- Forces
- Tin whistle, wooden flute, recorder, fiddle, cello, acoustic guitar, harp, bodhrán, glockenspiel and tambourine.
- Tracks
- 5
- Status
- In progress
Notes
Background music for an autumnal festival, Celtic in sound. It's meant to play from a speaker all afternoon with nobody having to look after it. Every tune is new, written in the old shapes of the dance: jigs, a reel, a slip jig, a waltz, a hornpipe, a polka and one slow air.
Each track starts the way a ceilidh band does. The tune plays on its own, the others join a few at a time, and then the band settles into the dance. The tune goes round three times, passing between the whistle, the fiddle and the flute, and it is dressed up a little more each time. Once each time round the melody drops out, and the guitar and bodhrán keep the dance going on their own. Then everyone stops on a held chord.
Neighbouring tracks always change metre, and nearly always key. The set reaches its quietest point halfway through, with a slow air by the fire, and ends with a polka. All eight are mastered to the same loudness, apart from the air, which sits a little lower, so the set can play from start to finish, about 48 minutes, without anyone touching the volume.
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