18th centry music

[Tom Ward]

Hey,can anyone start playing some 1700s banjo songs?That would be something new,instead of all 1800s music.Like some Rev war stuff?What do yall think?That sounds interesting.Is anything or any sorces available?

[Mary Z. Cox]

Here is a corner of a painting called "The Old Plantation." It is from the 1700s and it looks very much like these gentleman are playing some dance music on banjo and drums.

Here is a pix of Yazid and I who also play dance music on banjo and drums. We think there is a good chance that we were the above two in a previous life and the banjo player wanted to come back as a blonde this century and we both wanted some really nice drums and banjos to take our sound forward in more interesting times. :)

Our "Drumming on the Edge of Banjo" Cd will be coming out soon and there is at least one colonial fiddle tune as many Celtic traditional tunes that folks playing the banjo in the 1700s would have probably heard and longed to play as soon as they had nice instruments. :)

[Carl Anderton]

Mary Z. Cox said:

We think there is a good chance that we were the above two in a previous life and the banjo player wanted to come back as a blonde this century and we both wanted some really nice drums and banjos to take our sound forward in more interesting times. :)

If you two really are re-incarnated slaves, the membership here would be fascinated to hear what banjo music actually sounded like in "less interesting times."

[Brent W Browning]

More Familiar Tunes from Riley's

Here are some more familiar tunes found in the Riley's index on colonial music website.

Robinson Crusoe Mrs. McLeod The Dusty Miller Speed the Plow Comin' Thro' the Rye

Spanish Fandango Mrs. Migillicuddy The Highland Laddie College Hornpipe Gilder Roy

Flowers of Edinburgh Rakes of Mallow Adeste Fideles Anacreon in Heaven (Star Spangled Banner )
ie

Thanks Ian for your comments. Rougues March was also used in the US Army for punishment. Other tunes that were duty calls were Peas on a Trencher and Molly Put the Kettle On. Depending on how many former military men you had living in your community,they might have been popular or NOT popular since military service was not necessarily an honorable thing but often a desperate measure of last resort when you couldn't find any other work in those times. Follow the link I posted earlier for a list of tunes from Riley's.

Ian Bell said:

This has already been addressed by Brent's interesting note about the Riley Flute book, (I'd love to see that sometime) but, as an unrepentant tune-hound I can't resist throwing in my two cents worth.
A number of the tunes in the old banjo books are Scots/Irish fiddle tunes that were popular in the 18th century on both sides of the ocean, although I suspect that it may not have occurred to anyone - black or white - to play them on the banjo in that era. Most of these tunes are still part of living fiddle traditions where I live (in Ontario) today.
They include:
Monymusk (aka Darkey Money Musk in Briggs)
Fisher's Hornpipe (aka Darkey Fishers Hornpipe in Briggs)
Bottle of Brandy (is called Bully For You in Converse '65)
Highland Fling (Monymusk again - under an alias in Winner's '83)
Robinson Crusoe or Rogues March (winner's '83)
The above is a real Rev. War tune - The British army at least, used this tune for drumming soldiers to punishment - the melody was later co-opted for an early 19th music hall song about "Poor old Robinson Crusoe"

[Strumelia]

Carl-   LOL!

(Sorry, just stumbled upon this old post and almost spit my coffee out...lol lol)

Carl Anderton said:

Mary Z. Cox said:

We think there is a good chance that we were the above two in a previous life and the banjo player wanted to come back as a blonde this century and we both wanted some really nice drums and banjos to take our sound forward in more interesting times. :)

If you two really are re-incarnated slaves, the membership here would be fascinated to hear what banjo music actually sounded like in "less interesting times."