September (2024) Gathering Summary

It was great to start off the new season with some interesting and, in some cases, challenging tunes. We ran through these, not so much with an eye towards arrangements, but just to become familiar with them. Future rehearsals will provide more focus on details and transitions.

Matty’s Appeal
We removed the first ending in both A and B parts, and will play as ABAB.

Highland Cathedral - We experimented with winds starting. There are some good possibilities for orchestrating this, but nothing solidly established yet. 

Myra’s Jig - We wrestled with the ties, which give the tune a non-intuitive phrasing. 

Eagles Whistle

Karen Steven Set

Molly Reay’s Dream - Last measure of last time through, instead of D-G-D, do G-G-D, and probably ritard.

Sandy and Ethel McDonald’s - The last measure of each line has a B7 chord. That should be a B Minor.

Flat Key Hornpipe Set

We changed the order to:

Good For the Tongue - Swing style. Rhythm players stuck to single strums on the beat to keep it from feeling busy.

Batchelders - Straight and faster.

Saratoga - The suggestion was made, and accepted, to make the first chord of the B part (and the second line of the B part) a Dm. However, on further reflection I’m thinking we should keep the A. We can discuss the next time we play it.