Yet another perennial goal is to become competent both on concert pitch and flat (C) sets. I have a lovely set in C that doesn’t get as much exercise as it ought to, and as a result, my fingers are always a bit uncertain as to where the holes are on the C chanter. Lots of squeaks and squawks. This is an issue that would fade with time if I just sat down with the C set to practice once in a while. So today I did.
I began with a fun nonsense song “Na hIontaisi” from the singing of Ann Mulqueen and her daughters on Briseann an Dúchas. It’s a lovely song that I’ve caught myself humming, and I thought it would sound great on the flat set. I’m ashamed to say it took me about 25 minutes to realize that — facepalm — it’s a very slightly altered version of the A part of “The Burnt Old Man.” Boy, am I out of practice at recognizing tunes! After that I ran briefly through a reel set that I’ve enjoyed playing flat with a fiddler friend, The West Clare Railway/Boy in the Gap. Then I started trying to reacquaint myself with the flat set regs; it’s a different ballgame with the slightly longer flat set. Jigs in G are a bit easier because I’m using the upper keys more often, so I tried to tap off-beat along with “Humours of Ennistymon” for a while, and then thought I should probably review “Trip to Killarney.” At that point I forgot about the regs and just tried to remember what slight variations I had thought of yesterday.
Although I wasn’t crazy about it at first, I’m coming really to like this little two-bar lick from one of the transcriptions:
it’s very handy for balance at the end of the B part, in particular, and I would like to insert it in the fourth part occasionally, too. This transcription uses it repeatedly at the end of the B,C, and D parts, which seems like overkill to me. I’ve also gotten into dropping this lick from the first part
into the lower octave and using it at the end of a part, too. Dead easy, just don’t depend on it.
Techniques to work on: 1) Still squawking a lot on the back C (gotta keep those other fingers down!), and 2) there are definitely some notes on the C chanter that need help too: my second octave F needs to be opened more cleanly, for instance. 3) I did practice some back-stitching for the last few bars of the D part, and I’m feeling as though it’s a bit more crisp, but I’d like to cement that. Finally, 4) I need to practice holding reg keys and chords with each individual note on the chanter, in all possible combinations. I’m squawking and contorting my body for some of them and I need to think the posture and position through.
thepippity 