They want me to play something for the summer solstice event at the hall down the road. I'm in the beginner catagory, still. Can anybody point me at something seasonally appropriate? All the solstice music seems to be for the one six months from now.

Yes, plenty about holly and ivy and snow

The only summer solstice song I can think of is that medieval one: "Somer is icumen in". But Middle English is not everybody's cup of tea.

Maybe there's something in the Scandinavian repertoire? The Nordic peoples are the real sun-worshippers!

Cheers,
John

I think that one might be more associated with the 1st of May. It's odd that there's plenty for Mayday and plenty for the harvest, but little or nothing in between. I'm wondering if there might be something do-able in the repertoire of the Copper Family?

http://www.thecopperfamily.com/books-recor...dings/song.html

Mind you, even Claudy Banks (in the "summer" section of the book) is set "All in the month of May"...

Ah! How about "Rosebud in June"?

http://www.ramshornstudio.com/rosebud.htm

T:June Apple
R:reel
O:Scottish
Z:id:hn-reel-543
M:C|
K:Amix
ageg ageg|aged c2A2|gfef gfef|gfed c2A2|
ageg ageg|aged c2A2|~G3A BAGB|1 ~A3G A2eg:|2 ~A3G A2AB||
|:cdcB ~A3B|c2d2 e2A2|~G3A BABc|d2d2 e3d|
cdcB ~A3B|c2d2 e2A2|~G3A BAGB|1 ~A3G A2AB:|2 ~A3G A4||

I found this in my list of abc notation tunes. The title seems to fit the bill but I know nothing of the tune

- John Wild

No image available -- there's probably a error in the ABC source causing the conversion to fail.

Ah ha!!
What has been missed off the beginning of the ABC code is the "X" field.

If you insert X:1 at the beginning of the tune then the conversion will work OK.

regards
Jake

My apologies - Obviously I was a bit too hasty with the copy and paste selection.

- John Wild

How about "Stanton Drew" for a mid-summer song?

David

thanks for reviving a memory!

The Wedding at Stanton Drew

- written by my good friend Colin Reece, and recorded on the album of The Bully Wee Band 'The Madmen of Gotham'



- John Wild

You've jogged my memory!

"The Jug of Punch" starts with "As I was sitting with jug and spoon / On one fine morning in the month of June ..."

Doesn't specify the 21st of June, but at least it's the right month

Cheers,
John

At the washington Revels solstice festival we played Helston Furry and Apple Tree Waisal, among others. Both great concertina tunes. I've also played the Padstow carol for summer events.

Maybe in time for next year now, but that reminded me, that I have a processional called Apple Pie from a workshop of Cheshire tunes, and another summer fair tune from Mobberley, both mid June events. I've not found either of these written down, though I think they're in old manuscripts somewhere....

Might be different in the States, but in the UK we usually wassail apple trees on Twelfth Night (6th January).

Bit late but a very nice little melody is the old Irish song, Thugamar Fein an Samhradh Linn - roughly, 'we bring the summer to ye'. Not sure where you'll get dots for it but if you want I'll record an .mp3 and mail you - easy enough to pick up.

Yeah, sure - grab 50-80 fiddlers, put them around the May pole, and away you go! Only problem is to stop them again...

On a serious note - as far as I know there isn't any specific repertoire for the Midsummer, except a 'childrens' tune, involving frogs... (darn, I left the seriousness again).

There is a festival, though, 50 km from here, always on the weekend before Midsummer, where the tradition is that a couple of naked, male fiddlers place themselves in the middle of a rushing creek (cold...) and play for a while, to enact The Naecken (English: The Neck) a shapeshifting water creature (read more here) and no, I will not upload the photos...

Mythology says that Naecken's idea was to play music so wonderful that it lured women etc, etc - but note this: "If properly approached, he will teach a musician to play so adeptly 'that the trees dance and waterfalls stop at his music,' " - now, how's that for a pub session?

Anyway - the outdoor temperature will be 10-14 C, a real treat... so I can tell you: nobody were lured or tempted (exept to go indoors...)

But don't try this at home, kids (with your father's or mother's fiddle)

/Henrik