The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #10834 Message #177663
Posted By: Sorcha
13-Feb-00 - 01:37 PM
Thread Name: Origins: I Bought Me a Cat / Fiddle-i-Fee
Subject: ADD: I Bought Me A Cat^^
The words I have are: I had a cat and the cat pleased me, I fed my cat under yonder tree Cat goes fiddle-i-fee. I had a hen and the hen pleased me, I fed my hen under yonder tree Hen goes chimmy-chuck,chimmy-chuck, Cat goes fiddle-i-fee. Duck goes quack quack,Goose goes hissy,hissy,Sheep goes baa-baa,etc.
Each time go through all the animals and sounds. Here is the basic "abc"format, and dulcimer frets: Meter:2/4,(default)Note Length:1/16 Key:C (for dulcimer it doesn't really matter) c8c4c4/G8G4G4/c8c8/G10G4/A8G4G4/E8D8/C8z8/C8C8/E4E4D8/C16/z16// Dulcimer frets are: 11,11,11,7,7,7,11,11,7,7,11,7,8,7,7,5,4,3,//3,3,5,5,4,3. That is confusing 'cause there is no time!
About "abc": I thought this was hard too, but it is not! Do you read standard notation? "C" is middle C,and "c" is an octave above that.So,"G,"is the G just below middle C. From there up the notes are: A, B, C D E F G A B c d e f g a b c' d' etc. The commas and apostrophes are PART of the note. M: is meter (time sig) and L: is the default note length. In "Cat", this is a 1/16th note. Length of the note just uses a multiplier behind it, so c8=the note c one octave above middle C and it is a 1/16th note multiplied 8 times which makes it a quarter note. There are standard default note lengths for every meter and more symbols for accidentals, etc. Usually z means a rest. Great "abc" Tutorial at:Chris Walsh's site^^