Tune Req: Pairs for Nonesuch and Jenny Lind

Subject: Tune Req: Pairs for Nonesuch and Jenny Lind
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 25 Jan 13 - 04:13 AM

Just a simple request about Sesssion tunes:

1. What goes well with Nonesuch

2. What goes well with Jenny Lind?

Cheers

L in C#

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Pairs for Nonesuch and Jenny Lind
From: TheSnail
Date: 25 Jan 13 - 06:00 AM

Round these parts (Lewes, Sussex) we play Uncle Bernard's Polka followed by Jenny Lind.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Pairs for Nonesuch and Jenny Lind
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 25 Jan 13 - 06:03 AM

This is very wacky, but we play Jenny Lind then go into "I'll Tell Me Ma". Don't knock it. It's the most popular thing we do!

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Pairs for Nonesuch and Jenny Lind
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 25 Jan 13 - 06:31 AM

Thanks both,most helpful.

Nonesuch anyone?

Les

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Pairs for Nonesuch and Jenny Lind
From: GUEST,Don Wise
Date: 25 Jan 13 - 10:33 AM

Jenny Lind(the one key version) + The dark girl dressed in blue + any thing else which occurs to me on the spur of the moment!

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Pairs for Nonesuch and Jenny Lind
From: Ringer
Date: 25 Jan 13 - 10:42 AM

Nonesuch is always danced to the tunes "Nonesuch" and then "A La Mode de France" for the siding part.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Pairs for Nonesuch and Jenny Lind
From: GUEST
Date: 25 Jan 13 - 03:56 PM

Brighton camp /Jenny Lind

Gerry

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Pairs for Nonesuch and Jenny Lind
From: Banjo-Flower
Date: 25 Jan 13 - 03:58 PM

above was me

Gerry

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Pairs for Nonesuch and Jenny Lind
From: GUEST,John Foxen
Date: 26 Jan 13 - 08:36 AM

We've just started pairing Jenny Lind with a bouncy Fanny Frail.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Pairs for Nonesuch and Jenny Lind
From: GUEST,gutcher.
Date: 26 Jan 13 - 09:56 AM

In the days of the farmhorse the long harvest cart used in S.W. Scotland was known as a " Jenny Lind".
The question is, was it so named because it ran sweetly or was it developed when Jenny Lind became known in Scotland in mid Victorian times?.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Pairs for Nonesuch and Jenny Lind
From: BrendanB
Date: 26 Jan 13 - 10:07 AM

We use Maggie Watson's Polka which is, I believe, an Orcadian tune to go with Jenny Lind. Ringer, Do you know where I might find the dots for A la Mode de France? We always play the Nonesuch as a standalone tune but I would like to find a partner for it.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Pairs for Nonesuch and Jenny Lind
From: GUEST,Don Wise
Date: 26 Jan 13 - 10:18 AM

Whoops, sorry....... I meant "Girl with the blue dress on" although "The dark girl dressed in blue" will 'work'.

Of course it does depend on which version of JL you're using and your instrumentation......

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Pairs for Nonesuch and Jenny Lind
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 26 Jan 13 - 11:00 AM

Thanks people - all good advice

Les

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Pairs for Nonesuch and Jenny Lind
From: GUEST,Harry Basnett
Date: 26 Jan 13 - 11:26 AM

Try Nonesuch with Horses Branle...

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Pairs for Nonesuch and Jenny Lind
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 26 Jan 13 - 12:28 PM

Thanks Harry sounds good. Do you live local to Manchester?

Les

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Pairs for Nonesuch and Jenny Lind
From: terrier
Date: 27 Jan 13 - 05:53 AM

From: BrendanB - PM
Date: 26 Jan 13 - 10:07 AM

Do you know where I might find the dots for A la Mode de France?

A la Mode de France is pretty well the same intervals as Nonsuch but instead of playing it in Dm, change your Fnat to F# and play it in the key of D.

Les, just try writing your own polka to go with JennyL. More satisfying.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Pairs for Nonesuch and Jenny Lind
From: GUEST,PeterC
Date: 27 Jan 13 - 06:25 AM

But why does Jenny Lind (or Nonesuch for that matter) need another tune with it? It is a perfectly good tune to stand alone (IMHO)

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Pairs for Nonesuch and Jenny Lind
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 27 Jan 13 - 07:42 AM

Truenoughski Peter, why are tunes played in groups anyway?

John Kirkpatrick (I think) suggested it came from the 1920s US recording industry - you could fit 3 Irish tunes (Michael Coleman et al) 0n one side of a 78 record.

We played Horses Brawl at a recent Ceilidh for seemed like a dozen times and would have enjoyed a secong tune.

Hey Mr Terrier,best wishes to you both, I have tried writing tunes but they tend to sound like trad tunes with the guts missing - but maybe I'll try again. Do you have loads of good tunes ready to share?

Les

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Pairs for Nonesuch and Jenny Lind
From: BrendanB
Date: 27 Jan 13 - 10:15 AM

Here's a thought - Nonesuch, Horses Bransle and Bear Dance. Could go on for about 15 minutes!

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Pairs for Nonesuch and Jenny Lind
From: Marje
Date: 27 Jan 13 - 10:40 AM

Yes, I've heard John Kirkpatrick's observation about the habit of playing "medleys" of tunes for a dance. He claims that it used to be normal to stick to one tune throughout a dance, and than when 78 rpm recordings began, they wanted to offer more variety. A 32-bar tune (English, Scottish, or Irish) played at a normal dance tempo will take about half a minute, so you can fit in three tunes each played twice through (or two played three times?) onto one side of a 78 record. Three minutes also became the standard length for a popular song, for the same reason.

Modern English bands vary in their approach to this - some will keep playing one tune throughout a dance, but if they do this they'll often add some variation in the later rounds. More commonly they'll change tune about halfway through, possibly more than once. Scottish (RSCD) dances are almost always danced to medleys of three or more tunes, usually with key changes.I don't know what the custom is with Irish social dancing now.

English session players (and Irish sessions in England) have followed the pattern, most often playing sets of two tunes, each played three times through. We had a fiddler from Orkney at our (English) session and she tended to change tunes after twice through, which confused us. We also found it less satisfactory, because when you hear a less familiar tune, you need to hear it at least three times to find your way into it.

The reasons for all this may well be as JK says, but I also think there's something about a three-minute song that seemse very natural. With the exception of long story ballads, most songs can say what they have to say, lyrically and musically, in about three minutes. I'm not sure it's the same with dance. It's simply that dancers are now used to a change in pattern after several minutes on one tune. Session players, too, just like a bit of variety, and I can't see that most of them would want to play one tune more than 3 or 4 times - hence the two-tune habit.

Marje

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Pairs for Nonesuch and Jenny Lind
From: terrier
Date: 27 Jan 13 - 04:58 PM

This youtube video of   Nonsuch   uses the original tune and changes to A La Mode at 1:46

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Pairs for Nonesuch and Jenny Lind
From: Mo the caller
Date: 27 Jan 13 - 05:05 PM

I think Les' group is a cross between a 'session' and a 'ceilidh band'.

John K's comments may be fine if you are playing alone. Same tune dozens of times and put variations into it. A small band that is used to working together can also figure out variations, solos, key changes, 'you play the tune the second time through and I'll improvise' etc. Rehearsals.

I've played with the Lancashire Workshop band, (click local bands and scroll to the bottom ) which is a similar group. There they use 'twice each down the page' and it avoids confusion.