Backstitching......

Kevin L. Rietmann · Post by **Kevin L. Rietmann** » Wed Oct 06, 2004 8:03 am

Uilliam wrote:David..as Peter rightly pointed out it is just a term applied to a flourish.normaly at the end o the piece,taken frae Patsy Touhey and Tom Busby...

Touhey and Busby used backstitches all through their music. Touhey would sometimes finish a tune off with a grandiose series of ornaments - sometimes backstitches, sometimes, in a jig, a series of legato quadruplets - Miners of Wicklow for instance. It makes sense considering that Touhey was a stage performer, a showman.
Todd Denman asked Paddy Keenan about backstitching - which he uses in a few tunes, like the Harvest Home - he'd never heard the term before. It comes from Busby, who learned the pipes from Touhey's friend Michael Carney, and Tom Morrison, a famous Galway flute player (Dunmore Lassies was popularized by his recording) who by the way recorded a jig in the 20's called "The Piper's Backstitch."

Cayden · Post by **Cayden** » Wed Oct 06, 2004 8:19 am

My point was ofcourse that the ornament has taken on the name of the stitching up a tune with a flourish, or Touhey's 'great shower of fingers', I don't think before the Touhey book introduced the term it was connected with the ornament itself.

tompipes · Post by **tompipes** » Wed Oct 06, 2004 10:01 am

Is 'stitch' an older term for a cut or a short triplet. I remember reading something to that effect a while back but I forget where.
Tommy

Cayden · Post by **Cayden** » Wed Oct 06, 2004 10:17 am

i have never coem across that, is interesting to know though.

Jim McGuire · Post by **Jim McGuire** » Wed Oct 06, 2004 10:28 am

Backstitching is not limited to the 'series' of descending notes that get stitched up. Touhey throws backstitches in throughout his playing.

Lorenzo · Post by **Lorenzo** » Wed Oct 06, 2004 10:49 am

There's about 4,000 entries on Google for 'backstitching.' I liked this illustration:

Illustration (2): running backstitch

The numbers on the thread, from left to right, read 10<9, 7>8, 6<5, 3>4, 2<1.

Joseph E. Smith · Post by **Joseph E. Smith** » Wed Oct 06, 2004 4:50 pm

....THAT'S IT!!!...Thanks Larry! Now it's off to make that....whatever it is I wanna make.

Royce · Post by **Royce** » Wed Oct 06, 2004 11:17 pm

This should make it clear:

Royce

Joseph E. Smith · Post by **Joseph E. Smith** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 2:48 am

...ah, the saddle stitch....my favorite. How's it embellished?

snoogie · Post by **snoogie** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 3:51 am

Joseph, I found the cut from Keiran on backstitching. If you still have the CDs I made from the Tionol its on Tape1 Side B not far from the beginning.

Let me know if you cant find it.

-gary

Joseph E. Smith · Post by **Joseph E. Smith** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 6:14 am

snoogie:"its on Tape1 Side B."
==============================================

...I was unaware that CDs had 2 playable sides.

Are the CDs labelled as such? Admittedly, it has been some time since I listened through them.

snoogie · Post by **snoogie** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 4:30 pm

Yep they are labeled as such. The reason is that I transferred audio tape to CDs, and then labeled directly off of what the Tape's name was...

If you can't find it let me know and I'll burn another...-g

Joseph E. Smith · Post by **Joseph E. Smith** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 4:47 pm

Leave it to me to miss the obvious.

The CDs are right here at my elbow as I sit before the Shrine of the Mighty Microchip Processor. I'll give a listen to it tonight. Thanks for the reminder......and the recordingd(again).

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 9:35 am

A clear example (of an already derailed thread)

Cynth · Post by **Cynth** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 9:57 am

Now that's neat!