Wolf Molkentin Posted July 9, 2013 Posted July 9, 2013 Call it "House of Glamis" and duck the whole thing. =) Are you sure that there's no "Glamys" or "Glamiss" or whatever?
Wolf Molkentin Posted July 9, 2013 Posted July 9, 2013 Okay, having concluded my work of embellishing the instrument just today I didn't succeed in recording the final long version on top, but felt too spirited this evening not to try on a first take (which dropped in several aspekts behind some lucky moments of playing before) of "Roslin Castle" comprising chords, and like to sprinkle it into the ongoing process of learning this month's tune. So here it is, folks...
Chris Drinkwater Posted July 9, 2013 Posted July 9, 2013 Okay, having concluded my work of embellishing the instrument just today I didn't succeed in recording the final long version on top, but felt too spirited this evening not to try on a first take (which dropped in several aspekts behind some lucky moments of playing before) of "Roslin Castle" comprising chords, and like to sprinkle it into the ongoing process of learning this month's tune. So here it is, folks... Nice and Mournful! Chris
Jack Campin Posted July 10, 2013 Posted July 10, 2013 It seems in fact to be "Roslin", rather than "Rosslyn" (whereas "Roslyn" appears just from the US, NZ asf.). Locally "Roslin" and "Rosslyn" are both used - always "Roslin" for the town, "Rosslyn" sometimes for the chapel and castle. The former funny farm nearby was always "Rosslynlee". Call it "House of Glamis" and duck the whole thing. =) It was first published as "House of Glams".
spindizzy Posted July 10, 2013 Posted July 10, 2013 Ta-Da ... here's my contribution.https://soundcloud.com/chris-jordan-45/roslin
RAc Posted July 10, 2013 Posted July 10, 2013 Okay, having concluded my work of embellishing the instrument just today I didn't succeed in recording the final long version on top, but felt too spirited this evening not to try on a first take (which dropped in several aspekts behind some lucky moments of playing before) of "Roslin Castle" comprising chords, and like to sprinkle it into the ongoing process of learning this month's tune. So here it is, folks... Hi Wolf, my impression is that although you do get all the notes right (wish I were at that point already...), the piece as a whole to me sounds a little fuzzy. I believe that is because you tend to overslur the notes (especially on the left hand side) a wee little bit. Sort of the exact opposite to Patrick's take on La Luna; he painstakingly sets off every note against the next whereas you tend to weave most notes into the following ones. I believe your rendition could benefit from more deliberate staccato on the left hand side. I may be wrong, though. Other than that, it's LIKE!
Wolf Molkentin Posted July 10, 2013 Posted July 10, 2013 Okay, having concluded my work of embellishing the instrument just today I didn't succeed in recording the final long version on top, but felt too spirited this evening not to try on a first take (which dropped in several aspekts behind some lucky moments of playing before) of "Roslin Castle" comprising chords, and like to sprinkle it into the ongoing process of learning this month's tune. So here it is, folks... Hi Wolf, my impression is that although you do get all the notes right (wish I were at that point already...), the piece as a whole to me sounds a little fuzzy. I believe that is because you tend to overslur the notes (especially on the left hand side) a wee little bit. Sort of the exact opposite to Patrick's take on La Luna; he painstakingly sets off every note against the next whereas you tend to weave most notes into the following ones. I believe your rendition could benefit from more deliberate staccato on the left hand side. I may be wrong, though. Other than that, it's LIKE! Rüdiger, thank you for the positive criticism, I highly appreciate that! As to the details, I must say that I regard having learnt to implement that "weaving", that had been in my mindeven prior to starting with the EC, firstly as a welcome gain. It's part of my "fiddle style" idea (alongside of those "sawing" open fifths and that touch of arpeggio at times). OTOH your hint may come in due time. Once having learnt that melodic playing I'll have to make deliberate use of it resp. regain the liberty of using staccato in some places, even whilst playing such a mournful tune... Besides, there are one or two (repeated) moments where I as listener on my own account would like to shout: "TAKE A SHORT BREAK!" Let's see what happens next... And Chris, very glad that you like this recording once again...!
SqueezeCat Posted July 10, 2013 Posted July 10, 2013 So here it is, folks... Great to hear where you're up to! Is coming along well. If you're looking for suggestions on further progress, I'd add that you may do well to think about adding rubato. In particular, I'd encourage you to play the tune as if you were singing it. At the moment the pulse is very regular. There are many moments where you'd either speed up or slow down if you were singing. With rubato you'd bring more expression to your playing. Think you're well on the way to something charming. Looking forward to the next instalment!!
Geoff Wooff Posted July 11, 2013 Posted July 11, 2013 Ta-Da ... here's my contribution.https://soundcloud.com/chris-jordan-45/roslin Well done Chris, the overal effect is very nice.
Geoff Wooff Posted July 11, 2013 Posted July 11, 2013 Okay, having concluded my work of embellishing the instrument just today I didn't succeed in recording the final long version on top, but felt too spirited this evening not to try on a first take (which dropped in several aspekts behind some lucky moments of playing before) of "Roslin Castle" comprising chords, and like to sprinkle it into the ongoing process of learning this month's tune. So here it is, folks... There is a certain Eastern flavour to your rendition Wolf... almost Russian in places! This is a fine 'work in progress'.... but, you have a tendancy to throw in blocks of chords which are a little heavy and land on the ear (of the listener) with some disturbing effect especially in the second part.... as if you are thinking " Ah, now I have some spare fingers, I'll find a chord to put in." I would take Squeeze Cat's suggestion and play it as if you were singing the song... gently easing in the chords.
Wolf Molkentin Posted July 11, 2013 Posted July 11, 2013 (edited) Squeeze Cat and Geoff, thank you so much for the further advice! As to further progress, both suggestions seem essential to me.Easing in the chords, well, I definitely agree on the disturbing effect, Geoff. But since the aim is not to keep the fingers busy but to deploy harmonic progressions I might have primarily to dose the "fiddle" arpeggio more cautious (saving it up for endings of "rising" phrases f.i.), mellow the attack a.s.f. - however, I'll have to work on that!Then your rubato suggestion, Squeeze Cat, which seems very valuable to me. I'm glad about being more able to keep up a regular pulse as a grounding then before, but not content with the outcome in this case myself. I had already thought about slowing down at some places but barely about speeding up on others. I take it from you that there is more room for variations than I might have assumed as yet. There is a certain Eastern flavour to your rendition Wolf... almost Russian in places! I'll have to think about that, Geoff - perphaps it's not for nothing that my "single line" take has an additional starting note which just happened to me when playing/recording and thereafter always gives me as a listener the impression of echoing the beginning of Tchaikowsky's 1st Piano Concerto... Think you're well on the way to something charming. I am very happy with this comment - it is most encouraging that my idea seems to have taken shape enough to be hearable! Along with the criticism, this sets me into a balance, all the more inspired to take up the instrument again and proceed... Edited July 11, 2013 by blue eyed sailor
Stefan Posted July 22, 2013 Posted July 22, 2013 As always, I enjoyed all of your contribiutions very much, here is mine: https://soundcloud.com/squeezer-stefan/totm-roslyn-castle I couldn´t resist to add some reverb, maybe a little too much...
RAc Posted July 22, 2013 Posted July 22, 2013 I couldn´t resist to add some reverb, maybe a little too much... I'd agree that in this case, less (ie reverb) would be more. Other than that, I don't have much to comment on. I think it's a superb rendition. Agogics, harmony, phrasing - all of the above brilliant. Thumbs up!
Jack Campin Posted July 23, 2013 Posted July 23, 2013 Stefan's the closest to the way I play it so of course I like his version the best... I had an odd experience with this tune a few years ago. I played it in a pub session and there was a young Polish fiddler there (this was at the start of the Polish influx into the UK). She looked amazed and asked "how did you come to know that Polish tune?"... I never did find an explanation for that. Must look in the indexes for Rozlyczn Kaszczl as an alternative name.
Jody Kruskal Posted July 23, 2013 Posted July 23, 2013 As always, I enjoyed all of your contribiutions very much, here is mine: https://soundcloud.com/squeezer-stefan/totm-roslyn-castle I couldn´t resist to add some reverb, maybe a little too much... Hi Stefen, There is much to recommend your rendition. I enjoyed listening to it, very musical. A few things I heard were particularly effective in the bellows department: Your musical phrasing allowed for long silences at the ends of phrases, esp. at 0:11, 0:40, 2:17 and other spots as well. Your bellows control is to be admired. I heard how you changed the micro-dynamics throughout so that individual notes had a pleasing dynamic shape. At the ends of phrases where there is a longer held note, you introduced an interesting bellows technique of adding a slight rhythmic impulse that at faster tempi would sound like tremolo. Not every time, but perhaps at 6 or 8 places where each time was slightly different but all had a sort of triplet feel. A few examples would be - 0:49, three impulses making a sort of triplet 1:48, four impulses 1:28, four impulses 2:07, five impulses with a quick cut off at the end 2:25, four impulses BRAVO!
Wolf Molkentin Posted July 24, 2013 Posted July 24, 2013 (edited) Still suffering from a sore thumb (having kept me off the instrument for nearly a week) I nevertheless decided to make another attempt tonight - with take 1 unfortunately messed up by the recording machine, whereupon I messed the further recording up myself here and there... Moreover I'm particularly dissatisfied with the ending - however the new version may represent my approach on "our" tune a little better... Again, thanks to everyone for good advice (which I just started to employ on a concept which apparently tends to resist more or less; but this should be the only way to go, shouldn't it?). Besides, I like Stefan's (so very different) version too - very fine playing in fact! Edited July 24, 2013 by blue eyed sailor
Stefan Posted July 24, 2013 Posted July 24, 2013 Thank you all for the very nice comments, I´m astonished. Especially such comments from a master concertinist whose playing I admire, thank you Jody, you made my day. I´m surprised because my version is quite simple. It´s kind of easy to play on a duet, melody on one side, 1st and 5th and an occasional 3rd on the other side. The hardest thing though was to get the feeling right. The best version I played so far was in my backyard, sitting on the stairs at sundown. The sound echoed from the walls and everything just fell in place. Of course, I didn´t record it... Reproducing that kind of feeling when the recorder is running is not that easy. Here again, TOTM is a good practice. The bellows technique I use is a kind of vibrato with chords and melody keys pressed down. When I emphasise it, it becomes a tremolo, like the effect that old guitar amplifiers have build in. There, you would also adjust the tempo of the effect to the tempo of the song, triplets work quite well. I like that effect very much, and I practiced it by playing whole songs in a tremolo style, pushing the bellows in and out. That creates a constant tremolo. It works well with songs that have a shuffle or triple rythm. It´s hard to describe, so I recorded a short example: https://soundcloud.com/squeezer-stefan/dust-my-broom-intro
Jody Kruskal Posted July 24, 2013 Posted July 24, 2013 (edited) The bellows technique I use is a kind of vibrato with chords and melody keys pressed down. When I emphasise it, it becomes a tremolo, like the effect that old guitar amplifiers have build in. There, you would also adjust the tempo of the effect to the tempo of the song, triplets work quite well. I like that effect very much, and I practiced it by playing whole songs in a tremolo style, pushing the bellows in and out. That creates a constant tremolo. It works well with songs that have a shuffle or triple rythm. It´s hard to describe, so I recorded a short example: https://soundcloud.com/squeezer-stefan/dust-my-broom-intro Wow! I think you are on to something with that sound. What kind of duet are you playing? Edited July 24, 2013 by Jody Kruskal
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