Fiddle music

[-Jesse-]

After using the search function and coming up with nothing, i decided to post....

Does anyone know where to find period fiddle music in tab form online?
Thanks for any help!!!

[eric marten]

Re: Fiddle music

Jesse:

Fiddle music in tablature form is kind of rare. The only place I've run into it is in an Oak Publications book entitled "Beginning Old Time Fiddle" by Alan Kaufman (1977). It has the tunes simultaneously in tablature and standard notation. I never paid much attention to the tablature, as it looked awfully confusing to me. It is geared to "old time" fiddle tunes, which, besides a number of 19th century tunes appropriate to Civil War time, also includes a lot of Appalachian fiddle tunes, not necessarily of our time period. But tunes like Soldier's Joy, Mississipppi Sawyer, Haste to the Wedding, Chorus Jig, Hog Eye Man (a variant of Tip Toe Pretty Betty Martin), Round Town Gals (a variant of Buffalo Gals), Old Molly Hare (a variant of The Fairy Dance - well documented by William Sidney Mount - under both titles), and others are included.
Or: you could bite the bullet and learn to read music. Another Oak Publication, "Appalachian Fiddle" (1973) has a fairly streamlined chapter on reading music, and it also has many tunes, some of which are documented as Civil War era. Or you could get any basic Volume One of a violin method, such as "String Builder" and learn to read music from that. Then you would be able to use the countless collections in standard notation, like the many Howe collections.
I hope this helps somewhat.

[Old Cremona]

Re: Fiddle music

Yeah, the TAB thing is not gonna work out too well, as the previous poster said, so you must either become an "ear" player (and then you'd have to have a bunch of authentic players around to learn from) or just tough it out and learn to read standard notation. One of the great benefits to learning the "dots" is the wide world of period sheet music that becomes available to you- there is a ton of original, authentic music out there just waiting for the young tyro to come and discover it.

Here's a taste- from Buckley's Violin Tunes, New York: Firth, Pond & Co., 1855.

[J. Donaldson]

Re: Fiddle music

Mr. Anderton-

I've attempted "the google" and they don't show a copy of this work. Has this been reproduced, or are you in possession of an original?

[Old Cremona]

Re: Fiddle music

Mr. Anderton-

I've attempted "the google" and they don't show a copy of this work. Has this been reproduced, or are you in possession of an original?

No, it hasn't been reproduced, unfortunately, and I am not in possession of an original. My minstrel banjo comrade Tim Twiss found someone who has an original, and sent me these copies.

Once we have the whole book, we will have a whole new frontier to explore. The Buckley's were the most prolific publishers of original banjo music, and now we have their fiddle music as well. Note the frequent use of syncopation in the tunes- this is an under-represented facet of period banjo and fiddle music, IMHO.

[Indianabugles]

Re: Fiddle music

LOOK FOR MANDOLIN TABS.
It has the same fingerings and intonation as the fiddle GDAE. I play both and I have never seen fiddle tabs but have seen mando tabs. Tabs generally come with fretted instruments, Just a suggestion.

[33rdaladrummer]

The Fiddler's Companion

http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers

has many tunes in abc notation along with sources for the music, many of which predate the war.

By pasting the abc notation here

http://www.concertina.net/tunes_convert.html

you can generate standard notation along with a midi file, which you can listen to.

To get this to work, you will have to change the notation from double to single spacing.

For example, here's the abc notation for the Fairy Dance from a 1809 source:

X:1

T:Fairy Dance

M:2/4

L:1/8

S:W.M. Cahusac’s Annual Collection of 24 Country Dances for 1809

K:G

B2 BG|B2 BG|B2 BG|FDAF|B2 BG|cBAG|FDEF|G4:|

|:d2 dB|e2 ed|c2 cA|d2 dc|B2 BG|E2 cA|FDEF|G2 G2:|

You'll want to paste it in like this:

X:1
T:Fairy Dance
M:2/4
L:1/8
S:W.M. Cahusac’s Annual Collection of 24 Country Dances for 1809
K:G
B2 BG|B2 BG|B2 BG|FDAF|B2 BG|cBAG|FDEF|G4:|
|:d2 dB|e2 ed|c2 cA|d2 dc|B2 BG|E2 cA|FDEF|G2 G2:|

Hope this helps. Reading standard notation is not hard once you learn the basics, but I think being able to hear it helps quite a bit. You should be able to slow down the tempo using windows media player or a similar program, then you can play along while you're learning.

[joewhitney]

Re: Fiddle music

Just a word of caution: If you're an authentic reenactor (which is assumed why you're looking here for info), I'd recommend NOT learning from post war sources first. Many tunes have changed, some dramatically, since the war; and once you get a more modern version of a tune, even an "old time" version, it's hard to relearn an original period version. It's like learning a second language--you always think in in your native language, the one you learned first.

If you learn period versions first, your brain keeps later post war versions it learns in its "file" of alternative "variations", rather than as the primary tune. You also first learn period styles of playing, as opposed to later "improvements" or "innovations" in playing.

Joe Whitney
2nd SC String Band
Md Line Field Music

[-Jesse-]

Re: Fiddle music

Thanks for all the info!
I can read sheet music(not well) i just prefer to learn by tabs...thanks

[lukegilly13]

Re: Fiddle music

http://www.jaybuckey.com/free_tablature.htm
If it's tabs you want, then here you go!!! I would recommend researching the tunes however if you plan to play these authentically (as part of an impression).

[-Jesse-]

Re: Fiddle music

Thanks Luke!! :)

[Old Cremona]

Re: Fiddle music

http://www.jaybuckey.com/free_tablature.htm
Here you go!!!

Dang, I hate to be the heavy here, but surely a quick perusal of that website would reveal a very tenuous link with carefully researched fiddle music. The first tune, for instance, "Angeline The Baker," is not even the same melody or lyrics of Foster's original "Angelina Baker."

I wouldn't make a point of this on the mainstream website, but this being the Authentic Campaigner, we hold ourselves to a higher research standard.

It's not all bad- the "Fisher's Hornpipe," for instance, is not unlike the Fishers Hornpipe found in period fiddle repertiore books. I suspect this is more by chance than design, however.

Be choosy! And research your fiddle music, just like you research your military impression.

[lukegilly13]

Re: Fiddle music

Carl,
Thanks for the post. I edited in a warning on my previous post. I have practically NO knowledge of period music....just wanted to help a friend find what he was looking for. Knowing Jesse I'm sure he'll research his music before he puts it into an impression...in retro, probably should of sent it by PM or e-mail. Thanks for the check!

[-Jesse-]

Re: Fiddle music

Carl:
Thanks for pointing that out! But no worries i have a long while(of research and practice)before i can think of bringing it to an event..Thanks for the help!

[Old Cremona]

Re: Fiddle music

Here's more music from Buckley's Violin Tunes, 1855. Check out the tune at the top of page 26, "The Power of Music" by Tom Briggs. This song is also found in the Briggs Banjo Instructor of the same year. When the fiddle arrangement and the banjo arrangement are player together, a planetary vortex occurs and time travel becomes a real possibility:tounge_sm

Seriously, who ever works up that tune will have a tune they can immediately play with me should we ever meet up in the field.