American fiddle tunes

[Dulcimerbabe]

Hi, in reference to where you can find good fiddle tunes in the key of D, try dulcimer music. The dulcimer usually stays in D so the books are written in D. Most dulcimer books have both tab (for the dulcimer) and the song also in musical notation form. I played dulcimer for several years before picking up the whistle and a lot of my whistle playing actually comes from dulcimer music.

[MusicalADD]

ADD, highland-piper answered your question pretty clearly. Yes, going to a bluegrass session with a tape or digital recorder and listening is a great first step. Then you have a good idea what tunes you can show up with. I think if you show up at any session, Irish, bluegrass, kwela or what-have-you, with a set of tunes and start "firing them off" you'll probably get a chilly reception. Find out what that group is playing and fit in with that.

To answer your second question, yes, I showed up with a digital recorder to a bluegrass session (I still take it and record tunes I haven't heard). They though that was a great way learn tunes.

Walrii, you haven't understood me.... For the record, no, I was not questioning the practice of taking a recorder to a session to facilitate learning of tunes. As I already stated, yes, I've done that quite a bit myself. My concern, which I've stated a couple of times now, was about identifying which tunes cross genres the most easily. Just because I've played a reel in an Irish session doesn't mean the reel will sit well in a bluegrass setting. Going to one jam or session with a recorder does not answer that question.

Regarding your comment about getting a chilly reception, that's a good educated guess you're making, but in this case you don't know the context. (This is a bluegrass jam I used to go to back when I played bluegrass mainly. I haven't gone in years because for years I've played only Irish trad. Recently, the bluegrass jam leader has repeatedly encouraged me to go to the jam again, and when I say, "Nah, I don't play bluegrass any more, I don't even remember the songs," she says, "Oh, you must know a ton of Irish reels, you can just play them.")

[walrii]

Walrii, you haven't understood me....

I stand corrected - I did not understand where you were coming from. My apologies. Sounds like the invitation from your friend is a license to do most anything in a reel!

[jim stone]

As a newbie on penny whistle I'm focusing on learning the classic Irish traditional tunes such as Drowsy Maggie, Rakish Paddy, Mrs. McLeods, Kid On the Mountain, Wicklow Hornpipe, etc., etc. But as a former fiddle player I enjoy playing (on the whistle) the classic American (Appalachian, Southwestern, New England) fiddle tunes such as Arkansas Traveler, Forked Deer, Katy Hill, Staten Island, Sally Goodin, etc., etc. I'm curious whether other whistle players that visit this site like to play tunes that are outside the ITM canon. American fiddle tunes would seem to be a gold mine for penny whistle.

Definitely. The fiddle tunes are sometimes a bit simpler, easier to pick up, great fun.
And the whistle is welcome in old time music gatherings. That's my experience,
certainly.

[Ted]

I have played whistles with old-timey American string bands for square dances etc. I usually use a low E for the A tunes. Fiddles love to play in A. I was once shown an old photo from the 1800's with an American square dance band with a flute player in it. Manny Shaw, once the leading fiddler around the Weiser national fiddle contests, showed that photo and said he recalled all kinds of instruments used in the American west in dance bands. That was in 1963. Whatever could play the music was welcome. Many copy-cat musicians of OT American music have sometimes insisted that only stringed instruments or string bands should play OT music. Bluegrass players particularly so. I always thot of bluegrass as a once isolated form of OT, largely taken up and popularized by city-billies who have never been to the places it comes from and look down their noses at me or anyone with a whistle, accordion or whatever joining in the fun.

[BoneQuint]

"Midnight on the Water" always sounded more Appalachian than Irish to me, but, I've only ever heard it played at Irish sessions.

I've heard it was written by Texas fiddler Benny Thomasson (or his father Luke).

[walrii]

"Midnight on the Water" always sounded more Appalachian than Irish to me, but, I've only ever heard it played at Irish sessions.

I've heard it was written by Texas fiddler Benny Thomasson (or his father Luke).

I found a copy of Midnight on the Water and it sounds Applachian to me too. Looks like a waltz - ADD, how was it played at the Irish sessions where you heard it?

[whistlegal]

MusicalADD wrote:
"Midnight on the Water" always sounded more Appalachian than Irish to me, but, I've only ever heard it played at Irish sessions.

I've heard it was written by Texas fiddler Benny Thomasson (or his father Luke).

I agree. The recordings that I have of Midnight on the Water cite Luke Thomasson as the songwriter.

[whistlegal]

A few more old-time or Appalachian tunes that come to mind and are playable AND fun to play on the whistle are:

Ragtime Annie
Blackberry Blossom
Pretty Little Dog
Sandy River Belle
Liberty
Kitchen Girl
Bill Cheatham
Billy in the Lowground
Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine
Cherokee Shuffle
Stoney Point
St. Anne's Reel (New England)
Petronella (New England)
Red Wing
Eighth of January
Cluck Old Hen
Spotted Pony

[R Small]

Good list. Here are a few more: East Tennessee Blues, Mississippi Sawyer, Old French, Hog Eye, Cumberland Gap, Angeline the Baker, Stone's Rag, Fire On the Mountain, Sweet Bunch of Daisies, and the Girl I Left Behind (you should walk around with a limp when you play this one).

[whistlegal]

Thought of a few more:

Seneca Square Dance
The Bell Cow
Flop Eared Mule
Sally Ann
Sail Away Ladies
Spider Bit the Baby
Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss
Cumberland Gap
Golden Slippers
Off to California (hornipe - goes great with The Boys of Bluehill)

[s1m0n]

"Midnight on the Water" always sounded more Appalachian than Irish to me, but, I've only ever heard it played at Irish sessions.

I've heard it was written by Texas fiddler Benny Thomasson (or his father Luke).

Aly Bain's been playing it for years, as has Finbar Furey. I'm pretty sure that Bain, at least, credits Thomasson.

[Ted]

Don't forget the cakewalk, Colored Aristocracy; great on flute/whistle.

[NickelOak]

This is a wonderful thread. I just joined C&F (purchased my 1st whistle day before yesterday), and I come from a bluegrass fiddle background. Since I don't know too many Irish tunes, I've just been playing traditional bluegrass.

[JS]

Very good and enjoyable discussion. It might be useful, though, to make more of a distinction between bluegrass (with its use of improvised solos), Southern old-time (usually stringed instruments, no solos but lots of variations on familiar tunes and lots of interplay, especially rhythmic, between instruments), and the New England contra style (with its mix of Irish, Scottish, and French Canadian tunes along with tunes shared with the southern string band repertoire and frequent use of sets of tunes). Lots of differences in style and sensibility. From what I've seen, New England style sessions are quite open to a variety of instruments (I've seen oboes!) and whistles and flutes are pretty common, which makes sense, given the eclectic range of tunes . But I know some old-time players who I don't think would welcome a wind instrument; they've looking for a particular sound. And this might be true of any session dedicated to a specific style So it's worth testing the water before you jump in.

Edited to recommend The Portland Collection and The Waltz Book volumes as good sources. The Fiddler's Fake book is valuable too, but the transcriptions in the others are a less fancy, more bare-bones versions, and I've found that helpful.