This week's winner is an IT tune, Ten Penny Bit. Almost 5 years ago, this tune had a run here as an "Other Tune". Here's a link to that discussion! Here is a link to five setting for the tune on the session.org. On that site, they say it's also known as Billy’s Awake, Cock O The North, Jan Koop Mij Kermis, The Ten Franc Piece, Ten Penney Bit, The Ten Penny Bit, The Three Little Drummer Boys, The Three Little Drummers. Here's the video that Martin Whitehead started the discussion with in November 2010. Here's the video I made for that first run! It's sure been a while since I've recorded any videos!
Here's my version on a Jimmy Moon mandolin and Tom Buchanan Bouzouki. I haven't touched the flat top for a while - I've been in an f-hole phase - and fell out of love with it but I took it with me on holiday and had a holiday romance. It seems to suit these A dorian Jigs with all the sweet ringing open strings. The video of it cuts out near the end as the battery on my camera gave up - I was racing to the end against a flashing low battery charge light on the camera- the camera won.
Hey James, well done!! I love the sound of your flat top mando and your accompaniment on the zouk really complemented the melody very nicely. Here's the Art IN Hand String Band. Carrie Wild on fiddle, Dusky Loebel on guitar, and myself on mando. We always had fun with this one.
Extremely nice James and great backup. Woodenfingers, sounds like you and your band are having a great time – nicely done. Here's my version of the Ten Penny Bit. It's played on my 1913 Gibson F2 mandolin. The guitar is tuned DADGBD and capoed at the 7th fret. Love this mandolin for the pretty stuff!
Five very fine versions, from Martin's initial posting to the latest here. All very listenable and the differences in the instruments add to the enjoyment.
Y'all are sure on top of it this week! James, I absolutely love your arrangements of these trad tunes. You nailed this one. Those hammer ons and pull offs are so pretty in your version, Michael. I'm happy to say I must be picking up some of your style because I'd started working on adding those in the same place while playing around with the tune yesterday. What a fun band, Bob. I like the sound y'all have together. Barbara, your five-year-old version sounds fantastic. I can only imagine how great you must sound on it now.
After hearing all the fine versions of this jig I recorded a quick take on mandolin with guitar backing this evening and posted on my Soundcloud page. Did not have time to get the video going as I wanted to get this out while the tune was fresh!
Managed to record a clip this morning on video. Wanted to show the new mandolin I have just finished!
I like the way you kick this song off, John. And the whole tune is so happy and delicate the way you play it. I bet Bertram would have something to say about being able to hear pixies dancing in the glen. Your new mandolin sounds amazing.
I'll pass on this one, I think. I have changed little in my rendition since the one in that "Other" thread, so it would boil down to a late summer rerun. I can see that James Rankine has approx. done the style I would do it in, anyway, and his is excellent. Thanks Marcy for the credits, OTOH... John's new mandolin indeed has a scintillating brilliancy to it (and I like the purfled binding!), but pixies is not what I'd expect to dance in glens, especially not in Scottish glens - those are for giants (I always felt being watched by creatures bigger than me there); in general, the elementals described in the Celtic west (from the leprechauns and stray sods of Ireland to the trowies and selkies of Orkney) do not share the disneyesque playfulness one would associate with pixies - they are more the kind your parents warned you to beware of.
Ha, That's exactly why I leave the metaphors to you, Bertram. I checked out your version on the other thread. That was great, and much more like a giant in the glen. What a blast from the past that old thread is! I miss a lot of those folks.
I must admit I'm always a little self-conscious when posting a jig to the Cafe. I have never been able to play DUD DUD as the prescribed method for picking jigs. Truth be told I am not sure I could tell if anyone else was picking that way or not. So here is my non- traditional, incorrectly picked version of Tenpenny Bit.
David - great playing! I love the sound of that mando. I certainly can not tell whether you are DUD DUDding or DUDUDUDing. When first watching Michael's video I wondered if he was DUD DUDding but he goes to fast to tell... John - your new mando looks as good as it sounds! Michael - your F2 still has a wonderful sound either because of, or despite, its lengthy life. You can also jig up a storm there. Nice.
That's true Rock&Roll David, and I am not DUDDUDing either, so who am I to inform the DUDPD?
John: that's a beauty of a mandolin and a well played jig. Gotta love the bowed bass and the driving mandolin from David. I don't DUD DUD either. I just try on get the stresses right with DUD UDU and it seems to work alright so far...
As far as I understand it, DUD DUD is intended to give players the best chance of generating that rhythm of two beats in a bar, three notes to a beat ... everyone here has managed to create this pulse regardless of pick direction, so all goals have been achieved. I've started learning this tune. Let's hope I can get enough practice in this week to post "on time".
So, we all admit to not sticking rigidly to the DUD DUD picking pattern! I can hear the Thought Police TUT-TUTTING at our sacrilege. Great to see so many folk playing the jigs in the way they feel comfortable with. David, the Sobell is sounding great there, and thanks too to those of you who praised my new mando; I'm quite proud of my latest build!
Great video, David. I know I'm often confused by your choice of pick direction, but to my ear on this video it sounds no different from a DUDDUD picking pattern! You did a great job with the accents and rhythm. I hope I'll be able to record a 100%-DUDDUD version during the week!
David, what a cool and original take on this one. That sounds absolutely awesome with the bowed bass.
Great playing everyone! Really nice versions. David, love that bass, timeless and ethereal. Fine guitar and mando too. James, great stuff, and your bouzouki is fabulous. Last week, before hearing your video, I made a sort of octave-something + mandolin version, but I really don't have a clue how to play octave accompaniment so I was just kind of stumbling through it and doing some single-note stuff with sort of drones/unisons. I like yours better. Anyway below is mine which has tons of errors, kinda wished I'd noticed all my funky notes while I was playing it instead of later after I'd already put the video together, oh well. This is my brand-new cheap Rogue mandolin, recorded the same day I took it out of its factory shipping box (I put on a new set of light gauge strings that I prefer, and lowered the bridge a little, but otherwise it was already set up reasonably good). I stuck a low-cost pickup on it and ran the sound into my Roland Micro Cube so it might just as well be an electric mandolin, but I may have things set wrong (pickup location etc) because it's thin sounding, will have to experiment more. (or direct link)
Interesting version you have created with the electric mando sound (I like it!) and the guitar tuned in 5ths.
I find the DUD DUD discussion interesting. When I started playing mandolin I figured I would be doing old time and bluegrass, and most of my early tunes were with the straight DUDU picking. I slowly began doing more and more IT music, probably because my earlier non-mandolin experience was with Celtic music. I came to a point where I realized that should be my focus (with a little old timey stuff mixed in) and I started taking lessons from a very accomplished guitar/mandolin/tenor banjo IT musician. At the time I still played everything DUDU, and I thought my jigs sounded pretty good nonetheless (BTW David does do a great job as well). I told my new instructor that another guy I took some lessons with took the view I have seen here which is, if it sounds good, don't worry about it. My instructor, however, insisted I try and learn the DUD DUD picking. In fact, he said to stop playing jigs until I could get the hang of it. I'm glad he did. First, as good as I thought they sounded before, the jigs I knew before I figured this out sounded better. Second, once it became automatic, learning and playing new jigs became MUCH easier. It really was much easier to get the hang of than I thought it would be. I struggled with it before, but that was because I was always thinking about it when I played the tunes. How my instructor got me started was to just play G and D scales DUD DUD with each note as a triplet for a few minutes every day. Then after a couple of weeks, I took a couple of jigs that are almost all triplets and played them slowly - I recommend The Kesh and The Lilting Banshee as good ones. You see, the thing that throws you off of the DUD DUD pattern are held eighth notes and pick-up notes, so playing runs of triplets is much easier to stay on the right pattern. Also, tapping your foot on the first down stroke of each triplet helps. As he told me, eventually it become automatic. I'd say it took me about a month to get pretty consistent. Another advantage to getting proficient on DUD is when you play hornpipes. Those great triplet runs you see in hornpipes are almost automatic once you get the hang of the picking pattern.
My trick was to practise the DUD DUD pattern without any mandolin at all - just holding a coin and brushing it over my other hand in rhythm, while sitting at my desk, on the bus, or watching TV. Once the right hand knows what to do, it really does become easier to learn new jigs. Of course, I never developed much speed either on jigs or on 4/4 tunes. But DUD DUD I can do.
great to see and listen to many great versions, thats a sweet sounding mandolin John and who doesn't covet David's Sobell! i enjoyed learning this one, played on the cheap plywood backed octave. anyone else struggle to go back to the mandolin after playing an octave ?
Nice version and very well picked! You're right that it can be hard to go back to the mandolin after playing the octave. I prefer my octave for the pipe tunes I enjoy playing - the lower octave and the greater sustain give the tunes an extra, I feel.
As solid as ever Lawrence, and the crowing B part is well pronounced. Am I struggling to go back? Nah, I've given up
Since I started taking online lessons with Marla Fibish, I've been de- and reconstructing my jig picking. I could already do DUD DUD, but we've been working on emphasising the third and sixth eighth notes (quavers) a bit more to improve the rhythm. I'm also working on my triplets and on putting tunes together in sets. So here's Tenpenny Bit together with Rakes of Kildare. Ten pennies for a rake seem like a very good price. I hope it's not junk.
Well played, sir. Fine transition between the two tunes.
Nice playing Dennis. I will go to your page and leave some pretty comments.
Dennis, clear and expressive picking, but in times when a luxury top hat went for 10 shillings and sixpence, and when you could cross the Liffey for 1/2p, 10 pence for a wooden rake sounds expensive... I totally forgot about Rakes of Kildare, must revive that.
Great sound snd picking, Dennis!
You’re sounding more like Martha every day Dennis. She’s my favourite jig player, no... I mean you are! Well played.
Thank you all! Good point about inflation, Bertram.
Some great versions of this tune already been posted here…just adding to the list.
What a great, driving version of this tune, John W. A very worthy addition to the other postings here three years on from the last one.
… and so nice to listen to this Vega mandolin again. It sounds great played by you, John W.
yet another thread rising from the dead, exploding with life. Rattling triplets and clear ringing tone. That's how the mandolin comes into its own.
Again, very skilful and a perfect rendition. I'll echo John K's comment on the Pelagia thread about the very different skills you display and the very different sounds you coax from the instrument in the two pieces.
Great wrist dexterity, John and a fine sound fom the Cylinderback!
Thanks all for the comments. Apologies for the delayed thanks…I’ve been distracted with other things recently.
My take on a tune which a friend of mine aptly described as the archetype for all A Dorian jigs... Bare bone tab and dots to provide a launching point into the tune (and which you'll doubtless wish to embellish/personalise as you become more familiar with the tune) can be found here https://crosseyirishmandolin.files.w...or-new-tab.pdf
Lovely triplets on your mandolin John W and warm, sensitive performance. Aidan very clear and precise rendition, nice echo.
A good clean version, Aidan, as Simon says. Who needs ornaments when the tune is so good?
@Simon... many thanks for the kind words. @John ... likewise. Sometimes less is most definitely more. John's comments reminds me of a session I was visiting several years ago. I'd been playing with a few people one Sunday afternoon. A new session which had started up locally and I didn't know any of the protagonists. But we'd had some tunes together - a nice gentle pace, no egos, ggod crack all round - and, of course, a few sherbets. They said they were heading off to another session straight after; did I fancy tagging along? Well - why not? In for a penny, in for a pound. (Or - dad joke/trad joke alert - in for a Ten Penny Bit, in for a 42 Pound Cheque.) On the way over, one of the crew was very excited because a "name" fiddler was due to turn up that evening. Up he turned, indeed. And immediately commandeered the session. I struggled to take part because he was adding so many rolls and flicks and cuts to every tune (and playing so blindingly fast) that I couldn't make out the underlying melody of those tunes which I know well until it was just about time to change to the next tune in the set. I had the misfortune of being sat beside him and I would have struggled less if I had been able to tune into one of the other players. Never mind. As a masterclass in fast, furious, intricate fiddling it certainly succeeded. As a session, not so successful.
Very nice playing, Aidan! You also play some triplets in this jig. Not as many as John does, but some triplets in the right places move the tune nicely forward.
Well played, Aidan…very clean with the triplets ideal in quantity, ideally located and very well executed.
Thank you for the positive comments, Simon.
@John (W). Many thanks, John. Where triplets are concerned, I think my playing has gone through three phases. The first in which I attempted to play triplets, badly, at every conceivable opportunity. The second where I eschewed the playing of triplets almost altogether. The third - relatively recent, and current - phase where I have begun to reintroduce triplets into my diet. But this time with some thought about not over-using the device and favouring ascending three-note triplets where opportunities present, rather than single-note "machine gun" triplets. (Coincidentally, I spelt opportunities wrongly before I spotted the error prior to hitting the "post message button. I'd spelt it as "oppportunities". So, clearly I'm introducing trippplets into my typpping as well, these dayyys.)
