composed it as a Strathspey. It was not one we played at the workshop, which was a great two-day event following on from last year's. Nigel Gatherer (from whose site I got the notation for this tune) has the great ability to include everyone in his mixed sessions, no matter what their ability level is. He plays mandolin, whistles and ukulele and on the mixed sessions he teaches the tunes rather than any one instrument. He also elicits contributions and ideas from the class members and we then try out those ideas. In the group of 36 attendees we had a mix of fiddles, mandolins and octaves, flutes and whistles, guitars, concertinas, accordion and even ukulele! The workshop was all about playing and arranging a tune or a set of tunes to make the most of the available instruments. The whole experience is memorable and everyone had a great time and a lot of friendships were made or renewed. Scotland is such a small nation physically that there is a lot of mixing and meeting up with like-minded players and a lot of swapping of tunes goes on. The open session on the Wednesday evening was a great experience and we played through a good number of our most played and probably best-known tunes, taking turns to lead off the tunes.
Beautiful and again fun! I don't know how you manage your accompaniment to be so precise, but it works! I wish I could have been part of a group with a leader like that. Here in NE USA there's very little if any of those gatherings. If anything it's an open mic, everyman for himself. Too bad, lots of talent up here. Am I wrong in feeling this tune has a lot of the properties of the tune I just posted ? Feels like the same fun little "beat", for lack of the proper term.
Thanks, Frank. as far as the backing and its "precision" I think that what has helped me to play those tunes is the fact that I have done a fair bit of ceilidh and Scottish Country Dancing in my time and this probably helps the timing. A friend who is a very fine bagpiper and piping teacher once described the Strathspey rhythm to me as being played with the following emphasis: for the 4 beats in each bar the stress is strong-weak-medium-weak, so 2 and 4 get little stress. This mimics the dance steps. I recorded the tune first then added the backing on guitar while listening through my headphones. As far as similarities between Schottische and Strathspey, the Strathspey is probably a more stately tune and played more slowly to suit the dance steps, while the German Schottische is maybe closer to a polka. To confuse matters further we have a Highland Schottische here in Scotland. Here is an extract from the official Royal Scottish Country Dance Society manual, describing the Strathspey Setting Step - "The Strathspey setting step, formally known as Common schottische, is closely similar to a sideways version of the Strathspey travelling step; it is used mostly as a Setting step with movement to the right on the right foot step and back to the Original Position on the left foot step. I do agree with you there are strong similarities in your tune and this one. Your JP Fraley Schottische has a strong hornpipey flavour and a real bounce to it and would be great to dance to. My Strathspey is slower and I hope more "stately"; and there is also that leeway we allow ourselves when interpreting the tunes which adds to the similarities.
See what happens when you have a whole load of words in your head that you’ve not used for a while? ‘Languid’ is sometimes defined as spiritless which is not what I meant, but a word that’s half way between tropical hot and nostalgic.
Will try this one John, hopefully record it in record time. I’m actually learning a tune called Bluegrass Calypso at the moment, it has an interesting swing within a calypso rhythm…
A vey nice posting, John!
Really fine playing, John. Great arrangement with the different mando family instruments. I imagine those are your photos too. Very nice.
Thanks so much, Don. The photos are all mine, as you guessed. I use a video editing program called Movavi to make the wee videos.
Haven’t had this much fun with a tune in quite a while, many thanks John. Strathspey’s are the best! I didn’t put those hammer-on to F#’s into it, though I can do them, just about. And it’s a bit twangy from over-enthusiasm! I hadn’t intended to post this but decided to go ahead just for the two dogs fighting in the hot street. Rustic, picturesque life. Yes it all happens here dans ce petit village joli! https://youtu.be/OIoSZsRVaEA
A very commendable Strathspey here, Simon. I like your Scotch snaps that you play. You are right - Strathspeys are fun to play.
Thanks John. I’m going to try to post to already-created threads for a while now. Been looking up the Strathspeys!
Thanks for this gem, John. And for your interpretation too, Simon. [John – the link in your original post leads to your YT site not to Nigel Gatherer’s sheet music like certainly intended.]
Here's the .abc file that I used from thesession: https://thesession.org/tunes/6708 (You can get the TAB by pasting the text into mandolintab.net, Dear Lurker) X: 1 T: Morag Haig-Thomas C:Donald Riddell N:re-edited by SimonDS R: strathspey M: 4/4 L: 1/8 K: Dmaj F<G|A2 F>E D2 d>e|f>ed<B d2F<G|A2 F>E D2 g>f|e<EG>F E2F<G| A2 F>E D2 d>e|f>ed<B d3A|B>AB<d A<Fd>F|E<DF>E D2 f>g| a2 f>e d2 f>e|d<BA>F A2f>g|a2 f>e d2 g>f|e<EG>F E2 f>g| a2 f>e d2 f>e|d<BA>F A3d|B>AB<d A<Fd>F|E<DF>E D2|| I haven't seen nor heard the difference in the Nigel Gatherer version but I imagine it's a couple of notes that make it sound even more Scottish. AS WITH VERY ALMOST EVERY OTHER TUNE ON THE SONG-A-WEEK GROUP, THIS TUNE CAN BE RECORDED AND POSTED BY ANYONE, STRANGERS EVEN. IT'S A PLEASURE!
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Nigel Gatherer’s sheet music includes the chords.
Many thanks. Chords now, Frithjof, I can't wait to hear our other versions! -who's going to join the party?
Thanks for heads-up re notation. Frithjof. Somehow I had pasted the YT link into the notation link! Think it is sorted out now, though a preview seems to think the file is a risk to download - I believe this is because of the way Nigel's site is set up, but link is safe. Simon, since you have produced an abc file of the notation can you add in a composer credit to the file. Donald Riddell is the composer. Thanks.
Ok, changed that John. I actually copied the file directly from thesession and don’t usually modify them unless I’m certain that it needs to be corrected and is correct. Though I guess Nigel Gatherer is as good enough source as there is. BTW I’ve just had my first guidelines violation on the main site. For my friends to know: it was because I wrote the title of that particular thread followed by:
Enjoyable listening, John and Simon!
I was intrigued by this Scottish Strathspey the day John introduced us to it with his fine playing. I recorded mandolin and octave mandolin almost two months ago. Meanwhile distracted by other tunes … I added a backing on my Thuringian Waldzither now. Since I never visited Scotland myself, I used video footage taken in the Austrian Alps on a sunny September day.
Fine playing of this great tune, Frithjof. Your pictures add a very pleasant backdrop too.
Many thanks, John.
Two nice videos that I wasn't aware of, thanks Simon and Frithof!
Nice playing, Frithjof…and very nice mountainous pics…the paragliding descent looks enjoyable!
Thanks Christian and John.
All very nice versions of this joyful strathspey - thanks to John for introducing us to it! Here is mine, played as a set with the traditional reel "Roll Her On The Hill", a combination taken from Nigel Gatherer's website: https://www.nigelgatherer.com/tunes/...ogHT/MogHT.pdf Played on mandolin with tenor guitar and mandocello accompaniment. Mid-Missouri M-0W mandolin Vintage Viaten tenor guitar Suzuki MC-815 mandocello https://youtu.be/iwfPDEkDJdg Martin
Nice pairing of the Strathspey with a reel, Martin. Now you can do a set starting with a march to get the complete competition set of march, Strathspey and reel (MSR). Very smooth transition between your Strathspey and reel. Well played.
What John said!
Thanks, John and Christian. As it happens I have also recorded a set of two retreat marches over the weekend -- upload coming soon! Martin
Enjoyed your recording, Martin. Nice to see and hear the Mid-Missouri for a change.
Another one to learn, strathspey are so fun. Very nice versions John, Simon, Frithjop and Martin.
