Jaunty/Festive Classic banjo music

[Byron Thomas]

Hi all! I'm going to be in a stage show this winter and I've been asked to pick a song for a scene that is, as the title suggests, jaunty/festive. Has anyone run across anything printed during the 19th century that fits these criteria, particularly anything that is holiday themed? The scene is set during the 1870's so I want to provide a period correct sound. Any assistance is much appreciated.

[Joel Hooks]

Pre 1870 is pretty limited.  The "explosion" of published music starts to pick up velocity with the first sheet music for banjo published about 1878/79.

This link should populate my archive listing for dated publications before 1879.

https://archive.org/details/@joel_hooks?and%5B%5D=year%3A%221855%22...

[Jody Stecher]

I think you are chronologically safe with Hot Corn. ("Pop Corn" in Bradbury).  See my conversation with Joel Hooks about this by entering "corn" in the search box. Joel posted a number of versions. You can take your pick, or create your own version, taking the parts you like best from the several similar versions.

[Joel Hooks]

There is lots of great tunes prior to 1879, more than you could shake a banjo thimble at, but I can't think of any that are specifically "holiday themed" (I am presuming Christmas is the holiday).

Since British publications are, for the most part, undated, I am mostly ignorant about those.

If you have not already studied stroke style, I fully recommend Converse's banjo style exercises in the Analytical Banjo Method.  Read all the related text carefully as he has his own way of doing things, but the "Combinations" and "Hammer Movement" and "General Banjo Exercises" are some of the best ever put on paper. 

I've been on a pretty heavy banjo style kick for awhile now and I have been putting in some time on these. 

[Byron Thomas]

Thank you both for the suggestions! I appreciate the help. I'm going to give Hot Corn a try. As far as stroke style studies, I've been doing pretty decently. I haven't been through the F.B.C. Analytical yet as I need to better myself and learn to read "A" notation. However, my stroke style practice mostly consists of playing Horace Weston pieces in this way since his pieces allow you to do thumb strike exercises (Rock Susanna and also the end of Seek No Further March) as well as thimble rolls and your general banjo techniques. Horace Weston's Great Minor Jig is also great for stroke style. I'm currently trying to get decent at thimble marches and can currently play The Seek No Further March and Armstrong's Triumph March (this one is a real gem).