There is a song I request nearly every time I play with the Celtic Crew. I heard once it’s not even really an Irish tune but somehow it has worked its way into traditional session repertoire and I am so very glad! It really is the loveliest tune; beautiful melodic lines, an unrushed, almost sauntering tempo, and plenty of places for me to embellish as I feel so inclined. The tune is Crested Hens by Gilles Chabenat. Some say it’s a traditional Breton dance tune he slowed for his version, while others maintain it is an original. Either way, Chabenat is a French hurdy-gurdy player who credits a line from a Debussy composition as the inspiration for this tune. I will have to have an extensive listening party to see if I can discover which one he plucked it from.
I have been having some fun playing around in Sibelius recently. It’s been five or six years since I last used it for an assignment in college – far too long! I thought that arranging a favorite tune might be the perfect exercise to familiarize myself again. So here is a bit of what I’ve done with it, I have already started working on a few more – it was so much fun and I can’t get enough.
I thought it appropriate to specify exactly how many crested hens there are – at least in my version – since it is not noted in the original. The three violin part arrangement is a nod to the trio I often played in growing up. We had the greatest time playing everything from Telemann and Bach to Khachaturian and the beloved Michael MacLean. I dearly miss playing with you Lauren and Sasha! How wonderful it would be to play this together someday, perhaps the next time we are all serendipitously back in Sitka at the same time!
So this is how I envision this tune being played (live of course!) with friends and family gathered for a dance or a dinner party. Side note.. how cute is that lady bug that snuck into this picture? So cute, indeed. Happy music making! – Kera
That Violin Vibe 
