Geese Honking
In the late evening last Fall, I had a flock of geese fly directly over me. It was especially cool because I couldn’t really see them at all, only hear them. And my 5-year-old was there with me, so I had to point all this out to him as noteworthy in our lives. Then I began to think of this tune and wondered if it was meant to imitate a honking.
Now spring has come around again, and I saw a large flock that has come back again, honking enthusiastically, and I realized that the rhythm at the beginning seems a lot like the rhythms of overlapping geese honks. (With different geese at different speeds it’s likely to create a dotted rhythm.)
In any case, I love the melody and think it sounds good on the slower side. Check out the relaxed-tempo recording below, which is where I got it. One final note also, that some people call this Wild Goose Chase.
Notes on Playing the Tune
As far as emphasis and phrasing, I like to play the notes before the lifts a bit louder than the notes preceding them. The notes after the lifts will naturally have some nice definition if you land firmly (though not too hard either, lest it get scratchy).
Try to play mostly in the middle of the bow. I’ve found in teaching this that many of the phrases are easier to play there. (Partly because of string crossings.) It becomes important to come to mid-bow on the first stroke, as well as on the strokes after the lifts.
Speaking of the string crossings, the B part phrases where you go up and play one note on E and then back to the A string are much easier if you use your forearm (not your whole arm). This is generally true in these situations where you have a single note on the new string and then return to the old string. It is easier to keep your upper arm set for the first string since you come right back to it.
In measure 12 and 16, set your bow arm for the A string level everything except the last note. Switch to D string fully (use what one of my teachers calls the chicken wing motion) for the final G. Again, this cuts down unnecessary arm motion (helping you play faster!).
For the lifts, you can treat the quarter notes more like 8th notes and lift quite fast, bringing the bow to about nose or eye level. Then let your arm come down in a pretty relaxed way (you don’t have to slam the bow down) and keep your bow hand as relaxed as possible so your fingers can be like shock absorbers as you land. But, you have to do all of this without letting the lifts take to long, making the note after become late!
I think the 8ths notes sound good with relatively short bow (I often find myself saying that). They can be semi-legato but the short bows will give just a bit of definition to the start of each note (which helps add energy and makes it feel rhythmic).