Is there a 'Childs' songbook

Subject: RE: Is there a 'Childs' songbook
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 11 Jul 07 - 10:01 AM

"The tunes in his four volumes, far from being "crap", "tatty", "dull" or "uninteresting", include some of the most beautiful traditional airs you can find anywhere."

How about posting them (or some of them) as MIDI's, Brian? I'll see if I can find the one I vaguely remember.

Subject: RE: Is there a 'Childs' songbook
From: GUEST,Brian Peters
Date: 11 Jul 07 - 10:10 AM

"How about posting them (or some of them) as MIDI's, Brian?"

Er..... sounds like quite a bit of trouble to go to to prove a Mudcat point. I know Heritage Muse were planning to do exactly that, but the task would be Herculean. Which ballad was it you "vaguely remembered" the tune for anyway?

There will, of course, be several tunes from the Bronson collection on my forthcoming CD of Child Ballads (and thank you for giving me the opportunity to mention it).

Subject: RE: Is there a 'Childs' songbook
From: Folkiedave
Date: 11 Jul 07 - 11:33 AM

I think sometimes people get a bit hung up here.

The tunes to Child that Bronson discovered (generally speaking) are available since he found them.... so can anyone else.

But there is no need to restrict the tune to say "Riddles Wisely Expounded" to that ballad. Each tune can be adapted, adopted, borrowed and so on....just see Bronson as a starting point would be my advice.

There is a good biography here
though it doesn't emphasise (enough) why he disliked the earlier version he did in the 1850's. He later realised it was not the precise work he wanted so he devoted himself to tracking down original sources.

Let me get the original out and I'll come back later....

Dave

Subject: RE: Is there a 'Childs' songbook
From: GUEST,Brian Peters
Date: 11 Jul 07 - 12:09 PM

"just see Bronson as a starting point would be my advice."

Indeed. Using a given tune for different ballads seems to have gone on in tradition, so no reason not to switch them around now. Or use phrases from two different tunes to create a new one. Or tweak a collected tune, like Tony Rose did with "Banks of Green Willow".

Sometimes, though, the song as collected is so good that it doesn't need to be tampered with.

Subject: RE: Is there a 'Childs' songbook
From: GUEST, Sminky
Date: 11 Jul 07 - 12:50 PM

There's also an online edition of Chappell's 'Popular Music Of The Olden Time'

Volume 1

and

Volume 2

which contains many ballad tunes.

Subject: RE: Is there a 'Childs' songbook
From: The Sandman
Date: 11 Jul 07 - 01:47 PM

The man wants guitar chords,so why doesnt he buy Martin Carthys Books[Iwould be surprisedif it contained no ballads],or better still get a set of words and a melody and work out his own chords,its not difficult.

Subject: RE: Is there a 'Childs' songbook
From: peregrina
Date: 11 Jul 07 - 02:10 PM

Another thing you could try for melody and chords for some of the Child Ballads is the Ballad Book of John Jacob Niles (widely available secondhand).
Some really lovely tunes there.

(I just saw that there are a few threads here on mudcat with really interesting discussions about JJN and his activity; off to read those now).

Subject: RE: Is there a 'Childs' songbook
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 11 Jul 07 - 02:21 PM

I just sent Joe Offer a MIDI of the tune I remember for Lord Randall. It has the tune in the key of G and then in the key of D to suit the needs of various musicians.

Subject: RE: Is there a 'Childs' songbook
From: GUEST,Brian Peters
Date: 11 Jul 07 - 02:56 PM

Sorry leeneia, I misunderstood your previous post. But the sad truth is I don't actually know how to make MIDI files in the first place. If I did I could certainly share the version of 'Lord Randall' that I just dug out of Bronson. A deceptively simple tune, but it works for me.

Subject: RE: Is there a 'Childs' songbook
From: beardedbruce
Date: 11 Jul 07 - 03:00 PM

My post of 10 Jul 07 - 04:01 PM has a clicky to a site with MIDI files.