G'day again,

Oh ... It also struck me, as I sent of the last posting, that those who would search for the origins of these tunes ... particularly local waltzes... need to look at other time signatures. The great demand for waltzes in the latter part of the 19th century and the early part of this one led many musicians to 'bend' familiar tunes into waltzes, no matter what they had been.

I know of popular old waltzes that were originally:
Jigs (that's pretty easy - just slow down!)
Schottisches, in 4/4 with a "dotted" rhythm
Marches (trickier - it helps to be desperate).

It is a well-know 'party trick' of old-time players to spin a yarn of how some old player only knew one tune and to proceed to show how he played it for any dance step that was requested - it only takes a good feel for dance rhythms and 50 years of practice!

Regards,

Bob Bolton