John Hartford S Old Time Fiddle Favorites

John Hartford was known for his quirky song writing and tap-dancing while he played the banjo, but he also possessed an encyclopedic knowledge of old-time fiddle tunes. Included in this collection are all 22 fiddle tunes from John's Hamilton Ironworks album. Each tune is presented in standard notation and in mandolin tab. Also included are many of John's variations, suggested chords, and information about the origins and insights on how to approach each tune. This collection of fiddle tunes played by John Hartford is to provide fiddle players with an accurate source so as to incorporate these great tunes into their repertoire.Difficulty ranges from relatively basic fiddling to solos that employ a range oftechniques such as slides, alternate tunings and playing on up the fingerboard. This collection is a must have for any fan of John Hartford's music and for all old-time musicians

"John Hartford's Mammoth Collection of Fiddle Tunes" contains 176 of John's original compositions, most never before available, taken from the sixty-eight handwritten music journals he kept between 1983 and 2001. Interspersed with stories, quotes, rare photos, and his own personal artwork, this is a fiddle anthology unlike any other. A peek inside the unique mind of a prolific musician and composer, "Hartford's Mammoth Collection" will inspire musicians, artists, music historians, and anyone who loves the creative process.

This meticulously researched anthology presents detailed biographies and transcriptions, including bowing, ornamentation, and accentuation of 39 fiddle tunes as played by 25 Newfoundland fiddlers from locations throughout the island. For unparalleled authenticity, the author’s live field recordings of each tune are available online, offering a unique perspective of the various types of tunes and techniques favoured by past and present Newfoundland fiddlers. Newfoundland, a former British colony, possesses a rich and varied cultural heritage due to its history of unique settlement patterns. Beginning in the 16th century, European migrants from Ireland, Scotland, West-Country England, and France settled on the island, bringing with them their various cultural practices, including their fiddles! This collection provides insight to the backgrounds, geographical locations, and musical preferences of the individual players, and how music-making and the role and status of Newfoundland fiddlers have evolved over time. The tunes included here vary from original compositions and revival collectors’ treasures, to reinterpreted versions of timeless Irish, Scottish, and French tunes. Together, they form a part of the modern-day Newfoundland fiddling tradition. This book will delight fiddle players and any musician who wishes to further enhance their repertoire and technique, or simply learn more about the island of Newfoundland and its music. Includes access to online audio.

Fiddler Magazine in conjunction with Mel Bay Publications, Inc. has compiled a wonderful collection of tunes and interviews with contributions from 36 of the world's greatest fiddlers. The featured artists are Charlie Acuff, Paul Anastasio, Randal Bays, Byron Berline, Kevin Burke, Vassar Clements, Michael Doucet, Jackie Dunn, J.P. Fraley, Johnny Gimble, Bruce Greene, John Hartford, Richard Greene, Ivan Hicks, Jerry Holland, Olav Johansson, James Kelly, Barbara Lamb, Laurie Lewis, Sandy MacIntyre, Natalie MacMaster, Frankie McWhorter, Bruce Molsky, Juan Reynoso, Dale Russ, Oliver Schorer, Pierre Schryer, Bjorn Stabi, Alicia Svigals, Athena Tergis, & Laura Risk, Jay Ungar, Jean-Marie Verret, Claude Williams, George Wilson and Jennifer Wrigley. Includes access to online audio

This is a biography of Dan Levenson, an old-time banjo and fiddle player from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Between 1987 and 1991, Dan worked for Goose Acres Folk Music Center in Cleveland, Ohio, where he dove deeply into old-time music. In the late 1980s, he formed the Boiled Buzzards; they recorded four albums between 1989 and 1994 and were a consistently active presence at old-time music festivals. He also played with Bob Frank during that time as one-half of the Hotfoot Duo. In 1995, he teamed up with Kim Murley and recorded New Frontier: Instrumentals from China and America. Levenson undertook his first cross-country trip as a solo performer in 1996. His traveling workshop "Meet the Banjo" ran with the sponsorship of Deering Banjos from the late 1990s to the early 2000s. Dan recorded three projects in the first five years of the 2000s and began editing the quarterly "Old Time Way" section for Banjo Newsletter in 2005. He continues performing old-time music, teaching fiddle and banjo, writing instructional and repertoire books featuring banjo and fiddle tunes for Mel Bay, and making plans for more old-time music projects.

Play Me Something Quick and Devilish explores the heritage of traditional fiddle music in Missouri. Howard Wight Marshall considers the place of homemade music in people’s lives across social and ethnic communities from the late 1700s to the World War I years and into the early 1920s. This exceptionally important and complex period provided the foundations in history and settlement for the evolution of today’s old-time fiddling. Beginning with the French villages on the Mississippi River, Marshall leads us chronologically through the settlement of the state and how these communities established our cultural heritage. Other core populations include the “Old Stock Americans” (primarily Scotch-Irish from Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia), African Americans, German-speaking immigrants, people with American Indian ancestry (focusing on Cherokee families dating from the Trail of Tears in the 1830s), and Irish railroad workers in the post–Civil War period. These are the primary communities whose fiddle and dance traditions came together on the Missouri frontier to cultivate the bounty of old-time fiddling enjoyed today. Marshall also investigates themes in the continuing evolution of fiddle traditions. These themes include the use of the violin in Westward migration, in the Civil War years, and in the railroad boom that changed history. Of course, musical tastes shift over time, and the rise of music literacy in the late Victorian period, as evidenced by the brass band movement and immigrant music teachers in small towns, affected fiddling. The contributions of music publishing as well as the surprising importance of ragtime and early jazz also had profound effects. Much of the old-time fiddlers’ repertory arises not from the inherited reels, jigs, and hornpipes from the British Isles, nor from the waltzes, schottisches, and polkas from the Continent, but from the prolific pens of Tin Pan Alley. Marshall also examines regional styles in Missouri fiddling and comments on the future of this time-honored, and changing, tradition. Documentary in nature, this social history draws on various academic disciplines and oral histories recorded in Marshall’s forty-some years of research and field experience. Historians, music aficionados, and lay people interested in Missouri folk heritage—as well as fiddlers, of course—will find Play Me Something Quick and Devilish an entertaining and enlightening read. With 39 tunes, the enclosed Voyager Records companion CD includes a historic sampler of Missouri fiddlers and styles from 1955 to 2012. A media kit is available here: press.umsystem.edu/pages/PlayMeSomethingQuickandDevilish.aspx

Fred Cockerham & Tommy Jarrell: Clawhammer Banjo Masters is a collection of 23 clawhammer banjo solos written in tablature. The pieces are transcribed as played by Fred Cockerham and Tommy Jarrell by Bob Carlin. Also included are moderninterpretations by Dan Levenson. This is the third book in a series of transcribed tunes from the old masters. Previous books are Kyle Creed - Clawhammer Banjo Master and Wade Ward - Clawhammer Banjo Master. Fred Cockerham and Tommy Jarrell both gave unique definition to the style of old-time clawhammer banjo playing. The repertoire, presented in tablature, is intended to be a starting point for your journey through the old-time music world. Each piece is presented in multiple arrangements, both on the page and in the online audio. Most of the recordings are played at learning tempos and correspond to the tablature. Includes access to online audio

Continuing the reissue of the classic Phillips Collection of Traditional American Fiddle Tunes - Volume 2, Favorite American Hornpipes for Fiddle presents over a hundred classic and lesser-known fiddle tunes in hornpipe style from all parts of the United States, some with multiple versions. All tunes transcribed from the playing of some of the greatest traditional fiddlers of the past and present including Benny Thomasson, Bob Walters, Howdy Forrester, James Bryan, Rodney Miller, Ruthie Dornfeld, and many more. Bowings and chord accompaniment are included. This book will also be of value to students of classical music. Teachers, are you looking for short pieces that will solidify scales and arpeggios that don't bore your students? Tired of the same old classical etudes? Hornpipes can also serve as effective and fun exercises for all violin students, not just fiddlers. Many of them could have come right out of the baroque period of art music. But they also illustrate some of America's great tradition of fiddling.