I've been working on Brittany Haas' version of "Dry and Dusty," which Joe Walsh taught us this weekend out at the Canaan Institute.
"When I heard what Socrates had done on the lyre, I wished indeed even [I had done] that...but certainly I labored hard in letters!" - Cicero, "Cato the Elder on Old Age"
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Early 20th Century British Mandoline-Banjo & Deering Goodtime Tenor
1960s Harmony Baritone Ukelele
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1910 German Stradivarius 1717 copy, unknown maker
1890(?) German Stradivarius 1725 copy, G.A. Pfreztschner, maker
we play, "Dry and Dusty" at our jams. I like that tune!
My duet buddy and I have worked up, "Alexander's Hornpipe." I like that tune too!
f-d
ˇpapá gordo ain’t no madre flaca!
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I just discovered that one too. The one that got me working is a vid of Joe and Courtney Hartman doing Winder Slide into Julianne Johnson. JJ is an old fave, but I've never really learned Winder Slide. Makes a great medley the way they do it.
Mitch Russell
Love Winder Slide.
Now to work on JJ, which requires a smooth gear change (and which I rarely can summon).
Great vid, by the way. Thanks for that.
I'm working on "American Rifle Team Hornpipe". The B part is played way up the neck.
Ha, ha! keep time: how sour sweet music is,
When time is broke and no proportion kept!
--William Shakespeare
Just starting to work on one introduced at a recent jam - "Hunting the Buffalo", in A.
Mitch Russell
Ha, ha! keep time: how sour sweet music is,
When time is broke and no proportion kept!
--William Shakespeare
Currently working a nice tune by Brian Pickell called "Sour Grass & Granite...
Sandy
Excellent choice. That's one of my favorites to play. I love tunes like this that make good use of the vi chord, especially the vi-V-IV-I progression in the B part (which is also what I like about Jay Ungar's Haymaker's Hoedown, mentioned earlier in this thread). It's got a nice groove to it.
I notice that the version posted at Mandozine uses a slightly different chord progression (it includes an E9 in the B part) than the version I typically play which sticks with a Bm chord. Which do you prefer?
For some reason, my wife always refers to this tune as Sour Grapes and Granite, lol.
Referring to an earlier thread: I play Garfield's Hornpipe in Bb. One unexpected discovery is that it plays easier in Bb then in any transposition you care to attempt. By that, I mean that in Bb, the melody lands on a max number of open E and A strings.
I thought that the Garfield's ample use of open strings was quite curious at first. That is, until I started learning fiddle tunes in F, and found much the same thing. I'd call it a counterintuitive example of composers demonstrating savvy musical logic in choosing the keys they do.
Also, I don't see any way to play Garfield's well unless you include second position fingerings. This seems critical for the second phrase of the B part. A few of the phrases within this post-civil war tune obviously influence phrasing that later emerged, almost verbatim, in Scott Joplin rags.
It probably took me more hours of practice to get Garfield's fluidly into finger memory than any other tune I've learned except, perhaps (much later on my musical journey) Minnie Foster, which I play in F, as learned off a Kevin Burke CD. If you want to try something on mandolin that is both challenging and fun, try stringing together Oklahoma Redbird (C) into Minnie Foster (F) into Garfield's Hornpipe (Bb)
Explore some of my published music here.
—Jim
Sierra F5 #30 (2005)
Altman 2-point (2007)
Portuguese fado cittern (1965)
Hmmm. Very interesting. Or perhaps evidence that the key it is in in the tune collection might not be the original key it was "composed" in. If you make the assumption that a tune's "original" key is the one that is simplest, i.e. first position lots of open strings. That though, is a pure assumption.
I usually go with how the tune is written or how it is locally played. Obviously tunes sound different in different keys. Open strings can provide a drone or harmony, unplayed strings can sympathetically vibrate if the notes are right. So I have made the assumption that the "original" key was chosen for some deep musical reason. Though this is another assumption, really two assumptions one that the key is the original key, and two that the key was chosen in any sense.
The version in a collection and the locally played version usually are in the same key, though there are many exceptions to this too. Ross's Reel is in Ryan's in E but we locally play it in D, and I found out it is because someone in our musical community way back there transposed it to stop everyone's complaining.
Hey Tobin...the version I too enjoy, is from Vance Henry's site ( with a special thanks to Mike Parks aka Woodwizard on the Cafe ) Vance Henry's site has a number of nice tunes.
Sour Grass & Granite apparently was written by Brian Pickell for a longtime musical companion who owns a farm near Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario...a neat little tune to be sure.
Sandy
You are so right, Jim. There are lots of tune in Bb that really don't play as well in any other key unless you go to non-standard tunings.
What JeffD says about how things are played locally is true as well, but I notice alternate fiddle tunings at local jams (that aren't good for the mandolin) as well as different keys. I remember charging into "Garry Owen" once in Ventura and none of the guitarists showed any enthusiasm for it until the next guy in the circle started playing it in a different key!
President Garfield's Hornpipe is one of my favorites.
Ha, ha! keep time: how sour sweet music is,
When time is broke and no proportion kept!
--William Shakespeare
Monroe's Hornpipe
If someone could figure out how to add more hours to each day, that would be great.
Continuing this idea of the tunings we use (or settle on). It's interesting, Jeff, that you play Ross's Reel in D but the Ryan book has it in E. I don't play it in either D or E. I learned it straight off a Laura Risk CD in the key of F, and so I like to think that the tune makes a lot more "fingering sense" in F, than any other key. I can't quite imagine banging out that alternating string, double-time B part in anything but F, where the notes just roll off my instrument.
For the record, I recommend playing Ross's Reel in a set with another F reel: Bacheldor's Reel. Very classical sounding, more DeBussy, less Bill Monroe.
But truly, (and as every mandola player learns very quickly) who can really say what the correct key is for any tune? I think you might agree, Jack, that transposition is one of the crucial tools for making any tune into one's own. And maybe the optimal key for any tune, is merely the key that our brain has wired our fingers to perform that tune. Let me add the obvious caveat, that when you learn a tune in the "book" key, you have a good chance of playing it, immediately, with other players from anywhere in the world.
Except when you can't.
I occasionally play at my local Farmer's Market with an 85 year old old timer. He knows 400 or more tunes on concertina and prefers to choose all the tunes we play. But his concertina is not much more than a Rube Goldberg version of a blues harmonica. So EVERYTHING we play at the Farmer's Market is limited to D or A. One result is that I originally learned Calliope House in D, although I believe everybody else in the world plays it in E. What can I say? Works great in D.
Explore some of my published music here.
—Jim
Sierra F5 #30 (2005)
Altman 2-point (2007)
Portuguese fado cittern (1965)
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