Need help identifying a fiddle tune

Subject: RE: Need help identifying a fiddle tune
From: Stewart
Date: 19 Nov 05 - 01:02 PM

Here is the abc (copy and paste into Concertina.net to get a gif score and midi) of "Corn on the Cob" which is very similar to the "Loggerman's Breakdown" see HERE. I got this from a transcription by Vivian Williams who says this is "an awful lot like 'Logger's Breakdown'."

X:1
T:Corn on the Cob
C:Traditional
M:2/2
L:1/8
K:Bb
FE|D2FB dBFD|B2GB eBGE|A2Ac ecAc|BdcB AFEC|
D2DF dBFD|B2GB eBGE|A2Ac ecAc|BABc B2:|
|:A2|B2df b2bf|a2af gecA|B2df bfbf|afaf gecA|
B2df b2bf|a2af g2g=e|fbag f_edc|Bbfd B2:|

Now it's hard to hear the basic tune from McCutcheon's hammered dulcimer, but this (Corn on the Cob) looks like a good fit with what he plays. When you compare this (Corn on the Cob/Logger's Breakdown/Loggerman's Breakdown) with the unidentified tune, it doesn't really fit. The problem is, when you start listening to polkas, many of them begin to sound the same. So I really don't think there is any relation between the unidentified tune and the Loggerman's Breakdown.

Cheers, S. in Seattle

Subject: RE: Need help identifying a fiddle tune
From: Stewart
Date: 19 Nov 05 - 01:49 PM

"McCutcheon got it [Loggerman's Breakdown] from NY hammered dulcimer player Paul Van Arsdale, who got it from a radio broadcast of a Canadian logger/fiddler in the 1950s!" The "Corn on the Cob" I just posted came originally from Joe Pancerzewski, an old time fiddler "raised in North Dakota... and moved to Saskatchewan... where he learned some Canadian style fiddling." So there's a definite connection with Pancerzewski's tune and McCutcheon's tune.

S. in Seattle

Subject: RE: Need help identifying a fiddle tune
From: Stewart
Date: 19 Nov 05 - 10:51 PM

This unknown polka is a nice tune. I just played it in a session this afternoon and others also thought it was nice, although no one could identify it. So this whole endeavour has been worthwhile. I now have two different new tunes which I like - this unknown polka, and Corn on the Cob (AKA Loggerman's Breakdown). The name thing doesn't bother me.

Cheers, S. in Seattle

Subject: RE: Need help identifying a fiddle tune
From: Stewart
Date: 20 Nov 05 - 01:53 PM

I just posted this unknown tune at TheSession.org so we'll see if anyone there recognizes it.

Cheers, S. in Seattle

Subject: RE: Need help identifying a fiddle tune
From: Dave Ruch
Date: 20 Nov 05 - 04:01 PM

Great, thanks Stewart. And glad to hear you are playing and enjoying the tune - me too!

Subject: RE: Need help identifying a fiddle tune
From: Manitas_at_home
Date: 21 Nov 05 - 01:45 AM

The sample of the Silverton polka posted above is too short to tell anything by. I still think they're similar.

Subject: RE: Need help identifying a fiddle tune
From: Stewart
Date: 05 Dec 05 - 04:21 PM

Still haven't identified it, but I'm working on it.

Vivian Williams, the foremost authority on traditional fiddle tunes here in the Pacific Northwest: "I don't recognize the tune; it's sure a cute one, a very danceable polka. I wonder if "Forest Rogers" was any relation to Grant Rogers, an upstate New York fiddler who performed at some folk festivals in the 1960's." Also asked Bruce Reid who does a lot of contra dance and traditional music here: "Never heard it before...it's a good one. I'll have to try playing it; it would make a nice contra tune."

Someone from TheSession.org seemed to recognize it, but couldn't name it, "though I've suspicions this might be in one of the two Christeson collections, "Old Time Fiddler's Repertory", University of Missouri Press? It is definitely 'Old Time' where I came across this one first, played for just plain polka-ing around in one form or another but with a definite 'hop'-1-2-3..." "Two other possible sources ~ you might also check the Don Messer and Bill Guest collections."

I'm pretty busy now, but when I get time I'll check out the Christeson Collections at the U. Washington Music Library. Or if someone else has access to those, you might check also.

Cheers, S. in Seattle

Subject: RE: Need help identifying a fiddle tune
From: clueless don
Date: 06 Dec 05 - 11:22 AM

I listened to Stewart's abc (from 17 Nov 05 - 10:46 PM. thanks, Stewart!) of the unknown tune. The tune has a "turn-of-the-(19th to 20th)century drawing room" feel to my ears. That is purely a subjective reaction - I can't document or justify it.

One thing - the fact that each part ends with those two half notes makes me wonder whether the tune started its life as a hornpipe. Just a guess!

Don