Why it's Here. Written music is in no way a substitute for listening as a tool for learning a tune or a style of music. If you think about it, does it really make sense to use your eyes to learn something that's completely auditory in nature? Listening to other musicians is the key to understanding any musical tradition. Recorded music by some of the great musicians from a tradition can be an excellent learning tool as well. The Links section of this web site should be helpful in obtaining recordings.
Assuming you're doing a goodly amount of listening and have an understanding of how the tunes should be played, it can be useful to refer to written music to figure out the details of a tune. Therefore I'm providing written music in a few different forms. Hopefully it will be used to supplement listening rather than as a replacement!
The Tunes. I've included a variety of tunes here from many sources. I've also indicate which ones are played at the Wednesday night jam session and by the Lamprey River Band with any degree of frequency. I've included background information as well. (Note that some tunes may have been played by one or the other group in the past but no longer be.)
To get to the tunes quickly, here are links to all the tune pages; the first ones are in abc format:
About the Tunes. Here’s some information I’ve compiled about the tunes on the web site. Some is just based on knowledge I’ve accumulated over the years, some is from record/CD jackets, tune books web sites, etc. If you see any inaccuracies or know anything I’ve left out that you think would be worth including here, please feel free to get in touch at <peter . yarensky at unh dot edu> (you should be able to put that together).
(W) = Wednesday night tune
(L) = Lamprey River Band tune
(L) = Lamprey River Band tune
Note: Only the Blue Words are links. Black Words are just names of tunes.
Reel Boule de Neige (W) -- This tune is from the repertoire of the French Canadian fiddler Joseph Allard who recorded it in 1932. It was introduced to many of us who play at the Wednesday night jam session several years ago by Steve Muise who put it on the Maine Fiddle Camp CD in 2003.
Reel de Chateauguay -- Another tune from the repertoire of Joseph Allard, recorded by him in 1929. Joseph Allard was born in Chateauguay, Quebec on July 1, 1873.
Logger’s Breakdown -- A great Bb Canadian reel.
Old French -- A classic Downeast Canadian fiddle tune, popular in New England, the Maritime provinces and in Ontario where it's known as the Rambler's Hornpipe.
Trumpet Reel -- Also known as the Trumpet Hornpipe and more commonly played in G. I learned it from George Wilson; I was curious about playing in Eb!
Whalen’s Breakdown -- A Canadian reel traced to Don Messer, it's one of the few tunes in the key of C.
Arnold Kennedy's Jig -- A jig in G from the Maine Fiddle Camp CD in 2007 that Carter taught in a class a few years earlier; it's a great jig in the Canadian tradition.
Murray River Jig (W) -- A jig in A written by Graham Townsend, apparently named for a Kings County, PEI town; see The Fiddler's Companion.
The Old Box Stove -- One of Ward Allen's tune, in F/Bb, transcribed from one of his records. Ward Allen wrote many first class tunes and this is certainly among them.
Darling Nellie Gray (W) -- This used to be the last called dance of the evening at many New Hampshire dances; especially the dances of Ralph Page and Duke Miller in the Monadnock region of the state. According to Phil Johnson, in the Seacoast area My Little Girl was the last dance of the evening, and of course in Maine Lady of the Lake was often the last called dance of the evening. Generally a waltz would follow. I call it in D, and Marcel plays it in D usually; Dudley calls it in G.
Don't Dilly Dally -- George Hodgson used to call this one at the Contoocook square dance; it quickly became a favorite once he started calling it.
Snow Deer (W) -- A tune from the early 1900's when there was a craze for American Indian songs; it goes with Redwing, Silver Bells and other such tunes, and quickly entered the fiddling tradition. It's usually played in G, but Marcel plays it in D so that's how I learned it. It's popular throughout this country and Canada. It's even played by some of the French Canadian bands; one of the best versions I've ever heard was played by Enterloupe.
Neil Vincent Orzechowski's Welcome to Earth (L) -- One of Bob McQuillen's great marches, and with a title like that I don't need to say much more.
Marche de Queteux Pomerleau -- I learned this tune from Lisa Ornstein originally although I've since heard it played by many other Québecois fiddlers. Thomas Pomerleau was a poor fiddler who lived in a shack in rural Quebec. This is one of two tunes that I know of associated with (and presumably written by) him. There's an interesting story associated with him having to do with the attitudes of the church toward fiddling and dancing, which weren't always favorable. At one point when the attitude was particularly unfavorable in his rural community his priest told him he had to stop fiddling, since fiddling inspires dancing which inspires activities that the church doesn't approve of. Furthermore, this being January in Quebec, the priest told him he had to do something drastic: namely, he had to put his fiddle in his wood stove. M. Pomerleau being a religious man wasn't about to disobey the priest, but he disagreed about fiddling being an evil activity and certainly didn't want to burn his fiddle. So he thought about it for some time, and eventually he obeyed the priest; and told the priest that he had in fact put the fiddle in the wood stove and left it in overnight. However, before doing so, he had allowed the stove to go out completely for three days, which must have made for rather uncomfortable living conditions! So the next day he was able to remove his fiddle, dust it off, and resume fiddling. The priest never said another word to him!
Sarah's Slightly Different March (L) -- Sarah Hydorn brought this in to band practice one night. We had fun with it, and we all agreed it was slightly different, but we still haven't figured out: slightly different from what? It works particularly well with the chords that are given.
Pretty Girl Milking Her Cow (W) -- A great Am polka from Old Grey Goose. I've heard it's sometimes played as an air or some other slow type of tune, but I can't imagine: I've always known it as a rousing polka.
Red River Cart (W) -- One of many great tunes written by Andy deJarlis. If you look up "Red River Cart" on the internet there's a lot of information about what the tune refers to available.
Country Serenade (W) -- A great Canadian two-step from the playing of Patti Kusturok, now Patti Lamoureux, on her Y2Kusturok CD (the name explained by its being recorded right around the end of the last millennium). The first version is a fairly basic version; the second is an attempt to notate most of the ornamentation on her recording. To get a better feel for her excellent playing, it's worth buying copies of her recordings.
Golden Boy (W) (as played in New Hampshire) -- Written by Manitoba fiddler Andy deJarlis, this was a favorite of Elise Nichols who used to play for Boston-area dances. One night George Hodgson was looking for a tune for a square dance and she suggested this tune; it quickly became one of his favorites. We learned it because he uses it at the West Hopkinton (now Contoocook) square dance, often for Rod's Right and Left. It's become a favorite at the Wednesday night jam session and seems to be spreading among other musicians in the area. This is the New Hampshire version as played by Lou Heath, from whom we learned the tune.
Manitoba’s Golden Boy -- This is the same tune as named and written by Andy DeJarlis in 1969. The Golden Boy, a 13.5-foot tall statue made in France, has sat on top of the Manitoba State Legislature Building since it was completed in 1920.
Happy Acres Two-Step (W) -- A favorite among New England French fiddlers, written by Cecil "Cec" McEachern who used to play for Don Messer. This version is transcribed from a recording of Marcel Robidas who played it frequently.
Sleeping Giant Two−Step (W) -- Another Canadian two-step by Andy DeJarlis, written in 1961. The Sleeping Giant is north of Thunder Bay, Ontario; it's a peninsula that has the appearance of a sleeping giant.
Waverly Two-Step (W) -- A two-step written by Graham Townsend that's been popular with many of the French Canadian fiddlers in New England (e.g. Marcel Robidas, Simon St. Pierre, etc.) This is based on Marcel's version as of one particular evening; he played it differently at different times. Atthough there is a B part, I've never heard a French fiddler from New England play it.
Waverly Variations -- These are variations of the basic tune from the playing of Marcel Robidas on one particular evening; he certainly has many others!
French Club Waltz (W) -- From the playing of the Maine French Fiddlers, on the CD "In Memere's Kitchen".
Frisco Waltz (W) -- A waltz from the great Canadian fiddler Ward Allen who also wrote Maple Sugar; composed in 1956.
Valse des Jouets (W) -- A great French Canadian waltz; the Waltz of the Toys, by Michel Faubert.
Monahan's Waltz (W) -- Learned from Eric Favreau, it's from the Valcartier region of Quebec.
Norwegian Waltz -- This is Marcel Robidas’ version of the Norwegian Waltz. His brother Lucien plays a slightly different version, and Emile Langevin who also played it at Marcel's would add an extra measure at the end of the B-part, which I've heard other people do as well.
Norwegian Waltz #2 (W) -- This is a tune that was commonly played by Canadian fiddlers, and probably by many fiddlers in this country in earlier days. Interestingly, I found a moderately similar tune on a Scandinavian recording called the "Amerika Vals", so it seems to suffer from identity problems! This is a reasonably standard version based on the playing of Graham Townsend (slightly simplified from what he played).
Saint John River Waltz -- I learned this one from Don Roy and the Maine French Fiddlers.
Sweet Journeys -- A waltz by George Wilson that found it's way to Cape Breton where Jerry Holland gave it his own interpretation. Burt brought it in to the Lamprey River Band from Jerry's record not realizing I might already know it, and I did some further editing. We both prefer Jerry's interpretation; and George once expressed great admiration for it as well in a conversation.
Valcartier, Quebec Waltz (W) -- I learned this one at the French Canadian jam session (Cinq à Sept) at Northern Week at Ashokan in 1998 when someone (unidentified) played it and I got it on tape. After several years of playing it for people who said something like "Oh, it must be ..." and then hearing them play a completely unrelated tune, I played it for Eric Favreau at Maine Fiddle Camp in August, 2006 and he told me it was a waltz from Valcartier, an Irish community in Quebec, and the home of the Corrigan family which has a repertoire of great tunes.
Village Carousel Waltz -- Andy DeJarlis is known for writing great waltzes and this is one of them; it was composed in 1969.
Carousel Waltz -- Omer Marcoux was a fiddler from Concord, NH who learned a number of tunes from Andy DeJarlis recordings, and he played a great version of this tune; this is how he played it.
Mars nr. 51 eftir Svabo (W) -- From the Faroe Islands band Spaelimenninir, they got this tune from a manuscript from Jens Christian Svabo (1746-1824), an important figure in Faroese history known as a linguist and ethnographer as well as being a dance fiddler.
The Four Jacks -- Don Messer has a rather different version in one of his tune books, but I learned this from the great Nova Scotian fiddler Lee Cremo.
The Four Jacks #2 (with ornamentation, etc.) -- This is my attempt to notate how Lee Cremo played the tune with some of the ornamentation he used in his version.
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