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Poll: Tune Of The Month, Oct 2015


Jim Besser

Poll: TOTM October 2015  

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It's that time again. Vote! Participate!

 

Irish: Dance of the Honeybees

 

For me, there’s nothing as much fun to play on concertina as a good hornpipe, and this is a cracking good one: the Dance of the Honeybees, written by the Irish fiddler Charlie Lennon.

 

Here's a version by the great Irish band Altan.

And a fine version on Anglo concertina, and one on fiddle.

And a really weird video. What's with the mask, dude?

 

Lennon wrote a waltz with the same name to go with the hornpipe.

Here's a discussion about the tune.

 

French: Miz Kerzu


How about a lovely Breton waltz? Here’s one by Florence Pinvidic that, I believe, was written for diatonic accordion. But we played this at a French tunes workshop at the Northeast Squeeze In this month, with a veritable army of concertinas and accordions, and it was terrific.

 

Here’s the composer herself. And a version on two melodeons with some nice harmonies and counter melodies. Here's a very pretty version on harp. And by a full band.

 

The basic tune is pretty simple, as you can see in this video of a melodeon class, and this tune should be accessible to players of all concertina systems at all levels.

 

English: The Maid Peeped Out at the Window


Here’s another English country dance tune from Playford’s 1650 The Dancing Master. Like so many Playford tunes , this sounds to me a lot like chamber music. It sounds great solo, and for you multitrackers, there’s all kinds of harmonies and counter melodies waiting to be explored.


Here it is by Bare Necessities, the seminal American band that has spread the gospel of English country dance music.

 

A slower fiddle version here.

 

Note: I've been told these two videos are not accessible in Europe. Sorry, I have no way of testing international restrictions before posting. If it helps, here's the link to the tune's ABC page, where you can hear a primitive midi version.

 

American: Redwing

 

Wow, this is a really simple, catchy tune that really gets around.

 

I always thought Redwing was a traditional tune, but it turns out it was written as a song by the early TIn Pan Alley composer Kerry Mills - who also wrote Whistling Rufus - with lyrics by Thurland Chattaway.


Here is what the song sounded like originally, complete with lyrics, a now-rarely-heard bridge section and, for good measure, a chorus of tweeting birds.

 

But the basic tune has also been incorporated into popular, Western swing, bluegrass and country music, among other genres. A once popular square dance was written to go with the tune.

 

A Bluegrassy version here with some mighty nice flatpicked guitar.

By guitarist Chet Atkins.

A Ragtimey version from - of all places - the Lawrence Welk show.

And of course Spike Jones had a go at massacring the tune.

I’m not sure what you’d call this: early rock? Surf guitar?


It's also a staple of American contra and square dance music, and not always in a traditional way. Here it is played for enthusiastic dancers by the great band Giant Robot Dance, one time thru, and then the video cuts to something a little less Tin Pan Alleyish.

 

A more sedate dance version here.

 

And it's a staple of polka bands. Here it is on honking big chemnitzers.

 

Lest we forget, Woody Guthrie added his own words and turned Redwing into an anthem for the labor movement. Here's the late Pete Seeger’s version.

 

There you have it: the October TOTM poll. As I said: vote! It's your participation that makes the TOTM work.

Edited by Jim Besser
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It's that time again. Vote! Participate!

 

Looks like neither of your linked videos of "The Maid Peeped..." is available on this side of The Big Pond. Google didn't find me a playable version, either, though it did show me a picture of the Bare Necessities CD. Familiar. I have a copy, which I'll have to dig out, though it really doesn't matter, because my mind is already made up:

 

I love honey, and a friend of mine is a world class beekeeper who produces an excellent selection of honeys. (I've just paused to give myself a slice of bread with butter -- hand-churned 3 days ago -- and Nicolaj's wonderful dandelion honey. :)) What's more, another friend (alas, she tried English concertina, but chose to concentrate on melodeon) is the artist who designed the recent issue of Swedish postage stamps that picture honeybees. So my choice is clear: Dance of the Honeybees.

Edited by JimLucas
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I get "This video is not available" for the Bare Necessities version of The Maid Peeped Out Of The Window. Regional issues again?

 

Sorry, it must be a regional issue - it works fine here in the US.

 

If it'll help, here's one notation link. http://abcnotation.com/tunePage?a=trillian.mit.edu/~jc/music/abc/England/MaidPeepedOutTheWindow/0000

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By the way, I've met folks here in Scandinavia who claim that the "Redwing" tune is really an old Swedish/Norwegian tune that significantly predates the American song. I'm going to be travelling a lot during these next weeks, but I'll try to find some time to look into that.

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By the way, I've met folks here in Scandinavia who claim that the "Redwing" tune is really an old Swedish/Norwegian tune that significantly predates the American song. I'm going to be travelling a lot during these next weeks, but I'll try to find some time to look into that.

 

I wouldn't be surprised.

 

I half expected someone to come back and say it's in O'Neill.

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I get "This video is not available" for the Bare Necessities version of The Maid Peeped Out Of The Window. Regional issues again?

 

As I just mentioned above, I get that problem on both the videos for that tune. At the moment, I'm in Sweden.

The other one played OK for me in the UK. Obviously depends on individual countries.

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I get "This video is not available" for the Bare Necessities version of The Maid Peeped Out Of The Window. Regional issues again?

As I just mentioned above, I get that problem on both the videos for that tune. At the moment, I'm in Sweden.

The other one played OK for me in the UK. Obviously depends on individual countries.

 

When it comes to how things behave on the internet, I've concluded that nothing is "obvious". B)

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Actually, I believe Redwing was based on the above song, The Merry Peasant, by Robert Schumann(a standard lesson song for young piano students)

"The Merry Peasant" got around some. It never occurred to me until just now how close the A part of "Redwing" is to the first part of "American Patrol."

 

Bob Michel

Near Philly

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I get "This video is not available" for the Bare Necessities version of The Maid Peeped Out Of The Window. Regional issues again?

 

As I just mentioned above, I get that problem on both the videos for that tune. At the moment, I'm in Sweden.

The other one played OK for me in the UK. Obviously depends on individual countries.

When it comes to how things behave on the internet, I've concluded that nothing is "obvious". B)

Very true

(Note to self. Think before you post) :)

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