Killing some time at home, leaving the window open to make sure there is still life out there. Trying to mimick Simon's natural touch by making it look more "live" and adding some ambient sound. Bank of Ireland ist a funny piece - I like to think that the A part is debit and the B part is credit.
Thanks for this Bertram. I don't know this tune, will have to take a look at it. I like your 'natural' setting - Simon still wins with his feet dangling in the water though.
Nice one Bertram. I always love the control you have over those flying fingers! Ginny, knowing Bertram, I imagine he has his feet in a basin of water just to emulate Simon's outdoorsy vibe. Plenty of music on the go among us all, I imagine, and postings will be up.
Great playing Bertram, and nice to hear you. I too like those flying fingers, no indecision there! And I like seeing the tram going past, where do you live? I’ve not been playing much recently. Mainly just right hand exercises and coordination. It’s the lockdown. Life has suddenly changed. My apartment is in a 19th century building with thick stone walls, nice in the summer, but very old, thin, bouncy wooden floors. If I drop a pick the neighbours can hear it roll to the centre of the room. We are all in the building most of the time, so establishing new agreements has been problematic -just because everyone wants to get along, and there’s a strange feeling of silent respect. That’s until the 12 year old upstairs turns on the French pop music and does her daily 3 kilometre jog. And the bouncing ceiling makes me laugh, see kids, no respect! At eight o’clock at night the silence is suddenly disrupted by the church bells and then people open their windows and for a minute there’s a loud clammer with clapping and cheering and whistling like at a football match. Then silence again. At the moment if I go out I have to have a reason that’s on the French Government’s list, otherwise it’s a 135 euro fine, then 400+euros. Ambulance-cars race past every now and then, though I haven’t seen any police -they’re probably across in the city now. All the same, if I walk down to the stream in the little steep valley below the village here in the South of France, then I’m going to need something like a psychiatrist’s health certificate. A lot of people at the moment know that dangling your feet in streams is good for you, so getting that certificate to go out would probably be quite easy, though the medication not so. If I do lose it, I’ll go down to the stream and record some tunes for you at midnight. Though the place will probably be crowded!
Thanks Ginny, John and Simon. John, the idea with the basin of water is absolutely hilarious - why didn't I think of that? Simon, I am in the Ruhr area, Europe's biggest urban place, but it feels like Legend right now (think: Will Smith). The sound of a tram every now and then is a welcome reassurance. No zombies at night - yet.
It's chaos I tell you, chaos! I don't think Simon will have any trouble getting a psychiatrist's certificate, we could all sign a form or something. And to top it off Simon actually has a pick that rolls, what the heck are you using ?
Chaos it is. Indeed, I got a form from my employer, so I'll be able to drive to work in case of a curfew. On the other hand, I heard the big difference between France and Germany is in the habit of panic-buying: German shops are out of toilet paper and noodles, French shops are out of red wine and condoms - if that is true, the French are in much less need of a certificate than the Germans. Meanwhile, there has been a proposal in the social media here that all musicians open their windows this Sunday 6pm and play to the neighborhood. I'm game.
So how was the Sunday evening open-window gig? My neighbour plays euphonium and obviously hadn't heard of this idea either - otherwise I'd have heard him!
we opened our top floor windows and played a set of reels on OM and harmonica. No other window opened, nobody else tried to play. No response. Probably all were listening to the news: the German chancellor is quarantined, and there is a curfew in place (no more than two people may be seen together in public at a time).
I played too! Really enjoyed it, thanks for the idea Bertram, I went through tunes from one repertoire book at random (in the morning too) and arrived at Round the Horn, I’d already annotated the chords (in G with even a Bm, Em at the end) played slow for a while with just chords and a then a sort of relaxed impro, slowing on the minors. 16 degrees C that evening. Next Sunday too.
Thanks for your musical greetings, Bertram. The problem on Sunday evening was probably that you played your OM so loud. Otherwise you could have heard me playing the Ode of Joy and the Lovers Waltz on my balcony. Only three degrees Celsius at my place. Let’s do it again next week.
Ouch! 3 degrees Frithjof, that’s courageous! Yes me too, we could do a Sunday 6pm thread? I’d really like to get out on the roof, but not sure what my building compatriots would say! Cycled 2 miles down the hill today, came back empty handed, the queues, but happy for the exercise and fresh air. Had a cop frown at me in the street, I guess everyone picks up food in cars now. Also, funnily enough I’ve started to take out all the sad songs and tunes from one of my repertoire books.
Since our local session has been separated, physically, one of our players thought of a simple procedure for making a virtual session with just two phones each and WhatsApp: It's like a steampunk version of the kind of collaboration we have seen here on SAW, but not less fun for it.
What a great way to spend time playing along with others. You all seemed to be having a ball. Wish I had shares in any of the phone companies right now!
Love the virtual session! Need the banjo recorded first so we can hear your octave better although that's probably how it'd sound in the pub.
Great idea by your session mate and 5:25 min fun for us.
I can't match the virtual session, but I did want to deposit the Bank of Ireland. Not sure about debit and credit, but it is full of notes. This is what I wrote on YT: My most popular video by far has been Poll Ha'penny, which featured pictures of old Irish halfpenny pieces. With this one, I am making another bid for the Irish trad/numismatist crossover niche. Fun fact: the Bank of Ireland was a British institution and continues to be - it is now headquartered in Belfast. The Irish bank, featured in the last picture, is the Central Bank of Ireland. Second fun fact: see the bill for one and a half guineas, or one pound, thirteen shillings and three halfpence. This is the older, simpler world to which the anti-metric folk would return us.
Thanks for the notes and the fun facts! That sounds like a difficult tune. You play it very well.
Good tune played at a good pace, Richard.
Thank you both, Dennis and John. Not especially difficult, Dennis, though it took some practice to get it up to tempo. The main challenge is remembering the shift from D mix to D major from the A to B parts and then, crucially, the shift back to D mix (a C natural) at the end of the B part. I think that is the charm of the tune (and I imagine what Bertram meant with his remark about the A part being debit and the B part being credit, at the top of the thread).
Very different to Bertram’s recordings, Richard, but very good and enjoyable! Fun to look at these old banknotes.
Interesting, but one question remains floating in the air: why a piece of music about a bank?
Why a tune about a bank? Because banks always need lawyers! No they are are of course talking about the River Ireland. Great playing Richard, nice tone. The Banks of Allan is another nice tune about a river.
Thank you, Frithjof, Jairo, and Simon. The question is: why did no one question the title of "The Retail Financial Institutions of Lough Gowra"? I think, Jairo, (and pace Simon) that the reference is more to the fine Bank of Ireland building in Dublin and less to the financial institution that was once housed therein (or the river). But it is important to remember that the titles of Irish tunes generally signify nothing. When I was doing my migration video (which rested upon the false premise that the titles of Irish tunes did mean something) I made a simple typology of Irish tune titles: people, places, migration, and whimsy. I think this is a place (though it could conceivably be whimsy). But we wouldn't hear the tune any differently if it had a completely different title - and of course many Irish tunes have several different and unconnected titles.
Your investment in this tune should yield very good returns, Richard. Jairo asks "Interesting, but one question remains floating in the air: why a piece of music about a bank?" I suppose it's because both tunes and banks are full of notes?
Thank you, John. I thought I'd give it a punt and see if it generated any interest.
Clever pun(t) there, Richard!
Thanks, Richard, for adding a much friendlier version (harmonics-wise) of the A part (I would be in arrears with your bank, just in order to sit in the lobby and enjoy the furniture), and all those witty ideas
Thanks, Bertram. This version sits nicely under the fingers on the mandolin, so I didn't have to invest much time in this.
