Trying a Tune in Different Keys (Maid of Mt. Kisco)

We talk about the personalities of the different major and minor keys. What makes C sound so different from A on the fiddle? Why do players try out a tune in different keys, and how do the keys lay out on the instrument?

Our tune is the Irish E minor reel Maid of Mt. Kisco. Love this one!

Thanks for listening!

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Transcript

Speaker 2 0:10

Welcome to the Fiddle Studio Podcast featuring tunes and stories from the world of traditional music and fiddling . I'm Meg Wobus Beller and today I'll be bringing you a setting of the tune Maid Mount Kisco from a session at the Art House Bar in Baltimore , Maryland . Hello everyone , I hope you are well . I'm happy to be back here with you for May podcasts . May is kind of a busy month when you have a family , we have some May birthdays , we have some May events , including an intersection of those two things . On May 30th in Baltimore , which is a Thursday night , Charley I are going to be celebrating our album , which is called Broke the Floor , and Charlie's Charley's he's turning 40 . I wonder if I'm supposed to say that on the podcast and we'll be having a contra dance here in Baltimore . So yeah , look for that on Facebook our album release party on May 30th . If you happen to have connections in the world of Suzuki , I will be down in July teaching fiddle and improv at the Greater Washington Suzuki Institute . So yeah , if your kids play Suzuki violin , sign them up . Be sure to register for the fiddle elective . My other announcement's a little more personal . We are getting a dog coming tomorrow , so I'm recording today and I'll find out how my work schedule is going to interact with having a young dog , a dog who needs a lot of help and supervision . Very exciting , supervision , very exciting . I'm not really sure how the dog's going to react to all the fiddling around here . I'll let you know . I heard that some dogs howl when they hear you practice .

Speaker 2 2:12

Today we're going to be talking about playing in different keys . Last week Rachel mentioned this , that they'll play a tune for a long time and then try it in some different keys . That they'll play a tune for a long time and then try it in some different keys . I've talked about playing tunes in different keys as a method of developing your left hand , sort of as a teaching tool . I do it a lot in a class with a bunch of fiddlers , whether they're adults or kids . If everyone knows a really easy tune , we'll pick some different keys and play it in those keys , see how we like it . But I don't think Rachel was talking about doing it as an exercise . I think Rachel was actually honestly interested to hear how a tune sounds in a different key on the fiddle .

Speaker 2 2:59

Now , on the piano , all of the notes have the same sound or you have control over it . How hard you press on the key is what's affecting the sound . But on the fiddle , open notes and then whatever finger you're playing kind of how short the string is does have an effect on the sound . The same note played in 10th position on the D string or in 5th position on the D string or in fifth position on the A string or in first position on the E string , it's going to have a really different sound , almost like it's being played on a different instrument . So that's a dramatic example . But when you play fiddle tunes in different keys you get to hear a different combination of open strings and notes that are fingered . That can really have an effect on the personality of the tune . Different keys have different personalities .

Speaker 2 3:58

Now people will talk about this for all instruments there's a key that's the saddest of all keys , right ? Maybe that's from a movie , maybe it's E minor , maybe it's D minor , maybe it's not the saddest if we're not sure which one it is . But on the violin the keys definitely have personalities . A is a bright key because three of the open strings are in the key of A , the D , the A and the E , and it's even brighter if you cross-tune . So if you're talking about an old-time tune and you've tuned your G up to an A . Now it's very , very bright , kind of shiny sounding . I like to often end a set with a tune in the key of A and , I would say , similar to A . The key of D also has a pretty bright sound . You know , going up onto the E string you've got the third note of the scale , the F sharp or the A . If it sits up there it's going to be very bright . But even if the tune sits a lot on the A string , there's a lot of drones available . There's going to be a lot of open E string as you go up , you know the scale .

Speaker 2 5:13

The key of G has a different personality . It's not that kind of bright outgoing sound . If you're playing in the key of G on the fiddle , the main G in the middle of the fiddle is not an open string . So even though the D and the A and the E are all open strings and are notes in the key of G , it's going to be centered around a note that's not as bright . The three on the D string and I would say that C is pretty similar to that , centered around the three on G . So again , not an open string , or even if it's going to be up higher . You've got your low twos , a and E , playing around there in the key of C . If you get into some really funky keys like B flat or E flat , then you're going to have very few open strings and the whole sound is going to be very smooth . There won't be as many notes that stick out , because that's kind of what the open strings do they're very bright and they stick out . So moving around the key can bring you higher , can bring the whole tune higher in the register or lower in the register . It can also make it easier to play with others .

Speaker 2 6:26

You know there's tunes that maybe are commonly played in an unusual key , but then they'll play it in D . You know I learned what was it ? Fisher's Hornpipe In New England . They play it in F , but everyone else plays it in D because it's so much easier in D . It's got a great sound in F though , so you can play around with keys . It's very good for your brain , I mean . That's why I suggested it as a teaching tool , but you may find that you like a tune better in a different key . That'll come up in both genres of music that I study here mostly on the podcast .

Speaker 2 7:00

I'll be in an Irish jam and someone will play a tune in a different key and say , oh yeah , everyone will look a little confused for a minute and then at the end they'll say well , I usually play that in G and they'll say , well , I like it better in D . That happens at our session and even at the old time jam . You know , there's so many different versions of tunes so it's like well , we're going to play the fly around in D . Okay , now we're going to play the fly around in G , probably one in C too , and you can just make your own if you like it there Playing tunes in different keys . Our tune for today is the Maid of Mount Kisco .

Speaker 2 7:39

It is attributed to Paddy Killoran , who was an Irish fiddle player born in 1903 , played in a South Sligo style and made a lot of recordings in the 1920s and 30s . His father , patrick , was a flute player , his mother played the concertina , my husband plays the flute and I play the concertina , and I guess he emigrated to New York City in 1925 , played a lot in New York at the Pride of Erin and the Sligo Ballroom . Those were like big dance halls that had Kaylee's Irish dancing , his group that he put together to play for dances . He usually called it the Pride of Erin Orchestra and he played through . He kept playing through even after the 30s , you know , through the war in the 1950s , and he did not stop playing there until 1962 .

Speaker 2 8:40

And at that point turned over the band to Joe Madden , the accordion player , the box player , Joe Madden , who's the father of Joannie Madden , amazing flute player , who was just here in Baltimore for our Tradfest . Mount Kisco is a town in Southern New York , so there's a little bit of a discussion on the session about whether Paddy Killoran wrote this tune or just knew it from Ireland and played it . There was maybe a rumor this might have been from Billy McComesky that he was just playing in Mount Kisco and , you know , somebody was flirting with someone and said , oh well , this , this tune this tune is called the Maid of Mount Kisco .

Speaker 1 10:43

I don't know . Maybe that was James Morrison and his wife , but most people attribute it to Patty . We're going to play it for you now . Here we go . Thank you ¶¶ .