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New Tune of the Month


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"Glise de Sherbrooke" is classic French-Canadian reel played all over North America and England. This Tune of the Month offering is not only a great tune but the focus of my beginner’s Anglo concertina workshop at the North East Concertina Workshop sponsored by the Button Box this coming April in Sunderland, Massachusetts. If you are planning to attend and want to get a head start, here is the place.

 

In addition, I've found a 1928 recording of the tune by Québecois fiddler Joseph Allard and include links and photos as well as MP3s and tab-scores of my arrangements of the tune for G/D and C/G Anglo in the harmonic (English) style. Enjoy!

 

As always, I'm counting on all of you to alert me to mistakes I may have made... the wrong button # in a score, broken links and any of a thousand glitches that might rear their ugly heads and be a fly in the ointment.

 

Glise de Sherbrooke is a simple tune that has a great history and like so many great old tunes, offers boundless possibilities.

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Thank you, Jody! I printed it out and am going to try it first on my guitar, to get the melody in my ear, and then ambitiously try it on my borrowed concertina very slowly...

Thanks very much for making such beautiful music available!

Have a great day,

Priscilla

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Thank you, Jody! I printed it out and am going to try it first on my guitar, to get the melody in my ear, and then ambitiously try it on my borrowed concertina very slowly...

Thanks very much for making such beautiful music available!

Have a great day,

Priscilla

 

Hi Priscilla,

 

I'm glad you are going to give it a try. Good thinking about playing a new tune on several instruments to get to know it. I do the same thing but I usually use mandolin and/or piano. Play on!

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A few typos:

 

The button notation doesn't match the dots in the second-to-the-last measure of every line. I think you meant button 7 for the F#'s, not button 8.

 

-jim

 

Hi Jim. You are so right. Button #7 in the C/G tab is incorrect for the F#, or was... all fixed and posted now. Thank you very much for the correction.

 

Priscilla, you should print out a new corrected copy to work from.

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A few typos:

 

The button notation doesn't match the dots in the second-to-the-last measure of every line. I think you meant button 7 for the F#'s, not button 8.

 

-jim

 

Hi Jim. You are so right. Button #7 in the C/G tab is incorrect for the F#, or was... all fixed and posted now. Thank you very much for the correction.

 

Priscilla, you should print out a new corrected copy to work from.

 

Thanks! I printed it out again. Right now I'm pretty mystified by it all, but I'm getting a friend to help me decipher it this weekend. Okay, P means press, D means draw (extend the bellows), the notes are clear...does 1,2,3 etc. refer to fingering, like for 1 you use the pointer finger on all those keys, and 2 the middle finger, on down the line? But what's 7? Because I see "1" is assigned to several different notes, so 1 probably doesn't designate a single button, rather the finger you press it with? Sorry...don't mean to ask so many disturbing questions

Hope you have a wonderful day in beautiful New York City...I want to go there someday! It's windy here in South Jersey

Priscilla

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Thanks! I printed it out again. Right now I'm pretty mystified by it all, but I'm getting a friend to help me decipher it this weekend. Okay, P means press, D means draw (extend the bellows), the notes are clear...does 1,2,3 etc. refer to fingering, like for 1 you use the pointer finger on all those keys, and 2 the middle finger, on down the line? But what's 7? Because I see "1" is assigned to several different notes, so 1 probably doesn't designate a single button, rather the finger you press it with? Sorry...don't mean to ask so many disturbing questions

Hope you have a wonderful day in beautiful New York City...I want to go there someday! It's windy here in South Jersey

Priscilla

 

South Jersey? you live right next door!

 

Download the "Guide to reading the tab score." at the bottom of my page. That should make things clearer.

 

The numbers do refer to the buttons and each button has two pitches it plays. Also, there are two sides to the instrument making a total of four #1s each assigned to a different pitch. Confused yet?

 

If you are just starting to play then it might be better to begin with something easier. Try Mary had a little Lamb in C. The first note on the C/G Anglo on the Right hand would be an E, push, button #2 played with the ring finger. The whole melody is played using only buttons 1, 2, 3 and the fingers used for those buttons are index, middle, ring.

 

After you get that down, try adding an um-pa C chord left hand part playing Um with the pinkie on button #1 and the Pa using buttons 3 (ring) and 5 (index). You will want the G chord which you shall have most of the time by lifting your index finger from button #5 and instead, reaching to the far row and playing button 4a with your ring finger.

 

Good luck.

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Thanks! I printed it out again. Right now I'm pretty mystified by it all, but I'm getting a friend to help me decipher it this weekend. Okay, P means press, D means draw (extend the bellows), the notes are clear...does 1,2,3 etc. refer to fingering, like for 1 you use the pointer finger on all those keys, and 2 the middle finger, on down the line? But what's 7? Because I see "1" is assigned to several different notes, so 1 probably doesn't designate a single button, rather the finger you press it with? Sorry...don't mean to ask so many disturbing questions

Hope you have a wonderful day in beautiful New York City...I want to go there someday! It's windy here in South Jersey

Priscilla

 

South Jersey? you live right next door!

 

Download the "Guide to reading the tab score." at the bottom of my page. That should make things clearer.

 

The numbers do refer to the buttons and each button has two pitches it plays. Also, there are two sides to the instrument making a total of four #1s each assigned to a different pitch. Confused yet?

 

If you are just starting to play then it might be better to begin with something easier. Try Mary had a little Lamb in C. The first note on the C/G Anglo on the Right hand would be an E, push, button #2 played with the ring finger. The whole melody is played using only buttons 1, 2, 3 and the fingers used for those buttons are index, middle, ring.

 

After you get that down, try adding an um-pa C chord left hand part playing Um with the pinkie on button #1 and the Pa using buttons 3 (ring) and 5 (index). You will want the G chord which you shall have most of the time by lifting your index finger from button #5 and instead, reaching to the far row and playing button 4a with your ring finger.

 

Good luck.

 

 

Jody! Thanks!!! Last night I played the tune on my guitar and like it a lot! Thanks for the explanation and I will search for the Guide to Reading Tab key. I'm sure that shall prove helpful.

Be sure to eat something good in New York City today! I think... the art museum and the food, they would be my favorite parts of New York City...and the pretty river!

Priscilla

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Jody--I'm having a fine old time with this tune and I'm looking forward to the workshop, but I think there are some more typos in the G/D tab notation: I believe that where you've put 2a you mean 1a, and where you've put 5a you mean 4a. Either that, or I'm misreading it completely. :unsure:

 

Joshua

 

[edited to add which tab notation I meant]

Edited by jdms
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Jody--I'm having a fine old time with this tune and I'm looking forward to the workshop, but I think there are some more typos in the G/D tab notation: I believe that where you've put 2a you mean 1a, and where you've put 5a you mean 4a. Either that, or I'm misreading it completely. :unsure:

 

Joshua

 

[edited to add which tab notation I meant]

 

Joshua,

 

Right you are. I know how I made that mistake. Thanks for pointing it out to me. A corrected G/D pdf of the tab score is now up on my site, thanks to you.

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  • 1 month later...
At the NECW event yet more corrections came to light in mes. 2 and 4 of the G/D score and mes. 9 of the C/G. All fixed now if anyone wants to get a fresh corrected copy at http://jodykruskal.com/tune_of_the_month/february_09.html.

 

 

Thank you very much! I enjoy the tune and the audio that helps me pick it out. I havn't figured out the chords yet, but then there are lots of tricks that I don't know. First that I stumbled upon your tune of the month. Very thoughtful and generous of you. Thanks again. Jack Mullen, College Station, TX

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I too like that tune, and have a slightly different but similar version in my session tunebook at http://www.pghardy.net/concertina/tunebooks/.

 

When I first heard it, I threw me back in time to playing games in school playgrounds in the 50s/60s. The tune is closely related to the tune of "The Big Ship Sails", a well-known British playground game which involved a line of children holding hands and threading through an arch between the end person and a wall, until everyone had hands crossed.

 

"The big ship sails on the alley-alley-oh!

The alley-alley-oh!

The alley-alley-oh!

the big ship sails on the alley-alley-oh!

On the last day of September!

 

The Captain said it'd never never do,

Never never do,

Never, never do!

The Captain said it'd never ever do,

On the last day of September

 

It would be fascinating to really trace the orgin of some of these world tunes!

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I too like that tune, and have a slightly different but similar version in my session tunebook at http://www.pghardy.net/concertina/tunebooks/.

 

When I first heard it, I threw me back in time to playing games in school playgrounds in the 50s/60s. The tune is closely related to the tune of "The Big Ship Sails", a well-known British playground game which involved a line of children holding hands and threading through an arch between the end person and a wall, until everyone had hands crossed.

 

"The big ship sails on the alley-alley-oh!

The alley-alley-oh!

The alley-alley-oh!

the big ship sails on the alley-alley-oh!

On the last day of September!

 

The Captain said it'd never never do,

Never never do,

Never, never do!

The Captain said it'd never ever do,

On the last day of September

 

It would be fascinating to really trace the orgin of some of these world tunes!

I always wondered what event that song was about....It was on one of the two tapes of nursary rhymes (oranges and lemons & the wheels on the bus were the respective tape titles) that as a child I'd play over and over again. I think I'll have to go dig them out...then find a tape player.

 

edit: ooh just noticed on amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wheels-Bus-Pre-Sch.../ref=pd_sim_b_4 its been reissued as a CD. :D

Edited by LDT
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I always wondered what event that song was about....It was on one of the two tapes of nursary rhymes (oranges and lemons & the wheels on the bus were the respective tape titles) that as a child I'd play over and over again. I think I'll have to go dig them out...then find a tape player.

 

There is some speculation that it was about the opening of the Manchester Ship Canal, but I think that has been effectively scotched by the experts in this sort of thing, Peter and Iona Opie. Not having my copies of their books immediately to hand, I've snitched this from Mudcat:

 

"In "The Singing Game" (Iona and Peter Opie, OUP, 1985) they call it the only survivor of the ancient "Thread The Needle" game, of which visual record goes back to the Lorenzetti frescos in Siena in 1350! Variations are found in Appalachian dance ("Killiecrankie, Winding Up the Maple Leaf, etc.) and in England under "Dan, Dan, Thread the Needle."

They note that the problem with the Manchester Ship Canal origin is that there is an 1870 recollection from New Zealand; and that it has some obscure connection to the Christmas ships sailing, and various "through and through the salley go" threading the needle songs."

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The tune is closely related to the tune of "The Big Ship Sails", a well-known British playground game which involved a line of children holding hands and threading through an arch between the end person and a wall, until everyone had hands crossed.

 

"The big ship sails on the alley-alley-oh!

The alley-alley-oh!

The alley-alley-oh!

the big ship sails on the alley-alley-oh!

On the last day of September!

 

The Captain said it'd never never do,

Never never do,

Never, never do!

The Captain said it'd never ever do,

On the last day of September

 

It would be fascinating to really trace the orgin of some of these world tunes!

The B section of "Glise de Sherbrooke" is also very similar to the chorus of "Cumberland Mountain Bear Chase" :

 

Away, away, we're bound for the mountain,

Bound for the mountain, bound for the mountain,

Over the hills, the streams and the fountain,

Away to the chase, away.

 

In Pete Seeger's book "How to Play the 5-String Banjo" (happy 90th birthday, Pete), which includes the song, he mentions that he has heard variants from all over the world, and gives the words to one in Czech (I think--I haven't seen the book in decades).

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