Tune Add: The Sheep on the Mountain

Subject: Tune Add: it was a small, green coat-tail
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 30 Mar 04 - 01:01 PM

I was at the piano, getting music ready for friends to play in honor of St Patrick's Day, when I came across a tune in O'Neill's Music of Ireland called "The Sheep on the Mountains." It seemed like a good tune for beginners, so I began to put chords on it. Time was running short, and I hoped to quickly note the I,IV and V chords and move on.

Things were going well until I got to the three notes C# - A - F#. "Just use a D chord," I said to myself, but just then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement, and then a small, green coat-tail seemed to vanish past the frame of a nearby door. And at that very moment, the realization came to me, as if by magic, that C# - A -- F# constitute an F# minor chord.

So it was good-bye to the I,IV,V shortcut. The F#m sounded just right. But once it was in, the next G note seemed to need an Em, and so on. The next thing I knew, the Universal Graphite I/O device (pencil) was getting a workout as I tried this, tried that. Naturally I had to play rather slowly as I experimented, listened, and noted various accompaniments. And as the moments passed, a pearly mist enveloped the Mountains, and the Sheep became, if not actually magical, witnesses to magic.

If all goes well, a MIDI of the tune and accompaniment will soon appear in this thread. The accompaniment is a little clumsy, because it would take hours to notate all the left-hand fluttering I do, more or less unconsciously. So I decided to put in enough to show what the harmony is and let other people do what they like from then on.

In format, the tune was what we call a French Pick-up song (eh-eh, bebe?) but I changed it by playing the A part one more time to end it. As long as nobody is dancing and expecting a certain order of play, this is perfectly legal.

The accompaniment in the MIDI is too loud, but I don't know how to change it. So listen hard for the melody.

If anybody who doesn't know theory comes on and is actually interested in playing it, I can write out what the chords are. We'll see.

Subject: RE: Tune Add: it was a small, green coat-tail
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 31 Mar 04 - 08:26 AM

Tune hasn't appeared yet. Be patient.

Subject: RE: Tune Add: it was a small, green coat-tail
From: Leadfingers
Date: 31 Mar 04 - 12:43 PM

I am Agog !!

Subject: RE: Tune Add: it was a small, green coat-tail
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 02 Apr 04 - 12:26 AM

Joe Offer must be on vacation on something. We shall see.

Subject: RE: Tune Add: it was a small, green coat-tail
From: Joe Offer
Date: 18 Feb 06 - 03:48 PM

Hey, so I'm a little slow...

---

Click to play

Happy (early) St. Patrick's Day!!!

Nice tune, leeneia!
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Tune Add: it was a small, green coat-tail
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 21 Feb 06 - 11:17 AM

Here it is, February 21st already. Less than a month to St. Patrick
s Day. I hope somebody is interested enough to download this tune and play it for the big day.

We just had a biggish party at our house - a 100th-year celebration for my piano, which was made in 1906. We had five pianists of various skill levels, and then we had a nice Sunday dinner.

I played four pieces - O Give Me Your Hand, Ffarwel Marian (a beautiful Welsh waltz) The Snowy-breasted Pearl. To finish, I did a thunderous version of My Grandfather's Clock. My friends got the joke.

That having been done, I don't know if we will be hosting our usual St Patrick's Day dinner and session. We shall see. Just because we're not doing it doesn't mean that other people can't.

Thanks for posting the tune, Joe.

Subject: RE: Tune Add: it was a small, green coat-tail
From: GUEST,crazy little woman
Date: 22 Feb 06 - 11:02 AM

Charming tune! Maybe somebody could post it as ABC.

Subject: Tune Add: THE SHEEP ON THE MOUNTAIN
From: Paul Burke
Date: 22 Feb 06 - 11:08 AM

It's usually played at jig speed, about 10x the mp3, but wth:

X: 1
T: Sheep On The Mountain, The
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
R: jig
K: Gmaj
E|:FEF GFG|AdB cAG|AGA dcd|ABc d3|
FEF GFG|AdB cAF|GFG AFD|1GFE D2 E:|2GFE D2d||
fed efg|afd cAG|AGA dcd|ABc d2e|
fef gfg|afd cAF|GFG AFD|1GFE D2 d:|2GFE D2E||