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Thread: English Country Dance tunes (David M. Brown arrangements)

  1. #26
    Registered User DavidKOS's Avatar
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    Default Re: English Country Dance tunes (David M. Brown arrangements)

    I appreciate hearing them played, thanks Martin.

  2. #27

    Default Re: English Country Dance tunes (David M. Brown arrangements)

    Lovely tunes. They got me thinking of a few arrangements of Playford pieces that I did for the all too short-lived Hampton Roads Mandolin Ensemble. In hopes that they might be of interest to other ensembles, here are two of them--The Fine Companion and Sion House.

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    The Fine Companion

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    Sion House

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  4. #28
    Registered User DavidKOS's Avatar
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    Default Re: English Country Dance tunes (David M. Brown arrangements)

    Check for new ones soon!

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  6. #29
    Registered User Martin Jonas's Avatar
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    Default Re: English Country Dance tunes (David M. Brown arrangements)

    Quote Originally Posted by DavidKOS View Post
    Check for new ones soon!
    That sounds great -- looking forward to them!

    Playford tunes (and similar ECD tunes) are such a wonderful crossover between early music, baroque music and folky fiddle tunes that they appeal to just about everybody: dancers and instrumentalists, Celtic session musicians and classical musicians, notation readers and learn-by-ear players, melody players and rhythm players, all can have fun playing the same arrangement from the same sheet at the same time.

    Martin

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  8. #30
    Registered User Martin Jonas's Avatar
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    Default Re: English Country Dance tunes (David M. Brown arrangements)

    It's time to play a couple more English country dance tunes from David's wonderful collection of arrangements. Here is the link to the PDF again (still valid since first posted in 2015): Link

    Come Let's Be Merry

    The first tune is quite festive, at least in it's title and mood, so well-suited to the season -- indeed it has mutated from a country dance to a choral piece with new lyrics, which pops up now and then on Christmas albums and in carol concerts.

    "Come Let's Be Merry" was first published in John Young's Third Volume of the Dancing Master, 2nd edition (1726, p. 127), and Walsh & Hare's New Country Dancing Master (3rd book, London, 1728), reprinted in Walsh's Compleat Country Dancing Master vol. 3 (London, 1749).

    My recording is a trio of two mandolins and mandocello:

    1898 Giuseppe Vinaccia mandolin (x2)
    Suzuki MC-815 mandocello



    Childgrove

    This tune was first published in 1701 in the 11th edition of Henry Playford's Dancing Master. It was retained in all subsequent editions to 1728.

    My recording is a quartet of two mandolins, tenor guitar and mandocello, using the Gibson instead of the Vinaccia for a different sound.

    1921 Gibson Ajr mandolin (x2)
    Vintage Viaten tenor guitar
    Suzuki MC-815 mandocello



    Martin

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  10. #31
    harvester of clams Bill McCall's Avatar
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    Default Re: English Country Dance tunes (David M. Brown arrangements)

    Very nice. Thanks
    Not all the clams are at the beach

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  12. #32
    Registered User Martin Jonas's Avatar
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    Default Re: English Country Dance tunes (David M. Brown arrangements)

    Corelli's Maggot

    During the current lockdown, I've been revisiting a number of the tunes I recorded some years ago and which I have continued playing since then. As I'm a big fan of David's country dance recordings, I have now recorded another video of what is probably my favourite of them, and one we play very regularly at our weekly mandolin gatherings.

    This is Corelli's Maggot -- originally a lively Baroque gavotte by Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713), from the Violin Sonata in F, Op. 5, No. 10, but more recently adapted for English country dancing. Recorded as a mandolin quartet (two mandolins, tenor guitar and mandocello).

    1898 Giuseppe Vinaccia mandolin (x2)
    Suzuki MC-815 mandocello
    Vintage Viaten tenor guitar



    Martin

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  14. #33
    Registered User Martin Jonas's Avatar
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    Default Re: English Country Dance tunes (David M. Brown arrangements)

    Here is a set with another two of David's Playford arrangements: "Never Love Thee More" and "Newcastle". Played as a mandolin quartet.

    Mid-Missouri M-0W mandolin (x2)
    Vintage Viaten tenor guitar
    Suzuki MC-815 mandocello



    Newcastle starts at 1:00 in the video.

    Martin

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  16. #34
    Registered User Martin Jonas's Avatar
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    Default Re: English Country Dance tunes (David M. Brown arrangements)

    Here is another set of two English country dance tunes arranged by David, which I am playing on mandolin, mandocello and tenor guitar. Thanks, David!

    "The Lass Of Richmond Hill" was a popular song of the late 18th century, and a favourite tune of King George III. The tune was written by James Hook (1746 – 1827), although it is often listed as traditional.

    "A Trip to Holy-Well" is a tune from "The Second Book of the Compleat Country Dancing Master" published by J. Walsh in 1719. I presume the title is a reference to the town of Holywell in North Wales, a major pilgrimage destination since the Middle Ages. When I saw the title, I had to learn the tune: Holywell is just a few miles down the road from us.

    Mid-Missouri M-0W mandolin
    Vintage Viaten tenor guitar
    Suzuki MC-815 mandocello



    Martin

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  18. #35
    Registered User Martin Jonas's Avatar
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    Default Re: English Country Dance tunes (David M. Brown arrangements)

    Here are three more of my recordings of David's ECD arrangements, all played as quartets with the same instrumentation:

    Mid-Missouri M-0W mandolin (x2)
    Vintage Viaten tenor guitar
    Suzuki MC-815 mandocello

    Apley House

    This English country dance tune is from the supplement to the 11th Edition of John Playford's Dancing Master, published in 1701.



    Lillibulero

    "Lillibulero" (also spelled "Lilliburlero" or "Lillibullero") was one of the most popular English tunes of the late 17th and early 18th century, and was adapted to many different sets of lyrics. It was also played as a British army march and for many years the signature tune of the BBC World Service.

    The first known publication of the tune was in 1686 in Playford's "The Delightful Companion" (a recorder method book), as part of a quickstep attributed to Henry Purcell (although that attribution has been questioned, and it is more likely that it was already a well-known folk tune at the time). It was first included in the 8th Edition of Playford's Dancing Master in 1690. By that time it had become a song associated with William of Orange in his fight against James II.

    I am playing the tune roughly at marching (or dancing) speed.



    Dunrobin Castle

    There are at least five tunes with the name "Dunrobin Castle", of which this one is the most obscure. This one is neither the reel (also known as "Jimmy's Return") nor either of two strathspeys but a country dance tune published by Walsh in the entertainingly named collection "Twenty-Four Country Dances For The Year 1718 Compos'd by a Person of Quality and Recommended to Mr Nathaniel Kynaston" (also found with various other years in the title). Not sure whether this means it was composed by Walsh, by Kynaston, or neither of them. Also not sure whether the tune has a connection to Scotland, as suggested by the title (Dunrobin Castle is the seat of the Earl of Sutherland, and with 189 rooms is the biggest castle in the Northern Highlands).

    I am not aware of any online transcription of this tune, and only one other video of this tune (and the associated dance): link




    Martin

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  20. #36
    Registered User Martin Jonas's Avatar
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    Default Re: English Country Dance tunes (David M. Brown arrangements)

    A Waltz For Corwin

    Here is another of the arrangements from the Country Dance book -- this one is not actually a country dance but a modern folky waltz, written by Mickie Zekley (of Lark In The Morning and Lark Camp). Not sure if the harmony parts are by Mickie Zekley or by David: unlike the other tunes in the book there is no arranger credit on the page.

    I'm playing the tune twice: first with only mandolin and tenor guitar and then with added second mandolin harmony and mandocello bass line. I've used my Embergher mandolin as it's been a bit neglected lately.

    1915 Luigi Embergher mandolin (x2)
    Suzuki MC-815 mandocello
    Vintage Viaten tenor guitar



    Martin

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  22. #37

    Default Re: English Country Dance tunes (David M. Brown arrangements)

    Thank you for posting these videos, they are very inspirational.

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