Collection Lewes, 2023
Thank you all for a wonderful workshop. I was asked to mention some of the players who've influenced me: keep scrolling for the tunes!
- For American music, my dad Tom Paley — not as a fiddle player but just as a musician. His Hard Luck Papa is available for purchase on CD or for download. Fiddle players I admire are Marcus Martin, French Carpenter, Clayton McMichen, Lisa Ornstein, Ruthie Dornfeld, Bruce Molsky, Rayna Gellert.
- Irish: Tommy Peoples, Yvonne Casey, Bobby Casey, Frankie Gavin (on Masters of Irish Music with Alec Finn), Tony Linnane, P.J. Hayes.
- Swedish fiddle players: Björn Ståbi, Kalle Almlöf, Pers Hans, Marianne Skagerlind, Einar Hansamder, Ola Bäckström, Per Gudmundsson, Simon Simonsson, Mats Berglund.
There are so many others! These are just a few of the players who have been my favourites over the years.
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- Rolling River
- Southern Aristocracy
- Unser Oide Kath
- The Orphan
- The Maid In The Meadow
- The Cameronian
- Marsch efter Hans Dalfors från Ore
- Kruspolskan
- Sörmländsk Brudlåt
- Shuffle bowing patterns
I had this version from the 1978 album "Ship in the Clouds" by Andy Cahan, Laura Fishleder and Lisa Ornstein. Their source was a Library of Congress recording, which the Traditional Tune Archive says is a version of "Tennessee Wagoner" played by African-American musicians John Lusk (1889-1969, fiddle), Murph Gribble (banjo) and Albert York (guitar) and recorded for the Library of Congress in September 1946 at Campaign, Tennessee by Margot Mayo, Stuart Jamieson and Freyda Simon.
"Lusk's grandfather had been trained as a slave fiddler in New Orleans, and John had a reputation as an outstanding square dance fiddler in a multi-county region. The first strain is repeated ad lib by Lusk before proceeding to the 2nd strain, and sounds more like a 'vamped' variation on five notes than a developed melody".
"Lusk's grandfather had been trained as a slave fiddler in New Orleans, and John had a reputation as an outstanding square dance fiddler in a multi-county region. The first strain is repeated ad lib by Lusk before proceeding to the 2nd strain, and sounds more like a 'vamped' variation on five notes than a developed melody".
As a general rule I see no problem with renaming tunes and rewriting lyrics to avoid causing offence. I've done it myself, and I daresay I'll do it again. In this case I'm a little uncertain: perhaps renaming this tune amounts to whitewashing? The word "coloured" was probably the most generally neutral and polite term used to refer to African-Americans at the time the tune was named, and the term "coloured aristocracy" itself could have entirely positive as well as negative connotations, depending on context. I don't see a clear right or wrong here, so I've decided simply to mention the issue whenever it seems appropriate.
As for the music, I got this version from my dad, Tom Paley. It's essentially the version that appears on the New Lost City Ramblers' eponymous first album, released in 1958 — the first tune they ever played together, I think before they even had a name as a band! There's always a question about whether to play an E major or an E minor against the third and fourth bars. I like both: the NLCR play the major, and that certainly creates a more unusual sound. But why choose?
As for the music, I got this version from my dad, Tom Paley. It's essentially the version that appears on the New Lost City Ramblers' eponymous first album, released in 1958 — the first tune they ever played together, I think before they even had a name as a band! There's always a question about whether to play an E major or an E minor against the third and fourth bars. I like both: the NLCR play the major, and that certainly creates a more unusual sound. But why choose?
I learnt this tune from my father when I was a child. It also appears in the film Bagdad Cafe (not Fried Green Tomatoes as I thought, thanks to those who have pointed that out!)
There are other ways to write this out, depending on how you analyze the rhythm, but this does the job, and it has the virtue of being simple.
Thanks to William West for letting me know the German name of this tune, or at least the Bavarian name, I don't think it's standard German. Now that I know what to look for I discover it's all over YouTube in various versions, some with lyrics.
There are other ways to write this out, depending on how you analyze the rhythm, but this does the job, and it has the virtue of being simple.
Thanks to William West for letting me know the German name of this tune, or at least the Bavarian name, I don't think it's standard German. Now that I know what to look for I discover it's all over YouTube in various versions, some with lyrics.
I learnt this tune, like so much, from the great anglo concertina player Mandy Murray in Brighton. It's not hard to find great versions of it on the internet. There's a lot of variation in how it finishes: here, I've included an alternative last line which represents another way of thinking about the tune. Maybe you could think of it as a variation, even, just don't play them both the same time through the tune or you'll end up with too many bars! I've notated the whole tune without repeats in order to include more variation, as it's that kind of tune, but it's still essentially AABB.
It's just a great tune! I particularly love the subtle and understated version on Yvonne Casey's 2004 album, "Yvonne Casey".
The 1997 album "The Fiddle Music of Donegal, Volume 2" is a wonder throughout, but Ronan Galvin's version of the Cameronian really stuck out to me. It's a very unusual version to say the least! You could think of the first part as being in F natural Lydian rather than G Mixolydian, but I chose to write it here as G major all the way through for ease of notation. And yes, it's crooked. Irish tunes can be crooked too.
Ronan Galvin finishes on the F♯ at the beginning of the last bar, whereas I finish on the C♮ which is the first note of the tune: I only recently noticed that difference, and there's the Folk Process in action!
Ronan Galvin finishes on the F♯ at the beginning of the last bar, whereas I finish on the C♮ which is the first note of the tune: I only recently noticed that difference, and there's the Folk Process in action!
In the A part you'll notice that I'm anticipating the first note of bar 7, starting it in bar 6. This is only a suggestion*, of course and, as written, it comes out as quite an extreme syncopation - extreme in the context, at least. You might like to de-emphasise this in your playing, or ignore it completely.
In the third bar of the harmony, I've written both B to D and B to G. I think it sits very nicely like this, providing some movement against the repetition in the melody, but you might like to play one note both times: I offer them as alternatives.
[*this is a joke, because the Swedish word for suggestion, "förslag", has a technical meaning in music to do with anticipating and retarding notes. Do you love puns that have to be explained? I do.]
In the third bar of the harmony, I've written both B to D and B to G. I think it sits very nicely like this, providing some movement against the repetition in the melody, but you might like to play one note both times: I offer them as alternatives.
[*this is a joke, because the Swedish word for suggestion, "förslag", has a technical meaning in music to do with anticipating and retarding notes. Do you love puns that have to be explained? I do.]
Styrbjörn Bergelt plays this tune on his 1979 album "Tagelharpa och Videflöjt" and there's a very different version by Hedingarna from 1991 on "Kaksi!".
Another tune I first heard on Styrbjörn Bergelt's "Tagelharpa och Videflöjt"
What's important here is, of course, the direction of the bow rather than the actual notes. But, since you have to play some notes, you might as well play these, for practice. Perhaps you'd like to let an open A drone ring out while you're noting the D string. Or you might like to hit the A string just on down bows, for instance. Experiment with this, and with things like how much bow you use, and how much swing you give the rhythm.
Trad arr. © 2022 Ben Paley
Trad arr. © 2022 Ben Paley
Trad arr. © 2022 Ben Paley
Trad arr. © 2022 Ben Paley
Trad arr. © 2022 Ben Paley
Trad arr. © 2022 Ben Paley
Trad arr. © 2022 Ben Paley
Trad arr. © 2022 Ben Paley
Trad arr. © 2022 Ben Paley
Trad arr. © 2005 Ben Paley
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Recordings:
- Andy Cahan, Laura Fishleder and Lisa Ornstein, "Ship in the Clouds", 1978
Recordings:
- New Lost City Ramblers, "New Lost City Ramblers", 1958
Recordings:
- Yvonne Casey, "Yvonne Casey", 2004
Recordings:
- Ronan Galvin, "The Fiddle Music of Donegal, Volume 2", 1997
Recordings:
- Ola Bäckström and Per Gudmundsson, "Ola & Per", 2001
Recordings:
- Styrbjörn Bergelt, "Tagelharpa och Videflöjt", 1979
- Hedningarna, "Kaksi!", 1991
Recordings:
- Styrbjörn Bergelt, "Tagelharpa och Videflöjt", 1979
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