Songs and Tunes for Autoharp?

Subject: RE: Songs and Tunes for Autoharp?
From: Helen
Date: 05 May 99 - 08:52 AM

Hiya, again, harpgirl

I still know zip about autoharps, but reading the list of songs on this thread I'm thinking of Wildwood Flower "I will twine with my mingles of raven black hair...etc"

I just heard a local busker doing it on banjo on Monday and it doesn't matter how often I hear it, or what instrument it is played on, or who sings it (so far) and what arrangement it is, I really like that song. I was wondering if it would work on autoharp.

Helen

Subject: RE: Songs and Tunes for Autoharp?
From: ddw in windsor
Date: 05 May 99 - 12:58 AM

Harpgirl,

I'm not at home, so I can't tell you the name of the album or what's on it for sure, but I think it was just self-titled.

Spinning Wheel is dead easy (must me, if I can do it) and I have fond memories of doing it with a Scottish friend, Anne Leckie, back in the days when I was hanging out at Campbell's Coffeehouse in Hamilton, Ont. A bunch of us used to sing as a package at Fiddler's Green in Toronto and that song was always well received.

As for Stoney's Rag, I learned it from another guy in the CC group and I think he played the Pop Stoneman version for me once, but I have no idea what album it might be on.

Something that strikes me about the Mudcat is that no one seems to be online from around Asheville, NC, where there are loads of fantastic musicians -- including some fine 'harp players. I heard one guy there (didn't get his name -- the night got pretty fuzzy -- who I try to immitate on Wreck of the Old 97; he could get a good train-wheel sound going and overlay a whistle sound in the treble strings. I don't think I do it nearly as well as he did, but audiences seem to like it.

Anyway, I'll look up the Bryan Bowers disk I've got and get back to you about which one it is. I'll even listen to it again tomorrow and see if I'm still of the opinion it's overproduced.

cheers, ddw

Subject: RE: Songs and Tunes for Autoharp?
From: bseed(charleskratz)
Date: 05 May 99 - 12:23 AM

Harpgirl, While I have to admit that this old coot yearns for you tragically, it wasn't you I was talking about. Sally is one of the original poodle owners whose chance meeting at the dog park got our group going. She gives some autoharp lessons and does repairs and is a very good player--who nonetheless forces us to limit our repertoire because of the limitations of her harps (and her abject refusal to learn any music theory, despite my gift to her of David Harp's book and tape on the subject) (David Harp--for any uninformed eavesdroppers--teaches folk, country, and blues harmonica [that kind of harp] as well as the use of the harmonica in zen meditation). (I tend to overuse parentheses, it seems.) (--seed)

Subject: RE: Songs and Tunes for Autoharp?
From: harpgirl
Date: 04 May 99 - 11:58 PM

hey ddw,
Mark Fackeldy will be happy to tell you I am just a rank amachur! I would like to learn Spinning Wheel. I have heard Stoney's Rag but don't remember it. Where might it be?
I do know Bryan. Which album did you think was overproduced? thanks for the song tips!(harp of the late nights) BTW my grandaddy used to run rum across the Detroit River from Windsor!

Subject: RE: Songs and Tunes for Autoharp?
From: ddw in windsor
Date: 04 May 99 - 11:40 PM

Hi Harpgirl....

I don't pretend to be at your level of playing, but there are several tunes I love to do on the 'harp, almost always to good response.

Wreck of the Old 97 and The FFV are pretty standard, I think, but listeners really like Spinning Wheel and a Pop Stoneman instrumental called Stoney's Rag. I also do several old squaredance numbers, but get best reaction from The Irish Washerwoman.

BTW -- are you familiar with a harp player from the Tidewater area of VA named Brian Bowers? He used to perform at a bluegrass festival I was involved with and I always felt sorry for the five-piece band that had to follow him. He wore thin after a while because he did the same songs over and over, but if he ever got into a recording studio and put any of them down they would be worth listening to. I did find one album by him in a thrift store, but when I got it home it was grossly overproduced and I think I only listened to it once. If he did anything before they were willing to spend that much money on production, there might be something good out there.

Cheers, ddw

Subject: RE: Songs and Tunes for Autoharp?
From: harpgirl
Date: 03 May 99 - 11:38 PM

Hi Helen,
The Carolan tunes do sound great on harp! I learned many by ear and then got a hold of Stephen Young's book of Carolan tunes for autoharp. Lesley's site is fantastic isn't it? Oh and Murray, Marty Schuman used to do a beautiful version of Blind Mary... thanks everyone..harp

Subject: RE: Songs and Tunes for Autoharp?
From: GutBucketeer
Date: 03 May 99 - 10:48 PM

Harpgirl

2 years ago I made it to MLAG for 1 day. Last year I made it for two. This year I am hoping for three. Its a balancing act between family (2 kids 7 and 9) and music.

Anyway Texola Waltz is a wonderful little tune by Nancy Blake. I have the melody and Autoharp arrangement from A Carole Outwater class at of all places MLAG (even though I first heard and learned it at a Capital Harpers meeting). As far as I know it doesn't have any words. I can fax you the tab if you send me a fax number off line. (my e-mail is [e-mail]).

Mark and Linda are increadable. Everytime I see him fingerpick the autoharp I just get quiet and listen.

Jim in Silver Spring

Subject: RE: Songs and Tunes for Autoharp?
From: harpgirl
Date: 03 May 99 - 01:30 PM

Jim,
I would like the words to Texola Waltz if you have them handy. Who taught it to you?
I was at MLAG two years ago. Mostly hung with Mark and Linda. I missed the group picture because I was doing a lightening round of Carter tunes with Dr. Peterson and Banjo Bob! They were checking my memory stores to make sure they still know the most tunes of anybody on the north american continent! Do you s'pose they dooooo??? regards... Abby

Subject: RE: Songs and Tunes for Autoharp?
From: Night Owl
Date: 03 May 99 - 12:40 PM

harpgirl...I just realized that I know nothing about "Sweet Fern's origins....I have been playing the song forever and ass-u-med it was done by Maybelle Carter because of the style I learned. Remembered today that I've never heard it recorded and learned it from an autoharp player at a festival years ago. I also tend to improvise words due to poor memory sometimes....so the following is not gospel!!!!

SWEET FERN
VERSE
"Springtime is coming sweet lonesome fern
Your echo in the woodland I hear
Down in the meadow so lonesome your singing
And the moonlight is shining so clear
But I know he's away
In a far distant land
A land that's over the sea
So fly to him singing
Your sweet little song
And tell him to come home to me.

CHORUS
Sweet fern (sweet fern)
Sweet fern (sweet fern)
Oh tell me is my darlin still true
Sweet fern (sweet fern)
Sweet fern (sweet fern)
I'll be just as happy as new."


Whoops....brain drain...can't remember the next verse ..and I don't have time now to ask the autoharp for the rest!! (I was just checking on Catspaw before going to work and...well,...you know....just had to check this thread). Curious myself to know the song's history and author. And then there's also...."Storms Are On The Ocean"; "Simple Gifts"; "Hobo's Lullabye"; "O Come Angel Band"; "Pack Up Your Sorrows" ( Sorrows is FUN on the Autoharp with a Carter picking style!!)All of which are my favorites to play...and....and....and....!!!!

Subject: RE: Songs and Tunes for Autoharp?
From: harpgirl
Date: 03 May 99 - 11:18 AM

Hello dear Dr. Peterson,
I would love to have the words or better yet to hear you sweetly sing them...harp

Subject: RE: Songs and Tunes for Autoharp?
From: Pete peterson
Date: 03 May 99 - 10:45 AM

I can send you the words to Sweet Fern if you still need them, if they ever get email at work fixed. Hope you are well Pete

Subject: RE: Songs and Tunes for Autoharp?
From: harpgirl
Date: 03 May 99 - 09:31 AM

hooooo NightOwl...is Sweet Fern in the DT? Where did you learn it and what is its origin? hootharp

Subject: RE: Songs and Tunes for Autoharp?
From: harpgirl
Date: 03 May 99 - 09:20 AM

Seed I think you have passed old cootage and are heading into dottage! I do like the name Sally. In fact Sally is the name of my girl partner in one of my old Arkansas bands. But darlin', it ain't ma name!

I am sooo lazy now though that Mark Fackeldy does my bar changes for me. I did all my own harps diatonically in the 70's. Blues songs do ring out on the chromatic setups with lots of 7th chords. For my money the best blues autoharp player in Florida is Jan Milner! I have never been satisfied with my blues style on 'harp so I don't subject many folks to it! You and Joe have permission to call me harpy! But no one else except maybe Art and Sandy...demurely, the lambent harp

Subject: RE: Songs and Tunes for Autoharp?
From: harpgirl
Date: 03 May 99 - 08:30 AM

Sandy,
Both those tunes are new to me. Thank you. I will scout them and practice up. I am the master autoharp teacher at the Sunshine State Music Camp in Florida in October this year and I would like to have some tunes for classes with a range of difficulty that students will find interesting which are also new to me.Linda and I stick to Irish in the DoneyGals but I need to return to my roots!

Did you ever see Woody Guthrie in Florida? He used to visit with family friends in the Switzerland/Hastings area and my dear departed friend Marty Schuman, whose family lived on the land would sit at his feet and listen to him play. Marty was about 14 then so it was in the early fifties. Harp (aka Abby Z)

Subject: RE: Songs and Tunes for Autoharp?
From:
Date: 03 May 99 - 07:39 AM

Don't forget to listen to records of Kilby Snow. He played left handed in his own style, and he played on a modified harp (a bass string added and a few extra chords, as I remember); but he has really fine versions of some old songs he learned from his family like "The Wind and the Rain" up to Merle Haggard's "From Now On All My Friends Will Be Strangers."

I haven't had my hands on an autoharp for a long time, and I never really learned to play it; but I think it has no minor chords. A lot of the Carolan stuff needs them; but there is certainly a good selection of them in major chords. "Blind Mary" is in a major key and might be very effective on an autoharp.

Murray

Subject: RE: Songs and Tunes for Autoharp?
From: Helen
Date: 03 May 99 - 04:09 AM

Hey, my blue clicky thingy worked. Thanks Joe for the html code.

Helen

Subject: RE: Songs and Tunes for Autoharp?
From: Helen
Date: 03 May 99 - 04:08 AM

Hi harpgirl

I don't know a lot about autoharps but I imagine that all of the O'Carolan tunes would sound good. They usually have no accidentals so they can be played on instruments like the Celtic harp (because they were composed on the Celtic harp, of course). Once you start learning O'Carolan's tunes I'd be surprised if you didn't like them. They have a feeling of simplicity but they are very beautifully constructed so it's hard to find any of his tunes which I don't like, or which I can get tired of.

The well known ones are Planxty Irwin, Fanny Power (Or Frances Poer, or combinations thereof), Si Beag Si Mor, etc etc. If yo look on Lesley Nelson's fantastic site
My first attempt at a blue clicky thingy

you can listen to the tunes on midi files to find the ones you like.

Helen

Subject: RE: Songs and Tunes for Autoharp?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 03 May 99 - 02:51 AM

John Mccutcheon does wonderful renditions of "Satisfied Mind" and Bob Franke's "THE GREAT STORM IS OVER" with an autoharp. He must be some sort of tech freak - he has wireless mikes on every instrument he plays. He makes great music, but I could stand a little less amplification.
-Joe Offer, who also admits to playing with microphones-

Subject: RE: Songs and Tunes for Autoharp?
From: GutBucketeer
Date: 03 May 99 - 01:12 AM

"Hard Times Come Again No More" sends goosebumps up and down my spine since I heard Bryan Bowers lead a round robin of autoharpers play it at the Mountain Laurel Autoharp Gathering two years ago. Midnight on the Water, Texola Walz, Southwind, and.... All are beautiful on the Autoharp. The list goes on and on.

Jim in Silver Spring

If you like Autoharps you really shouldn't miss the Mountain Laurel Autoharp Gathering which takes place the first week of July every year outside Harrisburg PA.

Also, If you live in the Washington D.C. area the Capital Harpers Autoharp group meets once a month. We usually have 15 to 20 people for a potluck and then song swap. The food is great and so is the music!

Subject: RE: Songs and Tunes for Autoharp?
From: bseed(charleskratz)
Date: 02 May 99 - 11:54 PM

Sentimental old ballads are also great for the autoharp: "My Grandfather's Clock" and "Hard Times Come Again No More" are two of favorites of "The Born Once Gospel Singers" (aka to those of us without imagination as "The Poodle Players"). On an Appalachian I can do things like "The San Francisco Bay Blues" and "Salty Dog": The circle of fifths and a lot of good seventh chords helps. --seed

Subject: RE: Songs and Tunes for Autoharp?
From: bseed(charleskratz)
Date: 02 May 99 - 11:40 PM

Our autoharp player--who also hosts our sessions--does a great job with anything from fiddle tunes ("Old Joe Clark," "Soldier's Joy," "Cripple Creek," etc., to spirituals ("Amazing Grace," "I'll Fly Away," "Free Grace") to Tom Paxton numbers: "The Last Thing On My Mind," "Ramblin' Boy," etc. The only kinds of songs she can't do are circle of fifths numbers and the blues because her custom made harps don't have enough chords: They're made to play in two keys each: She has one for C and G and another for A and D. They can also do the relative minors. Her harps are beautiful to look and and sound fantastic: limiting the keys allows doubling key notes for richer sounds. --seed (Okay, Sally, you don't need to kill me. I didn't call you an autoharpy.) --seed

Subject: RE: Songs and Tunes for Autoharp?
From: Night Owl
Date: 02 May 99 - 11:36 PM

It's difficult to pick out favorites...."Keep On The Sunny Side" is joyous to play for me, both because of the chord changes and the rhythm; I think the prettiest for me may be "Sweet Fern" because of the "echo" in the chorus.....and "White Choral Bells" played as a round with another autoharp player....and....and....and....

Subject: RE: Songs and Tunes for Autoharp?
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 02 May 99 - 04:13 PM

Caroline's autoharp seems to love "You've Been a Friend to Me." It also seems to like "Bye, Bye, Sweet Roseanna." One Carter Family outa two ain't bad, I reckon.

Sandy formerly of Palatka, Putnam County

Subject: Songs and Tunes for Autoharp?
From: harpgirl
Date: 02 May 99 - 06:32 AM

Good morning all,
For various reasons I couldn't sleep so I thought I'd get up and start some new song threads. It would be great to have some fresh material for the Florida Folk Festival this year, specially for the campground. What do the closet (and outed) players like to to do? (It's no secret that I like Carter tunes.) Today I'm going to work some more on Red is the Rose...harpy .