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%%abc-copyright (C) Copyright Ben Paley 2026
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X:1
T:Hell Frozen Over
L:1/8
C:© 1992 Ben Paley
N:I'm not clever enough to make the MIDI play it properly, but the D.C and FINE markings are
N:supposed to let you know that the last time through the tune you should finish up by playing
N:the first bar again.
N:I wrote this tune to represent the devil in a theatre piece I was involved in. My idea was to
N:combine a Scandiavian tonality with a Balkan kind of rhythm. It may have come out more as
N:pastiche, but I think it worked pretty well in the play.
N:Recently I recorded a slightly sketchy version <a
N:href="https://benpaley-fiddle.bandcamp.com/album/hell-frozen-over">available on a little EP</a>
N:with another tune I wrote around the same time.
Q:1/4=160
D:Ben Paley, "Hell Frozen Over", 2022
Z:Ben Paley <ben.paley@benpaley.com>
K:A Lydian
P:A
[A,2E2][E2A2] !fine!|: dee d2 c2B | dcBc AEC | [A,2E2][E2A2] |
dee d2 c2B | Acec Bdfd |1 e3 B3 [A,2E2][E2A2] :|
P:B
| e3 e2g fdBd | e3 e2g fdBG |
A3 A2c BGEG | A3 A2c BGEG | A3 A3 !D.C.!|]


X:2
T:The Perfect Camping Holiday
L:1/8
M:10/8
C:© 1992 Ben Paley
N:The rhythm is inspired by Armenian music, specifically the oud of John Bilezikjian, whose 1994
N:album <em>Music of the Armenian Diaspora</em> has been a favourite of since its release. The
N:rhythmic pattern goes 3-2-2-3 | 3-2-2-3 | 3-2-2-3 | 3-3-2-2 \u2014 Note that the last bar in
N:the pattern is different.
N:I played it with Tab Hunter on our 1999 album "dolor ipse". You can <a
N:href="https://benpaley-fiddle.bandcamp.com/track/the-perfect-camping-holiday">purchase a
N:download here on my Bandcamp page</a>.
Q:1/4=154
D:Ben Paley and Tab Hunter, "dolor ipse", 1999
Z:Ben Paley <ben.paley@benpaley.com>
K:E Phrygian
P:A
|: E2E FE DF E2E |^G2E FE DF E2E |
BcB A^G EG A2A |1 G2E F2D EF ^GF :|2 G2E F2D EF ^GA |
P:B
|: B2B cB Ac B2B | d2B cB Ac B2B |
^G2B BA GB A2A |1 G2E F2D EF ^GA :|2 G2E F2D EF ^GF |]


X:3
T:The Shooting Star
L:1/8
M:C|
C:© 1992 Ben Paley
N:This tune is for my wife, Sam Carroll.
Q:1/4=110
R:Slow reel
D:The Wild Turkey Brothers, "Like This Only Better", 1992
D:Bing Lyle and Ben Paley, "We Are Melting", 1995
D:Ben Paley and Tab Hunter, "dolor ipse", 1999
Z:Ben Paley <ben.paley@benpaley.com>
K:D Mixolydian
P:A
B |: cBcd cBAG | Add^c d3e | fdef edcB | ADEF G3B |
cBcd cBAG | ^FGEF DCA,B, | CEGc BGDG, |[1 A,CE^F D3B :|[2 A,CE^F D3F |
P:B
EDE^F EFGF | GAGA BAB^c | dA^FA defd | gecB A3B |
c2gc acgc | ^fde^c dAFD | GABG cGBG | A^FEF D3F |
EDE^F EFGF | GAGA BAB^c | dA^FA defd | gecB A3B |
cBcd cBAG | ^FGEF DCA,B, | CEGc BGDG, | A,CE^F D3 |]


X:4
T:The Loaf of Bread
L:1/8
M:C|
C:©1995 Ben Paley
N:Back in the olden times, I was lucky enough to do a series of schools concerts with Chris Wood
N:and Gail Duff, themed around seasonal food. It was so much fun! Chris was still mostly playing
N:the fiddle in those days, and at one point in the show, he accompanied himself telling a French
N:story, <em>Felix and the Wolf</em>, which prominently features a loaf of bread. At that time I
N:was listening a lot to Chris' friend Jean-François Vrod, and his group Trio Violon, and they
N:played one tune in particular which I loved very much, and which I still play, in fact.* I
N:wrote this tune as a response to these two things: in my mind it was supposed to sound like the
N:music of the <em>Massif Central</em>, although Chris thought it sounded more Swedish: no
N:surprise there, really.
N:<em>*I thought the tune I was inspired by was a Jean-François Vrod composition called </em>Les
N:Miroirs<em>, but I just went and listened to that again so I could include a link to it here,
N:and it turns out to be completely different (though very wonderful) tune. So now I don't know
N:the name of the French tune I was responding to.</em>
Z:Ben Paley <ben.paley@benpaley.com>
K:G Mixolydian
P:A
DF |: G2GF D2DF | A2AF D2DF | G2G2 F2DF |   E2DC D2DF |
      G2GF D2DF | A2FE D2DF | G2GF E2DC |1 D6   DF   :|2 D6 AB |
P:B
|: c2A2 F2Ac | d2B2 G2AB | c2cA F2DF |  E2DC D2AB |
   c2A2 F2Ac | d2dB G2AB | c2AF E2DC |1 D6   AB  :|2 D6 |]


X:5
T:Áines Brudpolska
L:1/16
M:3/4
C:©1997 Ben Paley
N:I wrote this for the wedding of my dear friends Áine King and Anthony Hodgson in 1997. They're
N:still married, so it obviously worked, right?
Q:1/4=87
R:Polska
D:Tom & Ben Paley, "Svenska Låtar", 1999
Z:Ben Paley <ben.paley@benpaley.com>
K:Am
P:A
|: E4 ^G2EG B3G | E^GBd cBAG A2AB | c3G ECEG c2ec | d3e f2ag e4 :|
P:B
|: e2a2 abag f2a2 | abag e2c2 B4 | B4 G3B d3B | dedc A2c2 e4 |
   e2a2 abag f2a2 | abag e4   c4 | B4 G3B d3B | dedc A8 :|


X:6
T:Gills Brudpolska
T:Gill's Wedding Polska
L:1/8
M:3/4
C:© 2002 Ben Paley
N:I wrote this tune for the wedding of Tab Hunter and Gill Emerson in 2002.
N:I managed to work around what I thought was a bug in either abcm2ps or abc2midi to do with
N:first and second time bars in harmony parts. Turns out I needed to add <em>%%score M|H</em> at
N:the top of the tune (where I'd labelled the voices "M" and "H").
R:Polska
Z:Ben Paley <ben.paley@benpaley.com>
K:D Dorian
%%score M|H
V:M
P:A
%
A2 d>c A>c | e2 dc A2 | B>G D<^F G>A | B>A A<c (A2 |
A2) d>c A>c | e2 dc A2 | A>F D<E F>G |1 A>F G3^F :|2 A>F G3E |
P:B
|: F>G A<c _BA/2G/2 | A>F ED/2C/2 D2 | d>e f<a ga/2g/2 | fe/2d/2 e2 A2 |
f>d e<c d2 | _BA/2G/2 A>F E2 | A>F D<E F>G | A<F G4 :|
V:H
P:A
D2 A>^F D>^F | A2 G^F (D2 | D)>C B,<A, (B,2 | B,)>A, B,<C (D2 |
D2) ^F>E D>^F | A2 G^F (D2 | D)>C A,<G, A,>B, |1 C<D  B,3(A, :|2 C<D B,4 |
P:B
|: D>E F<A G>E | F>D ED/2C/2 A,2 | F>G A<c (d2 | d)>B ^c2 A2 |
d>A _B<G A2 | D>F A>F E2 | D>C A,2 A,>B, | C<D B,4 :|


X:7
T:The Young Queen on the occasion of her Ascent to the Throne
L:1/8
M:6/8
C:© 2010 Ben Paley
N:I wrote this tune for my daughter Joy about the time when I started to think \u2014 ah, yes,
N:she's who she is, my work is done. I was much under the influence of a certain kind of Irish
N:music at the time, and this is a slow jig in that style: perhaps not terribly well-suited to
N:her sunny personality, but there's a relentlessness about it that matches her indomitable
N:spirit, perhaps.
Q:1/4=140
R:Slow Jig
Z:Ben Paley <ben.paley@benpaley.com>
K:D Mixolydian
P:A
|: A3 AGA | AcA AGE | D2d dcd | dAd def |
d3 ded | cBc A2B | cEE GAG | EDD D3 :|
P:B
|: DEG DEG | DEG EDC | DEG A3 | AcA AGE |
DEG DEG | EDC A,2B, | CDE GAG | EDD D3 :|


X:8
T:The Thrill of Embarkation
L:1/8
M:7/8
C:© 2020 Ben Paley
N:I wrote this in 2020 to celebrate the birth of my first granddaughter, Andie. Obviously: babies
N:love 7/8, don't they? Seriously though, as time signatures go, 7/8 divided 2-2-3 has got so
N:much forward momentum, I pictured Andie sort of half toppling over herself as she ran down the
N:gangplank into life. And yes, I know that's disembarkation. Stop being so pedantic.
N:To continue the theme of sevens, each part has seven bars: three bars repeated then a seventh
N:bar to round it off. If you strip away the variations and frills, the underlying melody is very
N:simple.
N:<a href="https://benpaley-fiddle.bandcamp.com/track/the-thrill-of-embarkation">Hear me playing
N:the tune on my Bandcamp page</a>, mostly on mandolins and viola, I think.
Q:1/8=350
D:Ben Paley, "Notes from the Skirting Board", 2020
Z:Ben Paley <ben.paley@benpaley.com>
K:G
P:A
|: d2 d2 dcB | cB cd cBA | GA FG E2D |
d2 dc Bcd | cB cd cBA | GA FG E2D |1 ED FD G2B :|2 ED FD GAB |
P:B
|: c2 c2 cBA | BA Bc BAG | AG FG E2D |
c2 cB ABc | BA Bc BAG | AG FG E2D |1 ED FD G2B :|2 ED FD G3 |]


X:9
T:Sonias Brudmarsch
T:Sonia's Wedding March
L:1/16
M:2/4
C:© 2023 Ben Paley
N:I wrote this for the wedding of my cousin Sonia to her husband Joe in November, 2023.
Q:1/4=80
R:March
Z:Ben Paley <ben.paley@benpaley.com>
K:G
P:A
Bc |: A2F2 D3D | E2DC D2EF | G3A Bddc | A4- A2Bc |
A2F2 D3D | E2DC D2FA | BABd dcAF |1 G4- G2Bc :|2 G4- G2Bd |
P:B
g3a b2af | d2c2 A4- | A3c B2AG | A4- A2AB |
c3d e2dc | d2B2 A4- | A3c B2AG | A4- A2Bd |
g3a b2af | d2c2 A4- | A3c B2AG | A4- A2AB |
c3d e2dc | d2B2 A3B | BABd dcAF | G4- G2 |]


X:10
T:Sylvia
L:1/8
M:5/4
C:© 2025 Ben Paley
N:In honour of my second granddaughter, Sylvia, who was born in 2023. It took far too long to
N:appear: I think I scared it away a bit, and all my ideas were either too lugubrious or
N:artificial, or both, until this melody found its way undaunted into my mind.
N:The rhythm is inspired by the German tune <a href="/resources/dots/?tune_id=1729">Unser Oide
N:Kath</a>, but the feel is much more old-timey, and less abrupt. I hope that in performance it
N:might not be immediately obvious that it's in an odd time signature.
Q:1/4=105
Z:Ben Paley <ben.paley@benpaley.com>
K:D
P:A
|: A>AB/2c/2 d2f ed BA | A>AB/2c/2 d2f ed B2 |
A>AB/2c/2 d2f ed Bd | A>FA/2B/2 A2F ED D2 :|
P:B
|| FA/2F/2A FA/2B/2A ED FA | FA/2F/2A FA/2B/2A ED D2 |
FA/2F/2A FA/2B/2A ED FA | A>Bd/2B/2 A2F ED D2 ||
P:C
|| B2 B>B AF ED FA | B2 B>d AF ED D2
|  B2 d>B AF ED FA | A>Bd/2B/2 A2F ED D2 |]


X:11
T:Little Acorn
L:1/8
M:3/4
C:© 2025 Ben Paley
N:Another grandaughter, another tune. This is way more melancholy than little Nella deserves, but
N:hopefully she'll think it's pretty.
Q:1/4=140
R:Polska
Z:Ben Paley <ben.paley@benpaley.com>
K:G Dorian
P:A
|: DG GF FD | D2 B,4 | DG GF FD | D2 B,3F |
[1,2 E2 C3 E | D2 B,4 :|[3 E2 CE GF | D4 D2 |
P:B
|: GA Bd fa | ge ce gf | dB GB dB | A2 FA cA |
GA Bc dB | ce g2 ^f2 |1 d4 D2 :|2 d4 d2 |
P:C
[| g3 a g2 | f2 d2 c2 | B3 A B2 | c4 Bc |
d2 b2 ag | fd c2 A2 | G6 |]