The “Swedish Jig”’”, sometimes known as Arthur Darley’s, is a most unusual tune. In the first part of the tune a time signature change occurs in bar 7 from the standard 6/8 to a 9/8, just for one bar, before reverting back to 6/8. In effect you play an extra half a bar. Also the first part consists of 12 …
Lesson 70. Sonny’s Mazurka
Polish in origin, mazurkas are not very common in Irish music. Sonny’s Mazurka is arguably the most well known of the mazurkas played in Ireland. As mazurkas are written in 3/4 time the rules that you use for waltzes also apply to mazurkas. In this tune most of the bars have a crotchet on the first beat followed by two …
Lesson 69. Old Blackthorn
This tune is one of those lovely 16-bar reels in the key of D Major, of which there are many in Irish music. Structurally it is a very simple tune, containing only three chords. You may experience some difficulty in the first bar when going from the first D triplet then having to immediately cross over the third string to …
Lesson 68. O’Carolan’s Draught
One of the better-known compositions of the great Turlough O’Carolan. Tony has set this arrangement in 4/4 rather than 2/2 or “cut” time, that is 4 groups of 2 quavers rather than 2 groups of 4. This is a subtle difference although with a tune played at the somewhat slower tempo than a reel, or even a hornpipe, the difference …
Lesson 67. Nell Fee’s
Tony learned this lovely 3-part polka from the playing of New York button accordionist Patty Furlong. 48-bar polkas are not common in Irish music and are not used much for sets. Tony consulted Marie Brouder here in Melbourne about this. Marie is the number one person on set dancing in Melbourne and she could only find one dance that was …