The Portland Collection: Vol. 1
Errata and Addenda in the Revised Edition
All of the changes listed below have been made in the revised edition of The Portland Collection (November, 2011). The revised edition incorporates all of the errata and addenda to the 8 printings of the original book, which are listed separately. Page numbers will not correspond to the numeration prior to the revision. Measure numbers refer to full measures and ignore pick up measures. (E.g., A4 designates the fourth full measure in the A part of the tune.) Many notes have changed a little bit in the revision of this book. We include here only two notes that concern the titles of tunes.
| P 12 | About This Book | We have identified composers for 104 of the tunes. |
| P 29 | Reel Béatrice | Measure C8: second ending. Remove E chord |
| P 31 | La Belle Catherine | Measures B1 and B5: change in timing of the first four notes to eighth note C, eighth note E tied to another eighth note E, followed by another eighth note E. The last four notes of these measures remain the same. These two measures become syncopated with this timing. |
| P 31 | Benton’s Dream | © is now Estate of Benton Flippen. (Benton Flippen is deceased.) |
| P 47 | Burchard’s Hornpipe | Formerly titled Bouchard’s Hornpipe. “Burchard’s Hornpipe” © 1976, Michael Springer. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. See note for p225 about “Bouchard’s Hornpipe” in Errata and Addenda as of the 8th Printing below. Click here to see the notation for this tune as played in Portland (as printed in prior editions). |
| P 44 | Brenda Stubbert’s | © is now Fiddlesticks Music. (Jerry Holland is deceased.) |
| P 45 | Buck Mountain | Measure A6: add G chord to the first beat (at the beginning of the second line. |
| P 52 | Cat on a Leash | Formerly titled The Billy Church Memorial Breakdown. “Cat on a Leash” © 1982, Anita Dolen. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. See note for p222 about “The Billy Church Memorial Breakdown” in the Errata and Addenda as of the 8th Printing below. |
| P 64 | Damon’s Winder | Formerly titled Marmaduke’s Hornpipe. See note for p258 about “Marmaduke’s Hornpipe” in Errata and Addenda as of the 8th Printing below. |
| P 79 | Reel Eugène | Measure A8: second ending. Eliminate the A7 chord on the last beat of the 2nd ending of the A part. The A chord on first beat becomes an A7. |
| P 84 | Father Kelly’s | Composed by Fr. P. J. Kelly. No copyright or date. See note on p245 below for further information. |
| P 85 | Festival du Voyageur | © is now Noyale Meilleur. (Marcel Meilleur is deceased.) |
| P 86 | Flat-Footed Henry | Measure B1: change in timing of notes. The correct notes are: dotted quarter C, eighth note D, quarter note C, and quarter note D tied to an eighth note D in measure B2. |
| P 91 | The Glen of Aherlow | Formerly titled The Woman I Never Forgot. Composed by Seán Ryan © 1959, Brian Ryan. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. Click here to see the notation, which has been changed to match Seán Ryan’s original composition. See note on p248 below for further information. |
| P 105 | Home with the Girls in the Morning | Measure B5: the C chord should fall on the first E note as in measure B1. |
| P 134 | Reel du Lièvre | A and B parts switched so that the tune begins on the low part. |
| P 140 | Mark McLoughlin’s Reel | Formerly titled The Convenience Reel. “Mark McLoughlin’s Reel” © 1978, Olcan Masterson. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. See note for p231 about “The Convenience Reel” in Errata and Addenda as of the 8th Printing below. |
| P 142 | Merriweather | Measure A7: change in timing of notes. The correct notes are: eighth note D, eighth note E, eighth note G, eighth note A, eighth note B, eighth note D tied to a quarter note D. measure A8 as written but no tie between the first D note and the D note in measure A7. |
| P 146 | Mississippi Sawyer | Measures A3 and A4: tie added to the last B note in A3 to the first B note in A4. This matches the tie on the D notes in the same place. |
| P 148 | The Moon and Seven Stars | Measure B1: add repeat sign. |
| P 157 | North Carolina Breakdown | Measure B1: change in timing of notes. The correct notes are: half notes G/E, quarter notes G/E, quarter notes G/E tied to the quarter notes G/E in measure B2. Measure B3 has the same timing change. The correct notes are: half notes G/D, quarter notes G/D, quarter notes G/D tied to the quarter notes G/D in measure B4. |
| P 184 | Sandy MacIntyre’s Trip to Boston | © is now Estate of John Campbell. (John Campbell is deceased.) |
| P 188 | The Scholar | Measure B3: the first note is a G rather than an Fsharp. |
| P 198 | Le Spandy | Formerly titled Les Gens de la Bastille. Measure C4: first ending. The A note should be a half note rather than a quarter note. |
| P 207 | Tom Morrison’s Reel | Measures A4 and B12: the last note is E rather than A; measure B4: the last note is high F# rather than A |
| P 208 | Tonra’s Jig | Formerly titled Tone Row. “Tonra’s Jig” © 1958, Brendan Tonra. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. See note for p285 about “Tone Row” in Errata and Addenda as of the 8th Printing below. |
| P 214 | The Turning of the Tide | © is now 1985, Máire Breathnach. |
| P 219 | Waynesboro | Measures B2 and B6: these measures now end in a half note D rather than eighth notes D and B and quarter note A. |
| P 245 | Father Kelly’s | Add to the note: Although the tune is sidely known in Irish session circles by its composer’s name, Fr. P. J. Kelly originally titled the tune “Rossmore Jeffy,” recalling childhood memories of swimming in Lough Derg, Co. Clare. |
| P 248 | The Glen of Aherlow | Substitute this note: Rick Macquoid of Moondog found this tune under the title “The Woman I Never Forgot” in Niall O’Callanain’s book The Irish Bouzouki. This is how the tune was referred to for years on Portland’s contra dance stages. In the Irish session community it is commonly known at “Lafferty’s.” However, as with most tune names, there is a story behind the story. The composer, Seán Ryan, who won the All-Ireland Fiddle Championship in 1955, included it in one of his tune books under the title “The Glen of Aherlow,” its true title. (Thanks to Yankee expat Elvie Miller, now living in Ireland, for this information.) The tune must have made it into the top 40 fairly quickly: P. J. Hayes and Paddy Canny (legendary fiddlers in their own right) recorded an influential album in 1959 called All-Ireland Champions, with Dublin accompanist Bridie Lafferty at the piano. It is likely they renamed the tune in her honor — whether they knew the original name or not. It’s not unlikely that this beautiful reel might have one or two other names as well. It’s a testament to the power of a tune that it can get adopted and cherished by so many musicians that they want to name after something — or someone — close to them. It’s the tune itself that endures. |
Errata and Addenda as of the 8th Printing (2007)
All of the changes listed below have been made in the 2nd through the 8th printings of the original Portland Collection. Some of these changes are corrections of outright errors on our part. Other changes have come from identification of more composers of the tunes in the book, or, sadly, deaths of some of the composers of tunes in the book. At the end of each change, a note such as “2P” or “8P” signifies the printing in which the change was made: 2P = second printing, 8P = eighth printing. Note that the 3rd printing of the book contains all the changes with “2P” or “3P” at the end, but will not contain any of the changes with “4P” or higher at the end. Measure numbers refer to full measures and ignore pick up measures. (E.g., A4 designates the fourth full measure in the A part of the tune.) We are grateful to the many people whose keen eyes have found errors that we and our editors overlooked and whose knowledge of this music have provided additional information about tunes and composers.
| P 3 | Acknowledgments | Thanks to Dave Goldman for help with the computer. 2P Ann Waldbaum is now Ann Kosinski. 2P |
| P 8 | About This Book | We have identified composers for 103 of the tunes. 8P |
| P 18 | Reel des Accordéonistes | Measures A2 and A6: there should be a D on both beats of these measures. 2P |
| P 30 | The Billy Church Memorial Breakdown | Correct title is “Cat on a Leash” © 1982 Anita Dolen. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. See note on p222 below concerning the title of this tune. 4P |
| P 37 | Bouchard’s Hornpipe | Correct title is “Burchard’s Hornpipe” © 1976, Michael Springer. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. See note on p225 below for further updates on this tune. 8P |
| P 53 | The Convenience Reel | Correct title is “Mark McLaughlin’s Reel” © Olcan Masterson, 1978. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. See note on p222 below concerning the title of this tune. 6P |
| P 55 | Cotton Baggin’ | The pick-up note to the B part is a D rather than an F sharp. 3P |
| P 63 | Don Tremaine’s Reel | Composed by Graham Townsend, © 1961 Estate of Graham Townsend. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. See note on p235 below for further updates on this tune. 2P |
| P 79 | Flat-Footed Henry | Play just as written for contra dances. 7P |
| P 96 | High Road to Linton | The C and D parts were composed by Bobby MacLeod, © 1957, Kerr’s Music Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. 3P |
| P 120 | Kittens on Catnip | Measure B8 second ending: the last note is a C natural. 6P |
| P 131 | Marmaduke’s Hornpipe | Correct title is “Damon’s Winder”. See note on p258 below concerning the title of this tune. 3P |
| P 150 | Old Joe | Measure B3 should have an Am chord for both beats. 6P |
| P 154 | Paddy Fahy’s #1 | Correct title is “Paddy Fahey’s Reel No. 1″ © Paddy Fahey. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. Click here for an updated version of the tune as composed by Paddy Fahey. See note on p266 below for further updates on this tune. 7P |
| P 157 | The Pat the Budgie Breakdown | Composed by Graham Townsend. © 1961, Estate of Graham Townsend, All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. 2P |
| P185 | Shove That Pig’s Foot… | Measure B3: Eliminate the C chord. Play a G chord on both beats of this measure. 8P |
| P 187 | The Southwest Bridge | Composed by Dan R. MacDonald. © 1975, Cameron Music Sales. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. 2P |
| P 197 | Tone Row | Correct title is “Tonra’s Jig,” © 1958 Brendan Tonra. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. See note on p285 below for further updates on this tune. Brendan supplied these chords for the B part:
||: D D | G G | D Bm | Em A | D D | G G | D G | A D :|| 3P |
| P 211 | Wizard’s Walk | Measure A4: Add an Em chord on the 2nd beat. 7P |
| P 218 | The Atholl Highlanders | “The Atholl Highlanders” can be heard on The Piper’s Broken Finger, a recording by Boys of the Lough. 2P |
| P 222 | The Billy Church Memorial Breakdown | Substitute this note: I learned this tune from California musician Chuck Aronson at Weiser. For a long time I didn’t know its name, so Dan Compton helped me name it. Here we have yet another fully folk-processed tune: Colorado fiddler Anita Dolen wrote it in 1982 when she was moving from Boulder to Denver. She says that as she was driving to her new place with a friend, “we saw this lady walking her cat on a leash down the sidewalk. It looked so oddly funny we started laughing.” She knew she had a name for a tune she had just written, “Cat on a Leash.” It apparently got into circulation pretty quickly, since Chuck learned it at the Galax Fiddlers Convention. 4P |
| P 224 | Bonnie Charlie | “Bonnie Charlie” was not recorded on Lochaber No More by Boys of the Lough. 8P |
| P 225 | Bouchard’s Hornpipe | Substitute this note: Because of its name and its melodic qualities, many musicians assume this tune to be of French Canadian origin. Crash goes another set of preconceptions, and that’s always a good thing! Michael Springer of Chico, California, tells us he wrote it as an old-timey tune in the winter of ’75-’76 and named it after a “nice hippie lady” who was giving him acupressure treatments in exchange for banjo lessons he was giving her husband. Their last name was “Burchard.” The folk process got to work, in this case altering the title more than the tune. A friend, Lori Indenbaum, took this wonderful tune “to New England and taught it to some contra dance band, who popularized it.” This staple of the Northwest dance scene made its way to Portland when George Penk learned it from Laurie Andres at Suttle Lake in the early ’80s. Michael’s setting of “Burchard’s Hornpipe” is posted at www.theportlandcollection.com. 8P |
| P 231 | The Convenience Reel | Substitute this note: Sue Songer learned this tune at the Suttle Lake dance camp in the Oregon Cascades in the fall of ’95 from the Massachusetts contra dance band Uncle Gizmo. She says it was “a smash hit.” At some point in its travels, the name “Convenience” attached itself to this melody, which was originally titled in 1978 “Mark McLoughlin’s Reel” by its composer, Olcan Masterson. He wrote it “for Mark McLoughlin, who had a session bar in Dundalk, Co. Louth, Ireland.” Dan Compton reminds us that this is a signature tune of the Seattle Irish band The Suffering Gaels. 6P |
| P 235 | Don Tremaine’s Reel | “Don Tremaine’s Reel” was composed by Graham Townsend. He named the tune for the emcee of Don Messer’s Jubilee, a Canadian television show. 2P |
| P 236 | Dunbar | © is now Estate of John Hartford. (John Hartford is deceased.) 6P |
| P 237 | Evit Gabriel | “Evit Gabriel” has been recorded by the Québec band Ad Vielle Que Pourra on their album Come What May. 2P |
| P 238 | Fair Jenny’s Jig | Correct spelling is Kirston Koths. 6P |
| P 240 | Festival du Voyageur | Click here to see “Festival du Voyageur” as played by Steve Trampe. 2P |
| P 241 | Galen’s Arrival | “Galen’s Arrival” is a reel. 2P |
| P 245 | Hell Broke Loose n Georgia | “Hell Broke Loose in Georgia” was recorded by Ruthie Dornfeld on her album with The American Cafe Orchestra, Egyptian Dominoes. 2P |
| P 245 | The High Road to Linton | Substitute this note: Sue Songer learned this tune at Port Townsend from fiddler David Reich (formerly from Portland, now living in Madras, Oregon). David is an authority on Cape Breton fiddle music and has, on occasion, been a resource on this topic at the Fiddle Tunes Festival. Andrew Dunn of the Kerr Music Corporation in Glasgow informs us that the C and D parts were composed by the late Bobby MacLeod, a piano accordion player from Tobermory, Scotland. Bobby wrote an extra four parts of the tune to tack on to the first two parts, which are traditional. Of the four parts he wrote, two have landed in the tune bags of a good many musicians: his C and F part (although the latter has undergone a key change). A version of the tune that is virtually the same as the one printed here can be heard on a CD from Scotland called Fiddlers 5. 3P |
| P 248 | Ice on the Road | Alternate version (as played by George Penk), measure A4: both C notes should be natural rather than sharp. 4P |
| P 255 | Leaping Lulu | The IV chord ending of the A part is a tribute to Ashley Hutchings. 2P |
| P 258 | Marmaduke’s Hornpipe | Substitute this note: I taped Armin Barnett fiddling this tune on the porch of the schoolhouse at Fiddle Tunes in ’94 with a whole passel of other musicians, including Jere Canote on guitar. Something distinctly odd seemed to be going on in the 3rd and 4th measures of the tune. The low C note in the melody seemed to clash with Jere’s choice of an A chord in a way that made the tune sound like a car crash every time those measures came around! I learned the tune from the tape, then played it at Wannadance Uptown in Seattle for Missouri fiddler Geoff Seitz who said it sounded very close to “Marmaduke’s Hornpipe,” with the exception of the measures in question. A subsequent colloquy on this piece of music with both Armin and Kerry Blech has turned up its true name in this particular configuration: “Damon’s Winder.” Armin learned the tune under this name from Seattle fiddler Barry Schultz, who most likely got it from the “true” source, a 1934 recording by Kentucky fiddler J.W. Day, who played under the pseudonym Jilson Setters. There is a tune called “Marmaduke’s Hornpipe,” which uses a low C# in those 3rd and 4th measures. In fact, there is a family of tunes that are melodically similar: “Cricket on the Hearth,” “Rocky Mountain Goat,” “Grand Hornpipe,” and others. The A chord was borrowed by Jere from “Marmaduke’s” and laid on to “Damon’s Winder” in a way that may seem harsh to modern ears but is not so uncommon in old recordings. In sum, we have a tune with two names that comes from a fiddler with two names presented in a book by two editors who harvested the tune from two different contemporary fiddlers! One more interesting slice of trivia from Kerry: “A winder is a kind of dance set in Kentucky where the figure ‘winds.'” 3P |
| P 259 | Millbrae | The alternate chords should have a repeat sign at the end of the A part. 2P |
| P 263 | Music for a Found Harmonium | The original was written by the late Simon Jeffes of London, who told us it was “composed in 1982 on a harmonium found sitting on top of a pile of discarded builders’ wood.” 3P |
| P 266 | Paddy Fahey’s Reel No. 1 | Substitute this note: This lovely Irish reel is one of those tunes that comes out of hiding every now and then just to let us know it’s there. Once played, it goes back to its beauty sleep like a fairy princess until awakened again. I learned it from Ruthie Dornfeld many years ago. According to Randal Bays, Mr. Fahey himself–the composer of the tune–lives in East Galway and still plays occasionally in pubs. I always suspected there was some sort of magic potion in that stout they serve over there! 7P |
| P 267 | The Pat the Budgie Breakdown | Substitute this note: Hm. Is this what you do to your budgie when it’s successfully learned to swear like a sailor in the presence of your in-laws? Or is this what you name your budgie if (as has always been the case in my experience) you are uncertain about its sex? As it turns out, there was a real Pat the budgie who was wont to perch on the fiddle bow of Graham Townsend, who composed the tune and named it after his feathered friend. Sue Songer and Lanny Martin play this tune, which they got from an album called Barking Mad by the Irish group Four Men and a Dog. 2P |
| P 269 | The Quarry Cross | “The Quarry Cross” was learned from The Fiddlecase Book of 101 Polkas by Jack Perron and Randy Miller. 2P |
| P 272 | The Sailor’s Wife | “The Sailor’s Wife” was recorded on Tradition Today by Kerry Elkin and by The Pacific Yews of Seattle on Fog on the Sound. 2P |
| P 275 | Seanbhean na gCartai | Fran Slefer tells us it means “Old Woman of the Cards,” or possibly “Old Woman from Carty.” 2P |
| P 278 | The Southwest Bridge | “The Southwest Bridge” was composed by Dan R. MacDonald, © 1975 Cameron Music Sales. 2P. |
| P 280 | Tater Patch | Eleanor Coalson, daughter of composer Charlie Lowe, is deceased. 4P |
| P 285 | Tone Rowe | Substitute this note: Sue Songer and Lanny Martin like to play this danceable Irish jig. Sue learned it from Kevin Burke. The unusual name of the tune perhaps comes from the metamorphosis inflicted on words by the folk process. Brendan Tonra of Boston (originally from Ireland) tells us: “This was the third tune I composed in 1957. The first time I played it in public was at a fleadh in Longford in 1958. In 1960 I heard recordings of Sean Maguire playing Tonra’s Jig and also a recording of the Liverpool Ceili Band playing the same tune, so it’s been going round ever since.” (Ed. note: A fleadh is a music festival in Ireland usually associated with competitions in fiddle, flute, whistle and pipes–and also with mighty sessions in pubs that go into the wee hours.) Wild Asparagus recorded a particularly nice version of it on their album Call of the Wild. 3P. |
| P 291 | Discography | Barde, Barde. Disques Direction DLP-10010, 1977. 3P |
| P 300 | Resources | Country Dance and Song Society – add: office@cdss.org; www.cdss.org. 3P |
| P 301 | List of Titles by Key and Meter | “The Virginia Reel” is in the Key of D instead of Key of G. 4P |
| P 302 | List of Titles by Key and Meter | “The Billy Church Memorial Breakdown” is in the Key of A instead of Key of D. 4P |
| P 304 | Alphabetical List of Titles | Add: Damon’s Winder see Marmaduke’s Hornpipe. 3P; Add Cat on a Leash see The Billy Church Memorial Breakdown. 4P; Add Burchard’s Hornpipe see Bouchard’s Hornpipe. 8P |
| P 306 | Alphabetical List of Titles | Add: Lafferty’s see Woman I Never Forgot, The. 7P |
| P 307 | Alphabetical List of Titles | Add: Reel Saint-Simeon or Reel San Simeon see Saint-Antoine, Reel. 2P; Add: Tonra’s Jig see Tone Row. 3P |