9 New Scores Added...

[Trapdoor2]

Hi y'all!

First: thank you Ian! I should not have sent them in all at once. =8^0

Sometime back, I snagged a pile of nice sheets off of ebay. There were several compositions in there by Mr. Alfred (Alf) Wood. I TABbed one out back in January (Sunrise in Georgia) and evidently decided to go on an Alf Wood bender...and did 6 more. The weather has been mostly miserable here of late so I took the opportunity to clean them all up (plus 3 more I had lying about) and ship 'em off to Ian for upload processing here.

In the Music Library, you'll find dots, TAB and MIDI files for the following by Alf Wood:

“Alf Wood’s Breakdown”:

This is a fun piece…but the original dots are full of unnecessary part repeats, so the TAB has been shortened a good bit. Play it ABACA. In C, G and F. Triplets appear to be something he enjoyed; almost all of these pieces feature sections of them.

“Dallas’ Minor Jig”:

Most of A.W.’s stuff I’ve found was published by J.E. Dallas (415 Strand, London, WC or later, 202 High Holborn, London, WC) and it is no surprise to find a minor jig with their name on it. This is a strange tune with some really odd tonal movement in some sections, unsettling sequences, etc. It took me a few listens to really decide whether I liked it or not. I do!

Dot readers put your specs on, it’s in Gm and Cm (three flats and four, respectively).

“Haidee Schottische”:

A standard (and pretty) Schottische in the Banjo tradition, it has some fun natural harmonics and the usual A.W. triplet finger-twisters. C and F.

“The Eagle’s Flight”:

Although this is a Polka, it sounds more like a march to me; might be different if there was a 2nd bjo part.

“The Runaway”:

I just love this piece. The interaction between the 1st and 2nd bjo parts is excellent. More of the A.W. signature triplets…

“The Zany Dance”:

Aptly named! This has a lot of “bounce” to it…addictive. None of the signature A.W. triplets but as it is in 6/8, the triplet feel is there.

Moving away from the esteemed Mr. Wood,

“Hot Time In Dixie”, by J.W. Ball:

I have been attracted to chromatic sequences lately and the one in this piece jumped out at me and begged me to try it out. The first strain was difficult for me to finger as written, so the TAB is written the way I felt more comfortable playing it; nothing written in stone of course. Cool tune, fun to mess about with!

“The Half Step March”, by Zarh M. Bickford:

The Bickfords (Zarh and Vadah) were prominent musicians (and astrologists) in the 1920’s, she on the guitar and he on mandolin, banjo and guitar. Interesting people!
Still in the ‘chromatic’ mood, I found this march and had to give it a try. As the original had LH fingering, I put that into my TAB…but (of course) altered in a few places to fit my personal choices. This is a neat tune!

“Flying Fox Galop”, by Herbert J. Ellis

Sometimes, you just have to galop. This is a fun one in F, C, Bb and Eb. For the TAB, I parsed it into A-B-C & D parts to help make more sense of the playing order. It runs AA-B-A-C-D-C-A.

Have fun with these!

===Marc

[Patrick Garner]

Wow. Many thanks. This site becomes more and more valuable with each of these contributions. Very cool.

[Jody Stecher]

I also like Dallas' Minor Jig. Thanks for this.  By the way the first part is in C minor, not G minor.  The second part is in E flat major. Still 3 flats in the signature. The third part, with four flats, is in the key A flat major. Now I'll investigate the other 8 pieces.

[Trapdoor2]

I have never had much to do with minors, Jody. Too dangerous. ;-)

Glad you got it sorted out for us!

[Steve Harrison]

Hi Marc, what a great bunch of tunes, yet more to put on my play list. If I manage to make 100 I doubt I'll get through them all....Steve. 

[Jody Stecher]

A joke I remember from when I was 8 years old:

Q: If you drop a piano down a mine shaft, what key does it land in?

A: A flat minor 

Trapdoor2 said:

I have never had much to do with minors, Jody. Too dangerous. ;-)

Glad you got it sorted out for us!