Fife tunes from Bruce and Emmett (and nowhere else?)

[33rdaladrummer]

I know this is a shot in the dark, but has anyone ever found the following tunes from George Bruce and Dan Emmett's 1862 Drummers' and Fifers' Guide in any contemporary or earlier sources? I have not found them anywhere else besides this single source (a few of them are in the post-war American Veteran Fifer).

The music is available online at http://fifedrum.org/resources/music/be/

PRUSSIAN. [Reveille]
New Tatter Jack.
QUICK STEP. [called Montezuma in the 1905 American Veteran Fifer]
“Biddy Oats.”
“Lydecker’s.”
“Turnpike Bend.”
“Emmett’s.”
“Cincinnati.”
“Kenderbeck’s.”
“Pushee’s.”
“Iron Bridge.”
Bob Hitchcock’s “Primitive Reel.”
"Ben Green's."
“Sandy McGregor’s”
“Wyman’s”
“Col. Robertson’s Welcome”
“Circus Rider”
“Mississippi”
“Boston”
“Chebang”
“Far-down”
“Post’s”
“Major Riley’s”
“Capt. Palmer’s”
FOURTH ARTILLERY.
THE MUFFLED DRUM.
SEELY SIMPKINS.
HERE’S TO OUR FRIENDS.
H-LL ON THE WABASH.
CUCKOO QUICKSTEP.
SOLE-LEATHER QUICKSTEP.
PRINCE EDWARD.
HOG-EYE MAN.

[joewhitney]

Re: Fife tunes from Bruce and Emmett (and nowhere else?)

Sandy McGregor is a very old and common Scotch weaving song called "The Waulkin o the Fauld".

Cincinnati Quickstep is an old tune also called "Good for the Tongue", "Jenkins Hornpipe", "Washington Hornpipe", "Stoney Steps" and "Drunken Wagoneer" (my favourite) also found in Howe's "School for the Fife" and Howe's "Army Navy Fife Instructor".

The Iron Bridge Hornpipe dates at least back to the 1830's, and was named after the first metal bridge in the world, built in Shropshire in 1777.

Hog-eye Man is in Winner's 1853 "Collection of Music For the Violin" (not fiddle!)

Joe Whitney

[33rdaladrummer]

Re: Fife tunes from Bruce and Emmett (and nowhere else?)

Do you have a scan of the Howe's Army and Navy Fife Instructor handy? Would like to see that Hog-Eye man too.

[Silas]

Re: Fife tunes from Bruce and Emmett (and nowhere else?)

I have one. Cannot recall who sent it to me or if I found it myself. Send me your addy and it's yours. Here's my spam account : silas@zipcon.net

[33rdaladrummer]

Re: Fife tunes from Bruce and Emmett (and nowhere else?)

Haha. It was probably me and it was probably Howe's United States Regulation Drum and Fife Instructor (1862). In 1861 he put out the Army and Navy Fife Instructor. School for the Fife is from around 1851.

[joewhitney]

Re: Fife tunes from Bruce and Emmett (and nowhere else?)

Here's Cincinnati (hope this works). Don't have a copy of the Violin Instructor.

Joe Whitney

[33rdaladrummer]

Re: Fife tunes from Bruce and Emmett (and nowhere else?)

Wow they all look hard. Isn't the version in Howe's in the "wrong" key for the fife? After all, Howe's School for the Fife is basically the same thing as the School for the Clarionet with a couple extra pages and "fife" on the cover. I recall the fifers from Liberty Hall having to transpose some of the tunes from Howe's 1851 fife book.

http://archive.org/stream/imslp-school-for-the-clarinet-howe-elias/PMLP309442-schoolforclarine00howe#page/n43/mode/2up

Here's the flageolet version:

http://archive.org/stream/imslp-school-for-the-flageolet-howe-elias/PMLP309432-howesschoolforfl00howe_1843#page/n39/mode/2up

[joewhitney]

Re: Fife tunes from Bruce and Emmett (and nowhere else?)

Yep, it is without a doubt one of the hardest fife tunes to play.

The issue of keys is interesting. It was only around the time of the Civil War that fife music began to be universally written in the keys of D, G and occasionally A. All part of the ongoing standardization process (for example, 440 for A actually came along much later).

That example is in B flat, which is the actual key it is played in on B flat fifes. Considering most fifes up to the war were probably in the key of C, you'd think they would have written primarily in C, especially since it's the easiest to learn and read---no sharps or flats naturally.

Joe Whitney

[eric marten]

Re: Fife tunes from Bruce and Emmett (and nowhere else?)

An interesting aside to the above: In that first link, on the same page, is the tune Hull's Victory. A nice early 19th century American tune, right? Actually, check out the Italian Baroque composer Arcangelo Corelli. His 9th violin sonata, 4th movement, published c. 1695-1700. Same tune, same key (B flat).

[33rdaladrummer]

Re: Fife tunes from Bruce and Emmett (and nowhere else?)

An interesting aside to the above: In that first link, on the same page, is the tune Hull's Victory. A nice early 19th century American tune, right? Actually, check out the Italian Baroque composer Arcangelo Corelli. His 9th violin sonata, 4th movement, published c. 1695-1700. Same tune, same key (B flat).

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.

I have no doubt that most of the tunes in "B&E" are much older than 1862. For example, Governor's Island, which is popular with drummers and fifers today was known as Miss Brown's Reel. Although it's a later source (1867), Bill Bynum found that Adjutant's Quickstep from Howe's 1000 Jigs and Reels is very similar to Newport from B&E.

I'm working on compiling a list of tutors where each of the B&E tunes can also be found. The list in original posting (cross out Cincinnati, Hog-Eye Man, Sandy McGregor, and Iron Bridge thanks to Joe) are the ones that have me stumped. After exhausting all possible resources, the logical conclusion would be that these tunes weren't well-known to fifers during the war.

One of the issues with B&E or any other drum and fife manual is the question of how widely they were distributed. There were at least 30,000 drums in use in the Federal army and many have survived. They are more durable (and larger) than books, but it makes you wonder why there are only a few surviving copies of B&E and the extant copies of Howe's 1861 fife manual or 1862 drum manual may be in the double or even single digits.

But more important than how many copies were circulating is trying to determine how well the various tutors reflect what was floating around aurally-- how much did the tunes in these manuals overlap with the actual repertoire of army fifers? Sure, some manuals could have been in use and musicians could have learned from them, but familiar jigs and reels played by fiddlers were picked up by fifers and played by ear, and other popular songs of the day could be adapted to the fife...no manual or sheet music required.

Howe and Winner are full of quadrilles, schottisches, and polkas, but there's really no evidence of them actually being played by fifers.

Even Hart's has some possibly original compositions by Collins (Gen. Grant’s Troop), Lydecker (Gen. Bank’s March), and Baldwin (Col. Terrye’s Q.S). And a couple of these are suggested replacements for the time-honored reveille tunes.

If B&E never existed, no one would being playing some of the tunes frequently heard at events today like New Tatter Jack, Montezuma, Muffled Drum and Sole-Leather Quickstep. And most fifers during the war probably never had even heard of The Drummers' and Fifers' Guide. Hell on the Wabash is one of the most commonly played tunes today, but other than B&E it doesn't show up anywhere else until after the war in places like Ryan's Mammoth Collection (c. 1885). Tatterjack and Montezuma are in the post-war American Veteran Fifer, but they were evidently copied straight from B&E.

[joewhitney]

Re: Fife tunes from Bruce and Emmett (and nowhere else?)

Are you saying the National Association of Civil War Musicians copied Bruce & Emmett's Guide because the notes of the tunes are the same? It's possible that those were just the versions everyone played. Some tunes were widely known and played, but didn't have any variations, while of course some had many variations.

For example, it looks like everyone played Old Susanna exactly the same way. As a matter of fact, the version of Susanna in AVF is exactly the same as Howe's Army Navy and Howe's Drum Instructor. I suppose it's possible they just grabbed a bunch of old manuals and copied the hell out of them, but they wouldn't really need to do that, would they? They were veteran musicians who had been playing by that time for at least 50 years and could jot down what they wanted, and the versions they always played.

Have you found any tunes in it that were definitely not composed, published or copyrighted elsewhere (not counting AVF) until after the war? If not, then even if there never was a B&E, I'd still play out of AVF.

Interesting about Hull's Victory. Wish I'd known that when I told our 1812 corps we shouldn't play it because it was first published after the war! That's historical music for you. They probably put lyrics commemorating the victory to an already well known (or not so well known) melody, which was common.

Joe Whitney

[33rdaladrummer]

Re: Fife tunes from Bruce and Emmett (and nowhere else?)

Are you saying the National Association of Civil War Musicians copied Bruce & Emmett's Guide because the notes of the tunes are the same? It's possible that those were just the versions everyone played. Some tunes were widely known and played, but didn't have any variations, while of course some had many variations.

Post. No. 2 G.A.R. Reel was first published in McCarthy's Fife and Drum Band Book around 1883, and it clearly says, "composed by McCarthy." So there's at least one post-war tune in the AVF.

The big printing of B&E was in 1885 right? I personally own a copy of an 1880s printing of Keach's Army Drum and Fife Book. There were quite a few post-war printings of fife and drum manuals.

I see a lot of overlap between the AVF and B&E and the AVF and Howe/Keach. Some may be deliberate copying and others may just be coincidence.

You point out that Oh Susanna is identical to what's in Howe's. Not too hard to write down the notes for that one from memory. Montezuma and Biddy Oats, on the other hand, have about twice the number of notes as Oh Susanna and they are identical if not exactly the same as what's in B&E. Now Hell on the Wabash, that's a rather unique tune with a complex rhythm. I think most fifers would have a hard time writing down the notes for that one. It would be much easier to just copy over from the already printed version.

Look at Guard Mount in the AVF. Same as Howe and Keach.

AVF has the Assembly...both the straight version and the dotted version. Howe also has the straight and dotted versions.

AVF Tattoo Q.S. #1 and Tattoo Q.S. #2. I believe you'll find those in the Tattoo sections of Howe and Keach.

AVF 3 Camps may be a corrected version of Howe's.

From B&E you have Montezuma, Biddy Oats, New Tatter Jack, Kenderbeck’s, Hell on the Wabash in the AVF. None of those tunes appear anywhere else in pre-1865 sources except for B&E. They're all virtually identically to what's in B&E. Yeah, I bet they were probably copied directly from B&E. I don't think their appearance in the AVF should make one think that they were played during the war.

Interesting note about Biddy Oats and Montezuma-- they were submitted by J.L. Blatchley, Co.E. 2nd N.Y.H.A. That was Delevan Miller's unit. In Drum Taps in Dixie and A Drum's Story, Miller mentions some of the tunes they played-- Rory O'More, Campbells are Coming, Larry O'Gaff, and several more. If they played from B&E, you would think he would mention at least one tune from B&E, but he didn't. I bet Blatchley learned those tunes after the war. After all, I think Sue Cifaldi said that Hell on the Wabash, Kenderbeck's, and Biddy Oats were all standard pieces in the fife and drum competitions after the war. The New York Association, after the war, adopted B&E as its standard. B&E's postwar use in the late 19th centuryis really why it lives on today, being carried on in the Connecticut fife and drum tradition, which has had a huge influence on reenactors.

[joewhitney]

Re: Fife tunes from Bruce and Emmett (and nowhere else?)

What I've learned about organizations and committees (much of which came from reenactment organizations), is things can never be as simple as just snipping pieces from some books and putting out a new book. A National Association of Just About Anything is going to be filled with a lot of proud people with strong egos, let alone one comprised of musicians and/or veterans. Being connected with the G.A.R, which practically ran the country for many decades, is going to give it even more prominence.

Obviously a few key people had several of their submissions accepted, but of those wherebno contribution was noted, there were probably several versions submitted and the versions familiar to the most musicians on the submission committee were accepted, especially the Duty calls, which everyone heard for many years and would have had multiple versions of.

It would be helpful if there was more info on the Association and its workings. Otherwise, I suspect the selection music process probably went something like that the Company of Fifers and Drummers used for their books.

As for remembering tunes, I've always found it less a factor of simple vs. complicated than aversion against vs. affection for them. There are some really simple tunes I wish I could forget!

Joe Whitney


Joe Whitney

[33rdaladrummer]

Re: Fife tunes from Bruce and Emmett (and nowhere else?)

Why wouldn't they copy from tutors they had access to? Do you really think no one in the NACWM had access to a copy of B&E?

The AVF collection probably arose from a combination of collecting submissions, copying from other publications (just like Howe copied from Keach, using the same printing plates; and Nevins copied from Klinehanse), and also probably some original tunes being including by the editor and compiler of the AVF, A.F. Hopkins, "Fife Major of the NACWM". He probably composed many of these:

All Is Well
All Take Tea
Anna
B.F. Hillikers Quickstep
Major J. N. Bogarts Banquet
C. E. Larrabees Lark
Charles Wallaces Quickstep
Civil War Musicians' Q.S.
Corn Cob Clog
Denman Duncan's Drumbeat
Dream Q. S
E. A. Grows Quickstep
Eddie Littleton's Libation
Eden Quickstep
Edna's Entracte
Fannie's Festival
F. Deitzman's Quickstep
Fifth Maine Quickstep
Francis Murrays Musicale
French'es Favorite
George Brown's Bonvivant
Get There Eli
Grace
Gray Eagle
Henry's Halcyou
Howell's Quickstep
J H Ware's Quickstep
J. L. Blatchley Banter
J N Hamberger's Quickstep
Jobe's Quickstep
John Benjamin's Quickstep
John H Stuntz Quickstep
J. T. Burbank's Quickstep
Kippy Smith's Favorite
Langstons Quickstep
Leo Murrays Musetta
Leon Beall's Bonhomie
M. A. Moon's Quickstep
Maggie's Melange
Mason's Quickstep
Moulton's Quickstep
Nancy Hanks
O.S & S.H. Quickstep
Pernard Brown's Buffet
The Rambler
The Recruiting Sergeant
Ruth
Tallewan
T.B. Jobes Jubilee
T.E. Hills Quickstep
Tom Brown's Burletta
The Turkey Gobbler
Twilight
Union Quickstep
Walters Quickstep
Wild Goose
Wm Davenport's Quickstep
W. M. Larrabee Quickstep

The AVF is a great resource but as the list above proves, there are a lot of tunes in there that could be post-war, so you have to go through it with a fine-toothed comb. Almost 50% of the tunes in the AVF appear in no other known publications. Rare tunes from B&E being included in a postwar source doesn't support their use by reenactors. We don't know if they learned them during the war or after. And the evidence by research by Sue Cifaldi and others suggests that B&E didn't become popular or see many copies in print until the 1880s.

[33rdaladrummer]

Re: Fife tunes from Bruce and Emmett (and nowhere else?)

For what it's worth, I went on worldcat.org and found 4 editions of B&E: 1862, 1865, 1880, and 1885. There is only one "participating" worldcat library that owns a copy of the 1862 edition. I found 9 copies of the '65 edition, 13 of the '80 and 3 of the '85. This suggests to me that if some B&E tunes are in the 1905 American Veteran Fifer, then chances are they weren't picked up from the '62 edition. There evidently was a market for this stuff in the 1880s (and I also imagine the 1865 editions could have been printed in '66, '67, ..., to '79, or they could in fact be 20th century repros, you never know).

This by no means tells the whole story as some copies may be in the hands of book collectors. Speaking of which, on the "rare book" sites they are selling the Amazon Dry Goods sutler row reprints for $75 and up!

Publisher: New York, Firth, Pond & Co., 1862.

1. Yale University

Publisher: New York : Wm. A. Pond, 1865.

1. Shenandoah University
2. Seton Hall University
3. United States Military Academy
4. Buffalo & Erie County Public Library
5. Trinity College Library
6. Brown University
7. University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
8. University of Colorado at Boulder
9. Utah State University

Publisher: New York : W.A. Pond, 1880.

1. Library of Congress
2. University of Virginia
3. Pennsylvania State University Libraries
4. United States Military Academy
5. Yale University
6. University of Akron
7. Clark University
8. Furman University
9. Jacksonville University
10. Wisconsin Veterans Museum Research Center
11. University of Missouri, Kansas City
12. Central Kansas Library System
13. Denver Public Library

Publisher: New York : W.A. Pond, 1885 [©1890]

1. Pentagon Library
2. Cleveland Public Library
3. Brown University