Gig Recap & Two Songs

It's been almost a month since my last post. I'm currently balancing work, writing, and wedding planning (not necessarily in that order) and so music events have not been copious. I did, however, play at the Elk's Club as I mentioned in my last entry.

It went wonderfully. We played for about 50 minutes and the songs followed the set list we worked out minus "The Streets of London". The one problem that arose for me was the volume for my bouzouki. I played this on a number of songs and it really wasn't loud enough. I was set up with a condenser mic that really didn't do the job. The other vocals and guitar drowned out my picking quite a bit. That said, it sounded pretty good on stage. A couple friends of Gary recorded the whole show on digital camera. The sound quality was a little off and, I think, it is here that the bouzouki didn't come off all the well. I guess I'll need a pickup! Our singing was good and everything else went off without a hitch.

I'll see if I can geta clip or two from the show to post. In the meantime, here are two songs I recorded a couple days ago with the webcam. The first is "The Leaving of Liverpool", and the second "Free in the Harbour" by Stan Rogers. Enjoy.

Paddy's Day

Even though Paddy's Day is not until Monday there are, of course, parties occuring everywhere this weekend in celebration of being Irish (or not being Irish, whichever you prefer). Here it is no different. Tonight I happen to be playing with two other guys (Gary and Dave) at the Elks Club here. I've never been in the building before, but I'm sure it will be fun. We've had a couple practices and have a set list lined up. Here's what we are doing:

1. Botany Bay
2. Foggy Shores of Home
3. Fiddler's Green
4. Big Strong Man
5. Excursion Around the Bay
6. Will You Go Lassie Go
7. Walk in the Irish Rain
8. Tickle Cove Pond
9. The Streets of London
10. Catch the Wind

We have a couple back up tunes ready in case there's a situation where filler will be required, either for us or any of the other performers. In an hour I have to leave to do a sound check and final practice run of a couple songs. I've been looking forward to this, but am only now starting to get a tiny bit nervous. Nerves are funny like that.

I'll be on guitar, bouzouki, tin whistle, and bodhran tonight. I'll be switching between these the whole time. Should be fun as long as I remember what I'm playing! Hopefully I'll have pictures or a video or two to put up later. We shall see.

Fill 'er Up!

I've been working on the bouzouki regularly. I'm no Andy Irvine, but I'm at the stage where I want to use fills to make the inbetween singing parts of songs more interesting. Right now I'm looking at a melody sequence as a fill. Later I'll probably want to spruce it up a bit and make things a little more original.

The first song I've done this with is "Catch the Wind" by Donovan. This song has always been a favourite of mine. It's heartfelt, direct and has a touch of poetry about it. Anyway, I modified the fill I've heard in the Irish Descendant's version of the song and came up with this:



The next one I'll put up is "The Boys of the Old Brigade". This song has a lovely lilt to it. The fill is the last two lines of the chorus. Not difficult and leaves some room to spice it up a bit too.

An Original from Me

I usually post my own versions of other songs here, but I've decided this time to put up an original of mine called "Long Shore". This is inspired by people in Newfoundland who have had to move thousands of miles to get work. It's a situation the Irish are used to and we are used to it here as well. Numerous people I grew up with have moved away and often end up raising their families away from the place that many still call home. It's something that many of them detest and I have to agree. The ones who stay often give the better paying jobs and opportunity to remain here.

Long Shore is a place in Heart's Content, NL where I'm from. The images of the power house, etc come from my experience.

A little something of home...

First Steps

Since Christmas I've been spending a lot of time working on the bouzouki. The first thing I did was do a google search to find bouzouki chords. There are a lot of different tunings. I prefer the standard Irish bouzouki tuning - GDAD. I will, no doubt, experiment more with others as time progresses. Oh, and while I'm thinking about it, here is the site that I got them from:

Brian's Huge Chordlist Collection

There is so much I want to do with this thing that I'm almost boggled by it. It's the perfect instrument for me since it has a full enough sound to accompany singing, while being well suited to picking tunes. At the moment I'm learning some tunes I've always played on guitar and trying to work out some fills for them. I'm mainly concerned at the moment with becoming familiar with chord fingerings and keys. So far I haven't had to play much outside of D, G, or C. I can use a capo for other changes, but I'd like to go beyond this with time.

In the meantime, this is the first song I learned on the bouzouki.

Bouzouki City

Population me!

It's been a while since I've written (exactly a month now). It's been a busy December finishing off classes for the term and making sure my students are in good shape for the new year. Christmas has hit pretty hard, both the weather and the spending. But I've had an excellent time thus far, as has my fiancee.

For a while I've been eyeing bouzoukis and octave mandolins, and K has been eyeing a mid range Alegria fiddle. We both said the spending just couldn't handle these things so we went on our merry way. I later decided to buy her the fiddle as a surprise Christmas gift. I knew she'd love it. As it turns out, however, she also got me a bouzouki!

On Christmas morning I was shocked to find this hidden in the corner behind the tree: an Ozark 2222 model bouzouki. It's a flat back bouzouki with: natural solid spruce top with inlaid escutcheon, mid brown finished solid maple back and sides, slotted head, and a scale length of 660mm. I like the pattern on the body as well. Quite nice.

The sound coming out of this instrument is better than I would have guessed. A clear rich tone while providing good natural bass. As of yet I've been learning songs to play on bouzouki that I've learned for tin whistle or guitar. It's a new way of picking and strumming that I need to get used to. I will no doubt add more pictures and a couple videoes as time goes by.

My Guitar

Thought I'd post an entry about my guitar. It's a MR 710 F model Cort guitar complete with venetian cutaway, sold sitka spruce top, rosewood fingerboard, and Fishman classic FT electronics.

I bought this guitar during my days as a poor university student. One fall I received a millennium scholarship of $2000 dollars (half of which I put on my student loan). After I made sure bills were paid and I was in the black for the next month I took a trip to the local Musicstop branch and spent hours perusing guitars. I tried out some nice Takmines, Epiphones, Martins and stumbled onto Cort.

I had never heard of the brand and had to try it out. I first saw a $400 basic model without the cutaway. it looked interesting so I tried it out. It had great tone for a guitar of that dollar range and I was impressed, but not enough to fork out the dollars for it. A moved on and out of the corner of my eye saw this beauty. Beautifully made, lovely design. I took it up and began to mess around with it. I remember first playing "The Streets of London" and being utterly surprised by the clear deep sound coming from this guitar. The body had a solid coat of gloss which slightly muted the sound produced, but refined it, or so it seems to me now looking back.

I played some faster tunes (a polka or two) and even some unplugged heavy metal. I didn't think Megadeth could sound so sweet coming from an acoustic guitar I've never heard of before. I spent over an hour holding it and decided I'd take her home. She impressed me more than any of the comparable Takamines I'd played and the price was just right. I ended up paying $650 for her and to this day I believe it's one of the best deals I've ever gotten.

Six years later this guitar still plays like a dream and I find it hard to tear myself away. I think that's the mark of a wonderful instrument, the kind that just cannot be put down.

Annie Laurie and Wisteria

Two songs. One is an old Scottish song based on the poem by William Douglas. THe second is by Richard Shindell. Awesome Tune.

The Valley of Strathmore

This song was written by Andy M. Stewart. I won't ruin it with a preface...

Donnybrook Fair, The Kesh Jig

Here's a couple jigs I recorded the other day. They aren't perfect (I'm trying to get back into some tin whistle). The first is Donnybrook Fair and the second is the Kesh Jig. They are both in the key of G and fairly straight forward.

In the background you will note my walls are no longer white. This is because I'm in my new house and the computer room has a coffee kind of colour to it. Enjoy...

"Donnybrook Fair"




"The Kesh Jig"

New Digs

So I've recently moved. So recent in fact that all I have unpacked are boxes of dishes and some clothes. Everything else is stacked not so neatly in cardboard in the middle of my living room. This has left me with little to no time for recording videos or adding to my posts here. This will change however.

The house is beautiful. it's a 3 bedroom bungalow big enough for me, my fiancee, two cats and a puppy (with room to spare!). One of the best features in the house is the downstairs area. There is a beautiful dark stained/stressed bar, complete with beer cooler. It even has a beem across the ceiling in from and posts coming down from it, making the place look like a potential pub! I'm excited about the possibility of decorating the place to look comfortable and somewhat pub-like. I've got a stereo down there and a home theatre system that rocks the place. It's a great place to relax and sing a couple songs. Maybe I'll be able to bring the camera down there and record a couple. Hmmmmm...

The Witch of the Westmorland

This is a song I learned from a Stan Rogers recording, though it was written by Archie Fisher. "The Witch of the Westmorland" has mythic elements that create a wonderful atmosphere of mystery and epic intrigue. Westmorland is in the north of England, near Scotland and some of the vocabulary seems to reflect this.

Anyway, beautiful song...

Peter Street

Here's a good song done here by me with no music. Warnings against a rowdy life...

PETER STREET

Oh ye landsmen and ye seamen come listen to my song,
It’s of a trick was played on me, it won’t delay you long.
I came from sea the other day, a fair girl I did meet,
She kindly asked me to a dance, was up on Peter Street.

"Oh no," says I, "me fair maid, though I can dance quite well,
Tonight I’m bound for Wicklow’s town that’s were my people dwell."
"You’d better come with me," she said, "for the distance is not far,"
And finding her so friendly, I jumped into her car.

Now as the dance was over straight to the bed did go,
‘Twas little didn’t I ever think she’d pull my overthrow:
Robbed my gold watch and thirty pounds, a pack of fags and fled,
And left me there, stark naked, alone upon the bed.

Now when I awoke in the morning it was nothing did I spy,
But a woman’s shirt and apron up the bed did lie.
I rung me hands, I tore my hair, I cried, "What shall I do?
Ah, tonight I’m bound for Wicklow’s town, no more will I see you."

Now as the streets were lonesome at the hour of two o’clock,
I put on the shirt and apron and marched down to the dock.
The crew they saw me coming and these words to me did say,
"My dear old chap you’ve struck a snap since you’ve been gone away.

"Are those the new spring fashions that the ladies wear onshore?
Where is the shop you bought them at and is there anymore?"
The Captain on the quarterdeck looked at me with a frown,
Saying, “Jack I'd buy a better suit than that for thirty pounds”.

"I would sir, if I could sir, if I’d only got the chance,
But I met a girl on Peter Street and she asked me for a dance.
She danced my hearts deception, I got robbed from head to feet,
And I’ll take my oath no more I’ll go to a dance on Peter Street."

Oh, ye landsmen and ye seamen a warning take by me:
Be sure to choose good company when you go out on spree.
Be sure to choose good company or your find yourself like me,
With a woman’s shirt and apron for to fit you out for sea!

The Galtee Mountain Boy

Here's a video to accompany my last post. This is "The Galtee Mountain Boy". The lighting was way off in the room due to extreme brightness from the sun. The cam couldn't handle it properly. Anyway, here's the rebel song:

Tradition with a Touch of Class

Today my World Geography class and I finished off our first section related to land and water forms, which means we are moving along pretty good. The material isn't too challenging and the students, for the most part, are getting it. I had them working quite a bit this week with questions and case study material related to mountain types, etc., so I thought I'd give them a treat at the end of the week.

Well it's a treat for me anyway. Not all people like traditional music, but I thought I'd try it out on them in case they liked it. To be somewhat related to the course material I brought in my guitar to sing "The Galtee Mountain Boy". This is a lovely ballad about the anti-treaty movement in Ireland in the first half of the 20th century. This group opposed the "Free Staters" who wanted peace and a treaty with England to end the fighting during the Irish War of Independence. The people mentioned in the song were leading members of the anti-treaty group and had varying levels of involvement in the action. The "flying column" is a small, guerrilla type band of soldiers who roamed the mountains and raided from their outlaw posts in the hills. The lyrics are as follows:

THE GALTEE MOUNTAIN BOY
by Patsy Halloran

"I joined the flying column in nineteen and sixteen,
In Cork with Seán Moylan, in Tipperary with Dan Breen.
Arrested by Free Staters and sentenced for to die...
Farewell to Tipperary," said the Galtee Mountain Boy.

"We went across the valleys and over the hilltops green
Where we met with Dinny Lacey, Seán Hogan and Dan Breen
Seán Moylan and his gallant men, who kept the flag flying high...
Farewell to Tipperary," said the Galtee Mountain Boy.

"We trekked the Wicklow Mountains, we were rebels on the run.
Though hunted night and morning, we were outlaws but free men.
We trekked the Dublin Mountains as the sun was shining high...
Farewell to Tipperary", said the Galtee Mountain Boy.

"I’ll bid farewell to old Clonmel that I never more shall see
And to the Galtee Mountains that oftimes sheltered me,
To the men who fought for their liberty and died without a sigh...
May their cause be ne’er forgotten," said the Galtee Mountain Boy.

And a map I provided for the kids:



As it happens, the kids seemed to really like it. It helped them not do work as well, so this is now doubt a reason why. But who knows, maybe someone enjoyed hearing it.

A Video Drive By

Two quick videos that I recorded earlier today. The first is "Bonnie Woodhall", a scottish ballad. The second is "Will You Go, Lassie, Go?" written by a man from Belfast. It is often mistaken for a scottish tune.

Arthur McBride and the Sergeant

This is a new favourite of mine. Paul Brady played an amazing arrangement of this song back in the 70s and this is the one I've recorded here. The tuning is open G, tuned down a couple steps, making it an F tuning of some kind, I guess. Took a while to learn the interlude bit. It's the way I play it, not exactly the way Brady does, but I'm not trying to be Brady.

Anyway, here it is. It's a bit long. You might need to pause it and let it load a bit first.

Among the Wicklow Hills

This is a song I've been listening to quite a bit lately. It's written by Pierce Turner and, at least the version I know, is sung by Christy Moore. A song about getting away from it all, the complications of life, the world we've created that stagnates creativity. Here are the lyrics:

Among The Wicklow Hills
Written by Pierce Turner

The autumn evenings filled with copper shades
I see the birds' neck in the frame
A figure walks into the sunset
Someone goes past suspended from the sky

Takes more imagination
When everything's remote control
For me it's just a case of
What's on the far side of the road

Tell everybody
I'm going away for ten years
I'm going to wander
Among the Wicklow hills

The travelling children in their Sunday clothes
Lost on the corner of the Street
Fat gypsy lady smacks the windowpane
A farm dog gets out on the motorway

Takes more imagination
When everything's remote control
For me it's just a case of
What's on the far side of the road

Tell everybody
I'm going away for ten years
I'm going to wander
Among the Wicklow hills

Here is a video of "Among the Wicklow Hills" I recorded recently:

The Cobb's Pond Music Festival

So I'm not long back from the Gander music festival where Gary, Dave, and I (collectively referred to as The Scruncheons) played our hearts out to a crowd of uncertain size. There were hundreds there for sure, maybe a thousand. Just how many is for the abacus to decide.

We took to the stage and began with a good upbeat song called "Botany Bay" to get the crowd going. We followed this with "The Wild Rover", "Will You Go, Lassie, Go?", "Foggy Shores of Home", "Catch the Wind", "Rare People" (an original of Gary's), "Theresa Maria", "Dirty Old Town", and we finished up with a good jumper "Excursion Around the Bay".

I think we all did great and for the most part things sounded good. I had a couple issues with the volume on my mic in "Foggy Shores", but this was cleared up. The sound guy also wasn't sure what to do with the tin whistle and it took "Go, Lassie, Go" to straighten that one out. In all we did a great job. This was my first paid show, so go me!

Here are a couple pics of the event, showing The Scruncheons in action:



Tuning up.



The Scruncheons (Gary, Dave, and I)



My rendition of Donovon's "Catch the Wind"



"Theresa Maria", a great whistle tune.

Joining the Festivities

So I was asked to form the third man in a trio that will play at the Gander Folk Festival this coming Monday. It's been a while since I've played for such an event and immediately said "Sure, b'y".

As happens so often out here, the band consists of three teachers. I'm on guitar, tin whistle, mandolin, and vocals, Dave on guitar and vocals, and the group is headed by Gary on bass, guitar and vocals.

We have a half hour set to get ready for, so that's about 8 songs, maybe 9 if we go through quickly. Our planned set list is as follows:

Botany Bay
The Wild Rover
Will You Go, Lassie, Go?
The Foggy Shores of Home
Theresa Maria
Catch the Wind
Rare People (an original of Gary's)
Dirty Old Town
Excursion Around the Bay (extra just in case)

This is by no means the correct order. I'll figure that out talking to Gary today. We timed ourselves and this seems like it will do a half hour for us. We had a shaky practice the other night. A couple of us hadn't heard a song or two and had to learn it on the spot. The harmonies are the weakest on my part. Something I'll have to get used to them and tighten it up. Last night went quite well. We've almost got everything down to a science now. Going to put in another practice Sunday night to make sure we got it all straight and hope for the best on Monday.