New Piece in the Style of Scottish Folksong for violin and piano

[adrianallan]

Hi

I have followed your website with interest for the past few months. I started life as a guitar player, then switched to piano and then a bit of violin and viola. My main hobby now is composition.

I wanted to share a piece that I have written in the style of a Scottish ballad. It has a few harmonic twists and turns.

Hope you like it; any feedback appreciated.

mp3 file
http://soundcloud.com/adrianallan/on-the...arnie-burn

sheet music PDF

https://www.box.com/s/853b5197991b791fa904

or score exchange here

http://www.scoreexchange.com/scores/127328.html

[Jack Campin]

It's more in the style of a fiddle slow air than a ballad. Ballad tunes are a lot simpler.

A range of two octaves and a fourth, switching between E flat and E major, and going up to fiddle third position, does not make for a tune that will catch on.

[adrianallan]

Thanks for listening

ok - yeah it probably is a slow air and not a ballad. I'm not expert enough to know the difference. That's why I joined a forum like this. My influences were tunes like Hector the Hero, which I suppose is a slow air?

It is not really intended to be a folk piece that will catch on as such in the folk scene.

The format is different for a start - piano arrangement without chord symbols, etc. It is more of a classical take on folk music. As you well know, classical music tends to include key changes and development passages etc, whereas a folk tune is does not. Failing that, it's just piece that people can enjoy playing at home.

The key of eb is not the best for the violin - but if I can play it, I suppose others can with ease as I'm not a very good fiddle player. Hopefully the E major section makes the tune a bit brighter.

Anyway, thanks for taking the time to listen.

[Trish Santer]

I enjoyed it, tho' am a self-confessed slow air addict!
As a pianist (and guitarist) too, I was used to having all the notes written for me, but now playing more for dancing and folk music, I just get the melody line plus chords and improvise the rest. If you were to analyse your structure there are some interesting chords there, but maybe best just to be less analytical and enjoy it!

[adrianallan]

thanks for listening.

There are some fairly unusual chords, but nothing much more than add 9 chords and diminished 7th chords to spice things up a bit.

I should also have said that I take my influence from arrangements such as from the old book "Songs of The North", which is (I think) a really great set of arrangements of traditional scottish music. The arranger adds harmonic interest at key points, with dimisished chords, secondary dominants, but never to the point where the charm and sincerity of the music in spoiled. On the other hand, I never really enjoyed Marjory Kennedy-Frazer's Songs of the Hebrides, where the arrangements are seem rather pretentious and detract from the music.

So I'm approaching Scottish music from fully written-out sheet music, more than the melody plus chord symbol approach - and that has informed my little air in the same style.

[John Kelly]

I enjoyed this a lot, Adrian. I did not think of it as an attempt to enter the folk arena but rather what you said about it yourself, as an attempt to create a piece in a different way from our more usual melody plus suggested chords. As a traditional player I'd be struggling with the key of Eb but then we all need a challenge from time to time and the melody line is a beautiful one. I am tempted to transpose it to a mandolin-friendly key but feel this would spoil the sadness that Eb can give rather than the brighter D or A so many of our traditional tunes are played in. Maybe Bb? Certainly caught my attention!

[adrianallan]

thanks so much for the encouraging comments. I must buy a mandolin soon - I'll put it on my list of future purchases and see how it compares to the violin and the guitar in terms of best keys (I'd never, however write a guitar piece in Eb!)

---

Stop Press

I have returned to my Sibelius software and changed the key to D major, renamed it an "air" and made a folk style PDF

I hope that people will have a go at playing this piece.

[nigelgatherer]

Adrian said, "I take my influence from arrangements such as from the old book "Songs of The North"..."

I used to have - I think - 3 volumes of that. I had a fantastic collection of Scottish folk-song books which, during a depression, I got rid of (sold, not burned). When I was younger I also built up a great collection of folk records, but again, I went through a depression and got rid of them. In my more mature years, I have replaced just about every one of them, and a lot more. God bless eBay!

OK, onto the tune. Yes, I enjoyed this too. However, if you wish constructive criticism, I'll say the following:

I feel that the third phrase (bars 9 to 12) doesn't significantly benefit from being different from bars 1-4. Without wishing to be insulting, a fault of new composers is to pack too much into a tune. This is not desirable, and to me, the tune would be better by repeating the first "phrase": i.e. bars 9-12 should be a repeat of bars 1-4. Try it out. You may mourn the loss of your creative ideas in these bars, but hell - use them in another tune. I would do the same in the B part too. I like the repeat of the final phrase, but I would change the final chord from D to a G THEN a D - what I call "delayed resolution", but I believe it has a proper musical term which I can't remember just now. Trish? And I'd slow down the last four bars.

Having said all that, you've made a very nice tune indeed, and you should feel very proud. And thanks for sharing it with us, Adrian. Hic...

[John Kelly]

Adrian, thanks for transposing your composition to the more mando-friendly key of D. I felt it warranted and attempt because of your efforts, so here is a link to the tune, played on my octave mandolin with acoustic guitar backing, on my Soundcloud page:

On The Banks of Cairnie Burn

[adrianallan]

(19-06-2012 11:25 PM)John Kelly Wrote:  Adrian, thanks for transposing your composition to the more mando-friendly key of D. I felt it warranted and attempt because of your efforts, so here is a link to the tune, played on my octave mandolin with acoustic guitar backing, on my Soundcloud page:

On The Banks of Cairnie Burn

Thanks John

I'm really flattered you took the time to do this. It really is a beautiful recording. I've never heard an octave mandolin before - lovely sound.

adrian