From the September 30 to October 7, I was a part of an awesome strings camp down in Warburton in Victoria called Stringmania. At this camp I was formally introduced to Scottish and Shetland fiddle, as well as North Indian classical music, improvisation and folk/pop. I decided when I returned from camp that I would use the Scottish fiddle I had been learning for the last week as the inspiration for my baby steps and my composition. These baby steps were specifically based around 3 of the 4 tunes that make up Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas’ The Corrie Man track, which we had learnt on the camp. In the order they are played on the track, they are Alex Dan McIsaac, The Corrie Man and Little Donald in the Pig Pen. You can hear how it sounds below.
Analysis of The Corrie Man (Alasdair and Natalie)
As fiddle tunes are not usually written down, this analysis will give time codes and structural descriptions in order to provide and analysis of the tunes.
First of all, some general features of Scottish strathspeys and reels. Both of these types of tunes are dances, and are quite similar. Strathspeys and reels are written in duple time, which is a feature that distinguishes them from other dance tunes. Both have AB structures, which repeat over and over for the duration of the dancing, or until another tune is played. These two sections contrast quite strongly and lead seamlessly into each other. Each section is split into four 2 bar phrases, which from my experience follow something similar to an ABAC pattern. In terms of tonality, Strathspeys and reels can be modal, pentatonic or diatonic, with little in the way of modulation. Lastly, melodies are made of a constant stream of notes, normally notated as quavers (when notated). Listening to Alasdair and Natalie's version of The Corrie Man, you will hear these features in all of the tunes.
A few points specific to this version. Firstly, the tune begins with Alex Dan McIsaac, which begins with the cello playing a tonic drone up from a short appoggiatura a tone below. The tune is played as normal over the top of the drone and following cello long notes, filling out some harmony. The tune is repeated several times, with changes in the accompaniment, but otherwise the melody remains the same and is not changed in any striking way.
The tune leads directly into the next, The Corrie Man. This tune is pentatonic and a little quicker than Alex Dan McIsaac. The feature I would like to draw attention to, however, is the 3+3+3+3+4 groove the cello sets up when the A section is played a second time. It is very subtle at this point, but is made much clearer when the cello takes the melody and the fiddle takes a supporting role directly after. At 2:02 of the recording, the texture suddenly thins to just fiddle and cello. Something similar happens at 2:36, where the cello drops out and the banjo and fiddle keep playing, highlighting the peak of the melody. Leading into the last round of the tune 2:56, the violin plays some double stop quavers to build into the return of the A section, which is really effective and something I will use in my own Scottish reel. It's also worth highlighting that the cello returns again to the 3+3+3+3+4 groove from earlier at 3:05, and at 3:11 the texture again is suddenly thinned out.
The example of Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas' The Corrie Man provides some interesting compositional tools that can be used to spice up the rather simple features of the Scottish reel, and provide me with some interesting ideas for my own work.
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