Tennessee Tom - Posted - 01/07/2009:  07:57:38

Looking at this here music score for Soldier's Joy, I notice two things:

1) It's in the key of G major (as opposed to my preferred key of D major).
2) The treble (i.e., fiddle) notes are really really high up on the scale.

Is this score saying the tune is meant to be played in an upper position, or do we shift the notes down to the 1st position?

Regards,
Tom

rastewart - Posted - 01/07/2009:  08:13:04

Well, the first thing that comes to mind is it's a piano score. Playing the whole tune in that register on a fiddle would be hellish for me, at least, and would be getting pretty near the frequencies only dogs can hear. The image of high-speed dental drills penetrating my eardrums comes all too vividly to mind.

And D is the traditional key that fiddlers play it in, I believe. G might be a little easier for a pianist, with just the one sharp. But I wouldn't take this score as a guide to fiddling the tune.

~Rich

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... in savage and impenetrable darkness with chaos and pandemonium before me, and the demon madness of that night-baying viol behind me.--H.P. Lovecraft

Tennessee Tom - Posted - 01/07/2009:  08:14:44

quote:

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Originally posted by rastewart

Well, the first thing that comes to mind is it's a piano score.

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DougD - Posted - 01/07/2009:  08:24:26

Tom, here's the cover for that sheet music from the LOC. Its for "Three Performers on One Piano." http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampag...:&linkText=0

rastewart - Posted - 01/07/2009:  08:27:36

You know, on second glance I could be wrong about that; I was kinda sheeping along with the comment on the "Soldier's Joy" page where the sheet music appears (http://lcweb2.loc.gov/afc/afccc/sol...y/index.html), which refers to it as a piano score. I would still say, in any case, it seems awfully high-pitched for practical fiddling.

_____________________________________________

... in savage and impenetrable darkness with chaos and pandemonium before me, and the demon madness of that night-baying viol behind me.--H.P. Lovecraft

rastewart - Posted - 01/07/2009:  08:29:12

Ah, thanks, Doug, that clarifies it considerably. I was wondering where the bass-clef part(s) had gotten to!

~Rich

(And me a librarian, I might have thought of the Library of Congress' Memory Project--it's a good resource.)

_____________________________________________

... in savage and impenetrable darkness with chaos and pandemonium before me, and the demon madness of that night-baying viol behind me.--H.P. Lovecraft

Edited by - rastewart on 01/07/2009 08:30:26

Tennessee Tom - Posted - 01/07/2009:  08:32:27

Thanks, Doug. I guess that would classify as a fairly unambiguous declaration the it is a piano score!

DougD - Posted - 01/07/2009:  08:41:39

Not only that, it took me a second look to understand it. The "Part 1st" on that page is for the person sitting to the right, playing the high notes - thats why its written "way up there." The "Part 2nd," which begins on the previous page, is in the middle octaves - what you might play on a violin. And the "Part 3rd" is the bass part, for the person sitting on the left.

I was just at a weeklong dance school in Berea, KY, and on the last night shared the piano bench with a friend and played a high part to "Salty Dog Rag." We try to do one tune like that every year - its fun, and as one of the fiddle players said "I didn't see you, but I thought there was a lot of racket coming from that piano!"

If you want to find an old printed version of "Soldier's Joy" I'd look in Ryan's (Coles 1000 Fiddle Tunes). I've seen it in an earlier collection too, but I can't remember where.

Edited by - DougD on 01/07/2009 08:45:17

Tennessee Tom - Posted - 01/07/2009:  09:40:09

quote:

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Originally posted by DougD

If you want to find an old printed version of "Soldier's Joy" I'd look in Ryan's (Coles 1000 Fiddle Tunes).

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DougD - Posted - 01/07/2009:  10:04:23

Yes, is it in there?

Tennessee Tom - Posted - 01/07/2009:  10:16:29

quote:

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Originally posted by DougD

Yes, is it in there?

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Eric Sprado - Posted - 01/07/2009:  10:57:18

If I EVER EVER figure out how to download(or upload,hell I don't know difference) from my H2 to computer I'll post recording I made of Clyde Davenport playing Soldiers Joy while I was in Tenn. a few weeks ago. That is one of most commonly played tunes I know,yet Clyde has some nice extra licks in there that I hadn't heard before.

Tennessee Tom - Posted - 01/07/2009:  11:01:12

Hey Eric,

I'd like to hear that one. Also, I'm still waiting to hear your new stuff!

Cheers,
Tom

coelhoe - Posted - 01/09/2009:  06:43:26

Several years ago (early 60's?) , the British folk song performer / collector A. L. Lloyd published an article that described a manuscript from a Polish collection of the melody "Soldier's Joy" dated from the late 1500's.

The Fiddler's Companion, does not mention the above reference, but it includes an enormous discussion of the dating and spread of the both the melody and the tune name. In both England and Denmark it can be traced in manuscript to the mid 1750's.

I've seen manuscript of a setting for fife players from the Revolutionary period that placed it in the key of F.

Dennis

"Not being able to play very well is a good substitute for not having good taste." -Eddie Adcock

TomGlos - Posted - 01/16/2009:  06:06:16

One sunny morning in August 08 the dancers I play for and I were in a beautiful old town square in Prague, (Czech Republic not OK!) waiting for a festival procession to start. Next to us were some dancers from Sweden. Looking for tunes in common to play while we were waiting, I'd heard there was a tune very similar to Soldiers Joy called the Jamtland tune So we tried that. Sure enough they knew the tune, BUT they played the A music in D and the B music in G. (The Swedish musicians were all melodeon, "diatonic button accordion" players, BTW.)

Anyone here play the strange syncopated D minor tune also called "Soldiers Joy"? It was collected in Philadelphia I think.
Tom

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"Before you criticise anyone, you should walk a mile in their moccasins."
This is wise because (a) you''re a mile away when you start criticising, and (b) you''ve got their moccasins....

Bob Wolford - Posted - 01/17/2009:  10:38:16

I just posted Soldier's Joy to the tablature page. It contains a pdf file of the 2 fiddle breaks, a midi file, and a TablEdit file.
Click here:
http://www.fiddlehangout.com/w/tab/...fiddle/tabs/