Paul's Tunes

Trip to Pakistan

2011-08-29T12:14:00.000-07:00

I was at the Purbeck Folk Festival this last weekend and I attended Brian Finnegan's workshop. He taught us the Trip to Pakistan together with a harmony line he made up on the spot. Here is the transcription that Tina and Rachel did. Any mistakes are in my ABCing their transcription.

The Lost Kings

2011-01-20T07:20:00.000-08:00

Waldron

2010-11-18T07:08:00.000-08:00

Waldron is the place in East Sussex where my grandmother grew up, and my father had a house for many years. I guess I should mention its where my great-grandparents, my grandmother and my father are buried.

Here is a very rough recording done in the kitchen with the laptops built-in mike.

Waldron by paulfremantle

Reencaheragh Strand

2010-08-20T04:41:00.000-07:00

I'm on holiday in Kerry, staying on Valentia Island - surfing a lot, playing some music, walking, and generally having a good time. One of our favourite spots is Reencaheragh Strand. I hope you enjoy the tune:

We also had a poetry writing competition. Well not really a competition. Here is the sonnet I discovered Shakespeare had written when he visited St Finan's Bay for a quick surf:

The hard Atlantic Sea doth break
With plunging force and passing cold
And each successive wave doth make
A fresh endeavour for my soul.
The piercing light with greenest flash,
Through glist'ning sea delighteth me,
Preceding just the foamy crash -
My worries cleans'd, my aches do flee.
A glassy board beneath my toes,
Slicing through water cold, fresh, wet,
Ahead sweet calm, behind the throes,
As wave by wave here breaks the set.

So Dude - pop up - and grab that ride:
This is your time - to carve, to glide.

Blessed Margaret Pole

2010-06-17T11:51:00.000-07:00

Blessed Margaret Pole by paulfremantle

One of my first tunes (I wrote in 2006). Originally posted here.

Named after http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Pole,_8th_Countess_of_Salisbury

The ABC is at the Session. Here are the dots:

The Crab Pool

2010-06-16T04:07:00.000-07:00

The Crab Pool by paulfremantle

Another tune blog!

2010-04-10T02:12:00.000-07:00

I was looking up a tune on Folktunefinder this morning and I noticed the site redesign. Firstly, congratulations - it looks great. Secondly I noticed that the good folks there (i.e. Joe) have set it up so that you can blog ABC and it puts a nice page of notation in the blog too. Since it also indexes your tunes, I thought it would be a good place to repost the tunes I've written. Ok maybe this is just duplication, but it only took 10 minutes :-)

So here is my folktunefinder blog.

Mothering Sunday

2010-03-15T09:43:00.000-07:00

Sunday Morning Coffee

2010-02-28T05:45:00.000-08:00

A relaxed hornpipe, ideally played legato and only a bit dotted.

Here is the ABC:

X:1

The Tank

2010-02-06T09:32:00.000-08:00

This is an old tune found in various manuscripts, such as John Clare's 1820 and George Spencer's 1831 manuscripts. It was also in the repertoire of the Bosham Band from the Welch family manuscript. I tried playing various versions and ended up doing a bit of editing to combine parts from a couple. Its a simple tune and very catchy. A nice recording by the Gloworms got me onto it.

Here is the ABC for reference.

X:1
T:The Tank
O:england
M:2/4
L:1/8
K:G
|:G2g2|E2e2|A2dc|BAG2|BcdB|cdec|d2f2g4:|
|:B2Bc|dd|eccA|GFED|B2Bc|d2d2|ecAF|G8:|

The Crinan Puffer

2010-01-03T04:02:00.000-08:00

I wrote this tune a couple of years ago while visiting with my brother around the West Coast of Scotland. Well at least I think I wrote this tune. Who knows? Maybe I just remembered it! Crinan is a beautiful spot, the end of the Caledonian Canal, and the Puffers were a set of steam powered boats that took supplies to the Western Isles. Being overhauled at Crinan while we were there was VIC32, one of the last of the puffers still running. This tune came to me as we walked along the canal in the spring sunshine.

The Crinan Puffer by paulfremantle

Man of Ar(r)an

2009-12-31T08:51:00.000-08:00

Spending New Year in Ayr with my brother and mother. Trying to learn the tune Man of Aran by Darach de Brun since the other Arran is in view across the water from their new house.

Here is someone playing Man of Aran very nicely...

And here are the dots....

Barham Down

2009-12-19T06:59:00.000-08:00

Originally posted here.

I listened again to the original recording and I thought I'd do a new one. I still haven't cracked my Windows 7 latency issues. I've got the average latency down to about 333microseconds, but every once in a while there is a monster lump of about 65000 microseconds (65ms) which is well out of order.

I'm still not completely happy with the playing, but the recording is better at least! Recorded on my AT2020 with a Centrance MicPort Pro interface.

The Hampton Hornpipe

2009-12-19T06:52:00.000-08:00

Written Summer 2009 in Water Mill, NY (i.e. in the Hamptons).

Originally posted here

Seagrass

2009-12-19T06:48:00.000-08:00

Seagrass near Shelter Island. Written in Long Island summer 2009 while I was there for my parent's wedding.

Originally posted here.

Fairy Ring (continued)

2009-12-19T05:12:00.000-08:00

Here is a simple recording. Its my first recording on Win7 and as you can see I haven't sorted out the latency fully - there's a glitch about 8 seconds in and another at 25ish. I need to spend more time with dpclat.exe hunting it down.

The Fairy Ring Counterpoint

2009-11-25T01:44:00.000-08:00

(Click on image to enlarge)

2009-11-25T01:28:00.000-08:00

(Click on image to enlarge)

The Fairy Ring

2009-11-15T01:25:00.000-08:00