BUCKLEY 1860 - Part 3

[Tim Twiss]

11/26/12

http://timtwiss.com/musicstore/

Today I began the last leg of the Buckley adventure. Above is the address where you can tune in and check it out. This will certainly be the most challenging, as it contains the fiddle repertoire in the back. Many are written with one or two sharps, and there is no thumb string indication. What to choose....thumb string as "D" or "E"? I'll talk about it one by one as i get there...so far as I'm concerned, if there is no thumb string indicator, interpretation is up for grabs. These were just added without much thought to being an actual banjo arrangement. I'm sure they were thought out and played by banjoists. What this tells me is that the source is unlimited if we use the fiddle repertoire. Buckley also published fiddle books. He even inducated in this book that these can be played on the fiddle.

Hang on as the fretless goes up into the upper atmosphere. I believe this is fretted territory, but I am going to do them all on fretless. Possible, but not practical...is how i view many of these.

I begin with Picayune Butler's Harmonic Jig. I "found a way" after thinking about it and trying lots of options. The indications for playing the harmonics are not totally clear. See what you think. 

[Tim Twiss]

12/15/12

This morning, I added Bennet's Favorite Reel. I used high bas on this one. This tune is also called "Great Eastern" Reel by Clem Titus and is found in Ryan's Mammoth Collection of Fiddle tunes. Yesterday morning, I put up the short and snappy Peel's Jig. Of course.....it was a difficult day to think of music. How trivial in comparison to the confusing and senseless slaughter of innocent life.

[Tim Twiss]

DISCLAIMER:

I do not profess to say that I know how to interpret these fiddle type tunes. The difference in the instruments creates a difficulty right off the bat....effecting the execution of the phrases and the speed with which these were probably performed. They end up being almost more like Bach etudes for me. And actually, I like it that way. It creates something unique for this fretless banjo. The movement of these lines are so well crafted, I appreciate another medium expressing those notes. I have no idea how our forebanjofathers played these...or if they even did.

[Al Smitley]

"Great Eastern" MIGHT refer to the British-built ship which, when built (1858) was the largest ship ever constructed.  It later carried the transcontinental cable across the Atlantic in the attempt to connect telegraph communication between America with Europe.

Over ten years ago, I wrote to the FIDDLE-L that I had found 50 tunes titles in Ryan's that are the same as names of mid-19th C clipper ships.  If anyone is interested in the list, I can try to send my FIDDLE-L entries to this site.  Unfortunately, Andrew Kuntz, on his "Fiddler's Companion" website (which is a good site at:     http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/FCfiles.html    took my posting and under each of his listings of those tune titles, includes, "Al Smitley suggests the tune may possibly have been named for the clipper ship......."   That's been a source of some embarrassment to me for over ten years, now.  I have contacted Andrew hoping that he would downplay that statement but it has remained.  My posting was merely a list of tune titles that were the same as clipper ship names.  Likely, "Witch of the Waves" was a reference to the clipper ship but I doubt that "New York Reel" or "California Hornpipe" was a named for the clipper.  In other cases, (such as "Wide Awake"), both the ship and the tune may have referred to the same thing, perhaps the political movement.

[Ian Bell]

The Great Eastern is still a really popular tune in Ontario and other parts of eastern Canada. It's also called the Silver Spire by Irish fiddle types. It's a great tune. I used to like flat-picking it on the guitar. Hmmm maybe I'll go try that now - see if I still can.

[Tim Twiss]

12/16/12

Aghhh. Camp-Town Reel (pg 78) is so elusive tonight...just can't seem to get a good take. So many spots the intonation can just slip for a not or 2 and ruin it. It is difficult to get these ascending runs with potistion changes and have it sound smooth and relaxed. Patience....I'll try it later, or perhaps it will wait until morning. Sometimes magic dust falls at night.

[Tim Twiss]

12/17/12

ZING!!! Got that one finally. This one tripped me up, but I am moving on now. One song at a time. Only 6 left on this Buckley journey. Wheeeee!!!!

[Tim Twiss]

Many times, I begin to record before it is ready (knowing that full well) but this process seems to condense the progress.....it gets good faster. Just a game I play with myself.  

[Tim Twiss]

I look forward to getting back to the simple "banjo style" tunes. These fiddle ones....I don't know. Nice, but are not as characteristic and natural for the instrument.

[Al Smitley]

Perhaps your comment offers me a chance to point out that banjo-style tunes are not always characteristic and natural for the fiddle. ;)   I enjoy them, however, and it has prompted me to try, for one last time in my life, to feel comfortable playing that very frustrating instrument!

[Strumelia]

I have lots of tune books and tab books that I've accumulated over the years for banjo, dulcimer, fiddle, mandolin, penny whistle, etc.   I have found that invariably, once I sample my way through the book, anywhere between 1/2 to 3/4 of the tunes are 1) too difficult for me, 2) too fussy or not of much interest to me melodically or 3) just plain boring no matter how I try to look at them.  ;)

Rare is the tunebook where more than 1/2 the pieces get me excited to learn to play.  I say this not because I think tunebooks are of poor quality, but simply to say that everyone has musical likes and preferences, and it's pretty common to only 'connect' with a certain number of tunes in any tunebook.

With modern books, we have the luxury of being able to casually ignore entire groups of tunes in any book, with no qualms at all.  We also have a vast multitude of wonderful audio recordings available to learn tunes from.

With 150+ year old banjo tune books however, the rarity of the material means we are much less likely to casually skip over any of the material willy-nilly.  One would naturally try to play a much higher percentage of the material because there just isn't a whole lot of it to be too choosy about.