Re: [Harp-L] Ashokan Farewell

[Eric Nielsen <ericbarnak@xxxxxxxxx>]

Just tried the tune out on a Chrom. It sounded quite nice--and being a slow
tune, my limited chromatic skills weren't overtaxed.
It was nice to use some octaves for embellishment, too.

I still think the overblow-on-diatonic solution works (just tried it on a
low E diatonic--don't have a low D). It's not an easy technique; but it
comes with practice, and  this is a good tune to work on sustaining an
overblow with good tone.

I think I may end up preferring the chrome for this tune. I should get over
my chrome shyness and reach for the button more often.

Eric

On Tue, May 8, 2012 at 4:56 AM, Steve Shaw <moorcot@xxxxxxx> wrote:

> .
> >On the other hand, there can be beauty in spareness too. I think of the
> Ashoken Farewell less as a waltz than as an air, and a lot of the old airs
> pre-date harmonised accompaniment. I like the sound of the >diatonic
>  (Seydel Melody Maker) for (Southern) American fiddle tunes although it
> would be really great to have a "diatonic" with BOTH the flatted and
> sharped sevenths available without having to bend.
> Emily, a lot of slow airs started as songs that were sung unaccompanied,
> as, for example, in the sean-nós tradition in Ireland. The melody would be
> highly-ornamented, rhythmically very flexible from verse to verse and
> replete with pauses and drawn-out phrasing. You might just get away with
> that in Ashokan first time through, but otherwise there isn't an awful lot
> to play with unless you add plenty of harmony. You'd just sound as if you
> were pulling the tune about. There is a version somewhere with words put to
> it, but it made me clench a certain portion of my anatomy when I heard it!!
> Some of those piping tunes with flattened 7ths are best played in second
> position. The ones with both both Cs and C sharps have me reaching for my D
> chrom. A valved diatonic would do the trick as well as long as your bends
> are in good order.  I'm a self-confessed non-overblower and I suspect I'm
> not alone!
>
>