This week’s tune is yet another entry in my series of “tunes with critters in the name.” It’s a jig called The Cow That Ate The Blanket. Next week, I’ll do one last tune in this series. It’s not that I can’t find plenty more tunes with critters in the name, it’s just that I’m getting bored with it! Perhaps next week’s tune, The Horse’s Leotard, can segue into a new series: “tunes with nonsensical titles.” Ha!
Continuing with the theme of “tunes with critters in the title” is week eight’s tune, a slip jig called “The Kid on the Mountain.” It’s a five-parter (as opposed to the usual 2-part tunes I’ve been learning), so I only played through it once in the video. Honestly, I had such a bad time making this week’s video that I don’t think I could’ve gotten through the tune twice without a major malfunction. Let’s just say I’m having a “bad flute day” and leave it at that. Here’s the video:
Week seven’s tune… a day late! Hey, I was out of town, and today’s a holiday, so it still counts as the weekend. 🙂
In any case, this week’s tune is a reel called “The Hare’s Paw.” Since I seem to have an unofficial theme going (“Tunes with critters in the title”), I’ll continue it next week with a slip jig called “The Kid on the Mountain.”
Ok, after last week’s poor iPhone video, I’m back to using my real camera. I’m also doing another jig: Gander in the Pratie Hole. Cute tune…weird name. I have no idea what a “pratie hole” is. The best Google could tell is that it’s “something to do with potatoes.” Go figure. Next week I’m gonna switch it up again with a reel called “The Hare’s Paw.”
Hey gang! This week’s tune is a jig called Shandon Bells. I’ll apologize in advance for the poor sound quality on the video. I experimented with using my phone instead of my real camera. Let’s just say the experiment FAILED. Anyhoo, here it is anyway. What’s that? You want to know why I didn’t rerecord it with my real camera? There’s no time for that! It’s Super Bowl day and I got stuff to do. Go Ravens!
Once again, I went back through my old session recordings to find another tune that I’ve put off learning for several years. It’s a reel called Sporting Paddy, and the recording I used to learn it is from March 2010. Check it:
Hey folks! This week’s tune is a jig called Trip to Athlone. This is another tune that has been hanging out in my “gotta learn” list for the past several years. The recording I used as my guide was made on February 25, 2010, so that should give you an idea of how long I’ve been neglecting to sit down and learn it. Anyway, here it is:
So, this week’s tune is a reel called The Mountain Top. It was fairly easy to pick up and is fun to play. Those who know me know that I get really nervous when performing in front of other people. You’d think that playing to a camera, with nobody standing there staring at me, would be easier. Somehow, it is not. I get the same nerves, the same inability to breathe properly, the same “oh, God, please just let me get through this without totally screwing it up.” I’m hoping that that nervousness will fade over the course of this project. I guess I’ll have to wait and see. Ah well, here’s the video. Enjoy the beach towel curtains in our spare room. We keep it classy.
The Home Ruler is a a tune that I’ve been meaning to learn for at least 3 years. I have a backlog of recordings that I’ve made at various sessions over the years, and The Home Ruler is one of the earliest recordings I have that I never actually got around to learning. The recording I’ve used to finally learn it is from 9/28/2009. It still needs work, but I could prob’ly bust it out at a slow session and keep up with the group (more or less).
I have been playing Irish music (flute & tin whistle) for almost five years. I dig it, but I tend to get lazy when it comes to practicing and learning new tunes. I came up with this little project as a way to practice more, build my tune repertoire and, I hope, become an all-around better player.
Let’s talk New Year’s resolutions. They say that to really stick to your resolutions, you need to set up specific, attainable goals, and have a plan to actually attain those goals. Yeahhhh, that’s not my strong suit, usually. Last year, I told myself that I was going to learn a new tune every week. In the end I learned, maybe, ten new tunes all year. D’oh! So, this year, I decided to make the same resolution, but this time, document my progress publicly in a blog. At the end of each week, I’ll post a video of me playing that week’s new tune. Constructive criticism is, of course, welcome. Nasty, unhelpful criticism is not. Seriously. Don’t be a jerk. I will hunt you down and hurt you. Or just say mean things to you. Whatever.
Anyway, for my first tune I went back through my old “need to learn these tunes” lists to see if there were any tunes on those 4-5 year old lists that I still haven’t learned. And I found some (tho’, surprisingly, not many). This week’s tune will be a hornpipe called The Home Ruler.