All Comers Tunes for August 2

The All Comers Band set of the month for August 2 is Tombigbee Waltz.

This beautiful, summery waltz is in the key of G and was recommended by Rick Fitzsimmons. It can be found in the first Waltz Book (or look below for a recording and sheet music).

Assure you’re in the know about the set of the month! Subscribe to Belfast Flying Shoes’ email list to receive all blog posts in your inbox.

~ Julia

Download the sheet music with chords: Tombigbee Waltz

All Comers Tunes for July 5

The All Comers Band set of the month for July 5 is Redwing, moved to the key of C to facilitate Chrissy calling a singing square!

We’ve played this tune in the past – it is usually in the key of G. For fiddles, mandolins, etc, just move the melody down a string, starting on open G. I suppose you whistle players could pull out those shrill G whistles and accomplish the same thing! All others can refer to the recording and sheet music below. Also I want to remind folks that you should feel free to download the recordings for free – you just need to put in “0” as the purchase price in Bandcamp. I’ve fixed the issues I was having getting that to work (let me know if I didn’t!).

Assure you’re in the know about the set of the month! Subscribe to Belfast Flying Shoes’ email list to receive all blog posts in your inbox.

~ Julia

Download the sheet music with chords: Redwing in the key of C

All Comers Tunes for June 7

The All Comers Band set of the month for June 7 is Sam and Elzie/Step Along Johnny. Baron and I will also play this set for the June 1 outdoor dance at Steamboat Landing – sit-ins are encouraged! Bring your instrument and join us!

We have a couple of new old time tunes this month – though I’ve been teaching Sam and Elzie to people for a while, so some of you might have heard it.

Sam and Elzie I learned from my friend Henry Blackford of Asheville, NC, who learned it from the Canote Brothers. Bill Brennan of Cuyahoga Falls, OH has spent some time digging into the history of this tune and writes,

Sam & Elzie (Elza) Crutchfield were father and son farmers from Omega Township, Marion County, Illinois. They ran square dances in Omega Township  between 1900 and 1920. Elzie was born 10/13/1884 and died 8/28/1928. I visited their grave sites last summer in the Phillips Cemetery in Omega Township.

  • Canote Brothers got it from Phil and Vivian Williams in Seattle
  • Phil & Vivian got if from banjo player Harley Bray and his brother fiddle player Wilson Bray
  • Harley and Wilson learned it from their father Montie Bray who may have written the tune and knew the Crutchfields

I spoke to Harley Bray in Seattle and he gave me the name Harley Bonham, an 84 year old farmer from Omega Township now living in Flora IL. I wrote Mr. Bonham a letter and he called me! Bonham knew Montie Bray too. He said the men would meet outside the church every Sunday to decide who would have the next dance. Harley Bonham said that Sam and Elzie had a hired hand named John Tipsword who would come to the dances drunk and start fights. The tune had words, and Harley Bonham sang the last line, “Sam and Elzie, Sam and Elzie, leave John Tipsword home.”

I don’t know as much about Step Along Johnny, but I learned it from Emily Jeffries, a great old-time fiddler who grew up in Alabama but now lives in Rockland. I particularly like how the B part is a little more repetitive than you think it will be!

Assure you’re in the know about the set of the month! Subscribe to Belfast Flying Shoes’ email list to receive all blog posts in your inbox.

~ Julia

Download the sheet music with chords: Sam and Elzie/Step Along Johnny

All Comers Tunes for May 3

The All Comers Band set of the month for May 3 is McQuillen’s Squeezebox/Mistwold.

We have some marches this month – both of these have been tunes of the month in the past. I really like them together!

McQuillen’s Squeezebox was written for the great New Hampshire piano player Bob McQuillen by musician and dance caller Ralph Page. When we played it before it was in D, but this time we’re going to play it in C, which is how it was written. We’ll follow it with a Dudley Laufman composition in G, Mistwold. I’ve made up some great lyrics (I think) about Winnie the Pooh, but I’ll have to share them with you in person… Dudley’s made me promise not to perform them and I’d probably get in trouble with Disney, or whoever owns the rights to anything Pooh-related! There’s a tradition of singing Mistwold, though, just saying “la, la, la, la” so perhaps we’ll do a round of that!

Speaking of singing, we’ll also play Redwing for a singing square (in the key of A or C, just to make it exciting!)

Assure you’re in the know about the set of the month! Subscribe to Belfast Flying Shoes’ email list to receive all blog posts in your inbox.

~ Julia

Download the sheet music with chords: McQuillen’s Squeezebox/Mistwold

All Comers Tunes for April 5

The All Comers Band set of the month for April 5 is Cotillion de la patte du mouton/Répertoire Gérard Lajoie.

I do love Québecois tunes! Last month got me particularly excited about them, so here are a couple more (don’t worry, we’ll continue to play the set of the month from March!) Cotillion de la patte du mouton is more commonly known as Répertoire Aimé Gagnon, Reel de Aimé Gagnon, etc. When I checked on Aimé Gagnon’s album I discovered he calls it by this name (it translates to Sheep’s Foot Cotillion so I’ve been calling it Sheep’s Feet for short). He also plays it a little differently from the way I’ve heard around fiddle camp, so I thought we’d learn his version. The big difference is C sharps in the B part rather than C naturals.

I’ve listened to a bunch of Gérard Lajoie’s recordings on YouTube in search of another name for the second tune, but to no avail. It’s been popularized as The Telephone Tune in the Portland Collection.

Assure you’re in the know about the set of the month! Subscribe to Belfast Flying Shoes’ email list to receive all blog posts in your inbox.

~ Julia

Download the sheet music with chords: Cotillion de la patte du mouton/Répertoire Gérard Lajoie

All Comers Tunes for March 1

The All Comers Band set of the month for March 1 will be taught by our band for the evening dance, Genticorum, at their Feb 28 workshop at Waterfall Arts (6:30 pm at the Fallout Shelter – 256 High St. in Belfast)!

Many of you know Pascal Gemme from Maine Fiddle Camp where he is known for teaching lovely tunes that are, as he puts it, “cooler than they are hard.”  Nicholas and Yann are also fantastic musicians and teachers, so we’re going to have a great time.

Also, I’m gradually revamping the All Comers Band page. The tune list is now updated to show what we actually play and I’m working on getting more audio and sheet music up and available for our tunes. Feel free to let me know what else would be helpful to include!

Assure you’re in the know about the set of the month! Subscribe to Belfast Flying Shoes’ email list to receive all blog posts in your inbox.

~ Julia

UPDATED TO ADD:

Genticorum taught us this great set of reels: Maple Sugar/Galope des montagnards laurentiens

Here is a video of Pascal playing the second tune!