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Folkband |
Index
The history
It all started back in 2001 when Rolf Monsen, the headmaster of Saltdal Musikk- og Kulturskole, asked me to write some double bass part to a couple fiddle tunes some of his students were going to perform. While working on that, I added some rhythm guitar parts as well, mainly to have a complete midi arrangement while I was proofreading (sorry: prooflistening) the music. Then I thought it'd be a good idea to add an advanced secon fiddle part for Rolf himself and an easy violin part for the youngest students. And of course Irish music requires a flute too!The solo guitar parts just kind'a came automatically. I had to try the tunes myself, of course, and it was really tempting to add a chord note here, and embellishment there...
I uploaded the first set of thirty-or-so arrangements early in 2002. Just for some friends to see - Musica Viva was a completely free site back than, and I wasn't prepared to give away for free something that had taken me this much work.
Since then I've been Folkband arrangements on a fairly steady basis - sometimes for fun, sometimes because I needed an arrangement myself. Morten Hunstad came along with a choral arrangement of "All around my hat", and I liked the tune so much I just had to arrange it for my guitar too, "Pål sine høner" came as a result of an ongoing joke between me and Rolf, "Twa sisters..." and "Once I had a sweetheart" are tunes I've simply loved since the first time I heard Pentangle.
During the spring of 2002 we started discussing a critical edition of O'Neill's collections at abcusers. Since I had been rather heavily involved in getting O'Neill's originals up on internet, I began toying around with that project too. And of course, some of them ended up as Folkband tunes. :-)
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About the arrangements
Seasoned session musicians won't need written arrangements, of course, so these arrangements are mainly meant for music students and classical musicians who want to try some folk playing.Some have criticized my arrangements for being a bit too polished. I agree to that, but I'm afraid that can't be avoided. It simply isn't possible to get the roughness of a folk music down down on (real or virtual) paper! :-(
Easy arrangements
At first I didn't bother to target the arrangements to any particular difficulty level, but recently I've added a few easy pieces for the less experienced musicians.Back to top
Instrumentation
The basic idea is that you can use whatever instruments you like (as long as you have the lead fiddle, of course). This works well for the faster dance tunes, but some of the airs and ballads are a bit more sensitive when it comes to instrumentation.The flute
My original intention was to just write down something that a flutist might play during a jam - basically the tune with some random octave changes and a few extra ornaments. In the end I couldn't resist adding some more elaborate flute parts to some of the arrangements, though...The fiddles
The lead fiddle holds the tune, of course. On the rare occasions when the flute plays the tune alone, it is always cued in the lead fiddle part.The second fiddle part can be rather difficult. The arrangements were originally meant for a classroom situation, and this was supposed to be the teacher's part.
The third fiddle is basically a beginner's part. Unlike most "easy violin" parts it does contribute significantly to the overall musical result, though. The second guitar part is usually just a suggestion for how the chords can be played - quite simple rhythm guitar or fingerpicking. The only real exception is "The Twa Sisters o Binnorie". I'd rather you didn't mess around with that one. ;-)The guitars
The solo guitar part doubles as an ensemble part and as a solo arrangement on its own. It also works well in a duo/trio with the second guitar and/or the bass.The bass
The double bass is the ideal instrument, of course, but an electric bass should work well too. I've even had some good results using a cello for the bass.Other instruments
Add whatever other instruments you like, of course. I have a few suggestions for some instruments:
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I couldn't have done this work properly without help, corrections and lots of other feedback, of course. So thank you very much to
All my friends and collegaues here in Bodø, everybody at the abcusers maillist - and in particular:
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