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Set-dances are not played nearly as widely in sessions as are the jigs and reels, but they have a wonderful stateliness I really enjoy. Their tempi, melodic shape, and keys also lend themselves to a plucked-string like the banjo. Set-dances were exhibition pieces, performed by traveling dancing-masters, often on a barrel-head or the half of a door, as a demonstration of their skills. They are often played in hornpipe time, not too fast, so that the dancer can exhibit the most complex footwork (a variant of this endures in the very slow hornpipe tempi played at feisianna for step-dancers). However, set-dances are not hornpipes, even if played in hornpipe tempo. The most obvious indication of their contrasted nature is that, typically, the B section of a set-dance will be longer than the A section; this is very unlike most hornpipes. Again, this “asymmetrical” form hearkens back to the set-dance’s original purpose as a solo exhibition. About this tune: On the other hand, this tune also shows up in English country dance collections in the 1730s, and is closely related to the melody of “The Raggle-Taggle Gypsy.” The tune was also used for a song by Eoghain Rua Ó Súilleabháin called “Rodney’s Glory”, dedicated to the commanding officer under whom Red Owen the Poet served in a massive engagement with French ships in the Caribbean in 1782. A second nautical application comes from William Shield, who called the tune “The Arethusa” after an English ship of the American Revolution, and used it in his 1796 ballad opera Lock and Key. General observations: * Don’t play it too fast! In order to bring out the triplet swing, you need to play at or below the quarter = 120 marking. * At the same time, you can get a nice sense of the “pulse”—a cross-rhythm that makes the piece danceable—by slightly emphasizing the second and fourth beats of the measure, as one-TWO-three- FOUR. This cross-rhythm is subtle but very important for dance purposes. * Generally speaking, triplets are plucked rather than slurred (but see specific slurs marked into the score). Nevertheless, even if picking each note you should seek to emulate the feel of a bowed or blown slur, by playing the first note of the triplet with emphasis and the second and third much more lightly * Overall, this transcription presents a higher density of variation, ornament, double-stops, and so on than I might use in a single AABB form. In performance, you should employ, vary, and exchange all of these articulations and ornaments differently on each repetition of a section; this provides a much greater sense of variety and individuality to the performance. * Another important source of contrast and variety is to change articulations: from staccato to more legato, from slurred to picked; and to change dynamics. The banjo by its nature is nowhere near as lyrical as the fiddle or flute, and so we need to find other ways to equal those instruments’ subtlety. * It is rather difficult for plucked strings to play the ornaments that “fall under the fingers” on flute, fiddle, and pipes—particularly the 5-note rolls (played on a single bow or breath) which are crucial to the style. So, we may have to substitute plucked triplets or hammer-on/pull-off figures in the same spots to get a similar effect. However, note those spots in the transcription where it is possible to get a true “long- roll”, as those can be very effective as well. Generally speaking, throughout the transcription, any place you have the melody note under the second or third finger, you can play a true slurred roll, using the hammer-on/ pull-off technique. * Double-stops are very important. They can add rhythmic or dynamic emphasis, imply chords (or chord substitutions), fill out the sound, and so on. It is very useful, even if you only ever intend to play melody, to begin to understand the chordal implications of these single-line melodies. Just as a piper uses the drones and the regulators to fill out, vary, and contrast settings, we can do the same on the banjo, even if we never play a full chord. * Further to the above: overall the tune is in a kind of A-Dorian tonality, with A minor being the fundamental tonic chord, but the double-stops can present a nice variety of alternate harmonizations. The most flagrant example of this is the last measure, in which the tune is resolved to D major instead of A minor. * All double-stops should be held/sustained as long as possible—particularly lower notes sounded underneath melody notes. This helps to maintain the sense of a harmonic accompaniment. * Although it is rather “non-traditional”, it can be very nice to medley this tune with a following reel in A minor or D major. The A minor reel “The Old Bush,” for example, has some very similar melodic passages and makes a nice pair with “The Princess Royal.” Bar-by-bar commentary: m. 4: The double-stop (A added below the high F# and subsequent D) implies a D major chord—again, a nice contrast to the expected A minor. m. 6: As noted above, you should hold the quarter- note B’s and high G as long as possible, sustaining the implication of a G major chord contrasting the tonic A minor. m. 10: This passage, which begins the repeat of the A section, is a nice spot to introduce a variation on the opening quarter-note phrase. Here the double- stops convey a very clear sense of A minor – G major – A minor, and thus create a nice sense of harmonic contrast. m. 12: This presents a more complete and emphasized version of the D major implied in m. 4 above. It’s thus a repetition of an idea already heard, but also an expansion upon it. m. 13: The slurred sixteenth-note triplet on beat 4 is a good illustration of a place where we can get a very “fiddlistic” ornament: with the note B under the second finger, we can pluck the note, hammer on, pull off, pull off again, and pluck the downbeat B, getting an effect not identical but very similar to a bowed roll. m. 16: Note that any spot in which the melody ascends or descends in thirds (e.g., A-C, B-D, etc), you can “fill-in” those thirds by playing scalar triplets (e.g., A- B-C, B-C-D, etc). m. 18: Note that here, and for the balance of the transcription, each time a melodic idea returns or is repeated, we try to create some sense of contrast: by dynamics, an ornament, a double-stop, and so on. In a music with so much melodic repetition, improvised melodic variation becomes an important expressive tool. Final thoughts:Generally speaking, the Irish traditional music I like best is played with a clear sense of the music’s priorities and preferences—and these are shaped by the core instruments of fiddle, flute, and pipes, as well as the voice. In my own banjo playing, I try to get as close to the sound, technique, and thus aesthetics of those core instruments. A closely-related (though not identical) setting of this tune, for tenor banjo with 4-course bouzouki accompaniment, can be found on my CD “Coyotebanjo: Irish traditional music from America,” available at http://coyotebanjo.com. An excerpt of the CD track can be found online at http://www.coyotebanjo.com/music-13.html. Ideas about harmonization and accompaniment for this tune can be found in my Mel Bay book/CD: “Celtic Backup for All Instrumentalists.” Please feel free to be in touch with questions using chris@coyotebanjo.com, and enjoy the music! Chris Smith   |
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