Massachusetts Quickstep

[27thNCdrummer]

Does anybody have the fife and drum music for Massachusetts Quickstep?
Thanks,

[33rdaladrummer]

Re: Massachusetts Quickstep

Go to http://www.colonialdancing.org/Easmes/Index.htm

Click on "Texts"

Then "M"

Then "MAS"

This will give you a good number of sources, if any are the tune in question, dated up to 1839. Bear in mind that there were more than likely multiple tunes with the same name.

I did I quick google search for "Massachusetts Quickstep" and found this:

All CS field musicians are required to know, at minimum, the following pieces:



Songs

Irish Washerwoman
Paddy on a Handcar
Frog in the well
Minstrel Boy
Ah Ca Ira [into] Downfall of Paris
Some Distace from Prussia
Welcome Here Again [into] Old 1812
Governer's Island
Garry Owen
Road to Boston [into] Flowing Bowl
Paddy o' Toole
Jaybird [into] Firemans Quickstep
Newport
Bonnie Blue Flag
Cadences

Massachusetts Quickstep
Army 2'4
Monumental 2'4
Quickstep No. 1


By order,

[Name removed]
CS Chief Musician

I hope for your sake that you have not been ordered to learn all of these tunes. Some of them, such as Newport, are quite difficult, and I don't want to start another "B&E" debate. But I think it is safe to say that Q.S. #1 from B&E was not the standard cadence used by any of the Confederate armies. And none of the fife and drum manuals have beats with bass drum solos like Jaybird/Fireman's.

I have highlighted the tunes/beats which may be post-war. If anyone has a period source for these tunes I would be most interested. I believe Paddy dates, in the form one most often hears, to the 1870's, and Prussia probably from the 1930's. The Handcar filled beat is from the 1930's or 1940's(look in the Company of Drummers and Fifers book). But, anyone, please correct me if I'm wrong. I haven't found a period source for Bowl or O'Toole, but traditional Irish tunes sometimes are period, and sometimes aren't. Also, I feel that medleys of old/new versions of tunes like Welcome/Old 1812 and Ah Ca Ira/Downfall are inappropriate. During the war, a fifer would most most likely not have spent time learning an a different, older version of a tune he already knew. Thus the practice of playing old and new versions of a tune in a medley does not represent the way this music was performed in the 1860's. Rather, it is the result of our having access to sheet music that spans hundreds of years. A CW fifer would have learned tunes by ear, or perhaps if he were lucky, had access to a small supply of sheet music that probably would be from the 1850's or 1860's, not the 1790's. Tunes can evolve quite a bit in 50 years or so.

A list of required tunes and beats should be well-documented with dates and sources and not simply taken from popular modern recordings or the ancient fife and drum reprotoire. I think the ancients are great for preserving our country's fife and drum tradition, but their goal is not the recreation of any particular time period-- they simply like a good tune no matter how old it is.

Ed Boyle has restored many period manuals and sells them at beafifer.com. I highly recommend Howe's 1862 Drum and Fife Instructor.

Good luck learning to play the fife or drum(or both). If you ever need any other music or advice, let me know by sending me a PM or email.