I watched the ice come down the river by moonlight, breaking up, grouping, starting again on its journey. A short piece in an unusual tuning, GDgcdg' on a 520mm scale 1/2 size classical guitar.
singer
songwriter
acoustic
folk
british
guitarist
song
celtic
traditional
fingerstyle
scottish
scotland
guitar
kelso
Story behind the song
The Romanian HORA luthiery works makes some very beautiful, inexpensive solid mahogany and spruce small size classical guitars intended for young players. They are also entirely suitable for adults! This piece was written on, and for, a 520mm scale 1/2 size Segada SM20 model tuned up to GDgdcg' - a high equivalent of the popular steel string celtic DADGAD tuning. Using a minor theme with a major contrasting B passage, it is a simple ABABA with ornaments and variations. You will probably say 'that doesn't sound like DADGAD at all', and that's part of the beauty of the tuning used on the half-size classical guitar. I wrote the music first, over a period of two or three days, but in performing it for the recording, I have to give a piece a title, and think that it means. This reminded me of walking by moonlight one winter, watching (and hearing) great islands of ice slowly moving down the River Tweed near my house - forming jams, then moving off regularly, then hitting faster water and sailing on, then a deep pool and resting. The variations, and expression, which come into the recording are partly a result of visualising this and remembering the images and sounds of river ice at night in deep winter. The recording is made with a single AKG C2000B condensor microphone placed about 2 feet from the instrument. See www.troubadour.uk.com for info about the small guitars.