St. Patrick's Day Tunes; Siege of Delhi

Irish Eyes Are Smiling:

• Work on getting this memorized.
• Remember that we ALWAYS play this 2x's through.
• Start: two-beat E with a high A pick-up note; Stop: cut off right on beat 5 (feel that last measure in 6)
  
  Minstral Boy:
• Start: Remember it's a two-beat E 
• Be careful not to rush the descending group of eighths in measures 1, 5, and 13;
• When practicing, play nice fat high g graces on the double Bs (measure 4, 8, and 16);
• Keep dotted eighth/sixteenth patterns STEADY- don't rush through them.
• Remember that we play this through 2xs. When you repeat back to the beginning add an E as the fourth beat of measure 16.
• Please get this MEMORIZED.

Tipperary/Twenty Men From Dublin:

• Start: Two-beat E!!!
• Keep descending eighth notes in measure 13 nice and steady-don't rush.
• Do not repeat Tipperary - go right onto Twenty Men From Dublin.
• Don't rush groups of eighth notes (mms 19, 23, 27 and 31)

Siege of Delhi:

• Start: Two beat E with dotted sixteenth/32nd pick-ups.
   
• Practice tip: Play each section REALLY SLOW, concentrating on nice fat, open doublings,etc. Then, take up to tempo (60 bpm). If you get sloppy, slow it back down and work out the parts that are giving you trouble.
   
• For memorization, visualize the "transition measures" between parts: note that measure 8 (both 1st and 2nd endings) and measure 16 (1st ending) are all identical.
   
• Measure 16 (second ending) and measure 24 (1st ending) are the same, but measure 24 (second ending) is like the earlier transition measure in Part 1.
   
• Remember that you've got to think a couple bars ahead when your playing so that these transition measures don't catch you off guard.
   
• Part 3: Out of all the parts in this tune, this is the one that really needs SLOW METHODICAL practice, as it is the part where we will be most likely to get sloppy and rush when its played up to tempo. Be sure you don't short change notes preceding the grips and taoraluths in a panic to get through those embellishments (the high A and E eighth notes, for example, in measure 17.)
   
• Part 4: Don't rush through mms. 26 and 30: keep dotted eighths/sixteenths nice and steady.

Finally, practice all of the above tunes on the pipes, running through all four in succession. Before you start each one, be sure you hear how it starts in your head. (Hint: They all have two beat Es, except Irish Eyes has a high A pick-up and Siege of Delhi has the dotted eighth/sixteenth pick-up.)

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