Pulling Bracken ( Tha Mi Sgith)

  1. Ginny Aitchison
    Ginny Aitchison


    John Kelly and I put this together a few weeks ago. It's not your usual fare I suppose but it was enjoyable to play. The music can be found at www.thesession.org.(probaly found under Tha Mi Sgith) As the description says, the bracken is an awfully invasive species of fern that has to be continually 'pulled' or cut down as it encroaches on fields and woodland and waterways.
  2. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    Thanks for posting, Ginny. Tha Mi Sgith is Gaelic for "I am tired" and the Gaelic song is bemoaning the feeling of exhaustion brought on by the bracken pulling. No, I do not sing in Gaelic.
  3. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    Nice to hear from you Ginny! And your playing together certainly sounds very enjoyable.

    Bracken, I believe is a very ancient plant.
    As kids we built a cabin one time with a bracken roof, though we didn’t have enough to keep the rain out.
  4. Ginny Aitchison
    Ginny Aitchison
    Thanks guys! My brother has just told me that The Rankin Family does this in Gaelic - which in some part of my mind I must have known since I have many of their CDs.
    I added the other titles merely because The Session has it listed under those - in case anyone (cough, cough) Simon wants to give it a go. Simon, now the leaky bracken thatched roof builder.
  5. crisscross
    crisscross
    Grear song and playing Ginny !
  6. Ginny Aitchison
    Ginny Aitchison
    Thanks CC - are you not playing lately? I miss your tunes.
  7. Frithjof
    Frithjof
    Thanks for this nice recording, Ginny and John. Great sound and interesting story/pictures.

    As a hiker I like to see the fern in the forest. But I don’t have the need to make a living from working on woodland ore farmland.
  8. Bertram Henze
    Bertram Henze
    a wonderful musical box you have built there. The tune sounds strangely familiar to me - I may have heard it on a Silly Wizard record.

    P.S. found it!
  9. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    Am trying to learn it but cant get the metronome right, is that the famous Scotch snap?
    And would that be the main beat note followed closely by the second note in a 9/8 sort of thing?

    Found this: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KLmp76A0Hxc which I like a lot but even here the beat seems to not be snappy enough (by a tiny fraction), is that right?

    Addition: D,,D,,Du,D,, or sometimes. D,,D,,Du,,,, ?
  10. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    Maybe the metronome is the problem, Simon. There are odd snaps there, what pipers call dots and cuts (though the snap played by Scottish fiddlers is cut and dot - semi-quaver followed by dotted quaver). Ginny played from notation and I played by ear as I was familiar with the tune. You will hear a difference in our two deliveries - Ginny's then mine. I added in bits of harmony (?) as I listened on headphones to her playing, so we probably have two slightly different rhythms combining in our joint effort; I was adding behind her playing, so the sync is not always spot-on, and the guitar backing probably adds to the confusion! The two singers in your YT video have the lyrics to guide them, so again, their version is different from our instrumental one.

    Now you are really going to have to go and work on this one! Looking forward to your eventual posting.
  11. Gelsenbury
    Gelsenbury
    Great duo playing again! Isn't it amazing how many great tunes exist out there?
  12. crisscross
    crisscross
    Hi Ginny. glad you think of me! I wasn't feeling too good the last time, but as soon as I'll feel better, I'll conrtribute again.
    Greetings to the SAW group!
  13. Ginny Aitchison
    Ginny Aitchison
    Hope you feel better soon, Christian. I think we've all been in your place from time to time. Sometimes a rest does wonders. When I was feeling poorly not too long ago, John Kelly told me to use music for therapy..it takes your mind off of things and don't fret about recording..just play for your own enjoyment. Look forward to your return.
  14. Gelsenbury
    Gelsenbury
    Happy Burns night!

  15. Ginny Aitchison
    Ginny Aitchison
    Nice playing, Dennis. When John and I did this, I think he told me it wasn't a strathspey. There are rules for that and I can't remember what they are. I'm sure when he chimes in he will let us know - haha.
  16. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    A different offering of the tune, Dennis, and in all his great work collecting and preserving our Scottish tunes Burns certainly picked up many Gaelic tunes on his travels. As Ginny says, you certainly have a Strathspey feel to your playing here and it works fine, your pace maybe reflecting the tiredness expressed in the lyrics.
  17. Frithjof
    Frithjof
    Dennis, your mandolin sounds like a chime of bells. I waited for a wind instrument to give it a contrast. Beautiful done!
  18. Gelsenbury
    Gelsenbury
    Thank you, Ginny, John and Frithjof! I played along with Ginny and John's faster version earlier, and I really like it. But I wouldn't have been able to play tin whistle along with that.

    Usually when I learn a tune, I watch several versions on YouTube to get an impression of it. This one had to be learnt in a much shorter time.
  19. Christian DP
    Christian DP
    Your Fylde mandolin sounds very nice played by you, Dennis!
  20. Gelsenbury
    Gelsenbury
    Thank you, Christian! Perhaps one day I'll feel that I deserve this mandolin. I bought it for my 40th birthday (with some contributions from friends and family members as birthday presents), and I've been trying to grow into it ever since.
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