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Thread: Scottish Reels

  1. #1
    Distressed Model John Ritchhart's Avatar
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    Default Scottish Reels

    A couple of Reels.





    We few, we happy few.

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  3. #2
    Registered User Mike Buesseler's Avatar
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    Default Re: Scottish Reels

    Very nice, John! I especially like Robertson’s Reel. For some reason the volume is much lower for me on the second tune.
    Got tab for RR?

  4. #3
    Registered User John Kelly's Avatar
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    Default Re: Scottish Reels

    John, those are two great tunes you have there, and played so well by you. You make them sound quite Bluegrassy, almost, especially Robertson's Reel, and give them a country-and-western flavour which really suits the tunes.

    Your posting here reminded me that I had posted The 72nd's Farewell to Aberdeen as a 2/4 pipe march on bouzouki back in 2011, and I take the liberty to attach it here for comparison with your version above.

    Thanks for both tunes,

    I'm playing all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order. - Eric Morecambe

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  6. #4
    Distressed Model John Ritchhart's Avatar
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    Default Re: Scottish Reels

    Yes, Mike, I adjusted the mic input between tapings. Not great. I'm trying to keep my amateur status.

    John, thanks it's great to hear the differences. I do have a bluegrassy background so that explains some of that. I learned both these tunes from David Surette who plays them as a set.
    We few, we happy few.

  7. #5
    ************** Caleb's Avatar
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    Default Re: Scottish Reels

    Excellent! I really like the first one, and played on such a beautiful instrument! Well done.
    ...

  8. #6
    Peace. Love. Mandolin. Gelsenbury's Avatar
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    Default Re: Scottish Reels

    I liked both recordings very much, and I recognised the David Surette interpretation. A good person to learn from!

  9. #7
    Registered User Bren's Avatar
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    Default Re: Scottish Reels

    It's very hard to play Robertson's Reel without it coming out a bit bluegrassy.

    I was at a session in Ireland last y..., I mean 2019, and played a Shetland set, finishing with Robertson's and the guitarist said, "It's great to hear these American tunes" , which he'd played a part in making them sound so. No problems, they have that swing anyway.

    (Set was Colgrave Soond, Spootiskerry, Robertson's , my failsafe tunes for playing to strangers)
    Bren

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  11. #8
    Registered User kookaburra's Avatar
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    Default Re: Scottish Reels

    I’m digging it, thanks!

  12. #9

    Default Re: Scottish Reels

    Mike asked above for tab for Robertson's. I'm not familiar with the tune but I was able to create tab from settings at thesession.org. Here are settings in A and G.

    Click image for larger version. 

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    Click image for larger version. 

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    Maybe somebody more familiar with the Scottish repertoire can comment on how accurate these settings are. (Occasionally some of the tune settings posted at thesession.org can be a little, er, idiosyncratic.) In any event, I hope they are at least a "starter for ten".

    Aidan

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  14. #10
    Registered User Bren's Avatar
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    Default Re: Scottish Reels

    That looks right Aidan.

    The "scottishness" or not would come in the rhythm or accompaniment. Or Shetland-Ness, since it's a Tom Anderson tune.

    And Shetlanders are certainly not averse to a bit of chop or swing and ringing open strings all of which this tune lends itself to.

    In mind it goes very well with Colgrave Soond (Colgrave Sound is a sea channel in Shetland) .

    Jenna Reid's excellent break-down of how to play it on fiddle is clear enough for any mandolinist to learn it by ear.

    Give it a go:

    http://youtu.be/d9T_nt_nAgI

    (Edited to take out the embedded video, since I just remembered we should reserve that for member contributions so that thread isn't clogged up with third party videos)

    (edited again to say that is the unofficial policy on Song-of-the-week threads, where this post also appears, and perhaps other social group /member video threads)
    Last edited by Bren; Jan-03-2021 at 6:11am.
    Bren

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  16. #11
    Registered User John Kelly's Avatar
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    Default Re: Scottish Reels

    Just had a quick go at your transcription in both keys, Aidan, and it works for me. Bren, thanks for link to Jenna playing Colgrave Soond, and especially for that feathered piper's bonnet she successfully keeps on her head throughout her playing of it! She is an amazing fiddle player.
    I'm playing all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order. - Eric Morecambe

    http://www.youtube.com/user/TheOldBores

  17. #12
    Registered User Ranald's Avatar
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    Default Re: Scottish Reels

    Thanks for the tunes, John R. and John K. I play "Farewell to Aberdeen" on fiddle, but in Cape Breton, we call it "The Boy's Lament for His Dragon." Don't ask me why.
    Here's the Cape Bretoner, Ashley MacIsaac playing The Boy's Lament at about 2:30. (The YouTube entry is headed incorrectly.)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUsC...MacIsaac-Topic

    Robert Johnson's mother, describing blues musicians:
    "I never did have no trouble with him until he got big enough to be round with bigger boys and off from home. Then he used to follow all these harp blowers, mandoleen (sic) and guitar players."
    Lomax, Alan, The Land where The Blues Began, NY: Pantheon, 1993, p.14.

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  19. #13
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    Default Re: Scottish Reels

    Quote Originally Posted by John Ritchhart View Post
    A couple of Reels.





    Really like the video of top song ! Name ?

  20. #14
    Distressed Model John Ritchhart's Avatar
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    Default Re: Scottish Reels

    Robertson's Reel
    We few, we happy few.

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    Default Re: Scottish Reels

    The 72nd's Farewell To Aberdeen is a a 4/4 pipe march, rather than a reel. It is also called The Boy's Lament For His Dragon in Scotland, but they are not exactly the same. Incidentally, the 72nd refers to the 72nd Highlanders. It is a military title.

    I taught it recently at an online mandolin course I do for an organisation called Feis Rois, in Scotland. Here is how I play it:

    Click image for larger version. 

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    David A. Gordon

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  23. #16
    but that's just me Bertram Henze's Avatar
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    Default Re: Scottish Reels

    I could dance to that, and that says a lot.
    the world is better off without bad ideas, good ideas are better off without the world

  24. #17
    Distressed Model John Ritchhart's Avatar
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    Default Re: Scottish Reels

    Dagger is the real deal. Listen to him.
    We few, we happy few.

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