Wooster Oddity

I learned this tune about 1971 from Frank Stevens, a barber of Sand Lake, Michigan, who played the violin and dulcimer. Through the Original Dulcimer Players Club, I met several others who played versions of this tune---Bob Spinner, of Elk Rapids; Frank Mattison, of Smyrna; and Viola Cox, of Manton. Apparently this tune's geographic core was generally in the area a bit south of Grand Rapids to around Traverse City in the north. But nobody ever had a name. One time I was playing somewhere in this region, and someone was asking me to play a particular tune that her grandfather played. She sort of sung a bit of it, with the nonsense syllable "Wishteroddity, wishteroddity." The melody sounded like this tune. But the encounter was brief and uncertain. At that time I thought that every tune was supposed to have a name. Of course I found out that that wasn't true, especially with tunes in 6/8. Anyway, I passed on the big news that I had heard a name for that tune to VIola Cox. Her daughter-in-law Esther, who was originally from around Worcester, Massachusetts, interpreted the nonsense as "Worcester Oddity." I think the name found its way onto an LP in 1977. Meanwhile, Les, I believe, learned the tune from Varsal Fales, and the name from the LP. So this is the story of the name. It has nothing to do with any place at all ---- except in Esther Cox's fertile imagination!!