Poll: Tune Of The Month, Nov 2015

[Jim Besser]

It's that time again - time to vote on the tune you want to learn, record and post next month.

 

Scottish: Coilsfield House

Thanks to Daria for suggesting this wonderful Scottish air composed by Nathaniel Gow (1763-1831).

Here's a nice version on English concertina, harp guitar and bass. (thanks for the correction, Jim L, I got it it confused with a different version.)

 

And a slow, expressive version by the great Cape Breton fiddler Natalie MacMaster, and another by a mandolin trio.

 

If you have his Traditional Music from Clare and Beyond CD, there's a wonderful version by Gearóid Ó hAllmhuráin played in D - low - on a G/D Anglo.

 

Here's a discussion about the tune on thesession.org.


Quebecois: Reel St. Joseph

How about a perky French Canadian reel?

 

This is a cracking good one that has entered the contra dance repertoire, in part because of the playing of Jody Kruskal and his band Grand Picnic, which recorded the tune many years ago (I think I still have the cassette, replaced by a CD).

Here’s an easy to follow fiddle version, and one on flatpicked guitar.

 

And one at contra dance speed with some nice variations and fiddle harmonies.

 

American Oldtime: Chinese Breakdown

Here’s a really easy and fun American oldtime fiddle tune that sometimes shows up in English ceilidhs and even the occasional Irish session. Somewhere in the chaos of my iPod is a version by the great English ceilidh/jazz band Steamchicken.

Some accounts say it's Appalachian in origin, others that it comes from New England. Or maybe Canada. Isn’t folk music confusing?

 

Here's a real oldtimey version, and one from an English ceilidh.

A little different oldtime take here.

 

And from what appears to my untutored eye to be a Scandinavian square dance.

And another regional variation.

 

Read about it here.

 

French: La Marianne

 

Finally, here's a simple, very pretty French waltz written by Frederic Paris.

 

This was the melodeon.net Tune of the Month in January, 2011, and there are lots of good examples in this thread.

 

Here's a clean version by the everpresent Anahata with variations that should give you a good idea what you can do with this very pretty tune.

 

Lo and behold, here's a version on Anglo concertina.

 

And OMG, here are my friends Bill and Sarah having a 'don't try this at home' moment with the tune.

Edited October 26, 2015 by Jim Besser

[JimLucas]

Scottish: Coilsfield House

 

Here's a nice version on English concertina and harp.

Appears that it's actually EC, guitar, and bass. Good, though.

 

Quebecois: Reel St. Joseph

 

...

And one at contra dance speed with some nice variations and fiddle harmonies.

Right now I'm in Sweden, and that last link is unavailable. Outside the US, in general?

 

American Oldtime: Chinese Breakdown

 

Some accounts say it's Appalachian in origin, others that it comes from New England. Or maybe Canada. Isn’t folk music confusing?

 

...

And from what appears to my untutored eye to be a Scandinavian square dance.

That tune is so familiar that I wonder if I don't remember it from before I discovered folk music. I know my memory doesn't have that name attached to it, though I don't have another name for it, either.

 

As for the "Scandinavian" link, that dance was in Frederiksberg, a section of Copenhagen, Denmark.

 

French: La Marianne

 

Finally, here's a simple, very pretty French waltz written by Frederic Paris.

 

...

Here's a clean version by the everpresent Anahat with variations that should give you a good idea what you can do with this very pretty tune.

Anahata

I've heard this one in many different contexts over many years. Lester Bailey has it on his Tune-a-Day web pages, where he notes, "A French (Bourbonnais) Waltz popularised by Frederic Paris but believed to be traditional." I wonder if anyone has asked Frederic to clarify this. A fine tune, in any case.

[David Barnert]

Currently on a train from Scotland to England.

 

Got to play Coilsfield House at a pub session in Glasgow the other day. It gets my vote (which, for now, takes it into the lead).

[Bullethead]

Nice selection. I like them all. I think this is a great way to broaden my horizons and hope to get decent at whichever one ends of being TOTM.

[Bullethead]

 

That tune is so familiar that I wonder if I don't remember it from before I discovered folk music. I know my memory doesn't have that name attached to it, though I don't have another name for it, either.

 

It reminds me a lot of the "Looney Tunes" theme music from all the Bugs Bunny cartoons (the real ones, not the modern abortions).

[jdms]

It reminds me a lot of the "Looney Tunes" theme music from all the Bugs Bunny cartoons (the real ones, not the modern abortions).

 

That's "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down." I see what you mean about the similarity, and so does/do the author(s) of this Wikipedia article.