The recent O'Keefe's slide thread reminded me of another, similar slide I used to like to listen to on an old Bothy Band record of mine. I found the record, found the tune on thesession.org and found it easy to learn. The title is somewhat strange (resembles "Take a Look at my Girlfriend" by Supertramp), but I found a plausible meaning. The ABC is here: X: 1 T: This Is My Love, Do You Like Her? M: 12/8 L: 1/8 R: slide K: Ador A2A AGE c2B c2d|efe ede g3 g2e| def g2e dBA G2A|1Bde dBG A2B c2B:|2Bde dBG A3 ABd|| |:eaa age dgg gfg|eaa agf g2b a2g| eaf g2e dBA G2A|1Bde dBG A3 ABd:|2bde dBG A2B c2B|| I recommend playing this in a set with O'Keefe's, goes very well together. Bertram
Nice playing Bertram. This one is known in the Cape Breton tradition as "I Lost my Love". I play it as the last tune in a group of three (The Hills of Glenorchy, There Came a Young Man, I Lost My Love). I thought I read a Gaelic title for it too but I couldn't find it when I flipped through my books just now.
That is fantastic! I need to get the bridge back on my mandocello so I can give that one a try. Super job on that -- what tuning are you using? BTW anyone know the answer to this? Bertram provided the printout of an ABC file for the tune -- if I copied this code and pasted it into to some simpel word processing software is there anyway I could save it down as a .abc file (e.g., This is my love.abc) so that I can run it into TablEdit and print out a tab? I guess I've never thought about how true .abc files are created.
Thanks all. Bernie, it's GGDDAAEE. Since ABC is plain ASCII, pasting it into a simple text file with a text editor (not Word) and renaming that to .abc should do the job. In any case, you can paste the ABC text on this site and get notation and midi in return. Bertram
Here's a quick sound file of the bothy version I whipped up.
Thanks for that Kyle. Now I remember why this was so familiar to me. The backup bouzouki part is just incredible to me. The rest isn't so shabby either...
Bertram, I tried pasting the ABC text you supplied into Notepad, saved it as an .abc file, copied it, pasted it into the site you referenced and it failed. Notepad is not ASCII but ANSI. Do you think that makes a difference? Do you have another free, downloadable, basic text editor you can recommend? Or is it a PC related issue?
you could download the trial version of tabledit and copy and paste that into notepad, then save it as a *.abc, then open it in tabledit.
Joe, for using that conversion site you don't need a file. Just copying the ABC text and pasting it to the site's input field does the job. (using Notepad in between may replace <LF> with <CR><LF>, which Windows does for Returns for unknown reasons, maybe the conversion site cannot deal with that). My suggestion for using a file was only for any local converter software on your computer that might expect a file. Bertram
Thanks Barbara. Didn't know I had a delete option. Got it moved over. Chris
Hastyman, you're welcome! Now you need an avatar so you aren't just a big question mark!!
Bert, Pasting the abc in the concertina.net window worked just fine. Thanks, Bert. Now, can you or Jill, CelticDude, Susiakasinead or anyone else tell me what Slide Rhythm is? It's at the bottom of the pdf file and appears as Rhythm: slide. I've never seen that indicated before and it's got me curious. Are there different rhythms for slip jigs, single, double and treble jigs, hornpipes, etc.?
Here is a great site with lots of info on rhythm in Irish Music. Here's what it says about slides: Uninitiated listeners, of which there are many, and even some tune-book editors have mistaken slides as hornpipes, single jigs, polkas, or double jigs, since slides share various traits with each. Once you know a few, you realize they are distinct from any of those. The tempo is rather quick, often in the 150 bpm range, if you were to count each heavy-light pair as a beat. But in practice each beat of a slide (counting around 75 bpm now) gets two pulses, which is either a heavy-light pair or a fairly even triplet – not a jig pattern. Thus if all four group-halves in a bar were triplets – which is uncommon –, you'd have a twelve-note bar. The ratio of heavy-light pairs to triplets in a slide is slightly in favor of the pairs. Most slides break the pattern once or twice in a tune by delaying the strong note for a bar's second group until that group's second half, creating a cross-rhythm with respect to the foot taps. Other unique characteristics of slides are not necessary additional information for identifying them – only for playing them! Note that slides are peculiar to the Southwest of Ireland, and some are directly related to double jigs, single jigs, or hornpipes played elsewhere in Ireland. Musicians quite familiar with slides are generally unfamiliar with single jigs, and some otherwise respectable authorities on the slide have rashly and mistakenly pronounced that single jigs "are the same as slides." On the other hand, some musicians simply use the term "single jig" to mean "slide," and are unaware of the existence of the distinctive single jig rhythm in Irish music. Over the course of the 20th century the customary notation for slides shifted from 6/8 to 12/8, which I think is an improvement in accuracy. However, I have given bar counts for slides here according to the 6/8 notation, for the very practical reason that the set dancers count them that way! See Top Ten Slides for examples. -------------- Gee, my eyes kinda glazed over with that! And HERE is a discussion on www.thesession.org about slides...
It's lookin' like I asked a question that requires more listening than words as listening to source files will give the best answer to what I asked. Does anyone know of any really good players of Irish slide to listen to? Probably I'm thinking about accompaniment (darned American background anyhow!) instead of realizing that there seems to be very little accompaniment in or to Irish Trad music. (Should I head for the bomb shelter after that statement?) I do understand, albeit limitedly, that there are differences in the melodic rhythmic structure of jigs, slides, etc. which is what seems to be the gist of the above quote.
Re: rhythm and slides... I am more of a bodhran player then bouzouki at this point and took a bodhran class a few years ago from Mark Stone. He is a stickler for playing in a way that respects the dance roots of Irish music and believed we had to know the underlying dance rhythm in order to play effectively. The basic accompanying rhythm for a slide was repeating the two measures: 1-and-a-2, 3-and-a-4, 1-and-a-2-and-a-3-and-a-4. This very closely mimics the 3rd and 4th measures in "This is my love, Do you like her?". If you go to http://payplay.fm/markstone and click on "slide" you can hear the rhythm. When I play with slides I try to keep this rhythm going in my head although depending what the melody players are doing they may give a different feel to it. From an accompaniment standpoint of course you can add and drop beats to make it more interesting but Mark felt strongly this was the basic rhythm that sets slides apart from jigs, etc.
Mark Stone is one of the most inventive, melodic, dead-on, skillful bodhran players I know of!!! I would believe what he has to say is as good as gold. Thank you for the input, Rando7.
Finally I got to record this tune. I'm playing it on my Hora 23" scale bouzouki. Thanks for posting this tune Bertram, it's a good one!
That sounds great, Kyle. Where do you have that capoed at?
capo on the 7'th fret. That lets me drone tunes in they key of A.
That zouk looks quite long in the video, Kyle. Is the 23" measured with or without the capo? Great! Bertram
haha! 23" from the nut to the bridge... it's probably the way I'm sitting makes it look longer.
As mentioned above, I really like this tune, but have never bothered to learn it. Until now... BTW, I looked up slide in a book on Irish dance, and the author says that these are usually notated in 6/8, to better match the dance. Makes me wonder where the 12/8 came from.
Lively and driving, Dana! Makes me want to dance in circles, whatever the notation. Bertram
Well done, Dana, nicely played!
Awesome Dana!!!
This is the tune that I know as "I Lost my Love". I learned it as a jig rather than a slide but the tune and title are quite similar.
Lovely, Keith! I like the way you let go of the fretboard in mid-play. Yes, that is the same tune. Would be interesting to find out how it travelled from Kerry to Cape Breton. Or why it is that Cape Breton music always comes out like Irish plus amphetamine (the Leahys, for instance) - is it possible that the Irish emigrants took all the temperament with them?
Thanks Bertram. Until you mentioned it and I went back and reviewed the video I had no idea how often I move my hand away from the fretboard while playing. I do a lot of busking with a friend where we play for a couple of hours without many breaks. I think that fretboard release is a tension relieving gesture that evolved without me quite realizing it! Regarding speed, the Cape Breton players also speed up Strathspeys from the more stately tempo they are played at in Scotland. I think it has to do with the Cape Breton dance traditions that are associated with the music. Some of the older players (my Dad for instance) play the tunes somewhat slower than they are played today but still at a pretty lively tempo.
For some reason this tune reminds me of a slip jig, the snake eating it's tale sort of thing, it's always good to get back to the beginning and it's always hard to end. What a great tune choice Bertram.
Yes, David, it's hard to stop and you nearly didn't Light and graceful version of yours, majestic instrument!
Keith, what is your mando? I've noticed that when I'm playing my OM (more so than my mando) I'll let go of the fretboard when I can, as a tension reliever, as well! I really like this tune, and hope to learn it and video it soon!
Played this one a lot out at the park yesterday, so hopefully will be up to speed on it enough to post a clip sometime next week. Certainly won't be doing any recording today as there appears to be roadwork going on right in front of my building (started at 8:30am on a Saturday no less!!)... Also got to play a Joe Foley bouzouki yesterday and tried this out on it - sounded awesome (the Foley that is, not my rendition of the tune...)
Barbara, it's a Flood-Tone made by Thomas Flood. It's a pretty nice mandolin and a REAL bargain at the price I paid. The action is a bit high but I've been playing for almost 2 years now as it is so I guess it's not all that bad. Jill, I sympathize regarding the road work. They've been doing the sidewalks and streets in my neighbourhood all summer. They start at 7:00 am SHARP every day except Sunday.
A couple of years ago, my daughter had to go on bedrest for the last month of her pregnancy. She lived in a TINY apartment in Breckenridge, Colorado (a ski town), and they were renovating the apartment next door while she was stuck either in bed or on the couch. Listening to saws and hammers, etc... she just about went crazy!
For all suffering from roadworks, I can recommend this movie. I think, even if you don't happen to speak Hebrew, you get what's going on. Probably, most roadworks start like this...
There may be some truth to this idea, Bertram.... last year they paved the street in front of my house. This year they covered it with gravel and paved it again.
Bertram, how do you find such things? That was priceless!
I saw it on TV when I was young. I think the English title is The Big Dig. It is one of the better works of Israeli satire writer Ephraim Kishon. The movie goes on to show half Tel Aviv being dug up and eventually a main avenue being turned into a canal because the ocean breaks in, the authorities never admitting that they had no idea what was going on.
Finally getting an opportunity to catch up on some cool tunes that I hadn't videoed yet! I'm playing this on my Slingerland Tenor Banjo, concentrating on some Irish triplets. So, you'll notice this is much slower than the other submissions! Played just one time through.
Interesting, Barb, there is a comforting cosy cabin contentedness about your rendition the grizzly bears could dance to, with a slow deliberate grace that reminds me of Prokofiev's Dance of the Knights. And then, of course there is that cool tailpiece I haven't seen before. Nice instrument!
Thanks, Bertram, I DO love my tenor banjo!
Bertram, a gentleman is someone who notices a ladies tailpiece but doesn't comment on it...
This is what is commonly called a Bearclaw tailpiece. Each string tension can be individually adjusted. I found this about them: Oettinger, patented by Mark Oettinger, 05/21/1929, they were featured on B&D banjos and high end Vegas. 5 strings are rarer than the 4 string variety. I do think it looks cool on this vintage Slingerland May Bell Tenor. Anyway, any gal who posts a video of herself in her jammies, deserves getting her tailpiece noticed!!!
Really impressive fingerwork on your octave and a nice tune, Bertram, thanks and well done. Rough ‘woodland’ version. I recorded some tunes in this beautiful douglas fir (I think) wood seven or eight months ago. It was planted around 1965… https://youtu.be/FQRWfBxM2qk
A really lively tune and a fine outdoor performance, Simon. A new tune to me into the bargain. This thread was actually posted just before I joined the SAW group in October 2009 and I had not been aware of it. Only Bertram's video seems to be available now and his inimitable flying fingers are still well to the fore in his posting.
Really well played by both Bertram (2009) and Simon (2021)! There are so many gems hidden amongst all the postings that it is well worth it to go looking. Thanks Simon for resurrecting this great tune.
Here’s a lovely tenor banjo version from Barbara that was posted to this thread? https://youtu.be/cDWNg9x_fuk
Thanks Gents, this is not my best performance, but after the hike up the mountain with all the recording equipment and sandwiches and raison cake it will have to do. This is the same place when I recorded Captain O’Kane several months ago. The change is quite impressive, and though I miss the trees and the ancient, sacred feeling of the place, the sacred sunlight on a country walk is quite nice too! https://youtu.be/Gh9MHVUX54M
Great versions. Bertram tearing it up 12 years ago, he's soo young and handsome! Simon, it's just another sad story of history being pushed aside. But, the music will always live!!!