Annotation:Old French Reel (1): Difference between revisions

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OLD FRENCH. AKA and see "Little Old Man," "Rambler's Hornpipe," "Reel de St-Tite." Canadian, American; Reel (usually) or Hornpipe. USA, New England. D Major ('A' part) & A Mixolydian ('B' part). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Silberberg): AABB (Brody, Carlin, Kaufman, Messer, Miller & Perron, Sweet): AA'BB' (Reiner & Anick). The melody was a popular vehicle for contra dancing in the 1970's, when it seemed to surface simultaneously in New England repertoire (c.f. the Nelson, N.H., dances) and on the West Coast, where it was popularized by mandolin player Kenny Hall and others. In the Kenny Hall Tunebook, Hall states he learned the tune from bandmate Cary Lung in the early 1970's. Popular belief has it that the "Old French" title derived from a remark by an old Vermont fiddler who, when asked its title, said it was "just an old French tune." Ken Perlman (1979) believed the tune was unknown in Canada and speculated that it was probably a northern New England composition in the Québec style. The apocryphal Vermont fiddler seems to have had it right, for the reel was known in Canada prior to the "folk revival" that fed American contra dancing, and was in Maritime fiddler Don Messer's "Down-East" repertoire. The original provenance is in Québécois repertoire, where it was recorded in 1929 under the title "Reel de St-Tite" on a 78 RPM recording by Sotère Mongrain and Ida Mongrain (violin with piano accompaniment). Ottawa Valley fiddlers know it as "Rambler's Hornpipe" or "Little Old Man."

Source for notated version: Andy Woolf & Roaring Jelly [Reiner & Anick]; Ken Kosek [Phillips]; Laurie Andres [Silberberg].

Printed sources: Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; p. 206. Carlin (English Concertina), 1977; p. 26. Kaufman (Beginning Old Time Fiddle), 1977; pp. 74-75. Messer (Way Down East), 1948; No. 30. Messer (Anthology of Favorite Fiddle Tunes), 1980; No. 47, p. 32. Miller & Perron (New England Fiddler's Repertoire), 1983; No. 127. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 1), 1994; p. 170. Reiner & Anick (Old Time Fiddling Across America), 1989; p. 49. Sannella, Balance and Swing (CDSS). Silberberg (Tunes I Learned at Tractor Tavern), 2002; p. 110. Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1965/1981; p. 67. Tolman (Nelson Music Collection), 1969; p. 13. Welling (Welling's Hartford Tunebook), 1976; p. 10.

Recorded sources: Bee Balm 302, "The Corndrinkers." Fiddler FRLP 001, Tom Doucet (Nova Scotia/eastern Mass.) - "The Down East Star." Philo 1008, "Kenny Hall."

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-'''OLD FRENCH.''' AKA and see "[[Little Old Man]]," "[[Rambler's Hornpipe]]," "[[Reel de St-Tite]]." Canadian, American; Reel (usually) or Hornpipe. USA, New England. D Major ('A' part) & A Mixolydian ('B' part). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Silberberg): AABB (Brody, Carlin, Kaufman, Messer, Miller & Perron, Sweet): AA'BB' (Reiner & Anick). The melody was a popular vehicle for contra dancing in the 1970's, when the tune seemed to surface simultaneously in New England repertoire (c.f. the Nelson, N.H., dances) and on the West Coast, where it was popularized by mandolin player Kenny Hall and others. In the '''Kenny Hall Tunebook,''' Hall states he learned the tune from bandmate Cary Lung in the early 1970's. Popular belief has the "Old French" title deriving from a remark by an old Vermont fiddler who, when asked its title, said it was "just an old French tune."  Ken Perlman (1979) believed the tune was unknown in Canada and speculated that it was probably a northern New England composition in the Québec style. However, the reel was known in Canada prior to the "folk revival" that fed American contra dancing, for it was in Maritime fiddler Don Messer's "Down-East" repertoire. The original provenance probably remains in Québécois repertoire, where it was recorded in 1929 under the title "[[Reel de St-Tite]]" on a 78 RPM recording by Sotère Mongrain and Ida Mongrain (violin with piano accompaniment). Ottawa Valley fiddlers know it as "[[Rambler's Hornpipe]]" or "[[Little Old Man]]."
+'''OLD FRENCH.''' AKA and see "[[Little Old Man]]," "[[Rambler's Hornpipe]]," "[[Reel de St-Tite]]." Canadian, American; Reel (usually) or Hornpipe. USA, New England. D Major ('A' part) & A Mixolydian ('B' part). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Silberberg): AABB (Brody, Carlin, Kaufman, Messer, Miller & Perron, Sweet): AA'BB' (Reiner & Anick). The melody was a popular vehicle for contra dancing in the 1970's, when it seemed to surface simultaneously in New England repertoire (c.f. the Nelson, N.H., dances) and on the West Coast, where it was popularized by mandolin player Kenny Hall and others. In the '''Kenny Hall Tunebook,''' Hall states he learned the tune from bandmate Cary Lung in the early 1970's. Popular belief has it that the "Old French" title derived from a remark by an old Vermont fiddler who, when asked its title, said it was "just an old French tune."  Ken Perlman (1979) believed the tune was unknown in Canada and speculated that it was probably a northern New England composition in the Québec style. The apocryphal Vermont fiddler seems to have had it right, for the reel was known in Canada prior to the "folk revival" that fed American contra dancing, and was in Maritime fiddler Don Messer's "Down-East" repertoire. The original provenance is in Québécois repertoire, where it was recorded in 1929 under the title "[[Reel de St-Tite]]" on a 78 RPM recording by Sotère Mongrain and Ida Mongrain (violin with piano accompaniment). Ottawa Valley fiddlers know it as "[[Rambler's Hornpipe]]" or "[[Little Old Man]]."
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