Tunes from A Beneficial Tradition: The Portland Megaband
Notes on the Tunes were all written by Sue Songer. All tunes under copyright (with a locatable composer) are printed here by permission. (The composers would like you to play their music!)
Almost Equinox by Larry Unger
Larry Unger, guitar and banjo player from Massachusetts, has left his musical mark on the Portland contra dance scene for years. The Megaband took on Almost Equinox 3 seasons ago–it works very well for the “licks and tricks” of this group. Larry says: “I wrote it for a Pinewoods fund raising auction and that Bill Ossa had the highest bid and named it.” He included it in his tune book The Reckless Reel. In addition to listening to A Beneficial Tradition, you can hear the Megaband play this tune (at the end of the video clip) on YouTube.
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The Battle of Waterloo
After dancing to Wild Asparagus playing this tune at a dance in Portland in 2007, I ran to George Marshall to ask him the name. He didn’t know. Somehow though, in the midst of teaching the next dance, he had time to ask the band the tune title and come find me and relay it to me. I discovered that I had a copy of this tune at home in the book Fiddle Music of the Scottish Highlands by Christine Martin. I don’t know if this is the way Wild Asparagus played it, but we used Christine Martin’s setting here.
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Crook Brothers
Crook Brothers comes from the playing of the Mando Mafia on their recording, Get Away. The liner notes say that the tune is from the Crook Brothers of Tennessee. They recorded it in the key of D, and the Megaband played it in that key in 2008, but it worked better for us in the key of G in 2009, so that’s where it is on A Beneficial Tradition.
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Deer Walk (James Bryan setting)
James Bryan of Alabama taught this setting of Deer Walk at the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, July 2008. It varies significantly from the setting of this same tune that is printed in The Portland Collection (1).
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Erik’s Reel by Susan Songer
I wrote this tune for Megaband 2008 after playing through maybe 30 tunes in the key of E and not finding one that I thought would work for the set I had in mind. I named it for Megaband co-organizer and caller Erik Weberg because it contains so many of his favorite music features (and also because he made some useful suggestions in the shaping of the tune).
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Farewell to the Taliban by Keith Murphy
The version printed if you click on the title is the way Keith wrote the tune (and the way he has published it on his own web site. He writes: “because of the basic repetitive quality of the tune, it is particularly open to melodic variations on the part of the player.” Keith’s band, Nightingale, taught this tune in their band lab at Fiddle Tunes 2007 and put their own slant on it there. The Megaband added its own slight variations and chords, which you can see by clicking here.
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Hats Off to Summer by Carl Thor
The mood of this jaunty jig is a good match for its upbeat title. It was written by Megaband hammer dulcimer and piano player, Carl Thor, and can be found in his tune book of original music, Come to the Dance Hall. It can also be heard on YouTube midway through the clip.
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The Joy of My Life
Joy of My Life, which goes by quite a few other names–The Joys of Wedlock and Donnybrook Fair–is a standard Irish jig.
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Kentucky One-Step
This true vine (I think) old time tune comes from an MP3 download on the Web. The site says: “Jerry Rogers and Sons Home Recordings”. This is a rare compilation of recordings over the past few years by Master Old-Time Fiddler Jerry Rogers and his sons Andrew and Bobby. This CD is about as authentic as it gets when it comes to the heart of Southern Folk Music. Raw, Ruff & Ready!”
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Kitchen Girl
Here’s the old time standard tune, Kitchen Girl, the way Megaband lead fiddler Betsy Branch taught it to the rest of us.
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Marie Sauce ton Pain (Rodney Miller setting)
I’m partial to this setting of Marie Sauce ton Pain, which Rodney Miller taught at the American Festival Fiddle Tunes in 2001. A different setting appears in The Portland Collection, Volume 2. That version comes from a recording by La Bottine Souriante, Je Voudrais Changer d’Chapeau, which may be the first place that many of us heard it.
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Merryn’s Reel by Ronnie Cooper
This uplifting Shetland tune composed by Ronnie Cooper was recorded by Fiddler’s Bid on Da Farder ben da Wekamer, and that’s where we came across it.
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Da Moorit Lamb by Tom Anderson
I found Da Moorit Lamb in Shetland fiddler Tom Anderson’s tune book Ringing Strings. The note on this tune states, “Written in 1973 while watching the antics of a young lamb. “Moorit is a colour similar to dark brown, and was very rare at one time.” Several of the Megaband fiddlers tuned their fiddles A-E-A-E to play the set that this tune was a part of. We are unable to locate the copyright holder for this tune. If any reader can point us in the right direction, we would appreciate that.
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O’Keefe’s Slide (Pittsfield Open Band setting)
I was privileged to direct the Pittsfield Open Band in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 2007. This setting of O’Keefe’s Slide was in its repertoire, and I thought it sounded great the way they played it. So I brought it back to Portland for our Megaband–it also worked well for us with some fiddles were tuned A-E-A-E on it. This Am version is similar to the Em setting of O’Keefe’s Slide that can be found in The Portland Collection (1).
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The Pinch of Snuff
Randy Miller fiddled this tune at a dance in Portland in 2007. It was the first time I had ever danced to it, and in doing so, I realized it would lend itself very well to being played by the Megaband with the built-in drama of moving the melody up the strings as the tune progresses. Once through the tune is twice through the contra dance. Randy printed this tune in his book The Fiddler’s Throne, but our arrangement is a little different from what is found there.
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A Rose Still Blooms by Todd Silverstein
Todd says: “I wrote this tune for my good friend and wonderful dancer Donna Rose Ranae, when she began to complain about the indignities of aging, at age 50. The tune, although a tad melancholy, cheered her up as it was meant to do. Since cancer took her away from us last summer at the untimely age of 53, the tune means even more to me.” Donna’s husband John Kellerman wrote lyrics to go with this pretty waltz. You can read them here.
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Da Shaalds
This tune also comes from the CD Da Farder ben da Wekamer by Fiddler’s Bid. Therese Vogel gave me several recordings by this band, and they have proved to be a gold mine both in terms of wonderful listening and as a source of material for the Megaband as well as other bands. Fiddler’s Bid plays this tune in A-E-A-E tuning without chordal accompaniment. We copied them blatantly in our rendition here.
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St Barbara’s Waltz by Gordy Euler
Megaband co-conductor Gordy Euler wrote this waltz for his mother, Barbara Euler.
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Starr Label Reel
Rodney Miller taught this standard New England tune the way we play it here (more or less) at the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes in 1996.
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Swords into Ploughshares by David Donaldson
Carl Thor brought this beautiful march to Portland. Composer David Donaldson of Vancouver B.C. plays whistle and other instruments; he has written many other tunes (info available at his web site). He tells us, “I wrote Swords while I was listening to a lecture about environmental footprints. It was a lucky morning for me.”
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Taggart’s Reel #3
Randy Miller taught Taggart’s Reel #3 when he was on staff at Fiddle Tunes in 2005. It worked so well for the big sound of his band lab that I thought it would translate well to the Megaband. Upon hearing our rendition, Randy wrote me that it might, just might, tempt the very stern appearing John Taggart to smile.
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Teetotaler’s Reel
I wonder how many thousands of dancers feet have stepped to this classic Irish reel over the centuries.
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Varvindar Friska
One of my very first sources of information about fiddle music was The Fiddler’s Almanac by Ryan Thomson. He included this hambo in that book. We were looking for a hambo that could be played in A-E-A-E tuning (since some fiddles would be tuned that way for the first set after the break, and this one fit the bill.
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Wagon Wheel
This tune comes straight from Pete Sutherland’s recording Streak o’ Lean. He credits Bob Butler as his source.
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