Some Tunes the Quiet Corner Fiddlers play:
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Chuck's advice:
1. Learn to play the version slowly along with me.
2. MEMORIZE IT. and play it along with me.
3. practice playing it slowly at first, then faster and faster until you have it up to dance tempo.
4. start to play it in your own style, keeping within the basic structure of the tune... Now you're fiddling!!!
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Reel from Al Joly via Chuck Morgan Black Velvet Waltz a 20th Century Canadian tune, said to have been named for a favorite brand of whiskey, attributed to the well-known Metis fiddler, Andy De Jarlis who is also credited by many with the tune 'Whiskey Before Breakfast'. Country Waltz of unknown origin, but played in both Canadian and Western US/Cajun tradition for many years. Flopeared Mule according to Gus Meade, this tune was recorded more than 40 times before 1940, including as early as 1923. There are dozens of written sources - according to New England fiddle authority Ed Perlman it may be a descendant of a tune called 'Detroit Schottische' printed in an 1854 collection. Flowers of Edinburgh This tune was printed under this name in Britain in 1749, and by 1783 it was annotated by a NH musician. (Details in "The Fiddler's Companion") Golden Slippers Composed in 1870 by African-American minstrel banjoist James A. Bland who also wrote 'Carry Me Back to Old Virginny' and hundreds of other tunes. Irishman's Heart to the Ladies/ My Darling Asleep/ Tobin's Favorite "Irishman's..." is known by a variety of names all over the Irish diaspora. In the seminal O'Neill's collection it is called "Sweet Biddy Daly"; "My Darling Asleep" another old Irish jig, also in O'Neill's collection. "Tobin's Favorite" another tune collected by O'Neill, perhaps refers to a Kilkenny musician, Adam Tobin. A respected Irish authority says that an old name for this tune was 'Pretty Girls for Sale". The O'Neill "Music of Ireland" Collection is THE authoritative collection of Irish music, 1,850 tunes collected by a Chicago police chief from the rich community of Irish immigrant musicians in the Chicago neighborhood and published in 1903. Jamie Allen Jamie Allen was a famous piper in the Newcastle area of England. The tune was known as 'Reel of Tullochgorum' before it was associated with Allen. It was printed under the name 'Jamie Allen' in the 'Northumbrian Piper's Tunebook' in 1936. Liberty unknown origin, probably a 20th C composition but played everywhere in the US and Canada as a result of having been recorded by Gid Tanner, Bob Wills, John Carson, Don Messer, etc. from the 1920s on... Mairi's Wedding a Gaelic song from the Scottish Hebrides, said to have been composed for Mary (Mairi in Gaelic)McNiven by her friend Johnny Bannerman in the late 1800s. First printed in 1909. My Home Waltz a 20th C. Scottish tune known variously as My Home (Gaelic: Mo dhachcaidh), My Own Home, My Own House, My Ain Hoose, etc... first printed in 1954. Over the Waterfall a wide spread tune in the 19th C. but virtually forgotten until Alan Jabbour recorded it from fiddler Henry Reed and then included it as a cut on the seminal Hollow Rock String Band album of 1970. It immediately became a favorite among Old Timey revivalists around the country. Red Wing
generally accepted as composed by the Tin Pan Alley songwriter Kerry Mills in 1907, common everywhere in North America, Britain and Australia. Reel St Antoine . a popular French Canadian reel recorded and made popular by the great Master Fiddler Joseph Bouchard before WW II Scotland the Brave surprisingly, not an old tune. First published in around 1895 according to folklorist/scholar Jack Campin. (contrasts with "A Hundred Pipers" which is pre-1745 vintage) Temperance (or Teetotaler's) Reel published in many 19th C tunebooks, probably originally Irish ("Teetotalers Reel"). First recorded in 1919 according to 'The Fiddler's Companion", but since then recorded scores of time by groups all over the world. Tombigbee Waltz derived from what was probably a minstrel show song "Gum Tree Canoe" by Steele and Winnemore, 1847. (See 'The Fiddler's Companion' for lyrics) A nice version of the song was recorded by John Hartford. Whiskey Before Breakfast almost certainly composed by the well-known Metis composer and fiddler Andy DeJarlis who included it in his 1957 "Canadian Fiddle Tunes from the Red River Valley".
Here are some of the tunes played by the Old Fiddler's Club of Rhode Island
tune audio file or... notes Charlie Kopanski's Polka written notation jpg (working on identifying the original name of this tune... this audio is a very non-polka-ish version, just for learning the notes..... ) Chinese Breakdown (also see below 'Opening Medley') this is one of the tunes suggested for use in the OFCRI audition process... This tune was recorded in 1925 by the "Dixie String Band" and then by other southern groups. it is well known in the South. Down South Medley "Down Yonder" was composed in 1921 by the Tin Pan Alley star Wolfe Gilbert, a Jewish immigrant from Odessa, Russia who was a great pal of Eddie Cantor. He mainly specialized in 'location songs' and was the composer of "Hello, Aloha, How are you?" and "My Hawaiian Sunrise"; "Swanee River" was written in Pittsburgh in 1851 by Stephen Foster for the blackface Christy Minstrels vaudeville group; "Alabama Jubilee" was written in 1915 by George Cobb, an alumni of Syracuse University who was for many years a columnist for Melody magazine and a NYC Tin Pan Alley regular. Ellis Island Waltz This tune, once a favored tune of RI Fiddler Frank Moon, is not listed in ASCAP, US Copyright, BMI, or several other databases of sheet music... so I'm guessing that it has another name, or, it may have been composed by Frank. Flowers of Edinborough a traditional hornpipe/reel tune widespread in Britain and the colonies before the American Revolution... Gaspee Reel D, Strawberries and Raspberries D/ Government Reel D/G The OFCRI French-Canadian Medley. "Gaspee Reel" is a popular French Canadian reel, probably from the 20th C, which is associated with several well-known musicians including Louis Beaudoin, Phillippe Bruneau, Pete Sutherland, and others; "Strawberries and Raspberries" (Les Fraises et les Framboises") is another ubiquitous French Canadian tune; "Reel du Gouvernement/Government Reel" was recorded in Oct, 1936 by the well-known accordionist and composer Tommy Duchesne along with fiddler Albert Allard. Tommy was a frequent presence on Canadian radio in the 1930s and 1940s and recorded many tunes, about a dozen of which (l'oiseau bleu, Money Musk, etc, but unfortunately not Govt Reel) can be heard on the excellent website "Virtual Gramophone". Judique Jig A tune composed by one of the most famous Cape Breton fiddlers, Winston "Scotty" Fitzgerald who died in 1987. Opening Medley is a slow 'basic barebones' of the five tunes that make up the opening medley played by the Old Fiddlers Club of RI. Tunes: Chinese Breakdown D, Silver and Gold D, Number Six D, Ragtime Annie D, Washington and Lee Swing G, Over the Waterfall widely known old time reel/breakdown Road to the Isles a well known Scottish pipe tune and song, many times recorded, said to be the tune played by the piper as British troops landed in Normandy on D-Day. Welcome Home (or Here) Again recorded in a Scottish manuscript of 1734, according to Andrew Kuntz's "Fiddler's Companion", and published in "Cole's 1,000 Fiddle Tunes" and other popular collections. Kuntz reports a later apocryphal tradition that the tune was composed by Robert Steele, a drummer boy at the battle of Bunker Hill in 1776. A comment about fiddle tunes: Quite a few of the tunes we play have more than one name. Others have an agreed-on name, but there is a big argument about where it came from. Take for instance, the Westphalia Waltz, which both the Old Fiddler's Club of Rhode Island and Quiet Corners fiddlers often play. In an article "Wonderful Westphalia Waltz", by John Rivard, Houston, Texas, U.S.A. he writes: "Cotton Collins, a fiddle player for the legendary Lone Star Playboys, composed a "no-name" waltz in 1946 based on a melody that he memorized while stationed in Germany. The song became a big hit for the Lone Star Playboys, one of their most requested numbers. After playing the song at a dance in Westphalia, the local dancers suggested the song be titled the "Westphalia Waltz." The song with the beautifully haunting melody now had a name. It was put to sheet music, copyright Cotton Collins. The Lone Star Playboys recorded Westphalia Waltz on the Bluebonnet label. Based on the success of the song, Hank Thompson then recorded it on Capital. Westphalia Waltz became the #1 country song in the nation, according to Vince Incordona, manager and tenor banjo player of the Lone Star Playboys. Since its introduction in 1947, Westphalia Waltz has become a “classic” in both polka and c/w swing music, recorded by many. As written, the Westphalia Waltz had no words. Lyrics were added by Hamlet Booker, and the song again recorded by the Lone Star Playboys as “The New Westphalia Waltz.” Now you’re probably wondering about the town for which this song was named. In 1879 several immigrants from the Westphalia province in Germany moved from Frelsburg, Texas, into the area they named after their homeland province. There were thirteen families on 270-acres of homestead plots by 1884. ~ " ~ John Rivard In a response to that article, Brian Marshall wrote: With regard to the origin of polka, I always heard that the Czechs popularized Polka but the dance actually came from the Poles. A Czech passing through a Polish village saw the dance being performed by a Polish girl. They called the dance "Polka" which in Polish literally translates to "Polish woman." The "Westphalia Waltz" is known in Polish circles as "Pytala Sie Panni," which means, "Why are you sad Lady?" This song has been sung in Bremond (TX) for as long as anyone can remember." But Andrew Kuntz's highly respected "Fiddler's Companion" website has the following note: "...Widely held to be composed by one Cotton Collins, a Texas fiddler and member of the Lone Star Playboys, but popularized by Hank Thompson in 1955 on a Capitol Records recording. Paul Wells (1978) finds evidence the waltz was composed by Vince Icadona, a member in the 1930’s of the Crystal Springs Rambers, out of Dallas Texas. Johnson and others report, however, that it is the vehicle for a ribald drinking song called "Pytala Sie Pani" (What the Woman Said), an old and well-known (and somewhat bawdy) Polish song, sometimes played at weddings by Polish-American bands. Documentary film producer Joe Weed has traced the vicissitudes of “Westphalia” from its Polish folk origins in the 1920’s (where it was known also by the names “Wszystkie Rybki,” and later “Dreamy Fish Waltz”) to its circulation in the 1930’s in the northern United States (see his well-researched DVD “Westphalia Waltz Story”). It was Collins, however, who transformed the tune (which Weed says he learned in Germany during World War II) into an American country waltz, naming it after a small village about 35 miles south of Waco, where his group was from." So, those detailed explanations clear everything right up, eh? Matt
More links to local fiddle music can be found at RIMUSIC - a website maintained by local fiddler Matt McConeghy
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