mad dick

[billkilpatrick]

from "the complete country dance tunes - playford's dancing master" - 1657 edition - played on a mid-missouri m-4 mandolin

https://soundcloud.com/bill-kilpatrick/mad-dick-1

[Jess L.]

from "the complete country dance tunes - playford's dancing master" - 1657 edition - played on a mid-missouri m-4 mandolin

https://soundcloud.com/bill-kilpatrick/mad-dick-1

Great tune, I like the way you play it, good rhythm too.

I just wish that some of these neat old tunes didn't have such odd-sounding names... there are a number of such tunes I'd like to record and put on my YouTube page but some of my current batch of musical cohorts (mostly choir members etc who aren't familiar with the old trad dance-tunes) would undoubtedly make incorrect assumptions about the names, which would require endless explaining that "No, it doesn't mean..." etc.

Anyway, great pickin', enjoyable to listen to.

[Bruce Clausen]

Great stuff, Bill! Nice to hear you again.

[pointpergame]

Probably named at a time when it hadn't yet acquired the second meaning. Probably ditto for the spotted you know what dessert in the English cuisine.

[billkilpatrick]

here's another ditty from the playford collection

https://soundcloud.com/bill-kilpatri...tain-love-will

[Jim Garber]

Bill: Where did you find the book? I looked on IMSLP and it is a different one (I think).

[Martin Jonas]

Bill: Where did you find the book? I looked on IMSLP and it is a different one (I think).

I'm pretty sure Bill is using the wonderful Jeremy Barlow edition of the complete Playford tunes, published by Faber: Link.

I own this book, and it's utterly hypnotic -- just sit down with a mandolin and randomly dive in picking tune after tune for hours on end. Having them all in one place means that one can pick them on merit without knowing which onces are obscure and which ones everybody else plays. Barlow also meticulously notes every single variation and notational difference between the 17 Playford editions, but manages to do it in such a way that the tunes are still accessible and readable.

Martin

[Jim Garber]

Thanks, Martin.

I see quite a few of the Dancing Master books on IMSLP tho none dated 1657. The earliest and first edition seems to be 1670.

[Martin Jonas]

Thanks, Martin.

I see quite a few of the Dancing Master books on IMSLP tho none dated 1657. The earliest and first edition seems to be 1670.

The first edition is 1651, and that's also the only one called "The English Dancing Master". The publication history is rather confusing, as in addition to the 18 main edition there were also various supplements and second volumes published over the years.

The explanation for the discrepancy between 1657 and 1665 is given by Barlow:

"Playford advertised a new edition in 1657, yet all surviving copies of the third edition are dated 1665. The Glasgow University copy however has a different supplement (3A), as well as a few differences in the main body of the book, and is therefore assumed to be a copy of the 1657 printing, even thouhg it lacks the title page and date."

"Mad Dick" is indeed from that unique 1657 supplement preserved only in the Glasgow copy, and that is the only source for that tune as it is not included in any subsequent Playford edition.

Martin

[billkilpatrick]

martin's right - i'm playing tunes from this edition:

[Gelsenbury]

Great to hear you Bill. I like the background images on your SoundCloud too. They evoke the good life and many good reasons for playing mandolin - portability being just one of them!

There are so many great tunes in Playford. They deserve more exposure.

[John Goodin]

Really nice interpretation and playing.

Some synchronicity at work here I think. I'm slowly going page by page through this great Barlow edition for a project I'm working on. Last week I stopped on page 44, the home of Mad Dick. Imagine my surprise when following this thread I opened up my copy, checked the index, and it led me right to my last page.

Thank to Bill for this fine recording.

John G.

[Bill Clements]

Here it is for US buyers.
Great tune. Nice strong finish, Bill.

[Jim Garber]

Thanks, Bill. That sounds like the one to get and the price is right.

[Jim Garber]

I ordered it so you and I can play duets (or trios with Martin) over Skype. Or maybe I just have to come and visit both of you one of these days. Long over due.

Of course, I should also get out to Michigan to visit my good cyber friend, the other Bill.

[billkilpatrick]

I ordered it so you and I can play duets (or trios with Martin) over Skype. Or maybe I just have to come and visit both of you one of these days. Long over due.

Of course, I should also get out to Michigan to visit my good cyber friend, the other Bill.

planning to tour europe?

[Bill Clements]

Of course, I should also get out to Michigan to visit my good cyber friend, the other Bill.

Sounds great, Jim! I could show you the Ditson I'm having a lot of fun with. (I have another Cohen in the works, too...)

[s1m0n]

I just wish that some of these neat old tunes didn't have such odd-sounding names... there are a number of such tunes I'd like to record and put on my YouTube page but some of my current batch of musical cohorts (mostly choir members etc who aren't familiar with the old trad dance-tunes) would undoubtedly make incorrect assumptions about the names, which would require endless explaining that "No, it doesn't mean..."

A lot of the Playford tunes have perfectly valid alternate titles you could use instead. The Playfords sometimes changed tune titles over the many editions, and the tunes were also often incorporated as the melody of various popular songs, and you can use that name instead. The days its canonical to use Playford's earliest title as the 'official' name, but the others aren't wrong. If you really like a tune, a little research might turn up a more salable alias.

I'd start with the tune index at the back of Jeremy Barlow's Complete Country Dance Tunes.