peerke112 - Posted - 11/10/2008:  13:54:45

Aaarghh! sore shoulder

http://www.fiddlehangout.com/myhang....asp?id=376#

Acoustic style MIDI''s? www.bluegrassmidisound.eu

DougD - Posted - 11/10/2008:  15:56:21

Ha! Good job - I guess Daner has led several of us down a dark and winding path!

It probably doesn't need to be played quite that fast, if that's any help. Also I'm starting to suspect the version you're playing from might have been transcribed by a piano player - those ascending thirds in the A part are what gives me fits, and don't seem quite "fiddleistic."
I read somewhere that this tune sits so well in AEAE tuning that the writer wondered if thats how it was written. I can certainly see that for the A part, but I doubt it. Thanks for the post. Hope your shoulder gets to feeling better!

OTJunky - Posted - 11/10/2008:  16:06:25

This is a big tune up here in New England and, FWIW, everybody plays it with those ascending thirds.

"Fiddler's Companion" says it's a Scottish tune - attributed to J. Scott Skinner's "teacher and fiddling companion" , and further says that "John McNeil" was a renowned Highland Dancer of the time....

As an aside, I've read that there was a lot of cross-tuning in the Scottish tradition prior to Skinner's arrival on the scene but that he wanted to "stamp it out" for some reason - and eventually became a fiddler of such pre-eminence that he succeeded.

--OTJ
"I can barely fiddle on four strings. Why would I want five?"

Edited by - OTJunky on 11/10/2008 16:07:07

DougD - Posted - 11/10/2008:  16:39:23

I was pretty murky in that post. I have trouble with the ascending thirds, but I think thats the way the tune goes. Its the end of that phrase that I'm not so sure of, and the descending high triplet in the B part - I think in the video you linked Erica Brown plays an ascending phrase on the A string, but I'm not sure. Small points though. I've played this tune for years, just not on the fiddle.
I watched a show by the Battlefield Band at the 2003 Smithsonian Folklife festival, and they ended with a medley alternating this and "The Mason's Apron." Very high energy - Alasdair White is quite a fiddler. On the shuttle bus back to the hotel we got to talking about music, and they pointed out that over there the title is just "John McNeil" - the "big" was added over here, presumably somewhere in the Maritimes.

Daner - Posted - 11/11/2008:  07:41:31

You have been practising, Alot...Your one great fiddler Peerke ...and a good man

My Grandfathers last name was McNeil, From Cape Breton Island...He use to play that tune,even In competitions down east. I was only 8 when he passed away...and later when I was In my 30s i had the urge to play the fiddle...someone had a cassette tape with him fiddling and the cassette was In my truck and one night someone stole my pickup truck along with the only tape I had of him playing his tunes...some days I think Hes looking down at me, and helping me out with my new back In the saddle adventure with my new(old) fiddle.
I will keep practicing It with the first one you did to get my speed and accuracy up
Thanks
Daner

Daner From Rockwood Ontario