Annotation:Owl Creek

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OWL CREEK. AKA - "Owl Creek Quickstep." AKA and see "American Dwarf (The)," "Frost is All Over (1) (The)," "Frost is All Gone (The)," "Praties are Dug and the Frost is all Over (The)," "Praties in the Bag," "Masque (The)." American, Jig or March. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. "Owl Creek Quickstep" was adapted from the Irish jig "Frost is All Over" by black-face minstrel and songwriter Dan Emmett and named for one of Knox County, Ohio's, earliest settlements (Emmett's home town was Mt. Vernon, Ohio, in Knox County). While still a teenager, Emmett joined the army in the early 1830's and became an expert drummer at fifer at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, before his discharge in 1835. He returned to these skills during the Civil War, when he wrote (with George Bruce) an influential tutor to help train musicians for the Union Army.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Bruce & Emmett (The Drummer's and Fifer's Guide: or Self-Instructor), 1862. The Company of Fifers and Drummers, '76, 1974; p. 33.

Recorded sources: