Marionette Jig (Sheet Music) (Patreon)

A few years into playing music with Andrew McKee (Brobdingnagian Bards), I was looking for ways to improve my songwriting ability with the autoharp. The problem was I was not great at the autoharp and Andrew had a VERY clean sounding lead instrument (the recorder).

I did my best to write melodies. But every time I thought I had a good one and played for Andrew, he played something on top that was just as good and turned my song into background music.  

Listen to my autoharp part in "Moria" from Memories of Middle Earth for an example.

It turned out that my autoharp just sounds too muddy to Andrew's ears. He couldn't hear my melodies. There are too many strings. I couldn't pick out individual notes well enough.

That was one of my big frustrations when the band split up. It's also the reason I wrote and recorded Heart's Ease. 

Since the Bards split up, I've practiced a lot more. I'm still no Bryan Bowers or Karen Mueller. But I'm getting better.

I also started writing Irish tunes.

My proudest accomplishment with Name On My Soul is the fact that I wrote and recorded three Irish tunes. "Marionette Jig" is my first ever Irish jig.

Sadly, I can't transcribe sheet music. 

But Samantha Gillogly can. 

I asked her to transcribe the melody. And of course, I had to use my limited sheet music reading to help clean up some of the notes that still sound too "muddy". 

Ah well. At least, I was able to write it.

You can listen to the tune on Bandcamp if you don't own the album.

I'm very happy to share the sheet music for this tune with you.