Humours of Trim

Catching up! So here is this clever little jig called Humours of Trim (or Humors for this side of the pond perhaps). Which naturally brought up the question, “what exactly is a humour, anyway and why are there so many tunes with it in their name?” Good question you might say. I agree.

First, according to some very diligent person on thesession.org there are:
3 Polkas
3 Slides
8 Hornpipes
12 Slip Jigs
31 Reels
48 Jigs
with “Humours” in the title. So clearly it is not related to a particular rhythm.

Just as in our class, there seemed many theories but no hard answers. The one that worked for me was that the comes from the Middle English word for “fluids” or “moisture”. Based on the balance of 4 fluids in the body which determined one’s emotional state. So, in effect, the Humours of someplace would mean the general temperament of a particular area (or in the case of Humours of Whiskey, presumably one’s temperament after enjoying a good snort). I’m feeling rather sanguine about this explanation, so feel free to add to the discussion 🙂

Apparently it could be considered a precursor to the somewhat popular Myers Briggs temperament sorter – enjoy the background reading.

Listen to The Humours of Trim

O’Keefe’s Slide

I missed last week’s class due to not getting started on my taxes early enough (for the record, I did get them finished without an extension). So here is last week’s tune, a delightful slide. Thanks to Alex for staying a little late to get a recording of it.

Also, Update on recital. Just Mountain Road and Cliffs of Moher. And Chris, don’t forget to practice your jig steps 🙂

Listen to O’Keefe’s Slide

[Note: Notation updated 5/4/10. I had the incorrect tune previously. Sorry about that. Also, this one seems to be in a different key than Alex taught us – Am here instead of Em from Alex]

The Butterfly

Here’s last week’s tune, the well-known slip jig, The Butterfly. Featured in the movie, “The Secret of Roan Inish” (which is a wonderful movie). Interesting bowing patterns on this one. Up (stop) Up on the first two notes of the A part. Different to begin with an up bow, but there you have it. Listen for the other slurs in the recording below.

Also, good reminders about tone from the recent lesson – the triangle: position, speed, and pressure. Hmmm… now there are 6 things to remember while playing along with the tune… ack my brain hurts! Also, remember, no class next week for Spring Break. Work on Mountain Road/Silver Spear (reel set) and Cliffs of Moher for the recital.

Listen to The Butterfly