Joan’s Jig

  1. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    A long hike up the hill carrying my backpack to this clearing of broken trees bathing in the weak autumn sunlight. Chose this tune at the last minute; that’s because I can only ever remember tunes that are named after women, or natural disasters.
    Camera, action! and more than 20 takes just to try and get it right.
    Nope.
    This is the last take on a very cold day... but really happy I did it.

  2. Robert Balch
    Robert Balch
    That is very nice Simon! I have never heard this jig before. Looks like a beautiful place to sit and make music but it definitely looks COLD.
  3. bbcee
    bbcee
    Great rolling feel, Simon, you don't sound cold at all
  4. Ginny Aitchison
    Ginny Aitchison
    That's a cool song Simon...get it? cool..snow...I don't know how to post a picture here of our snow. Unless it's in a YT video.
  5. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    Thanks guys, this place is actually quite nice, even on a really cold day. Heavy, dense and high wind break behind, it’s above a south facing slope, ground slopes and always well drained, tons of old dry broken pieces of timber in piles and the ground itself is dark and very deep with dry pine needles, at 2500 feet air clear so sun is stronger, and when there’s snow here, you get the reflective warmth too.
    If you stay close to the ground it can feel like 65-70 degrees F. -by the way, I learned all of this from observing cats!
    Ginny, one work-around would be to post photos to a dropbox.com Now there are no excuses!
  6. Frithjof
    Frithjof
    Cool. I like the idea of playing music out in the landscape. I love the different tone/surround sound of the instrument.
  7. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    Thanks Frithjof, I wore cycling gloves most of the time.
    It was windy, but because the freezing air was very stable there would often be the sound of an airliner in the background.
    I filmed it on an iPad with it’s not-so-good microphone -had to increase the signal of the tune part by 500% - maybe too much.
    I thought it strange that the microphone appears to be inside the instrument though it’s actually about 3 metres away.
  8. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    That is going beyond the bounds of duty, Simon! What a fine piece of playing and in such a great, if chilly, setting.
  9. Gelsenbury
    Gelsenbury
    Really nice! I hope your instrument survived the low temperature and the damp.
  10. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    If the tone of the instrument changes then I’ll just change the microphone settings when I do the recordings, it’ll sound great!
  11. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    You guys are so lucky!
    At the beginning of the video clip there’s a view of the valley were I sit after my hike up the hill.

    Today I was sitting there for just five minutes and a wild boar raced out across from left to right about 150 feet in front of me. When it got to in line with the trees in the middle, someone opened fire, from near the houses or the bushes below, missed the wild boar and the bullet hit the ground about 120 feet in front and then ricocheted into the branches about 12 feet above my head.
    (It hit the ground near the dark patch a third of the way across from the left at the bottom edge of the film)

    I went and had an interview with the mayor of our village today. He wasn’t sure about the ricochet -bullets go straight into the ground, c’est sûr. I’ll probably make a police report tomorrow.
    I’m a bit shaken up because the shooter knew I was sitting there, he could definitely see me, and I could have been knocked out of the Song a Week group.
    You guys are so lucky.


    (It’s hunting season now, and I have to admit I was rooting for the boar.)
  12. Frithjof
    Frithjof
    Of course we are lucky, Simon. That’s a dreadful event.
    OTOH this is an amazing story you could a tune write about and become famous.
  13. Gelsenbury
    Gelsenbury
    Sorry to hear about that experience! Regardless of the ricochet, that shot should never have come in your direction.
  14. Ginny Aitchison
    Ginny Aitchison
    Some musicians go to great lengths to get their song done. Maybe the hunter was a banjo fan.
  15. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    Thanks Frithjof, Gelsenbury and Ginny, I’m getting over it now. Lots of flashbacks though
    A song would be cool, a funny one. ‘Why are they locking me up, again?’

    About the direction I told the Mayor (gently) that the footpath should have been closed... but apparently the land belongs to the next village, so it’s the equivalent of going from State to Federal in the Mayor’s mind.

    Saw the Gendarmes (Military Police) yesterday -a police woman who looks a bit like a punk.
    It’s a bit of a scandal here now because some of the hunters had been drinking.

    Today I climbed up the hill to pace out the ground, dimensions etc. and it gets worse. I bumped into four distressed and bewildered looking people. They were looking for one of their rifles that had been left behind in a field.
    Party’s over.

    I actually feel sorry for them though, they’re not really mean people, but there you go.

    So that’s now part of the story of Joan’s Jig!
    Back to the tunes...
  16. Bertram Henze
    Bertram Henze
    Totally missed this, and that's a pity because it is exactly the kind of video I suggested on the Cafe years ago as "play your mandolin in dangerous places", such as on top of a crane, by a creek in salmon season, while skydiving (only one take before opening the parachute) etc.
    So getting rushed past by wildlife and being shot at definitely qualifies
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