Annotation:Smash the Windows (1): Difference between revisions

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SMASH THE WINDOWS [1] (Bris na fuinneogide/fuinneoga). AKA and see "Jelly Jig" (American), "Roaring Jelly," "Smash the Windlass" (Shetland). Irish, English, Shetland, Canadian, American; Single Jig or Slide (12/8 time). Shetland, Island of Whalsay. USA, New England. Canada, Prince Edward Island. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Kershaw): AAB (Miller & Perron, Moylan, O'Neill/1850, 1001 & 1915): AA'B (Phillips): AABB (Ashman, Johnson, Kerr, Levey, Perlman): AABB' (Begin, Mulvihill). The melody, an exceptional jig tune, has been solidly absorbed into the core repertoire of several genres. British sources seem to predate all others, with the earliest appearance of the melody in John Fife’s manuscript copybook, compiled between 1780 and 1804. Fife was a fiddler, perhaps from Perthshire, although it appears he may have gone to sea for part of the time period covered by his manuscript. A rather anonymous collection of dance figures (Contra Dances) dating from about 1800 also includes a dance with this title [American Antiquarian Society]. The first printing of the tune under the title “Smash the Windows” appears to be in W.M. Cahusac’s Annual Collection of Twenty Four Favorite Country Dances for the Year 1809 (London), “with directions for each dance; as they are Performed at Court, Bath, and all Public Assemblies.” However, an American publication of around the same time, G. Graupner’s Collection of Country Dances and Cotillions No. 2 (Boston, Mass., c. 1808-1811), also contains the tune. American flute player R.B. Washburn, who compiled his tune and dance collection from 1616-1820, included it in his manuscript copybook. Martin Mulvihill gives this tune as an accompaniment for the dance The Haymakers’ Jig.

Additional notes

Source for notated version: - a c. 1837-1840 MS by Shropshire musician John Moore [Ashman]; the melody is contained in the Joseph Kershaw manuscript—Kershaw was a fiddler who lived in Slackcote, Saddleworth, North West England, in the 19th century, and his manuscript dates from around 1820 onwards [Kershaw]; the 1823-26 music mss of papermaker and musician Joshua Gibbons (1778-1871, of Tealby, near Market Rasen, Lincolnshire Wolds) [Sumner]; Danny Gardella [Phillips]; accordion player Johnny O’Leary (Sliabh Luachra region of the Cork-Kerry border) [Moylan]; Carl & Jackie Webster (Cardigan, Central Kings County, Prince Edward Island) [Perlman]; Dawson Girdwood (Perth, Ottawa Valley, Ontario) [Bégin]; from the playing of piper Séamus Ennis (Dublin), who learned them from his father, a piper taught by Nicholas Markey who in turn had been taught by the renowned piper and pipemaker Billy Taylor of Drogheda and later Philadelphia [Breathnach].

Printed sources : - Ashman (The Ironbridge Hornpipe), 1991; No. 60a, p. 23. Bégin (Fiddle Music from the Ottawa Valley: Dawson Girdwood), 1985; No. 39, p. 51. Breathnach (Ceol V, No. 2), 1982. Breathnach (The Man and His Music), 1997; No. 4, p. 72. Brody (Fiddler’s Fakebook), 1983; p. 259. Cahusac (Twenty Four Favorite Country Dances for the Year 1809), 1809; No. 14. Cole (1000 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; p. 59. Gow (Repository). Gow (The Beauties of Niel Gow), 1819. G. Graupner (Cotillions and Country Dances, No. 2), Boston, 1808; No. 14, p. 7. Hughes (Gems from the Emerald Isles), London, 1867, No. 97, p. 23. Jarman (Old Time Fiddlin' Tunes); No. or p. 11. S. Johnson (The Kitchen Musician No. 6: Jigs), 1982 (revised 1989, 2001); p. 7. The Joseph Kershaw Manuscript, 1993; No. 24. Kennedy (Fiddlers Tune Book, vol. 1), 1951; No. 82, p. 40. Kerr (Merry Melodies, vol. 1), c. 1880; p. 40. Kerr (Merry Melodies, vol. 4), c. 1880’s; No. 192, p. 22. Levey (Dance Music of Ireland, 2nd Collection), 1873; No. 77, p. 35. Lowe (A Collection of Reels & Strathspeys), 1844. McDermott (Allan's Irish Fiddler), c. 1920, No. 35, p. 9. Miller & Perron (New England Fiddlers Repertoire), 1983; No. 11. Moylan (Johnny O’Leary of Sliabh Luachra), 1994; No. 223, pp. 128-129. Mulvihill (1st Collection), 1986; No. 45, p. 128. O'Neill (O’Neill’s Irish Music), 1915; No. 211, p. 113. O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; p. 47. O'Neill (Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies), 1903; No. 965, p. 179. O'Neill (Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems), 1907; No. 386, p. 78. Perlman (The Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island), 1996; p. 137. Phillips (Fiddlecase Tunebook), 1989; p. 43. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 2) 1995; p. 380. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; p. 107 (appears as "Roaring Jelly"). Ryan’s Mammoth Collection, 1883; p. 88. Silberberg (Tunes I Learned at Tractor Tavern), 2002; p. 146. Sumner (Lincolnshire Collections, vol. 1: The Joshua Gibbons Manuscript), 1997; p. 4.

Recorded sources: -Apex AL 1613, "The Best of Don Messer and his Islanders, vol. 6." Folkways FG 3575, Barry, Gorman, Ennis, and Heaney "Irish Music in London Pubs." Front Hall 01, Fennigs All Stars - "The Hammered Dulcimer." Starr 15902 (78 RPM), accordionist Tommy Duchesne (appears as "Gigue de Chicoutimi", a straightforward rendition of "Smash the Windows").

See also listings at:
Alan Snyder’s Cape Breton Fiddle Recording Index [1]
Jane Keefer’s Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [2]
Alan Ng’s Irishtune.info [3]

Back to Smash the Windows (1)

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 <p><font face="sans-serif" size="3">
 See also listings at:<br>
-Alan Snyder’s Cape Breton Fiddle Recording Index [ ]<br>
+Alan Snyder’s Cape Breton Fiddle Recording Index [https://www.cbfiddle.com/rx/tune/t425.html]<br>
-Jane Keefer’s Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [ ]<br>
+Jane Keefer’s Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [http://www.ibiblio.org/keefer/s12.htm#Smathwi]<br>
-Alan Ng’s Irishtune.info [ ]<br>
+Alan Ng’s Irishtune.info [https://www.irishtune.info/tune/1785/]<br>
 </font></p>
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