Tune Req: The blackbird - Sharon Shannon

01 Mar 03 - 02:57 PM (#901215)
Subject: Tune Req: The blackbird - Sharon Shannon
From: vindelis

I am looking for the notation of 'The Blackbird' as played by Sharon Shannon. I have tried J C's ABC tunefinder without success. Or at least I can't see what I'm looking for, which doesn't necessarily mean it isn't there!

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01 Mar 03 - 05:11 PM (#901273)
Subject: RE: Tune Req: The blackbird - Sharon Shannon
From: Brían

I'm sure it's there buta Google search with "Sharon Shannon Blackbird" brought me this.

Brían

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01 Mar 03 - 08:36 PM (#901386)
Subject: RE: Tune Req: The blackbird - Sharon Shannon
From: smallpiper

I found at least two dozen tunes of that title on the abc site don't know if any of them are the one your looking for though

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01 Mar 03 - 09:25 PM (#901407)
Subject: RE: Tune Req: The blackbird - Sharon Shannon
From: fiddler

The Blackbird I know is a traditional Irish tune which fits with a traditional Irish hard soled dance!

I have the dots for that and can send them MIDI or scanned and posted depends what software you have mine can decode midis to dots!!

After that with mimickry being a high form of comliment if you want to work up to Sahraon Shannons version take it away.

The base tune is brilliant!

The Dance is superb

They are her if you wan tthem - no probs.

A

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01 Mar 03 - 11:03 PM (#901437)
Subject: RE: Tune Req: The blackbird - Sharon Shannon
From: GUEST,sorefingers

Always played too fast. In O'Niell's 1001 but not quite correct see other versions notably J. Roche's.

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02 Mar 03 - 06:21 AM (#901590)
Subject: RE: Tune Req: The blackbird - Sharon Shannon
From: vindelis

I have found that the version Brian found on Google, is number 234 on JC tunefinder. As fiddler mentioned, and from what has been found to date, by one and all, it would seem that Sharon has arranged the tune to fit her own playing style. At least I do have a copy of the relevant CD! Thanks to everyone. Julie

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02 Mar 03 - 06:29 AM (#901592)
Subject: RE: Tune Req: The blackbird - Sharon Shannon
From: fiddler

S'cool,

As Guest sorefingers mentionsed - as with most (Irish especially) tunes often played too fast! therby in my estimations often loosing the music!

Good luck! Enjoy!

A

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02 Mar 03 - 07:11 AM (#901608)
Subject: RE: Tune Req: The blackbird - Sharon Shannon
From: belfast

Allen's Irish Fiddler has a fairly straightforward version. It's a set dance and probably should not be played at breakneck speed. And there is a song/slow air version somewhere - probably in O'Lochlain's Irish Street Ballads.

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02 Mar 03 - 10:05 AM (#901663)
Subject: RE: Tune Req: The blackbird - Sharon Shannon
From: fiddler

I could sidetrack here and mention colleraine Jig which is beautiful slow (almost a slow air) but all to ofen (for me) - look at opinions thread - is played far too fast!

I hope the balckbird comes togather anyway

A

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02 Mar 03 - 10:25 AM (#901666)
Subject: RE: Tune Req: The blackbird - Sharon Shannon
From: Brían

The hornpipe version was written by a Mrs. Galvin of Co. Clare which she based on the lovely song of the same name.

Brían

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03 Oct 10 - 01:59 PM (#2998827)
Subject: RE: Tune Req: The blackbird - Sharon Shannon
From: GUEST,josie

does anyone know what sort of accordion sharon shannon uses to play this song ( know she plays a few different types)

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03 Oct 10 - 06:21 PM (#2998977)
Subject: RE: Tune Req: The blackbird - Sharon Shannon
From: Steve Shaw

Too fast? Not quite correct?? Dots??? Anyone remember when learning Irish tunes was an aural tradition? Sheesh.

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03 Oct 10 - 06:48 PM (#2998993)
Subject: RE: Tune Req: The blackbird - Sharon Shannon
From: michaelr

Guest Josie -- you may get more useful answers than that by posting your query on the forum at thesession.org. There are a number of knowledgeable box players there.

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25 Oct 11 - 09:11 AM (#3244496)
Subject: RE: Tune Req: The blackbird - Sharon Shannon
From: GUEST,peddyr

it's two tunes Padraig O'keefes slide and the Happy one-step

ABC's and notation on thesession.org

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25 Oct 11 - 10:01 AM (#3244520)
Subject: RE: Tune Req: The blackbird - Sharon Shannon
From: GUEST,Peter Laban

Unfortunately for Brian above the set dance version was published before Ellen Galvin's time. She did however turn the air for Seán Ó Duibhir an Ghleanna into a set dance.

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25 Oct 11 - 02:29 PM (#3244647)
Subject: RE: Tune Req: The blackbird - Sharon Shannon
From: GUEST,leeneia

"Anyone remember when learning Irish tunes was an aural tradition? Sheesh."

More than a year has passed since those words were posted, and we're still waiting for that person to aurally transmit the song for us.

But anyhow, we can now hear Sharon Shannon playing "The Blackbird" on YouTube. It's a great little tune.

I have a copy of the Roche collection and a copy of O'Neill's, and I think that however you play them, their "Blackbirds" are different tunes from Sharon's.

I believe it's time to follow up on peddyr's suggestion of Padraig O'keefes slide and the Happy one-step.

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25 Oct 11 - 02:40 PM (#3244651)
Subject: RE: Tune Req: The blackbird - Sharon Shannon
From: GUEST,An Buachaill Caol Dubh

In Kerr's book of Fiddle music, in a section on Slow Airs, there's a version of The Blackbird with a sentence or two telling how (I quote from memory) it's a staple of Irish traditional fiddlers, but no two of them ever plays it alike. There are words to it too, concerning the exiled Stuarts (James VII, the "Old Pretender" and father of Bonnie Price Cherlie, was known as the Blackbird), and one version can indeed be found in O'Lochlainn. Of course the set-dance is fairly similar, and much faster.

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25 Oct 11 - 02:53 PM (#3244660)
Subject: RE: Tune Req: The blackbird - Sharon Shannon
From: GUEST,Peter Laban

Paddy Tunney once sang the song for us, after we played the set-dance.


It's a few years since the question was asked, we'll assume the OP has learned the tune by now, it's easy enough to pick up. Without the notes.

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22 Feb 17 - 02:56 AM (#3840656)
Subject: RE: Tune Req: The blackbird - Sharon Shannon
From: GUEST

blackbird by Sharon Shannon is on The Best Celtic Anthems...Ever released in 1999

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24 Feb 17 - 01:49 PM (#3841271)
Subject: RE: Tune Req: The blackbird - Sharon Shannon
From: Helen

There is a lovely version of Blackbird by The Chieftains from their album called The Celtic Harp, with a beautiful harp rendition by the late great Derek Bell.

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24 Feb 17 - 11:02 PM (#3841357)
Subject: RE: Tune Req: The blackbird - Sharon Shannon
From: leeneia

I'm trying to make a MIDI, but it comes out to only 28 measures. Any thoughts? 32 is usual.

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25 Feb 17 - 04:44 PM (#3841549)
Subject: RE: Tune Req: The blackbird - Sharon Shannon
From: Noreen

Which tune are you trying to make a MIDI of, leenia?
There are at least three different tunes referred to on this thread!

Helen's link above is no longer available, but I think it'll be the same as this:
Chieftains Blackbird
The group plays the set dance, followed by Derek Bell playing the song tune, returning to the set dance with the group.
Very similar of course, but not identical- and neither are anything to do with what Sharon Shannon plays :)

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26 Feb 17 - 03:10 AM (#3841605)
Subject: RE: Tune Req: The blackbird - Sharon Shannon
From: GUEST

You can do one of two things;

Pay with some real money for a published score or, as Steve Shaw rightly suggests, think of it as a folk tune (gosh!) and just play it. Musicians always have the latter option. It's what makes us musicians rather than paint by numbers artists.

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26 Feb 17 - 03:48 AM (#3841611)
Subject: RE: Tune Req: The blackbird - Sharon Shannon
From: Will Fly

Reasonable advice, GUEST - but it's worth remembering that some people may really want to learn a particular tune but find learning it by ear very difficult, even with constant repetition of the piece available in front of them. Everyone has different skills.

I have a reasonably good ear and can pick up most things but, just now and then, I've really wished there were some dots available as a reference point. Where none have been available, I've loaded the version I want to play into Audacity. When loaded, I use Audacity's facility to slow the tune right down without changing the pitch. I then isolate consecutive sections of the tune with the cursor - say a bar - and play those short sections over and over, writing down the dots as I do so.

I then have all the dots - plus some memory of what I've heard - so I can play the tune all the way through. I did this with the Frankie Trumbauer solo on Bix's "Singing The Blues" and on a very nice version of "The Blackbird" by Duck Baker.

It's the modern equivalent of what we used to do with pop music on vinyl many years ago - play the 45rpm record at 33rpm, bit by bit! So - there's more than one way to skin a cat... And let's not be snobby or holier-than-thou about it.

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26 Feb 17 - 01:47 PM (#3841743)
Subject: RE: Tune Req: The blackbird - Sharon Shannon
From: Helen

Hi Noreen,

I just checked the link I posted and it works for me on Firefox but your link is to the same version from the same CD, so that's good.

I have assumed that the harp solo is Derek Bell and I haven't tracked my CD down yet to confirm it, but the CD cover (shown on the video link) says A Tribute to Edward Bunting, with the Belfast Harp Orchestra so I may be making an incorrect assumption. It sounds like Derek Bell's style but I'll find the CD and check.

Will Fly, thanks for outlining your method for learning tunes.

I can listen to a piece over and over, and cannot seem to pick up the tune on the flute at all, can do it sometimes on the harp if there are not a lot of accidentals (fiddle-faddling with sharping levers while trying to work out a tune is very distracting) but I have discovered that I can learn tunes very quickly on the ukulele. I think it's because the notes are linear, unlike a piano with white and black notes and the harp with sharping levers. I know I am a slave to the dots, but I am attempting to overcome this. It's useful knowing both methods, I think, but I am not a natural at picking up tunes by ear so I have to work harder on that method.

This thread has alerted me to something which confused me. I tried a few times to find the music for The Blackbird but everything I found didn't really match what I had heard on the CD by The Chieftains so I gave up. I now know, thanks to this thread, that there are probably as many versions of the tune as there are musicians playing it.

Thanks everyone,
Helen

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26 Feb 17 - 05:28 PM (#3841776)
Subject: RE: Tune Req: The blackbird - Sharon Shannon
From: leeneia

The OP (back in 2003) asked for the notation of 'The Blackbird' as played by Sharon Shannon.

There are two YouTube videos of Sharon Shannon playing a tune called the Blackbird. I've been working with the live one, in color. The other video merely shows an album cover. The tune seems to have 28 measures.

Anybody else hear it that way?

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27 Feb 17 - 12:57 PM (#3841965)
Subject: RE: Tune Req: The blackbird - Sharon Shannon
From: leeneia

Well, no. I didn't think it was in 4/4. Nonetheless, I'll drop it and let people go to the Session for the music. Use the tune names, not the numbers, to search.

I checked the first part, the slide, and the music does indeed seem the same. So often statements that Tune A is actually Tune B are inaccurate.

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27 Feb 17 - 02:22 PM (#3841989)
Subject: RE: Tune Req: The blackbird - Sharon Shannon
From: GUEST,Peter Laban

'Use the tune names, not the numbers, to search.'


I did give the links above, it would seem to me that wouldn't require searching as they offer a direct, let me say it, link to the tunes.

[i]'So often statements that Tune A is actually Tune B are inaccurate.' [/i]

I don't know what you're trying to say here.

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27 Feb 17 - 03:40 PM (#3842000)
Subject: RE: Tune Req: The blackbird - Sharon Shannon
From: Stewart

as stated earlier by GUEST,peddyr this is a slide, Paddy O'Keefe's version. On the youtube Sharon plays two different tunes - the first one is Blackbird. The slide is written in 12/8 time, so it's really a type of jig - four sets of 3 beats per measure.

Here is the score as Sharon plays it. Of course she plays it very fast, so it's hard to follow.

There are many versions of the Blackbird: a set dance, played much slower in a hornpipe rhythm (4/4); a regular hornpipe; and a slide. And each player has his/her own version.

Cheers, S. in Seattle

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27 Feb 17 - 03:45 PM (#3842002)
Subject: RE: Tune Req: The blackbird - Sharon Shannon
From: GUEST,Peter Laban

There are many versions of the Blackbird:

It's probably safer to say there are a number of unrelated tunes that share the same name.

There;s the song/air and the set dance that are based on the same melody. There's the hornpipe. And there's Sharon Shannon's recording.

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