After a close race, it looks like O'Carolan's Eleanor Plunkett pulled through as this week's winner. The song and lyrics have a fascinating bit of history behind them which you can read about here... http://www.irishpage.com/songs/carolan/plunkett.htm Here's ABC notation from The Session X: 1 T: Eleanor Plunkett R: waltz M: 3/4 L: 1/8 K: Gmaj GA | B2B2AG | G2G2ag | e2e2 ed | B2B2AG |E2A2 AB| A4 ga | b2 aged | e4 ef | g2g2b2 | a2 bagf | g2 agfe | d2B2d2| e2g2G2 | B2B2AG | E2A2AB | A4 | The Session has a midi and sheet music here... http://thesession.org/tunes/2575 Mandolin tab and sheet music here... http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/fo...r_plunkett.htm Here's a lovely rendition by our own David Hansen... And what about this beautiful duet featuring another of our favorite pickers, Scott Tichenor... Here's a great arrangement from the Oregon Mandolin Orchestra...
Marcy, thanks again!
I made this one, a half year ago...
Here is a three-part harmony recording I made today, based on an arrangement for tin whistle trio which I found on a Japanese website of all places. I've adapted it in places to match my instrumentation and have made it into a trio of mandolin, octave mandolin and tenor guitar. The arrangement bounces the melody nicely between the voices and I think it suits the instruments pretty well: Martin
These are all very beautiful versions. I first heard this tune on the Marla Fibish & Jimmy Crowley CD, "The Morning Star", and wanted to learn it straight away. I'm still working on it!
David, luurtie, and Martin, three great versions. Isn't it amazing how Carolan's music can be played in so many ways, and always sounds so good. Martin, your mandolin sounds really harp-like in the higher register! I guess it's something to do with the relationship between the instruments you have put together in your arrangement. Really Cool. David, You're the most prolific player of Ó Carolan music around these parts, and always get the feel just right. luurtie, I love your tremolo!
Congratulations to all! Some really lovely versions of the tune here so far. David, that guitar arrangement is beautifully played and blends so well with the mando. Luurtie, very relaxed version and the filming shows your easy style well. Martin, a super arrangement - can you post a link to the parts, please? Your visuals are well chosen too!
Francis/John: Thanks for the kind comments. The link to the parts for my arrangement is here (give or take a few instances where I have split a minim into two crotchets to make it more rhythmic): Link Martin
What a beautiful tune. Very nice David, Scott, Luurtie, and Martin. It was fun seeing Brian and the Oregon Mandolin Orchestra. I met a lot of them at Brian's River of the West camp. If you ever want to learn mandolin theory till your brains numb that's the place for you. A mansion looking over the Columbia River full of amazing teachers. [check website] Don Steirnberg is there every year. Warning: There's not a chop chord in the house.
Very nice versions all around, and a very pretty tune. Martin, that was a really nice arrangement that you found. Luurtie, you did some nice variations that made your version unique. David, I particularly liked the guitar part on your arrangement.
David- The concertina at the end. Very cool and unexpected. Luurtie- I really like your version! It takes a very gaelic/ celtic sounding song and makes it sound, (to me), more reminiscent of a civil war tune. Martin- Your arrangement among the instrument is very well thought out. The backing instruments gave room for the leads and it fit together nicely! Great job. laura- I've got to figure out how you did that on Youtube. maybe then I could do multitracks like all you song of the week pros. I'll try to get in some more practice time and record another few takes. Regardless, I'll have my vid up soon. Nice Job Folks.
Here is the vid for my second week in the group. This has been fun... I always like something that makes me stretch that little out to hit the seventh...its getting stronger. Thanks. Eleanor Plunkett-
Steady and clean picking--really nice work. 9LB Laura that's a very pretty arrangement.
Good timing and nice tone 9lb. Here is my version on a Savannah with pictures of various well known Eleanors.
I have tried playing this tune alone and with others. It's interesting how the melody is a nice dance tune when accompaniment forces you to play in strict time, and a beautifully lyrical piece when you play solo and more freely. I have tried to give this tune some expression, as far as my limited capabilities would allow.
Went out for a walk this afternoon to one of my favourite spots, the Lochan about ten minutes from my home, and took the camera. Thought of a tune to go with the pictures and remembered Eleanor plunkett, so here is my offering, on tenor guitar and mandolin.
That sounds beautiful on your tenor guitar, John. And the mandolin part adds so much to the arrangement too.
Really beautiful John. Great pictures as well.
Well done, very enjoyable.
Bit late to the party here. Great versions from all. I really liked David's fingerpicking the melody on guitar and Laura's fingerpicking guitar background and having felt that my standard strumming pattern makes things start to sound too much like a march I wanted to try fingerpicking guitar background here. Unfortunately, for me, I found it more difficult than expected. So, kudos to those that can do it effectively. I was trying eigth notes and it sounded way too busy. So here is what I salvaged from my attempts: [MP3=1]http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=111671&d=1388253429[/MP3]
I've already recorded this beautiful Carolan tune when it was the current SAW tune. This is a new and different arrangement -- simpler and a bit more uptempo, more like a dance tune than a slow air. It's based on the version in "Celtic Music for Mandolin" by Allan Alexander and Jessica Walsh. They have written a variation which uses the same progression as the Carolan tune. I'm not sure of its merits as a variation in its own right, but it makes a nice harmony/counter melody part to accompany the traditional tune. My recording is a trio of mandolin and double-tracked tenor guitar, playing chords and alternating with the mandolin on melody and harmony. 1921 Gibson Ajr mandolin Ozark tenor guitar (x2) Martin
Nice arrangement Martin, with the tenor guitar playing melody. Being in the SAW group has turned me into an O'Carolan fan, so today I tried Eleanor Plunkett:
Christian, the O'Carolan tunes seem to suit you, this is wonderful. There are many good renditions of this song here and I love to listen to them all.
Fine playing Martin, nice mix of instruments, I should say ‘mélange’ and make it sound like old music terminology. Belle mélange d’instruments, c’est un travail formidable! Félicitations! Beautiful CC. That’s it, lovely playing and tune to hear for breakfast, many thanks again.
It is so good to see the revival of those old postings; I see it was 7 years ago that I posted my version of this tune, and Martin's was back in 2015. Christian, as Ginny says, you are really putting your own stamp on those tunes now. Lovely arrangement of the two instruments and a fine balance between them, and I like your "trademark" inclusion of your instruments in your videos. Martin, I missed your one from five years back, and as always it is a fine recording and arrangement. Like Christian, you have a very distinctive style in your playing. You must be missing so much the group and live playing under the current restrictions. Here's to the restoration of "normality" some time soon.
That’s a nice clean tone you perform on both your instruments, Christian. I remember listening to all the other fine renditions above – should do that again!
Yay Dennis, thanks, that’s a nice version!
Waltz not a waltz? The Session discussion argues the point.
This seemed like good tune to try some multi tracking.
Nice recordings here! This has been one of my favourites for a long time, but I haven't played it in a while now. There's just too much to do to keep all these tunes fresh. I'll have to revisit this one.
Interesting arrangement, Mike. The sound effects add a certain outdoor atmosphere to the tune, as though we are close to a beach somewhere.
My wife says, "Too Pink Floyd."
Why shouldn’t you not be able to make a good multi track recording? And why not have fun with doing it? Sounds great, Mike.
Good entry into multitrack, Mike. Seagulls fighting over you. If this is Pink Floyd, then I must be well on my way to a Deeper Purple, I'm afraid...
Several videos are no longer visible in this thread…however, I’ve enjoyed listening to the ones that are, which have inspired me to add to the thread. Vega cylinderback mandolin Faith parlour guitar
A beautifully sensitive arrangement and so well played, John. Fine mix of the mandolin and that Faith parlour guitar. The mandolin has a great sound. I notice it was three years ago to the day that Bertram posted the last comment prior to your posting today.
A lovely revival of this tune John. I second everything John K. said!
Me too! That was a lovely rendition of a beautiful tune - one of O'Carolan's best I think, and that's setting the bar very high.
Well done John, very nice playing. This is one of the tunes that I wanted to play before I had the octave mandolin but couldn’t learn it for some reason.
Everything sounds perfect to me, a true delight to listen to!
By coincidence, John, I was just last night listening to Marla Fibish and Jimmy Crowley's recording of this tune. Good as that is, yours loses nothing by comparison. Just beautifully done. I hope your finger is healing well - on recent evidence it seems to be.
Very solemn and moving, John. Like some ghost army marching for a long-forgotten cause (which might go beyond what O'Carolan had in mind, but expanding tradition is the best we can do)
Good tone and great timing result in a very enjoyable recording, John.
Thank you all for the very positive and encouraging comments. Simon - I initially didn’t quite grasp the playing of this tune…it fell into place when I concentrated on counting the beats and focussing on what the last and first notes were in each bar and their relationship to each other (eg. after the 2 pick-up notes I play, the 1, 2, 3 and, 1, 2, 3 and, for the first 5 bars and so on. Richard - I particularly like Marla Fibish and Jimmy Crowley's version…if I can create a feel anywhere like that with a relatively stripped down version in comparison, then I’m more than happy. Bertram - as you will be aware, the tune has been presented in many ways, including solemn and moving, so I don’t think I can claim to have expanded tradition by much.
This is a tune that I come back to frequently, but I find it hard to make sense of musically. I just looked up O'Sullivan (basically the bible on Carolan) who says that there are two bars missing in the manuscript version, although the version that he prints is the full 16 bars. This does chime with my sense that there is something slightly incomplete about the tune. (He also recounts a story about how someone remarked that he had heard some of the same words in a different song, to which Carolan, always a rather choleric character, replied that in that case he wasn't going to finish the song.) Anyway, John, the point is that your playing makes complete sense of it.
You should record it, Richard. It would suit the tone of your mandolin perfectly. A lovely tune for the holidays. The melody is just so beautiful, one of my wife's favourites. I'm never sure whether it expresses deep love or deep tragedy - possibly both.
Great playing and a nice deep mandolin sound, John.
Dennis, I had a play through this morning and I was able to make more sense of it, under John's influence. But I won't record it until the memory of his great version has faded. As to what it means, it is of course a song with lyrics. And while Carolan was a composer of genius, he was a rather poor poet. I found this translation of the first verse online and, even allowing for the fact that it is a literal version of the original Gaelic, it is, well, terrible. Nellie of the flowing hair, Whose two eyes are the color of the green grass Arising to the day, O! isn't it nice for me this to say, That, it is you, of the line of accomplished men From Armagh the corrupted, Which received true greatness from the Gael By the mighty strength of their arms. (Bear in mind that the lady with green grass eyes was paying for this, nice to say.) Better just to listen to the music and divine some ambiguous meaning there.
I never knew it had lyrics. But from what you say, there may be a reason why only the tunes became popular.
Go for it, Richard…I’m not precious about how much time needs to elapse between me posting a video and someone else posting a video of the same tune…the more the merrier. Btw…the finger is healing well. The tendon has evidently knitted back together, so I have some control of the movement of the end of the finger…however, the end does droop around 25%, which may improve a little over time. The remaining pain is in the joint, due to it not being used for 10 weeks (ish). Playing mando’ has some impact on the joint, resulting in some inflammation, which causes some pain. However, I believe suffering this pain outweighs not playing…which results in discomfort on the end of the finger due to soft skin (remember those early days playing guitar?) and loss of muscle memory, flexibility and strength in the finger. Thank you, Christian…I had a little more reverb on (GarageBand) than I usually have when recording…nonetheless, the bass strings/notes do have a natural deep woody sound.
