The Best ITM Tune-Learning Tutor

Kid on the Mountain (Eaeol)

a kid on the mountain

a kid on the mountain

In the slip jig “Kid on the Mountain,” the “kid” in the title is a young goat, of course, not some human child stranded on some high wind-blown wintry mountain in Jaunary.  When I play it I like to think of the kid as traversing a rocky slope on a nice Spring day. Now this five-part tune is loved by some, and disliked by others – one person, who I’ll not name here, told me that this tune “has five parts too many.” In O’Neill’s 1001 it shows up with six parts, but I’m not familiar with anyone who plays the six-part version except New York-based fiddler Andy McGann — here’s McGann’s six-part version.  As for the five-part version it may be a little tricky to remember which part goes where when you first learn it, but repetition is the salve for memory glitches.  When you can hum through the whole tune in the right order that’s a pretty good sign that you’ve got it well enough.  I also suggest getting away from the dots as quickly as you can, in order to get some serious myelination going.  Technically, the tonal center of this tune shifts between G and Eaeol – E minor is the relative minor of G, and Aeolian and Dorian are the minor-ish modes in ITM.  That shift gives the tune a “call and response” feel.  Certain nice little cascading phrases repeat (those at the end of measures 2 & 4), and give the tune some of its distinctive slip-jiggy moments.

If you want the ABC for this tune, click  Kid on the Mountain

Kid on the Mountain, slow tempo

Kid on the Mountain, med tempo

Kid on the Mountain, dots 1

Kid On The Mountain

Kid On The Mountain

 

 

 

 

One Comment

  • Sandy
    Posted January 12, 2020 at 1:08 pm | Permalink

    Thank you for posting the slow version of Kid on the Mountain. It has really understand the timing of slip jigs!

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