My Italian Ocarina Page

There haven't been any posts for a few days since I've been updating my Italian ocarina page - it's very different from the way it was, far bigger with lots of links and pictures:

http://campin.me.uk/Music/Ocarina/

http://tinyurl.com/italian-ocarina

Halloween tunes

Not long to Halloween, so some grisly old stuff.  This is a Scottish copy of an English tune, Grim King of the Ghosts, from 1682.  It was very popular a bit before 1700, with dozens of songs set to it, some of them surprisingly cheerful.  By the time this was written down, in 1796, nobody remembered the cheerful ones.

MIDI

The Headless Body is taken from Frances Tolmie's book 105 Songs of Occupation from the Western Isles of Scotland.  Tolmie explains that it was about a headless female giant who rampaged around the countryside tearing her victims into pieces with her bare hands.  She (the giant, not Tolmie) was a form of the Morrigan, the Celtic goddess of death.  This transcription is dedicated to Sarah Palin.

MIDI

ABCs:

X:0
T:Shaking with horror and fear at the Grumbling of the Ghosts
N:subtitled "Which is terrible"
S:NLS Acc.12304(A), notebook of James Robertson, 1796, p72
Z:Jack Campin, http://www.campin.me.uk
F:http://octunes.blogspot.com
M:3/4
L:1/4
Q:1/4=100
K:GDor
D    |G^FG|  BA  G   |({B}A2) D   |BAd| B>AG|    G2:|
B/c/ |d dG|(_ed) c/B/|    c2  d/c/|BAB| Gc B|({B}A2)
D/>D/|G^FG|  BA  G   |({B}A2) D   |BAd|TB>AG|    G2:|

X:0
T:The Headless Body
Z:Jack Campin, http://www.campin.me.uk
F:http://octunes.blogspot.com
M:6/8
L:1/8
Q:3/8=100
K:EDor
    EFF  d3|F2F FED|EFF d3 |FED E2E |
    EFF  d3|F2F FED|EEE FED|EED E2E||
({F}A2)d B3|A2A FED|A2d B3 |AGF E2D |
({D}A2)d B3|A2A FED|EEE FED|E2E DEF|]

Major Lyell of Kinneff's Favorite

This is a Scottish version of an Irish tune, published by John Hamilton for the composer William Marshall in Edinburgh in the 1790s, in a small sheet with half a dozen tunes in it.  Sheets like that (usually meant mainly for the piano and harp) are now quite rare, and I've never seen one outside a reference library.  They often contain the first versions of a tune ever published, but not many of them ever get listed in tune indexes.

This one happens to fit the Pacchioni doppia-S ocarina in G perfectly.  These are not a common type of ocarina but I've got one and I love it.  I've printed the tune without transposition.  The first two parts only need the lower chamber, the third only needs the upper chamber.  So you could play it by switching between single-chamber ocarinas in G and the C above, if you can do the switch fast enough (I can't, and wouldn't try with ocarinas that might break if I dropped them).

The second ending is a turnaround for repeating the tune.  As usual for Scottish music of this period, the published accompaniment is minimal.  It fits the range of a cello, but whether played on a cello, harp or keyboard, you'd use this as the basis for an improvised vamp.

MIDI

Here's the tune by itself, with MIDIs for the tune and the accompaniment if you want to try "music minus one".

 

MIDI (tune)

MIDI (accompaniment)

ABC:

X:0

T:Major Lyell of Kinneff's Favorite
Z:Jack Campin, http://www.campin.me.uk
F:http://octunes.blogspot.com
C:Irish
M:12/8
L:1/8
Q:3/8=120
K:G
G2B TBAB TBAB  TBAB  |G2B  TBAB  d2B ABc   |
G2B TBAB TBAB  TBAB  |gfe   dcB  A2B cBA  :|
Ggg  gec TcBc   dBG  |Ggg   gec TcBc d2e/f/|
geg  fdf  ece   def  |gfe   dcB  A2B cBA  :|
g2b Tbab  a2c' Tc'bc'|d'2b  bag  a2b c'ba  |
g2b Tbab  a2c' Tc'bc'|d'c'b agf  gba g3   :|

Whistling Rufus

This cakewalk was a hit for J.P. Sousa's band in 1900, and I'd guess that people all over America were playing it on the ocarina as soon as they heard it.  Words (which you probably don't want to know) were added later.  The original instrumental had an extra section and a key change.  This is the simpler song version.  (I first heard it via Jimmy Shand, who did the longer one).  I've given two endings for the bridge section: the lower notes are the original, but need an ocarina that goes down to the low B.  I think my higher alternative sounds better regardless of which sort you've got.

I will post the longer version later - it needs more range so it's arranged for double ocarina.

MIDI

ABC:

X:0
T:Whistling Rufus
Z:Jack Campin, http://www.campin.me.uk
F:http://octunes.blogspot.com
C:Kerry Mills, 1899
G:cakewalk
M:C|
L:1/8
Q:1/2=110
P:ABA
K:D
P:A
z2A2|D2DD  F2 AA|d2d2 BA3 |D3D   FE D2|A4
z4  |D2DD  F2 AA|d2d2 BA3 |e3e ecB2|e4
z4  |D2DD  F2 AA|d2d2 BA3 |D3D   FE D2|A4
zABA|Bd2B d2B2|BB2B   AF2E|F2FF  EE3  |D4|]
P:B
zFDF|A4- ABAG|C4- CEFG|B4-      BcBA        |        F4
zFDF|A4- ABAD|G4- G3 G|F2F[EG] [B2B,2][C2c2]|"_D.C."[D4d4]:|

Greysteil

This  a rare historical survival: it's the tune for a very long mediaeval Scottish epic ballad about wandering knights, castles and magicians.  No other epic from western Europe has a surviving tune.  This one was played for James IV of Scotland on the lute in 1497 (we know because we have the record of how much the lutenist who sang it was paid).  The tune was written in a lute manuscript of 100 years later.

The tune needs a lot of variation.  The epic would have taken a few hours to perform, and it has to be said it is not a very gripping story.  It has been recorded once, in part, in a rather dull performance.

MIDI

ABC:

X:0
T:Greysteil
Z:Jack Campin, http://www.campin.me.uk
F:http://octunes.blogspot.com
S:Straloch MS, 1627; probably as sung to James IV in 1497
B:Robert Chambers, Book of Days, for April 17
M:C
L:1/4
Q:1/4=120
K:G
  E>E E c    |B>A G E|D>D D c    |B A G2:|
  c C G(A/B/)|c B A G|c C G(A/B/)|c B A G|
  e>e e e    |e e e e|d>d d c    |B A G2 |
  c C G A/B/ |c B A G|c C G(A/B/)|c B A G|
|:E>E E c    |B>A G E|D>D D c    |B A G2:|

Bint el Shalabiya

This is an Arabic song popularized by the Lebanese singer Fairouz, often used by Western belly dancers, and sung in Turkish and Persian versions.  I've given two settings: fin C minor (Arabic pitch) for a C ocarina with a subhole to provide the low B, or in D minor (Turkish pitch) for any C ocarina with a good high F.

The accompaniment can be played on any instrument, but a lower-octave C ocarina would do it - it's a brief initial flourish, and then a single repeated bar that continues for the whole song.

As usually sung, there are two verses: you just repeat the whole thing, including the introduction.

Some notes are silent in the MIDIs due to a bug in BarFly; I can't see a way to fix this at the moment, but there's enough there to give you most of the tune.

Fairouz's version
Persian version
contemporary Turkish version

instrumental (me on clarinet, Shelley bellydancing)

MIDI (melody)

MIDI (accompaniment)

MIDI (both parts)

ABC:

X:0
T:Bint el Shalabiya
T:Kamtar Zan Shaneh

T:Böyle gelmiş böyle geçer
Z:Jack Campin, http://www.campin.me.uk
F:http://octunes.blogspot.com
G:Arabic song also sung in Turkey and Iran
M:2/4
L:1/16
Q:1/4=80
K:CMin
P:Intro (2nd instrument)
 CD| E2FG A2=Bc|d2=B2  z2ed  |c2=BA  GFED|
     C2GG C2G2 |C2GG   C2G2  |C2GG   C2 ||
P:Accompaniment vamp
   |:C2GG C2G2 |C2GG   C2G2 :|
P:Tune
|:GE|C2GG G2G2 |AGFA   G2GE  |C2G2   A2c2|
    =BAAG F2FA |c2A2   A2G2  |AGFE   GFED|
     C2DE FEED |DCC=B, CDEF  |G2A2   A2G2|
     AGFE GFED |C2DE   FEED  |DCC=B, C2 :|
  CD|E6    =B,C|D6       CD  |E6          
  DE|F6     FG |A3G    F2EF  |G3F    E2
  DE|F2E2 D2C2 |G6       FG  |A3G    F2  
  EF|G3F  E2DE |F2E2   D2=B,2|D4        ||
CDEF|C2GG G2G2 |AGFA   G2GE  |C2G2   A2c2|
    =BAAG F2FA |c2A2   A2G2  |AGFE   GFED|
     C2DE FEED |DCC=B, CDEF  |G2A2   A2G2|
     AGFE GFED |C2DE   FEED  |DCC=B, C2 |]