Beardance

  1. Barbara Shultz
    Barbara Shultz
    I learned this tune from a CD entitled Rocky Road to Dublin by King's Galliard.

    I multi-tracked this in GarageBand. I'm playing melody on my Petersen tenor guitar, and Collings MT2O mandolin. I'm playing two tracks on the Collings, one high, and one low. I'm also playing a rhythm track on my tenor guitar.

  2. Brent Hutto
    Brent Hutto
    Putting the melody in such a low register really brings across those interesting intervals in the B part. Or whatever you call the spot where that harmonic minor sounding descending thingy comes in, my ear training could use some work. Great sound mix you came up with there.
  3. Barbara Shultz
    Barbara Shultz
    Thanks! The way I've recorded it, the melody is being played in three octaves.
  4. Tosh Marshall
    Tosh Marshall
    Barbara, that's a really cool tune, love it. Have you got the abc for it?
  5. Barbara Shultz
    Barbara Shultz
    Tosh, I learned this by ear, and haven't ever found notation for it (I have found notation for a version of Beardance, but it's not close to this!) I guess I could work on my abc transcribing skills... but someone might beat me to it!
  6. Barbara Shultz
    Barbara Shultz
    Here's my best attempt at the ABC's

    X: 1
    P: Beardance
    M: 4/4
    L: 1/8
    K: Am
    | "Am"E2 A,2 A,B, CD|"Am"E2 A,2 A,3 B,|"C" C2 CC B,2 C2|"G"D2 DD C2 D2|"Am"E2 A,2 A,B, CD|"Am"E2 A,2 A,3 B,
    |"C" C2 CC "G" B, A, G,2|1"Am"A,4 A,B,CD :|2 "Am" A,6 B,2 |]|"C" C2 E2 "G" DC B,2|"C" C2 E2 "G" DC B,2|"G" GD B,D G2 _B,2
    |"Am" A,2 F2 "E" E2 ^G2|"Am" A2 E2 CD CB,|"Am" A,2 A,B, C2 E2|"Dm" FE DC "E" B,A, G,2|1"Am"A,6B,2:|2 "Am"A,8|]
  7. Tosh Marshall
    Tosh Marshall
    Barbara, that's great, I'll try and learn it over the next few days........many thanks......
  8. Marcelyn
    Marcelyn
    It's amazing how precise your playing is, Barbara. The three instruments on melody almost sound like one. Really nice recording.
  9. Mike O'Connell
    Mike O'Connell
    Barbara - To Marcelyn’s “precise,” I’ll add crisp and clean and easy on the ears. You have a lot going on there - instruments, PiP, smile. And on top of all that it looks like you’re having fun. Thanks for sharing.
  10. Barbara Shultz
    Barbara Shultz
    Gee, thanks! I am having fun!!!
  11. Bertram Henze
    Bertram Henze
    Way beyond words, Barb. My head is too full of nice comments, so I just stay sitting here and smiling back.
  12. Barbara Shultz
    Barbara Shultz
    Since posting the video yesterday, I've discovered that Beardance is a traditional tune (unsure of which country)... and my other version only marginally resembles it! So, here is a more traditional version of Beardance. I got out my Petersen cittern for this, and am playing melody on it and my Collings Mt2O mandolin.



    Here is the ABC I was working from, but I think the chords are messed up... I tried, but they didn't sound right!

    X:2003
    T:Bear Dance
    R:Polka
    C:Trad.
    O:England?
    M:2/4
    L:1/16
    Q:1/4=100
    K:Em
    "Am"B2E2E3A|B2E2E3A|"G"G2G2F2G2|"D"A6GA|"Bm"B2B2A2 A2|"G"G2G2F4|"Am"E2G2FED2|"C"E8:|:
    "Am"E2GGE2G2|"G"FED2D4|"Am"E2GGE2G2|"D"A6GA|"Bm"B2 B2A2A2|"G"G2G2F4|"Am"E2G2FED2|"C"E8:|:
    K:Am
    "Am"e2A2A3d|e2A2A3d|"C"c2c2B2c2|"Bm"d6cd|"D"e2e2d2 d2|"Bm"c2c2B4|"Am"A2c2BAG2|"D"A8:|:
    "Am"A2ccA2c2|"C"BAG2G4|"Am"A2ccA2c2|"Bm"d6cd|"D"e2 e2d2d2|"Bm"c2c2B4|"Am"A2c2BAG2|"D"A8:|
  13. Martin Jonas
    Martin Jonas
    Lovely tune. I think this is a French tune, originally called "Danse de l'ours". Michael Reichenbach has posted a lot of info (and links to notation of various variants of the tune) on his site www.mandoisland.de, but in German only:

    Link

    He has also made a lovely Youtube clip, played on a Suzuki bowlback:



    Like Barbara, Michael also plays it in three different octaves, but all on the same instrument.

    Martin
  14. Barbara Shultz
    Barbara Shultz
    Well, I have fallen in love (again) with my Petersen cittern... why haven't I been playing it this last year? Anyway, here is Beardance (King Galliard's version) played solo on my Petersen cittern, no GarageBand, "cittern... unplugged".... for those of you who love these boomy low instruments!

  15. Bertram Henze
    Bertram Henze
    I agree with Martin that is clearly a french tune. Tonality and character remind me very much of this one of Malicorne, which would fit for the dance of a much bigger bear.
  16. Martin Jonas
    Martin Jonas
    There certainly seem to be a lot of variants of this one around, attributed to different parts of Europe. I've had a go at two of them, one supposedly Spanish and the other one Flemish. Both recorded on my 1926 waldzither, in GDAEA.

    1) I found this one under the name "Danza l'Osu" and annotated "Traditional from Spain" in Allan Alexander's Traditional Dances from Spain & South America. Thesession.org also has a polka under this name, and the English name "Beardance".



    2) This one is in four different parts (the C part is similar to the other variant) and listed as a Flemish tune called either "Krebbel Reidans" or "Danse de l'Ours" (Beardance, again). I got this from the site of the Belgian folk band "Les Infants du Catiau" (Link).



    Martin
  17. WillFly
    WillFly
    Hi Barbara - thought I'd introduce myself, as a newbie here, to the owner of the Group by saying what a great melody - and beautifully played. I also play tenor guitar - mine's a custom instrument made by a local luthier here in Sussex (UK), and with a much smaller body than the one in your video.

    And good to see the pool table covered in musical stuff! :-)
  18. Susanne
    Susanne
    As far as I know it's English, at least that's what they said at melodeon.net where it was chosen the tune of the month last month. Haven't recorded it yet though.
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