Lockdown collaborations don't just keep us sane and connected, they're also great fun! So here's one between Simon and me: It seems strange, with this group's penchant for Irish music, that Out on the Ocean has never been a "song of the week" or "other tune". But I can't find it in either table of contents, so here's a new thread! I always think about this as a "dreamy" rather than a "muscular" jig, and it certainly evokes gently rolling waves and the wide-open space of the sea. Take it as a kind of homage to the holidays that we may, or may not, be able to enjoy in this crazy year. Simon and I started with a melody track as a base and recorded each track separately to align with it. We shared MP3 recordings online, mixed everything into a single audio file, and added some pictures of the sea (or other bodies of water) taken in France and England. Enjoy the summer!
Wow, like it - its a wall of sound and rhythm.
Lovely stuff lads, and yes, isn't it odd that such a classic tune never ended up posted in the group before!
Everyone is collaborating. Great to see.
Marvellous effort, Dennis and Simon. This co-operation process is really taking off in a big way. I loved the mandolin tremelo around 1:20. What and who next, I wonder?
Nice music and pictures!
Thanks Dennis (who did most of the work on this one). Dennis begins with the mandolin. I did the two harmonised OM tracks played one octave above -capo job and one octave below. My favourite part as John pointed out is where Dennis comes in with the mandolin tremolo, then his flutes and whistles too. I’m happy with the result, it does sound like a full concert! I think this is the second or third tune I ever tried to learn. I had lots of repeated mistakes on it, couldn’t play it, so this time around it was a pleasure to iron them all out. Thanks also to Dennis’ technological expertise in the post production editing phase -trying to decide which instruments go where is a big job.
"I think that might be it" And dreamy it is indeed, also the pictures could go well with Pink Floyd's Grantchester Meadows. I can't believe I never recorded that, must search for it, probably hidden at the end of some set. If not, I'll record it.
Nicely done lads.
Didn't find it, so here goes... Who said this is not a muscle jig? Any tune with an open G string must be a muscle tune.
Yep, you've convinced me.
I love the two distinct versions of this - nice job, you three!
Thanks for both versions.
thanks Dennis, bbcee and Frithjof
Fine decisive playing Bertram. That book on the table, it looks like one of my repertoire books. How many do you have?
actually, it's a bible, Simon.
Bertram - I had some help here (yesterday was a stat holiday- Canada Day) and found most of the artist's pictures you wanted to know about. Do you want me to email them to you? Or, I'm not sure if you were kidding me...? I'm like Simon, I thought that was like one of my overflowing tune books.
Send me a PM with the names of the artists, please, Ginny. No I was not kidding My "repertoire book" is a loose collection of sheets printed from thesession.org, stuffed in a side pocket of my OM case, the more recent ones floating inside the case, under the OM. Not that decorative.
Me too, I’m interested in the names. For repertoire, I use those ‘books’ of 60 leaf clear plastic, and I’m hyper organised! Each tune has it’s destination folder pretty much decided as it’s printed out, but each tune also has, for me, a sort of identity of it’s own that begins to form. One motivation factor is that each printed page costs me 15 cents (plus the tree). Some folders are classed by language, country and genre. My main folder at the moment is ‘Already Posted to YT’ in posting order. I can play the playlist (and use the folder as a guide). This helps to reinforce the tunes by ear. There are two ‘Want to record in the next two months’ folders, one is for tunes that require techniques that I’m still working on, and the other folder is for tunes that I want to record but... want to record.
I've mentioned the pond that has been my project since early spring. Well, it is finally.... no the sensible gardener never says finished. It is presentable. As oceans go, it is on the small side.
I am fascinated how well the water's murmurs blend with pick and finger noises, Richard. You couldn't do that with ocean breakers. The whole tune has become a fairy dance
A very gentle ocean, as Bertram says. Lovely arrangement and well up to your usual playing standard, Richard. Great wee pond too!
I don't know whats better, pond or tune! You got Talent for sure! Great tune and playing. But that pond is awesome! Nice work!
The music sounds as relaxed as the water that flows into the beautiful pond, nice work, Richard!
Thank you, Bertram, John, Frank, and Christian. You are all right - the tune is really more pond-like than ocean-like (closer to Dennis and Simon's earlier version, than Bertram's, which properly invokes ocean breakers). Incidentally, the audio of the water is the soundtrack from only one of the video clips on a loop. Otherwise you would have had lawnmowers, leaf-blowers, cars, and all the other joys of suburbia that I have described before. As for the pond: glad you like it (and in truth this posting was more about the pond than the music, for once). It is, I suppose, a wee pond, but not a wee amount of work.You wouldn't believe the amount of soil that had to be removed. I'm proud to say that I did everything myself except the electrics. Somewhat ironically, I have been slowed down by the constant rain (I don't know how your summer has been in New England, Frank, but down here in MD it has been very wet - bad for the tomatoes, and bad for pond-making). I had to pump water out of the pond at least four times before I got the liner in place - ridiculous since it was lovely, unchlorinated rain water.
It has been raining a lot around here, too, Richard, and our heating has switched itself on last night. Plus, they're building a new housing area park near us with a larger pond - they stopped work for the rain, and they'll have to pump it dry before deploying those vast rolls of lining stacked just behind. Sound familiar? Talking of sound - I listened to my own recording above again, and in fact I do have an ocean of traffic noise I play along to (it being the series of Covid-driven open window videos). So the pond recording is totally in line with all of us
That does sound familiar, Bertram. It's exactly what happened to me on several occasions. I had even part filled the liner to hold it in position, when there was a massive storm that filled the whole pond. I had to pump half the water out once again because I hadn't cut the liner properly or attached it to the waterfall and skimmer units. I know background noise is par for the course. It can be very frustrating, though. It always feels like it is the perfect take that is interrupted by the fridge, the leaf blower, or the loud car.
A lovely recording as well as a beautiful pond, Richard. A little bird took a bath in the new pond. Certainly a swan will make a guest appearance in one of your next videos.
Thank you, Frithjof. A swan would be quite something! I don't have much video evidence yet, but the birds do like it, both for drinks and for baths. The "beach" was designed with that in mind, so that they can as far into the water as they feel safe doing. (The sparrows sit on the edge, but the catbird goes right into the water.) The round dark thing on the edge of the beach is a solar powered fountain, which the birds also like.
I fondly remember those days of lockdown when traffic was minimal, nature was recovering from human abuse, priorities were reconsidered, and people were getting creative about how to connect with each other rather than exploit each other. Right now, though, all I want is a pond. I hope you'll spend many happy hours playing mandolin by that pretty water feature.
Thank you, Dennis. It's good to see you around. Getting a pond is simple. All you need is: a spade, a lot of time and infinite patience, about $3000 (even if you do all the work yourself). And now we have a frog (unfortunately too late to appear in the eponymous galliard).
Many thanks Richard for bringing this lovely tune/thread back to life. Lovely graceful playing and really well done on your pond, so refreshing to see pebbles in the water. (As luck would have it I slept in a tent next to the Great River Ouse last night, and saw a thin slither of the moon rise over the water with Dace, Rudd and Silver Bream splashing on the surface. It's very warm in England at the moment).
Thank you, Simon. Great to see you around too. I am very envious of you in a tent by the river.
It's nice to hear some lyrical and thoughtful (and skilful) takes on this session warhorse. I've played in lots of sessions where well-known tunes such as this sometimes get "thrash'n'burn" treatment. it's (sadly?) the case that in Irish music circles - and possibly, I suspect, in other traditional music circles; though I wouldn't know from experience - familiarity breeds a certain amount of contempt. Any way, I was inspired by Dennis and Simon's duet and Richard's take on the tune to revisit it. I was surprised to find that I struggled a bit to get the tune back into my fingers. I was happy as Larry playing along with others' renditions (as, indeed, I've been happy enough playing along in sessions). However I've been playing "The Eavesdropper" a lot lately which shares a bit of DNA with "Out On The Ocean". Not quite so much as, say, The Cowboy Jig but there is sufficient crossover that my subconscious kept steering me back towards The Eavesdropper... I persevered. It all came good(ish) in the end and eventually I was able to hit the record button to catch a slow(ish) version with a few variations that I'd been playing around with.
What a super tone and great playing of a favourite tune here, Aidan. I like the pace and I agree with you about some of the sessions and the speeds we encounter. It is almost like a battle to be top gun, fastest in town. While there is no doubting the skills of the performer, the tune is often sacrificed on the altar of speed. Your version here, with your variations, is so enjoyable to listen to, as is that very clean tone you are getting in your recording.
Thanks, John... That's kind of you to say.
Lovely clarity of tone and precision of playing, Aidan. The variations are really interesting and add a new dimension to an old favourite. Of course, I agree with John on the question of tempo (my own rendition being pretty much the same speed as yours).
Clear and lofty tone with a hint of reverb, Aidan, like drops of water hitting an underground lake (yet without the splashing, so it's rather last drops from a bottle of Single Malt hitting a Glencairn glass). That's the filter function of electric instruments: pick click can't make it through pickups.
