Eagle's Whistle

I wasn't intending to play today. I want to play in the mornings when I'm fresh, but that's when the fan, who is poorly, dozes on the sofa. He loves me (and Morag) a lot, but I don't think he'd be keen on a pipe rendition breaking through his dreams!

I've had the Eagle's Whistle going round and round my head today: it is one of those tunes that feels as though it could be on a permanent loop, and hearing the Sea Stallions play it has brought it to mind (I also know it from Sealbh).

I had a poke about on the Session where it appears as a slip jig and there are the usual arguments about whether retreat marches exists and what makes a polka, and the dots in G or D. Luckily it also has the information that the tune is also known as Donovan's March, and that's how I found it on Ceol Sean. So I sat with the dots and decided to have a quick go. The tune itself is very easy. It's not the same as the two recorded versions, and the timing of some other versions I found was totally different. I think in this recording I'm playing the Ian MacInnes version rather than what the dots say, timings-wise, and I am also trying to piece together how I think the tunes goes, rather than what the dots do. I need more gracing. But it's a good tune; one I think I will try to learn.

By the way - my drones sounded hideous this evening: I did the first run through with two blocked off. The fan made minor adjustments, but one drone is foul, and comes and goes. I am not sure if that is me using the bellows arm too much (still!!) or one drone having problems (I've mentioned before that one seems to waver in and out). The second recording I did, just minutes after the first, was more confident and a much better speed. I mean - I know this is a slow tune, but even so, there's a retreat and there's standing on the spot going nowhere... Annoyingly the best recording I did I managed not to hit stop at the end, so it's followed by several minutes of me flapping about and then playing again, and as I can't edit it I won't post it. So version posted has errors while I try to follow dots with variants as I think they ought to be, and includes those nasty drones.



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