Welcome Home Again

[cprljohnivey]

Re: Welcome Home Again

"Can you look in the BAR book and tell me if Capt. Thompson's Quick Step is in there? It is in the 1776 Nixon fife book, and someone once told me that it is the same tune as Adam Bell's March. I don't have a copy of Nixon or the BAR book."

Will,

I can find Capt. Money's March (1756), Captain Reed's (1762), Captain Tate's March, and a whole slew of Quick Step marches for various regiments (8th, 17th, 23d, 2 for the 25th, 33d, 40th, 42d, 43d, 55th, and 71st). I find nothing under Thompson.

Hope this helps.

Brad

[33rdaladrummer]

Re: Welcome Home Again

Thanks, Brad. I guess I need to track down the Nixon manuscript.

But even if I could prove that Adam Bell's (1905) was based on an earlier tune, I would have a harder time killing that postwar drumbeat. For some reason people love those modern beats with bass drum solos. Reminds me of the stuff I used to hear the high school marching bands play at the Mardi Gras parades.

[joewhitney]

Re: Welcome Home Again

One of the best, if not THE best, sources of tune histories is Ceolas Fiddler's Companion. "The 1812 March" is what it is called in Bayard's "Dance to the Fiddle, March to the Fife":

YE'LL AYE BE WELCOME BACK AGAIN. AKA and see "Bayham Abbey," “Old Eighteen-Twelve (1812) Quickstep,” "The 1812 March," "Handy Andy's Highland Fling," "He is Long a Coming," "Maggy's Weame Is Fu I Trow," "Welcome Here Again," "You'll/Ye'll Aye Be Welcome Here Again." "Duncan Davi(d)son," "Gentle Ann," "Handy Andy's Highland Fling," "Maggy's Weame Is Fu I Trow," "Welcome Here Again." Scottish, English; Reel. D Major. Standard tuning. AABB. The tune dates to before 1734 when it appeared in a MS collection. John Glen (1891) thinks that "Ye'll Aye Be Welcome Back/Home Again" is the older title that precedes the closely related tune "Duncan Davidson," the latter of which he states was composed by Robert Burns. Further, he believes the ancestral tune to both is "Strick Upon a Strogin" in the Leyden Manuscript of 1692 (Samuel Bayard, in reviewing Glen's assertion, admits Glen may be right, but that he has no compelling reason for his line of thought). The melody appears in the Drummond Castle Manuscript (in the possession of the Earl of Ancaster at Drummond Castle), inscribed "A Collection of Country dances written for the use of his Grace the Duke of Perth by Dav. Young, 1734," and is contained in both Robert Bremner's 1757 collection and the Gillespie Manuscript of Perth (1768). James Aird printed it as “Gentle Ann” in his Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs, vol. 1 (1782, pg. 11). English printings are nearly as early as Scottish ones. John Johnson published it in London in 1744 in his Choice Collection of 200 Favourite Country Dances, vol. 3. Samuel, Ann and Peter Thompson give it as “Bayham Abbey” in their Twenty Four Couple Dances for the Year 1793 (although Charles and Samuel Thompson had published it as “You be Welcome Here Again” in their Compleat Collection, vol. 3, 1773). Elizabeth Sanders Van Rensselaer in her 1782 manuscript (volume II) calls it “He is Long a Coming,” Abel Shattuck (Massachusetts) entered it into his 1801 commonplace book, John Greenwood has it as “Welcome Here Again” in his 1785 manuscript (pg. 56), and it is titled simply “British March” in David McLaughlin Brown’s Commonplace Book of 1787. Aird (Selections), 1782, vol. 1, No. 30 (appears as "Gentle Ann"). Bremner (Scots Reels), c. 1757; pg. 56. Cole (1000 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; pg. 3. Oswald (Caledonian Pocket Companion), 1780?, vol. 2, pg. 187. Thompson (Compleat Collection of 200 Favourite Country Dances, vol. 3), 1773; No. 93. Walsh (Caledonian Country Dances), 1737, vol. 2, pg. 45.

Joe Whitney
2nd SC String Band
Liberty Hall Fifes and Drums
Md Line Field Music

[Hardtack Herring]

Re: Welcome Home Again

I have heard so much about this book. I need to track it down.

[Hardtack Herring]

Re: Welcome Home Again

Yikes....

239.00 beans on Amazon!

Hopefully Norfolk Public Library has it.

[joewhitney]

Re: Welcome Home Again

Sorry, should have made clearer that the info was from Ceolas, not Bayard (although Ceolas repeats most of Bayard's observations):

http://tinyurl.com/yjlc3ec

Bayard's a great book, but that's outrageous! Got mine for $25 at Wonder Book in Frederick Md. Sue Cifaldi said "You want this one!" and I knew I'd better snap it up.

Since it was published by the Penn State, someone should let them know what they're going for, so they can reprint it at a decent price.

Joe Whitney
2nd SC String Band
Liberty Hall Fifes and Drums
Md Line Field Music

[DonH]

Re: Welcome Home Again

There's also a "Thompson's Quick Step" in the Edward Murphey manuscript of 1790. And yes, it looks extremely similar to "Adam Bell's March." I wouldn't have any doubts that "Adam Bell's March" is a later variation of "Thompson's Quick Step."

Another interesting one is "Chaisses Retreat," also found in the Edward Murphey manuscript, which sounds like it could easily be an early version of the infamous "Paddy on a Handcar." The Old Line Fifes and Drums from the '90s did a recording of "Shay's March," which bears a significant resemblance to "Chaisses Retreat." But I forget as to the historical reference in the recording's liner notes that was made for "Shay's March."

Don Heminitz

"Can you look in the BAR book and tell me if Capt. Thompson's Quick Step is in there? It is in the 1776 Nixon fife book, and someone once told me that it is the same tune as Adam Bell's March. I don't have a copy of Nixon or the BAR book."

Will,

I can find Capt. Money's March (1756), Captain Reed's (1762), Captain Tate's March, and a whole slew of Quick Step marches for various regiments (8th, 17th, 23d, 2 for the 25th, 33d, 40th, 42d, 43d, 55th, and 71st). I find nothing under Thompson.

Hope this helps.

Brad

[Alan Lloyd]

Re: Welcome Home Again

Friends

Thanks so much for all of the information.

For those that asked...yes, I did mean Welcome Here Again. Some where along the line I got "Home" instead of "Here" in my mind, and now I can't get it out. Now I feel better to see that both titles were used in the 18th Century

The Ceolas site is a great resource. http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc/ Thank you

I recall that the Old Line Corps has "Gentle Anne"on its CD...I see that it is another alternate name for this tune.

I am not sure why the "Old 1812" version gets played at Civil War events. Seems like it should be reserved for GAR parade reenactments

[33rdaladrummer]

Re: Welcome Home Again

I am not sure why the "Old 1812" version gets played at Civil War events. Seems like it should be reserved for GAR parade reenactments

That's the $64,000 question, isn't it? How much of the AVF is versions of tunes played during the war contributed by veteran fifers, and how much is versions of tunes as arranged by fifers after the war? There is probably some of both.

There are many tunes in the AVF that are identical to versions in period manuals like Howe's. Other tunes are the same as Howe's but in a different key. Sometimes it is best to go with a fifer's actual experience (AVF) than a manual. Comparing the camp duty of AVF and Howe, for example, they are pretty much the same except the compilers of the AVF fixed Howe's errors, including the botched up repeats in Howe's 3 Camps.

Fifers tend to stick with the versions of tunes the way they first learned them, so maybe Old 1812 isn't really a postwar arrangement. It was probably just written down for the first time after the war.

Even if "Old 1812" isn't the version most fifers played during the war, a published version of "Welcome Here Again" might not be either. The Welcome Here Again/Old 1812 medley is not an anachronism because Old 1812 was first published in 1905. It is wrong because fifers in the war did not have piles of sheet music and manuals stacked up like reenactors do. If they knew this tune they would have played the ONE version all the fifers in the drum corps knew, and slight variations known by different fifers would be tweaked until what they all played was close enough. No one knows which version available today is closest to the most commonly played version of the 1860s, since most of the printed versions were published several decades before the war.

[33rdaladrummer]

Re: Welcome Home Again

There's also a "Thompson's Quick Step" in the Edward Murphey manuscript of 1790. And yes, it looks extremely similar to "Adam Bell's March." I wouldn't have any doubts that "Adam Bell's March" is a later variation of "Thompson's Quick Step."

Another interesting one is "Chaisses Retreat," also found in the Edward Murphey manuscript, which sounds like it could easily be an early version of the infamous "Paddy on a Handcar." The Old Line Fifes and Drums from the '90s did a recording of "Shay's March," which bears a significant resemblance to "Chaisses Retreat." But I forget as to the historical reference in the recording's liner notes that was made for "Shay's March."

Don Heminitz

Thanks, Don. If you have free access a scanner, please post Thompson's Q.S. if you have a chance.

[cprljohnivey]

Re: Welcome Home Again

Will,

"If they knew this tune they would have played the ONE version all the fifers in the drum corps knew, and slight variations known by different fifers would be tweaked until what they all played was close enough."

Do you think the musicians go together as separate regiments to practice the version of the music they played or do you think they got together and practiced as a brigade or a division (when time allotted) or some variation of all three? How do you feel this should translate into what we do?

[33rdaladrummer]

Re: Welcome Home Again

Do you think the musicians go together as separate regiments to practice the version of the music they played or do you think they got together and practiced as a brigade or a division (when time allotted) or some variation of all three?

Although there are accounts of drummers being massed together at the brigade level, these two regimental drum corps certainly did not practice together:

RIVAL DRUM CORPS.

The first two years of the war we were brigaded with a certain Massachusetts regiment that was about as fine a body of men as I ever saw together. In fact they looked like a picked lot of soldiers so near of a height were they all.

Their drum corps was a good one, too, but of course the boys of the Second New York thought they were a little better than the Bay State fellows, consequently quite a little rivalry existed between the organizations, and when the regiments were out for a review or brigade drill the stalwart drummers from down East would always try to drown out the lads of the Second Heavy. They were all full grown men while our drum corps was made up of boys all under eighteen years of age. Their music was always of the "When the Springtime Comes, Gentle Annie," and "Chunks of Pudding and Pieces of Pie," style, played in 6-8 time, j ust suited to the stalwart men in their ranks; while ours was more of the "Rory O'More," "Garry Owen" and "Get-out-of-the-way-Old-DanTucker" sort, which we played 2-4 time, better adapted to the quick-stepping New Yorkers behind us.

Drum Taps in Dixie by Delevan Miller

How do you feel this should translate into what we do?

I think there is already too much of a problem with reenactment corps sharing the same repertoire, especially if it is tunes that would have been very rarely heard or drumbeats in a modern style. I think it is best for reenactor musicians to research and perform tunes and drumbeats that would have been common during the war as opposed to emulating what has been done in the past by playing "hits" that may be popular among fifers and drummers today that reenactors might recognize from a CD. Far too often musicians hear a fife and drum piece that they personally like and simply ask "is this old enough to be from the war" instead of putting the time and effort into coming up with tunes that would have been common or at least recognizable in the 1860s.

I don't think you'll ever run into a realistic scenario such as this with several drum corps performing the camp duty separately (note that none are playing Bruce and Emmett's!):

"The reveille is sounded at break of day and is the soldier's awakening. It is a disturber of pleasant dreams. It is a call to duty. It bids the soldier come forth and be a man.

The reveille is a lively performance of ten or fifteen minutes and the drummer boys, fifers and buglers vie with each other in seeing who can make the most noise.

I will never forget my first morning in camp.

It being our first reveille and my drummer boy being the first one that the regiment had, naturally felt a little timid and he modestly suggested that we let some one else "lead off."

The first to break the stillness of the early morn was a bugler of the Harris Light Cavalry down near Cloud's mill. His bugle notes were low and sweet at first like the twittering of a song bird chirping good morning to its mate.

A response comes from the trumpeter of the Havelock battery and the two race with each other as their bugle tones get clearer and stronger.

Then Gracey, our Gracey of the 2d Heavy, who was the most wonderful bugler in the whole army of the Potomac, and who later was chosen to sound the charge for 20,000 troops at Cold Harbor, because his bugle calls could be heard farther than others, came out on the parade ground and putting his silver trumpet to his lips there issued forth a sound as if the birds of all the hillsides and valley had burst forth in joyous song, and then a sweet, glad call went far across the Virginia valley, and to the very tops of the hills beyond.

Then the drummer boys of General Phil Kearney's Jersey Brigade in camp at the foothills let us know that they were there as they execute the "Three Camps" and "The Girl I Left Behind Me."

The Irish lads of General Thomas Francis Meagher's brigade take a hand in and the strains of "Shamus O'Bryne" and "Kathleen Mavoureen" get mixed up with "Nelly was a Lady" and "Oh Susannah Don't You Cry For Me," which seem to be favorites with the Pennsylvania brigade.

The boys of the 7th Indiana rattle off "John Anderson My Joe," "Yankee Doodle" and "Get Out of the Way, Old Dan Tucker," while the bagpipers of the Scottish Highlanders reel off "Annie Laurie" and "The Campbells are Coming, Hurrah, Hurrah."

By this time a score or more of martial bands and as many buglers have joined in the melee and the fresh morning air is full of deafening melodies. The camps are alive. Another day is ushered in. A day with its routine of duties, of joys and sorrows, of hopes, of sickness of—maybe death to many.

A Drum's Story by Delevan Miller

[cprljohnivey]

Re: Welcome Home Again

Thanks Will.... great quotes!

[33rdaladrummer]

Re: Welcome Home Again

Here's some massed Confederate field music:

Among the killed in the division were those splendid soldiers, Brigadier General Stafford of the Louisiana brigade, and Brig. Gen. J. M. Jones of our brigade. Gen. Jones was a strict disciplinarian, and inaugurated several plans for the benefit of his men. According to my information, he was the only officer who made the men take care of themselves as far as they could. He allowed no straggling, even the musicians had to march in their places, and if he saw the men becoming weary or fagged, he ordered every musician to the head of the brigade. One of the regiments had a very good band, the others had small drum corps; all together they were a considerable company of musicians. The general directed the band to play a short time, and then the drum corps would play,— with four or five bass drums and ten to twelve kettle drums and twelve to fifteen fifes, they made a big noise, and always received the hearty approval of the men! It was noticeable that the men began to close up, take step with the music, and march several miles in this way, feeling refreshed.

One of Jackson's foot cavalry: his experience and what he saw during the war ... By John H. Worsham

[joewhitney]

joewhitney

Aw, Will, you had to go and post the reference to the 79th's bagpipers. Now it'll be used as justification for every bagpiper to pop up at every reenactment! At least it is a very early war reference. Not that I don't like bagpipes in the right setting, mind you.

Excellent point about the unfortunate homogenization of reenacting music. Record albums did the same thing to Irish music. Everybody started copying the few records out there, and all the many local styles and variations from all the little villages have been disappearing ever since. Playing the exact same thing when you're all massed and jamming at O'Rouke's is ok, but everyone, North and South, playing B&E Reveille at a reenactment is ridiculous.

Joe Whitney
2nd SC String Band
Liberty Hall Fifes and Drums
Md Line Field Music