What next after the Bill Ochs book?

[killthemessenger]

Well it's got O'Neill's Music of Ireland on the cover. Or is this another of those things where you've got to get a hand-scribbled copy from a whistle-playing leprechaun?

[Unseen122]

The big yellow edition is a collection which was not published by O'Neill himself. It is a collection consisting of tunes he collected not all of which were included in the three books of music he published during his lifetime. There is a 'handier' edition which is O'Neill's 'Dance Music of Ireland' the book with 1001 tunes in it. This book was published after his first collection of 1850 tunes; many people complained that the original book, the 1850, contained too many airs, Carolan, and English ballad tunes and was slimmed down just to include dance music.

To get back on topic when learning tunes in any of the O'Neill collections bear in mind that the versions of tunes in these books are not the common settings of tunes played today. Personally my own advice on where to go next is to listen constantly and try to emulate what you hear and like.

[benhall.1]

The big yellow edition is a collection which was not published by O'Neill himself. It is a collection consisting of tunes he collected not all of which were included in the three books of music he published during his lifetime.

Just to add: none of the tunes is in the setting as collected by O'Neill, IIRC. Oddly enough, hardly any of them are in the settings as collected by Krassen either. To grossly simplify (that'd be me simplifying here, not Krassen ), they attempt to include in one transcription several of the variations which a modern player may have put in on several iterations of the tune when Krassen was recording them. I used to think that it was just terrible, but I'm coming round to the view that, from an academic point of view, there is some merit in it. Kassen himself apparently didn't want to call it O'Neills.

This subject comes up every now and then so, rather than de-rail anything here too much, I refer you to this old discussion where the various points of view were laid out fairly starkly - the bits on Krassen (round about page 5) are interesting, IMO, and I try to look past the horrible bits running down one tune or another, despite having played my part in that :

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=78476&p=989478&hili ... en#p989478


Carry on.

[MTGuru]

Is the Big Yellow book the Krassen then? Mine is a soothing flesh-color with brown and orange graphics. And lightly stained after an unfortunate incident with lamp oil or something a few decades ago.

[killthemessenger]

Another can of worms, then. Oh well... maybe I'll just stick to Bach and Telemann!

[benhall.1]

Is the Big Yellow book the Krassen then? Mine is a soothing flesh-color with brown and orange graphics. And lightly stained after an unfortunate incident with lamp oil or something a few decades ago.

I suspect (you may have said so at one point) that, like me, you got yours when it was first published. Mine has faded too, and is also stuffed full of bits of paper, with scribbles of tunes on.

[benhall.1]

Another can of worms, then. Oh well... maybe I'll just stick to Bach and Telemann!

Well, Bach's one thing, but there are plenty of worm cans around editions of Telemann, since, as I've just read in Quantz, there were already different editions that had been hacked about for various purposes during Telemann's lifetime. So, which one(s) has/have been used as the basis for the modern editions?

[killthemessenger]

Sigh... this is of course true, and you come across variants in the various editions. In fact, I believe that the only extant original printing of the flute fantasias is entitled "for the violin"!

[brewerpaul]

Plaid-- if you're playing mandolin, have you discovered mandolincafe.com ? It's the Chiff and Fipple of mandolin and there are a great bunch of people there.
If you think WHOA is bad, you should see MAS (Mandolin acquisition syndrome). We have cheap whistles for $10-- in the mandolin world, cheapies are considered in roughly the $400-700 range!

[Flexismart]

I used 'The Tutor for the Feadog Stain' - currently out of print, but some helpful soul may lend you one.

Here's a comprehensive list of where you could go:

http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/17105

[plaidpotato]

If you think WHOA is bad, you should see MAS (Mandolin acquisition syndrome). We have cheap whistles for $10-- in the mandolin world, cheapies are considered in roughly the $400-700 range!

Arrggh, I know. This unfortunate impulse is actually what led me to whistles. Right now, I can't even remotely hope to support an MAS habit. So instead, I've been substituting various other, cheaper instruments. I've already bought a ukulele (which I have tuned like a mando), several harmonicas, and about 10 whistles. Currently, I'm fighting the impulse to buy a melodica, alto recorder, flute, clarinet, and/or tenor banjo.

[CelesteGB]

If you think WHOA is bad, you should see MAS (Mandolin acquisition syndrome). We have cheap whistles for $10-- in the mandolin world, cheapies are considered in roughly the $400-700 range!

Arrggh, I know. This unfortunate impulse is actually what led me to whistles. Right now, I can't even remotely hope to support an MAS habit. So instead, I've been substituting various other, cheaper instruments. I've already bought a ukulele (which I have tuned like a mando), several harmonicas, and about 10 whistles. Currently, I'm fighting the impulse to buy a melodica, alto recorder, flute, clarinet, and/or tenor banjo.

You could always throw in an ocarina

[Kypfer]

Currently, I'm fighting the impulse to buy a melodica, alto recorder, flute, clarinet, and/or tenor banjo.

... don't fight it. The stress derived from living without them is far worse than the disappointment achieved from buying a lemon ... at least then you can look forward to buying a better one

[nancymae]

I'm fighting the obsession to get a concertina!!! But, I already have a fiddle, a good 10 whistles, a piano, a guitar, and an Native American flute! None get the time they deserve. Currently I'm in the fiddle-faddle and also the whistle. Friends are coming to visit in September and they like to JAM!!

Music is a wonderful thing!!

Nancy