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Full text of the notes for the Camp Chase Fifes & Drums CD # 4. We recorded it on March 21 and released it on June 30.
1. The Assembly – 2/4
Elias Howe, Instructor for the Fife, 1851.
Played by the duty field musicians to assemble the battalion companies on the color line at the command of the Regimental Adjutant. Most often used to mean the battalion was to assemble for some purpose other than to take arms—which was a separate signal.
2. Ain't I Glad / Richmond is a Hard Road Medley
Ain't I Glad to Get Out of the Wilderness – 2/4
American Veteran Fifer, 1905. Attributed to Daniel Decatur Emmett.
AKA: Down in Alabam' with music and words Attributed to J. Warner and published in February 1858. The front cover carried the subtitle Ain't I Glad I Got Out of the Wilderness and also mentioned Bryant's Minstrels. No biographic information has been found for J. Warner. In 1860, John Church Jr. of Cincinnati, published a variant of the subtitle as Get Out of the Wilderness. The tune is from the earlier The Old Gray Mare.
Richmond is a Hard Road to Travel – 2/4
AKA: Jordan am a Hard Road to Travel, composed by Daniel Decatur Emmett, in 1853.
Capturing the Confederate capital city of Richmond was the main goal of the Union Army from the very beginning of the War. Lincoln entrusted any number of commanders with the task, and although each set out with high hopes, none succeeded. In addition to being a wickedly funny roasting of the Union generals who tried and failed to take Richmond, this song sung to Daniel Emmettt's minstrel tune Jordan Am a Hard Road to Travel also provides a thumbnail history of the major battles from First Manassas in July of 1861 to Fredericksburg in December of 1862.
3. Auld Lang Syne / The Girl I Left Behind Me Medley
Auld Lang Syne – 4/4
Elias Howe, Instructor for the Fife, 1851.
Auld Lang Syne is a poem written by Scotland's National Poet Robert 'Bobby' Burns in 1788 and set to the tune of a traditional folk song (Roud # 6294). It is well known in many English-speaking countries and is often sung to celebrate the start of the new year at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Day.
The song's Scottish title may be translated into English literally as "old long since", or more idiomatically, "long long ago" or, more properly "days gone by" and was used in Scottish poetry as far back as the mid 17th Century as the equivalent of "Once upon a time." In Scots syne is pronounced like the English word sign and the trigonometric sine function.
There is some doubt as to whether the melody used today is the same one Burns originally intended, but it is widely used both in Scotland and in the rest of the world.
The Girl I left Behind Me – 2/4
American Veteran Fifer, 1905.
AKA: The Girl I Left Behind; The Girl I Left Behind Me; Brighton Camp; The Rambling Labourer; and, The Spailpin Fanach.
A long-standing popular folk tune. According to Theodore Ralph, the tune was known in America as early as 1650, under the name Brighton Camp, but there is little evidence to support this assumption. In Ireland it was known as The Rambling Labourer and The Spailpin Fanach and was first published in Dublin in 1791. The earliest known version of the melody was printed in Hime's Pocket Book for the German Flute or Violin, 1810 under the title The Girl I left Behind Me. It has many variations and verses. The song was popular in the US regular army, which adopted it during the War of 1812 after hearing a British prisoner singing it.
4. British Grenadiers Number 2 – 2/4
American Veteran Fifer, 1905 – Attributed to A.F. Hopkins, of Yellow Springs, Ohio, Company A, 134th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, National Fife Major
Written by Cyrenus E. Larabee of Allegheny County NY, member of the 85th NY Volunteer Infantry, as well as several other tunes mentioned and transcribed by A.F. Hopkins for the 1905 American Veteran Fifer.
5. Captain Mackintosh – 2/4
Button and Whitaker, Favorite Marches for Two Flutes or Fifes, 1808.
Benjamin Button bought out the Thompson family's London-based music publication business in 1805 as Button & Purday. John Whitaker, an organist and tune composer, was added to the firm in 1808, publishing as Button & Whitaker until 1816 when Mr. Beadnell was added to the partnership. The attribution to Button & Whitaker does not mean, however, that Captain Mac was published after 1808 as the tune could easily have been reprinted from the large Thompson Family plate holdings going back to 1751.
6. Charming Molly / Drowsy Maggie Medley
Charming Molly – 2/4
Bruce & Emmett, The Drummer’s and Fifer’s Guide, 1862. via The Cooper Family Songbook.
The Charming Molly honored in this tune was a small schooner carrying Henry Evans Esq back and forth to Halifax in 1760 to procure grants of townships from King George II for the Colony of Massachusetts. The tune was written in commemoration of Evan's successful completion of his mission. The Charming Molly had been in service for many years, carrying (according to Professor Daniel Rupp of Philadelphia, 1876) more than 30,000 immigrants to the new world between 1729 and 1776. Thereafter she was mentioned as a privateer under a captain named Bradford. She was evidently captured by the British sometime in the intervening four years for the next mention of her is her recapture by the U.S.S. Saratoga, commanded by Lieutenant Joshua Barney in 1780.
Drowsy Maggie – 2/4
AKA: Sleepy Maggie; Sleeping Moggie; Pegg in the Settle; Irish Molly; and, Scotch Mary.
A very common reel, the basic form of which is known to most Irish traditional musicians.
Earliest annotated version comes from Ellis Knowles, a musician from Radcliffe, Lancashire, England, citing an 1847 music manuscript.
7. Cincinnati Quick Step / Iron Bridge Quick Step Medley
Cincinnati Quick Step – 2/4
Bruce & Emmett, The Drummer’s and Fifer’s Guide, 1862.
Another of the many tunes attributed to Daniel Decatur Emmett via his attachment to Ohio lore and legends. In 1850, Cincinnati was the largest city on the Ohio River with a population of 115,000+, with the second largest population of German-speaking residents (75,000+) and the largest pork processing industry in the country. It was often called 'Porkopolis' for that reason. One of its larger neighborhoods remains known as 'Over-the-Rhine.'
Iron Bridge Quick Step – 2/4
Bruce & Emmett, The Drummer’s and Fifer’s Guide, 1862.
Another of the many tunes that can be tied loosely to Cincinnati, Ohio. Spanning the Ohio River between Covington, Kentucky and Cincinnati is the Roebling Suspension Bridge. Opened to pedestrians in December, 1866, the bridge is a scale model for the bridge the Roeblings built four years later over the East River in Nooo Yawk—known as Da Brooklyn Brij since 1884. It makes a fanciful assumption that Emmett might have named this Quick Step after the iron foundation of Roeblings bridge.
8. The Croquette / Grandfather's Clock Medley
The Croquette – 2/4
American Veteran Fifer, 1905. Attributed to George Harris, Fifer, 121st Ohio Volunteer Infantry.
One might wonder why a fife tune is named after a seafood dish of deviled crab…Then again, mayhaps one would not wonder why a fife tune is named after a seafood dish of deviled crab. In any case, it goes well with Grandpas old clock… tick-tock-tick-tock… you know how those Marysville people are.
Grandfathers' Clock – 2/4
American Veteran Fifer, 1905
My Grandfather's Clock is a song written in 1876 by Henry Clay Work, the author of Marching Through Georgia. Most accounts give the origin of the song as a wayfarers' inn in Piercebridge on the border of Yorkshire and County Durham called the George Hotel. The hotel was owned and operated by two brothers called Jenkins, and in the lobby was an upright longcase clock. The clock kept perfect time until one of the brothers died, after which it lost time at an increasing rate, despite the best efforts of the hotel staff and local clockmakers to repair it. When the other brother died, the clock stopped, never to go again. It is said that in 1875 Henry Clay Work visited the hotel and based My Grandfather's Clock on the stories he heard there. It is said that the song is responsible for the common name 'grandfather clock' for what are properly called 'longcase clocks'. We play this version because it ties to Henry Clay Work and was also obviously popular enough amongst the veterans to be included in AVF.
9. King William / Prince Eugene Medley
King William' March – 2/4
Bruce & Emmett, The Drummer’s and Fifer’s Guide, 1862.
Composed by Jeremiah Clarke in 1689, to honor the new English king, Prince William of Orange ( William III ) whose wife was Mary II, daughter of King James II and Anne Hyde. The original tune, which is quite simple, was modified and 'improved' over a period of 150 years until Dan Emmett added as many 16th notes as would fit in the score. The result is this version from the 1862 publication.
Prince Eugene's March – 2/4
Bruce & Emmett, The Drummer’s and Fifer’s Guide, 1862.
There are several versions of this march reflecting changes over a period of 150 years. The tune is often noted as a traditional Austrian military march composed by Andreas Leonhardt to commemorate Prince Eugene of Savoy's victory over the Turks at Belgrad in 1717. Prince Eugene (François-Eugène, Prince of Savoy-Carignan [18 October 1663 – 21 April 1736]), was one of the most prominent and successful military commanders in European history. Born in Paris to aristocratic Italian parents, Eugene grew up around the French court of King Louis XIV. He was initially prepared for a career in the church, but by the age of 19, he had determined on a military career. Rejected by King Louis for service in the French army, Eugene moved to Austria and transferred his loyalty to the Habsburg Monarchy.
10. Darling Nellie Grey / Nellie Bly / Mrs. McGrath Medley
My Darling Nellie Gray – 2/4
AKA: Darlin’ Nelly Gray; Old Nelly Grey; Oh My Darlin’ Nelly Gray; The Eumerella Shore; and, Charming Nellie Ray.
Composed by Benjamin Hanby while attending Otterbein College in Westerville Ohio in 1856, in response to the plight of a runaway slave named Joseph Selby or Shelby.
Benjamin Hanby's father, Bishop William Hanby, a United Brethren minister, active in the Underground Railroad, was attempting to raise money to free Selby’s beloved. In the song, a male slave in Kentucky mourns his beloved, who has been sold south to Georgia.
Nellie Bly – 2/4
Stephen Foster, 1850
Sweet, Fifer’s Delight, 1965.
American Sand Jig. Foster’s song entered minstrel tradition. Scott records that it was "one of the 'Negro' songs sung by the English troupes that followed in the wake of the Ethiopian Serenaders."
Mrs. McGrath – 2/4
AKA: Mrs. McGraw; The Sergeant and Mrs. McGrath
An Irish folk song telling the story of a woman whose son enters the British Army to return seven years later having lost his legs to a cannonball fighting against Napoleon. OR: Mrs. McGrath" can also be a song by the The Dubliners, based on the tune of the original folk song which tells the story of a country boy who goes to Dublin to college but fails due to spending all his money and time on women and drink.
11. George Brown's Bonvivant / McLeod's Reel Medley
George Brown's Bonvivant, AKA Pigtown Fling – 2/4
American Veteran Fifer, 1905. Arranged by A.F. Hopkins, National fife major.
There is some controversy as to the origin of the name Pigtown. Two cities, Baltimore and Cincinnati, both claim the name.
McLeod's Reel – 2/4
American Veteran Fifer, 1905. Attributed to J.N. Bojart, Company I, 31st New Jersey Volunteer Infantry.
This tune is often found listed as a Newfoundland drinking song Miss McLeod's Reel going back to the turn of the 19th Century. It was also used by American composer Aaron Copeland in his 1942 ballet Rodeo during the movement titled "Hoe-Down".
12. Go to the Devil & Shake Yourself / Far-Down
Go the Devil and Shake Yourself – 6/8
Bruce & Emmett, The Drummer’s and Fifer’s Guide, 1862.
The most often found link to this traditional Scots-Irish piece is to the speculation that Scottish composer James Barr (1779 - 1860) may have composed the tune which supposedly later inspired the tune now used for the unofficial Australian anthem Waltzing Matilda.
Barr set several poems by his friend Robert Tannahill to music. Tannahill wrote the words to Matilda in 1805 and in 1818 Barr set them to music, possibly based on the melody of Go to the Devil and Shake Yourself.
Barr emigrated for Canada in 1832, where he worked as a farmer until 1855. He died in Kilbarchan in Renfrewshire, Scotland in 1860.
Far Down – 6/8
American Veteran Fifer, 1905. Attributed to W.R. Miller, Company K, 15th Ohio Volunteer Infantry.
Traditional Scots-Irish tune.
13. Hail to the Chief – 4/4
A National Air. Originally used in the US Army to play a commanding general onto parade. It was first played as a Presidential march for John Quincy Adams in 1828 at the opening of the C&O Canal. Words were written by James Sanderson ca. 1821 for a tune out of Sir Walter Scott's play Lady of the Lake debuting in 1810. It was not until 1954 that the Department of Defense authorized the tune as standard for Presidential Occasions. Today the tune is always preceded by "ruffles and flourishes".
14. Hail Columbia – 4/4
A National Air. From the time of the founding of the United States until 1935, when the bawdlerized version of To Anachreon in Heaven was proclaimed the National Anthem using F.S. Key's poem as lyrics, Hail Columbia was the National Anthem. It took over from its predecessor Chester, by William Billings, following the adoption of the Constitution and the ensuing election of George Washington as President. It was composed by Philip Phile for Washington's Inauguration in1789 and was at first known only as The President's March. It first performed with Joseph Hopkinson's lyrics in 1798.
Sound, sound the trump of fame,
Let Washington's great fame
Ring through the world with loud applause,
Ring through the world with loud applause,
Let ev'ry clime to freedom dear,
Listen with a joyful ear,
With equal skill, with God-like pow'r
He governs in the fearful hour
Of horrid war, or guides with ease
The happier time of honest peace.
Firm, united let us be,
Rallying round our liberty,
As a band of brothers joined,
Peace and safety we shall find.
This anthem was performed for nearly every formal occasion over which Lincoln presided, generally following immediately after "Hail to the Chief." After singer de Hegermann- Lindencrone sang for Lincoln he said, "I think I might become a musician if I heard you often, but so far I know only two tunes. He explained, these were "Hail, Columbia," because he had to stand up and take off his hat when it was sung - the other was the one where he didn't have to stand up.
15. Irish Washerwoman Jig – 6/8
American Veteran Fifer, 1905 Attributed to Joseph R. Weathers, Company F, 144th Indiana Volunteer Infantry.
The Irish Washerwoman is a traditional and possibly the best-known Irish jig. It repeats its refrain several times, sometimes by gradually increasing in tempo until being played very fast before coming to a sudden stop. The song has several sets of lyrics, but is typically rendered as an instrumental.
16. Lamplighter's Hornpipe / Soldier's Joy Medley
Lamplighter's Hornpipe –2/4
American Veteran Fifer, 1905. Attributed to Samuel McIlhaney, 177th Ohio Volunteer Infantry.
AKA The Merry Soldier.
The first strain is similar to the first strain of Key West Hornpipe. According to at least one folk music authority [Bronner, 1987], its features suggest an 18th century British Isles derivation. Elias Howe put a version of the tune in both his 1858 Ball Room Hand Book and his later 1000 Jigs and Reels (c. 1867). Tony Parkes and Steve Woodruff (1980) also found the tune in Elisha Belknap's (Framingham, Mass.) 1784 manuscript, though it may have been added around the year 1800, and remark that both dance and tune were very popular in the mid 19th century. Yet another version can be found in O'Neill's Music of Ireland, 1850 Melodies. 1903.
Soldier's Joy –2/4
AKA: French Four; I Am My Mamma's Darlin' Child; John White; The King's Head; The King's Hornpipe; I Love Somebody; Payday in the Army;and, Rock the Cradle, Lucy.
One of, if not the most popular fife and fiddle tunes in history, widely disseminated in North America and Europe in nearly every tradition; it has enjoyed a "vigorous" life. Musicologically speaking, there is considerable speculation on just what the name ‘soldier’s joy’ refers to. Bayard (1981) dates it to "at least" the latter part of the 18th century, citing a version that has become standard in James Aird's 1778 collection (vol. 1, No. 109) and Skillern's 1780 collection (pg. 21). London publishers Longman & Broderip included it in their Entire New and Compleat Instructions for the Fife in 1785. Kate Van Winkler Keller (1992) says that the tune appeared as a hornpipe in London in about 1760; while other authorities maintain the first appearance in print of this tune is in Joshua Campbell's 1778 A Collection of the Newest and Best Reels and Minuets with improvements. It is a well known folk dance tune in other countries of Europe with variants found in Scandinavia, the French Alps, and Newfoundland. In America early printings of the melody are in Benjamin and Joseph Carr’s Evening Amusement, 1796; Joshua Cushing’s Fifer’s Companion, 1804; and Daniel Steele’s New and Compleat Preceptor for the Flute, 1815.
17. Farewell to Whiskey / Moonlight Quick Step Medley
Farewell to Whiskey – 2/4
AKA: Niel Gow's Farewell to Whiskey; Go rabh slan leis an ól; Goodbye Whiskey; The Ladies Triumph; Murphy's Favor; and, The Rose in the Garden. The original was composed by renowned Scottish fiddler-composer Niel Gow (1727-1807) who identified it as a lament on the occasion of the British government’s prohibition of using barley to make whiskey in 1799, due to the crop failure in Scotland in that year. It appears in his First Collection, 2nd edition (1801), and reappears in his Fifth Collection (1809) with the note "It is representative of a Highlander's sorrow on being deprived of his favorite beverage."
Moonlight Quick Step – 2/4
From Colonel H.C. Hart's New and Improved Instructor for the Drum with Original Notation. 1862.
Composed by Julius E. Muller and published by Henry McCaffery, Baltimore.
18. Nancy Hanks / Quick Scotch Medley
Nancy Hanks – 2/4
Bruce & Emmett, The Drummer’s and Fifer’s Guide, 1862. American, Polka. Named for the mother of Abraham Lincoln. Nancy Hanks Lincoln (1784 – 1818) was the wife of Thomas Lincoln and the mother of Sarah (1807 – 1828), Abraham (1809 – 1865) and Thomas Lincoln (died in infancy). Nancy Hanks Lincoln died of the milk sickness, October 5, 1818 in Spencer County, Indiana.
Quick Scotch – 2/4
Bruce & Emmett, The Drummer’s and Fifer’s Guide, 1862.
One of several possible Quick March tunes, of varying national styles to be played in the Reveille sequence of the camp duty. Interesting enough to stand on its own.
19. Ohio March / Original Arkansas Traveler Medley
Ohio March – 2/4
J.L.Rumrille & H. Holton, The Drummer's Instructor; Or, Martial Musician. 1817.
An earlier quick march of the War of 1812 period. Like the U.S. March from our Volume II, it has a distinctive minor modal tonality in the fife line popular in the martial music of the early 19th Century.
Original Arkansas Traveler – 2/4
American Veteran Fifer, 1905. Transcribed by A.F. Hopkins, of Yellow Springs, Ohio, National Fife Major
Composed by Colonel Sanford C. Faulkner
Colonel Sanford C. 'Sandy' Faulkner (1806-1874) was an American teller of tall tales, fiddle player, and composer of the popular fife and fiddle tune The Arkansas Traveler, which was the State song of Arkansas from 1949-1963. Colonel Faulkner served in the Confederate Army, and was at one point placed in command of the Arsenal at Little Rock, Arkansas, the present site of the B.J. Clinton Presidential Library and Massage Parlor. Faulkner County, Arkansas is named in honor of Sanford Faulkner.
20. The Raw Recruit/ O'Lassie Art Thow Sleeping Yet Medley
The Raw Recruit – 6/8
American Veteran Fifer, 1905. Attributed to M. L. Maynard, of Chardon, Ohio, Company E, 103rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry.
AKA: Sergeant O'Leary; Chapel Hill Serenade; Coleman Killed His Wife; Green Willis; The New Rigged Ship; and, Old Hickory.
An extraordinarily well known tune, both as a fife and fiddle piece.
Oh Lassie Art Thou Sleeping Yet – 6/8
American Veteran Fifer, 1905. Attributed to J. Benjamin of Royal Oak, Michigan.
AKA: The Stone Barn; The Scotch Lassie; The Lea Rig; My Ain Kind Deary O; and, The Muckin' o' Geordie's Byre.
The tune dates from the 18th century (around 1760 or earlier), and has been a favorite of fifers and fiddlers becoming a standard tune for martial bands of music in the Eastern United States. The title is Robert Burns', whose lyric was given final form in 1795, though Burns took the tune from a traditional air.
21. Rosebud Reel / Stillman's Reel Medley
Rosebud Reel – 2/4
From Colonel H.C. Hart's New and Improved Instructor for the Drum with Original Notation. 1862.
AKA – Mountain Ranger Hornpipe. Seattle fiddler Vivian Williams discovered the tune in George Saunders’ Complete Violin Tutor, 1847, set in the key of ‘C’ major. In the publication, ‘Professor’ Saunders attributes himself as composer of the tune. The version we use is found in Hart's 1862 publication.
Stillman's Reel – 2/4
From Colonel H.C. Hart's New and Improved Instructor for the Drum with Original Notation. 1862.
The most commonly found reference to this tune is from The Company of Fifers and Drummers Book I, 1976. The Milford Fife and Drum Corps hand copied version is dated 1970 and another for the Germantown Ancients from the 1960s attributes the tune to Major Stillman.
A search for Major Stillman turned up this information: Major I. Stillman was active in Illinois during the Blackhawk War of 1832, (in the same campaign where Lieutenant A. Lincoln served) being largely responsible for one of the main actions of that short campaign known as "Stillman's Defeat", or "The Battle of Sycamore Creek", or "Stillman's Run", wherein Stillman with 300 mounted men were stampeded by a party of about fifty Sac Indians led by Blackhawk. For the time period it was enough fame to write a tune about—without mentioning the defeat. The attribution to Stillman also begs the listing of him as being killed in that battle; though I suppose the writing of his official report would be no more difficult for a dead man than writing a fife reel…least ways not in Illinois where mass-resurrection has occurred every election day since statehood.
22. Rosline Castle – 2/4
From Joshua Cushing, The Fifer's Companion, 1805.
AKA : House of Glamis/Glams.
The title is variously given as Rosland, Rosline, Roseland, Roslin and Rosslyn Castle. A British march used by the British army during the Revolutionary War, most often associated with funerals, and legend has it that it was played by Scottish bagpipers stationed in New York at the time, in honor of the castle at Roslyn, Midlothian, Scotland. It was played by British troops in 1781 as they marched out the small Long Island, New York, village of Hempstead Harbor. In 1844 their descendents changed the name of their village to Roslyn. Continental forces also employed the tune as a memorial air. For example, during the 1779 campaign against the Iroquois Six Nations two men had been dispatched by tomahawks and left to lay. After they were found a Colonel Proctor ordered his musicians, in passing the spot, to play “Roslin Castle,” whose “soft and moving tones” silenced the regiment and awakened pity for their comrades (Rev. William Roger’s Journal, pg. 35).
Rosyln Castle does in fact exist in Angus, Scotland, and has since the early 14th century (c. 1304), when it was built by Sir William St. Clair soon after the Battle of Rosslyn, when, as part of the Scottish War of Independence, the English army of Edward I (Edward Long Shanks) was decimated by the Scots. It is a castle high above the north bank of the River Esk, south west of Edinburgh, and features a small chapel founded in 1446 by the Earl of Orkney and Roslin. The chapel was destroyed by Cromwell's troops in 1650. Recently, the castle was featured in Dan Brown’s book and film The Da Vinci Code.
In this version the first playing is done by Jack and Buddy Taylor and Don Heminitz using 10-hole fifes for clearer and mellower intonation and harmonies. The repeat is then taken up by the entire fife line using six-holers. Alex Kuhn and Pat Jones supply the muffled drum beatings on the first pass.
23. Guilderoy / Union Quick Step Medley (both 2/4
Guilderoy – 2/4
American Veteran Fifer, 1905.
AKA: Black Rock; The Duck Chewed Tobacco; Gilder Roy; Gilda Roy; Gilroy; Gilderoy's Reel; Injun et a Woodchuck; Mairi ban Og; Nellie on the Shore; The Old Soldier; Red Haired Boy; and, Wooden Leg.
The title Gilderoy is an English version of the Gaelic Gilleruadh, or Giolla Ruadh, meaning red haired lad or youth. Historically, Gilleruadh was the nickname of a famous Scottish highwayman named Patrick McGregor who was captured and executed in 1636; the song describes his exploits and moralizes on his fate. John Purser says the tune was known by around 1660 as it was referred to in a broadside of that period.
Union Quick Step – 2/4
American Veteran Fifer, 1905. Attributed to C.E. Larrabee of Binghampton, N.J.
The cover sheet from 1850 ascribes the tune as composed by Martin Andreas Sarles and dedicated to his friend L.C. Grimes, Esq. Published by William Endicott, New York.
Martin Andreas Sarles is listed in Music for the Nation as the composer of The Dance of the Fairies, 1852, published in Springfield (Illinois?) and there are later records of his living in San Francisco in the late 1860s in the Bancroft Library Papers collection UC Berkeley
24. Ricketts Hornpipe (2/4)
Elias Howe, Instructor for the Fife, 1851.
AKA: The Manchester Hornpipe; The New College Hornpipe; One Eyed Fiddler; Raker's Hornpipe; Texarkana Hornpipe; Tomorrow Morning; Pigeon at the Gate; and, Yarmouth Hornpipe.
The particular Ricketts honored in the title was a circus promoter, one John Bill Ricketts, a Scots immigrant who came from England in 1792 and flourished in America through the 1790's when his Philadelphia enterprise was destroyed in a fire on Dec. 17, 1799. He reportedly delighted his audiences by dancing hornpipes on the backs of galloping horses, and toward the end of his career hired another famous American hornpipe dancer, John Durang, to produce pantomimes for him. The earliest appearance of the melody, was in Alexander McGlashan's Collection of Scots Measures, 1781. By the 1850's it was a common selection for tune collections. It retained its popularity into the 20th century, though in England, the tune is most often found under the title Pigeon at the Gate.
25. Steamboat Quick Step / Libby Prison Quick Step Medley
Steamboat Quick Step – 6/8
Elias Howe, Instructor for the Fife, 1851.
AKA: The Steamboat; Steamboat March; Uncle Jim; and, Washington Quickstep.
This melody was a great favorite in the 1800's and gave its name to a contra dance and waltz as well as to the march in double time. The earliest printed version of the tune I have come across is from Elias Howe's (1820-1895) Complete Preceptor for the Accordeon, 1843. Canadian versions appear under the title “Uncle Jim.”
Libby Prison Quick Step – 6/8
American Veteran Fifer, 1905. Notated as having been learned from a companion in Libby Prison, 1865.
The tune shares at least a first strain with O Dear Mother My Toes Are Sore; Jinny O Jinny My Toes Are Sore; Monongahela March; Rustic Reel; Virginia Reel; First Western Change; and City Guards. Libby prison was a notorious Civil War military prison, a former tobacco warehouse, in downtown Richmond, Virginia, where captured Federal soldiers were held, but it was not quite as infamous as the Confederates' concentration camp at Andersonville, Georgia, (aka Dachau South).
26. Troop for Guard Mounting – 3/8
Elias Howe, Instructor for the Fife, 1851.
The troops detailed as camp guards (divided into shifts of 4 hours on guard and 8 hours in reserve) were changed every morning the army was in camp. The ceremony consisted of the assembly and inspection of the new guard being made by the Adjutant and the Officer of the Day on the parade. The Officer of the Guard then marched the Reserve of the guards to the parade where they were "Trooped" and replaced by the new guards. The Officer of the Guard then marched the new guard to the reserve line and from there marched a detail out to the guard line to replace the guards presently "on post". The guard officer then marched the relieved guard back to the reserve line to await their next tour of duty. The camp was thus never left unguarded. As a reminder, Troops are either in 3/8 or 3/4 time; i.e., the left foot strikes the ground in alternating bars. If you think you've got marching down to a science—try it. You'll like it. If'n you don't make a foooool of yourself. And yes, we've have made a foooool of ourself.
27. We are Coming Father Abraham – 2/4
Words by James Sloan Gibbons, music by L.O. Emerson
According to C.A. Browne in his epic The Story of Our National Ballads, published in 1919 (and revised by Willard A. Heaps) in 1960 he writes: "The 1862 call for 300,000 volunteers came at a time of Union discouragement, when the army seemed unable to take decisive action in advancing toward the main goal, the capture of Richmond, the Confederate capital. A Northern Abolitionist Quaker, James Sloan Gibbons, at that time wrote one of the most stirring [of the Civil War songs] calling it "We Are Coming, Father Abraham".
The song was widely popular in the North during the war, but lack of copyright protection meant there would be several variations in the lyrics and the tune, including the one we use hear. As an aside, supposedly this version was pirated (or at the least rewritten by Stephen Foster)…or not, depending on which source you choose to believe.
28. Tenting Tonight on the Old Camp Ground / Just Before the Battle Mother Medley – 2/4
Transcribed from original wax cylinder recordings of the New York National Guard Bureau Band made in 1913.
On our first volume we played The Campbell's Are Coming which was played by the 6th Wisconsin's Field Music as the regiment marched into battle at Gettysburg in 1863. In the intervening years between the battle and its 50th Anniversary, two of the politically strongest veterans' organizations in American history were formed and remained active. They were the Grand Army of the Republic and the United Confederate Veterans; the GAR and the UCV. In the 50 years following the Civil War it has been said that a person could not hope to be elected to public office in this country without a membership in one or the other. In 1913 several thousand veterans of the battle returned to Gettysburg where they were photographed making "the handshake across the stone wall" Imagine, if you will, the parade of vehicles streaming toward The High Water Mark" lead by the New York National Guard Bureau Band playing these renditions of two of the all-time favorite GAR and UCV veteran's campfire songs. Our own Phil Gasbarro transcribed the versions played here from a 1913 wax cylinder recording of the NYNGB Band and Cullen Triner assembled the beatings in the style of the early 20th Century bands.
29. Hell on the Wabash/ Sounds Like Hell… Medley – 2/4
Hell on the Wabash – 2/4
From Bruce & Emmett, The Drummer’s and Fifer’s Guide, 1862.
AKA: Hell on the Potomac; Wake Up Susan; Hell on the Rappahannock; The Night We Paid the Rent; Picnic Romp; Jack of Diamonds; The Cottage By The Sea; The Red Headed Girl; The Bridge Of Lodi; The Huntsman's Hornpipe; Nelson's Hornpipe; Murray's Hornpipe; and, Lady On The Green.
One of the three or four tunes universally known in the American Fife and Drum Tradition. The melody is usually known as Wake Up Susan or Hell on the Wabash and it is sometimes found with other parts. It is often annotated as a jig but to a type of old-time syncopated banjo tune known as a “straight” or “sand” jig. The minstrel origins for this syncopated tune are quite evident and the genre was popular on the early variety stage in the 1870’s and 1880’s.
Sounds Like Hell… – 2/4
Transcribed from original wax cylinder recordings of the New York National Guard Bureau Band made in 1913. There was no title on the original cylinder but most of it sure sounded like Hell on the Wabash; ergo, we calls it Sounds like Hell…
30. Sailor's Hornpipe – 2/4
American Veteran Fifer, 1905
AKA: College Hornpipe; Duke William's Hornpipe; Jack's The Lad; and, Lancashire Hornpipe. Originally titled College Hornpipe this melody became known as the Sailor's Hornpipe through its association with the performance of the hornpipe dance, typically performed on the stage in nautical costume. At the turn of the 18th century a sailor was a favorite character of the musical stage and the nautical theme became so associated with the dance that many hornpipes were generically labeled a 'sailor's hornpipe'. The dance itself features a distinctive 'side-cutting' step. The style retained its popularity throughout the century.
As the College Hornpipe the tune was in print in 1797 or 1798 by J. Dale of London, and although the melody predates Dale's publication, the English antiquarian Chappell's editor dates it no earlier than the second half of the 18th century. Emerson suggests the comic ballet The Wapping Landlady, 1767 was the source of the Sailor Hornpipe that was famously danced by the American dancer Durang for some twenty years at the end of the 18th century. The ballet featured the trials of Jack Tar ashore, and was choreographed by Arnold Fisher (of “Fisher’s Hornpipe” fame).
Sailor's Hornpipe was imported to North America where it entered traditional repertoire and became widely known, still with its nautical connotations. The earliest known printing in the United States was in a publication by B. Carr, Evening Entertainments, 1796 (under the College Hornpipe title).
31. Flowing Bowl / Granny Will Your Dog Bight?
Flowing Bowl – 2/4
AKA: Landlord Fill the Flowing Bowl; For Tonight We'll Merry Be; and, Three Jolly Coachmen.
Scottish, Country Dance Tune.
Granny Will Your Dog Bite? — 2/4
The first version of Granny Will Your Dog Bite comes down through the military fife and drum players common to both Civil War armies. Bill Bynum, relates that, “according to a 26th North Carolina Regiment veteran’s memoirs, one recruit played Granny Will Your Dog Bite on the fife as he marched to be sworn in.” In another instance, according to Bynum, a member of the 3rd Arkansas is said to have played this tune on the fiddle while preparing to charge at the Battle of Sharpsburg in September, 1862. We learned the second version of Granny Will Your Dog Bite from Bruce Greene. When we went to record this in the studio, we all “fell in the groove,” as they say, and didn’t want to stop playing it. Bruce says it he learned it from Everett Kays of Hickory Grove, KY, who got it from his uncle Clyde Kays. This is one of those traditional tunes that actually includes words. These words appear to have their roots in the play-party tradition of the southern mountains.
Granny will your dog bite cow kick cat scratch
Granny will your hen peck sow root the corn patch
Granny will your duck quack old grey goose hatch
Granny will your dog bite no child no
32. Sweet Home (Fife Section Solo) – 2/4
"Home! Sweet Home!" (also known as "Home, Sweet Home") is a song that has remained well-known for over 150 years. Adapted from American actor and dramatist John Howard Payne's 1823 opera Clari, Maid of Milan, the song's melody was composed by Englishman, Sir Henry Bishop with lyrics by John Howard Payne.The opening lines have become famous.
Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home;
Other Material:
Drummers’ Chase
Lead Drummer Cullen Triner, et al. This feature was written by Cullen Triner to illustrate some of the rudimental beatings used by the field musicians of the Civil War but is by no means considered to be “Authentic”. Members of the line have performed this piece regularly at our public performances and additionally at such special events as the (former) APRDC annual conventions.
Fife Duet
Fifers Jerrison "Buddy" & Jackson "Jack" Taylor
Devienne, Allegretto, from "Nineteen Duos"
François Devienne (January 31, 1759 – September 5, 1803) was a French composer and professor for flute at the Paris Conservatory.
Born in Joinville, Haute-Marne province, France, the youngest of fourteen children of a saddlemaker. Devienne received his first musical training as a choirboy in his hometown. He was playing in various Parisian ensembles as soloist and orchestra player, studying flute with Félix Rault until 1780 when he joined the household of Cardinal de Rohan. He was active in Paris as a flautist, bassoonist and composer, and playing bassoon at the Paris Opera. He wrote successful operas in the 1790s, including Les visitandines, 1792, which brought him much success.
He was also a member of the Military Band of the French Guard where he was given the rank of sergeant with the duty of teaching the children of his colleagues in the military band in its Free School of Music. François Devienne was appointed an administrator and flute professor. He wrote an important Flute School Méthode de Flûte Théorique et Pratique, 1793, which was reprinted several times and did much to improve the level of French wind music in the late 18th century. After the Revolutionary period, the Free School became the National Institute of Music, later chartered as the Paris Conservatory in 1795. Like many other musicians, he joined the freemasons and Concerts de la Loge Olympique orchestra. Devienne's output comprises some 300 instrumental works mostly written for wind instruments. There are a dozen flute concertos, sinfonias for woodwinds, quartets and trios for different ensembles, 12 operas, 4 bassoon concerti, and 6 bassoon sonatas in an elegant melodic style. Devienne died at a sanatorium in Charenton near Paris on September 5, 1803.
Extra Material
Bonnie Doon / Paddy Whack Medley
Boonie Doon – 6/8
Based on another of Bobby Burns love poems, The Banks of Bonnie Doon. Robert Burns lived from 1759-1795 and was celebrated in his own lifetime in Scotland. His fame persisted well into the next century and his songs were all the rage in America at the time of the Gold Rush at least through the end of the century.
Robert Burns's 1783 poem, The Banks O' Doon, commemorates the river Doon, known in Scots Gaelic as Abhainn Dhùin, which flows from Loch Doon to the Firth of Clyde in Ayrshire. A keen student of Scots ballads and fiddle tunes, he set the poem to music a few years later. Along with Loch Lomond and Auld Lang Syne, its popularity continued to grow long after his death in 1795.
Paddy Whack – 6/8
Be careful of your spelling on this one. Drop one 'h' and you have Paddy Wack which is dried beef sinew fed to dogs as a treat.
AKA: Paddy Wack; Paddy O’Whack; Little Peggy; Tommy Reck’s; When History's Muse; Whoope doe me nee harm, good man; The Green Joke; and, Harp That in Darkness. An Irish, Scottish, English, American; Double Jig and Quick March. The tune, which is of the Villikins and His Dinah tune family, has been often published from the later 18th century on in both fiddle and fife collections; some later publications have called it Paddy O'Whack.
The earliest Scottish printing of it is in Robert Ross's, collection, 1780. It appears in English collections before that date, however—Longman, Lukey and Broderip’s Bride’s Favourite Collection of 200 Select Country Dances, Cotillions, 1776, Straight and Skillern’s Two Hundred and Four Favourite Country Dances, 1775, and Charles and Samuel Thompson’s Compleat Collection of 200 Favourite Country Dances, Vol. 3, 1773. After appearing in these dance volumes, “Paddy Whack” was often printed in instrumental tutors such as Longman and Broderip’s Entire New and Compleat Instructions for the Fife, 1780; T. Skillern’s Compleat Instructions for the Fife, 1780; Charles and Samuel Thompson’s Compleat Tutor for the Fife, 1770/86); Thompson’s Compleat Tutor for the Hautboy, 1790; Wilson’s Pocket Preceptor for the Fife,1805; Northumbrian piper Peacock’s Favorite Collection of Tunes with Variations, 1805; Clementi’s Entire New and Compleat Instructions for the Fife, 1815; and, in America, Joshua Cushing’s Fifer’s Companion No. 1, 1805; David Hazeltine’s Instructor in Martial Music, 1810; and Gilford’s Gentleman’s Pocket Companion for the Flute or Violin, 1802.
Extra Duty Calls
The Parley (Church Call),
Bruce & Emmett, The Drummer’s and Fifer’s Guide, 1862.p. 48
Known as the Parley from at least the mid-18th Century until the Civil War, this was the duty call used to let the other guy know your side wished to talk things over. By the time of the Civil War, it was also used to assemble the battalion for divine services on Sundays.
Fatigue Call (Pioneers’ March),
Elias Howe, Instructor for the Fife, 1851. p. 22
To send the men of the battalion to their assigned daily duties; or, 'fatigues'.
Adjutant’s Call,
Elias Howe, Instructor for the Fife, 1851. p. 23
To bring the assembled battalion companies to the color line for various ceremonies.
Call to Arms or Quarters
Elias Howe, Instructor for the Fife, 1851. p. 23
Used to assemble the battalion under arms, as opposed to 'Assembly' [see above] which brought the battalion together for ceremonies. More often used in the evening to send the enlisted men to their quarters before the playing of the Taptoo (or, Tattoo) followed by the Taps which was the signal to extinguish all lights in the camp.
Volume IV musicians:
Fifers
Dan Chazinski, Tim Cunningham, Phil Gasbarro, Chris Harrod, Donald Heminitz, Tom Kuhn, Todd Rakestraw, Jackson Taylor, Jerrison Taylor, Andrew Turscak.
Drums
Nathan Duncan, Patrick Jones, Alex Kuhn, Jeff Long, Bill Maling, Dick Moore, Jamison Taylor, Cullen Triner, Dick Wolf.
Drum Major
Jeff Taylor
D.L.
H.J. Popowski for tune notes and moral support.
Special thanks go to the Cooperman Drum Company and Stern Tanning for their excellent and speedy support in aiding us in producing the sound of the original era drums.
Recorded Live at Smith Middle School Auditorium, Chillicothe, Ohio, March, 2009.
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