MalcolmSchonfield's board

Martin, I sent a reply to your email address. Hopefully it got through, but if not please let me know.

Yes, I see what you did. Thanks for improving the transcription, particularly moving the last bar and half from the first section to the 2nd. Makes much more sense. I would be in favor of adopting the changes. What would you think of a Z: line that reads "Z:transcribed by Andrew Kuntz, with improvements by Malcolm Schonfield"? Also, while your phrasing is, I agree, more accurate, I am again mindful that the transcriptions in the TTA need to be reasonably accessible to a variety of musicians with different notational skill reading levels. The bar lines I used in cut time with 2/4 measures are more simple and easier to read, notationally, though not as accurate. So, to my mind there needs to be a balance between notational complexity and accessibility, with the arbitrating factor being the subjective "does it accurately reflect what the fiddler is trying to communicate". In this case, I think your improvement remains accessible enough, though more complex than my original, and does more accurately reflect Fidel's playing. Let me know if the Z: line change meets with your approval, and I'll switch out the transcription. BTW, do you have an email address for you I could use to send some attachments?

Hi Malcom, Is there a reason why you changed the numbering X: of the ABC notation of St. Anne's Reel? The official standard (2.0 and following) does not place any constraints. Starting with '0' was my choice but, if you don't agree with it, you have a long list of changes ahead of you. Let me know.

No track listing that I was able to find at the University of Georgia site. Art Rosenbaum was an expert folk music collector, and its probable he made some kind of notes of his sessions with Fidel, though I have no idea where they might be. I'm in the process of issuing a booklet on the recordings, and have transcribed nearly all of the tunes (some 40 of them), and have matched many of them with titles as they are played elsewhere; whether or not they are the titles Fidel used or not is unknown without Rosenbaum's (suspected) notes. Certainly most of many of the tunes were not announced on tape, but there are a few instances where Rosenbaum can be heard asking for a title. My interest in Fidel is that I grew up in northern New Hampshire and my grandparents lived in the town next to his (BTW, I now live in the Hudson Valley of New York state, near Poughkeepsie). I was a young teen when Rosenbaum made his recordings, but the fact of proximity (though I had no music then, or interest) piqued my interest. My take is that Fidel was an ear-learner, skilled enough to vary slightly his tunes each time through and still keep the form and substance while playing at speed. He'd be a very good session musician today, but I think not good enough to be a regional influence. In fact, he seems to be quite isolated except for his friendship with the Reindeau (sp?) family, who were the main recording interest of Rosenbaum's (he released an album of their music). Recording Fidel was kind a side venture, though a few of Fidel's cuts made it to Rosenbaum's anthology records. Fidel also had a "squirrely" repertory gleaned from American old-time, Irish, Quebecois, "down-east" and other genres, and a few tunes from his New Brunswick roots. An odd polyglot of a repertoire. I'd love to know where he got (from whom) those tunes, and whether it was from recordings or personal contact, but I have not found any information about it. As I progress in my project I will probably be writing up a track list.

That's great, Martin. I'd welcome your interpretation of Fidel's playing. It would be a great addition to the entry. BTW, where are you based?

Hi Malcolm, thanks very much for writing. I stand by the sharps in the transcription, as they are what I hear in the field recording. I think its typical of a "half turn" that I hear in a lot of such recordings, so I'd prefer they stay in my transcription. I'm curious as to why you think it should be in 'C' instead of 'D'. Tape speeds are sometimes not accurate, nor is fiddlers' tuning on field recordings always at standard level. "St. Anne's" is always a 'D' tune in my experience, but who knows? Fidel seems to have been a rather isolated musician and did not, I believe, read music, so he learned his tunes by ear (and there's plenty of examples in Fidel's playing of tunes that are more or less close to, but different from published music). It's possible it was in 'C', but what makes you think so? If you feel strongly about the transcription, perhaps you'd like to make the changes as an addition (leaving mine intact), either by posting an abc to the wiki page, or perhaps doing something like this: X:0 T:St. Anne's Reel M:C| L:1/8 N:From an August 1, 1966, field recording of the playing of Fidel N:Martin (1891-1976) of Berlin N.H., originally from Rogersville, NB, recorded N:by folklorist Art Rosenbaum. Martin, a WWI veteran, had a varied repertory that N:consisted of "Down East", Acadian, Irish, American and French-Canadian tunes. D: https://bmac.libs.uga.edu/index.php/Detail/objects/331630 F:UGA Brown Media Archives: identifier artrosen_00180 (Track 16 -12:04 of the tape) Z:Transcribed by Andrew Kuntz K:D V:1 clef=treble name="0." [V:1] Ad|fdf-g {fg}f-edz|AFAA AFAd|BGBB BG(Bd/B/)|AAAF DFAd| Jf3f {g}fedB|AFAA AFAd|BGBB cABc|dfec (d/c/d)Ad| ff2f {g}fedB|AFAA AFAd|BGBB BG(Bd/B/)|AAAF DFAd| Jf3f {g}fedB|AAAF DFAd|BGBB cABc|dfef (d/c/d)|| ag|fdff fdfa|gggf (g/f/g)gf|eceg eceg|baa^g (a/g/a)-aa| fdfa fdfa|gggf (g/f/g)gg|eccB Aceg|(f/g/f)ec d2Ag| fdfa fdfa|gggf (g/f/g)gg|eceg eceg|baa^g a3a| fdfa fdfa|gggf (g/f/g){f}gf|ecec Acee|fdec .d2|| P: (Malcolm Schonfield transcription) [K:C]Gc|ece-f {ef}e-dcz|...(etc., you would continue with your abc version) That way both transcriptions would be available. Regards, Andrew

Hi Malcolm. I've made an administrative move of "Michael Coleman's Hop Jig" to merge it with "Promenade (1)," as we are trying to consolidate, albeit slowly, some of our entries so as to cut down on unnecessary navigation between pages. I must say, though, on playing through your transcription, that I found it difficult to place in the context of a slip/hop jig, which is usually transcribed in 9/8 time. When the 9/8 version and your 3/4 version are played one after the other (as you can do on the "ABC Sandbox" feature of the TTA by cutting and pasting the abc's ) there is a rhythmic disconnect. However, you do indicate that the quavers are to be 'swung' and there is no way to do that on the playback software we have. If this is perhaps the issue, may I recommend that the direction to swing the music be made somehow more prominent?