Annotation:Pushee's Hornpipe

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PUSHEE'S HORNPIPE. AKA and see “Juniata,” “Juanita (1).” American, Hornpipe. USA, New Hampshire. B Flat Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB (Cole): AA’BB’ (Cranford). Composed by Abram Pushee (1791-1868), a New Hampshire fiddler, band leader and dancing master who lived in Lebanon, New Hampshire, for most of his life. Michael McKernan has researched him and finds that he was a well-known dance musician and teacher in the central Vermont and New Hampshire area, who influenced several generations of musicians. He organized for many years the Musicians' Annual Balls in Lebanon, New Hampshire, in the mid 19th century, that brought together musicians from New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts (see notes for “annotation:Headlight Reel (The)," “annotation:Old Granite State Reel”). Pushee is also recorded as leading a band in Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1849 (McKernon was able to obtain a photocopy of the 1st violin parts of the manuscript repertoire). Obituary notices praised him for his talent and moral character, but McKernan finds that a more personal account gave that Pushee was rather loud-mouthed and professed to be an atheist, at least in private. The tune appears under both the “Pushee” title and as “Juanita” in Ryan's Mammoth/Coles. The hornpipe was recorded on a 78 RPM by Cape Breton fiddler Winston Fitzgerald under the “Juanita” title. Cranford (Winston Fitzgerald), 1997; p. 5 (appears as “Juanita”).

Source for notated version: Winston Fitzgerald (Cape Breton) [Cranford].

Printed sources: Cole (1000 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; p. 88. Ryan’s Mammoth Collection, 1883; p. 122.

Recorded sources:

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