COMPOSER'S NOTES ON TUNES IN FOLDER 61
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X:61001
"Back of the House" refers to the back room at O'Shea's Olde Inne in West Dennis on Cape Cod. The long running weekly BotHSS (Back of the House Slow Session) was started there in 2006 by Mike Connolly, Clayton March and others. This jig was one of my earliest attempts at composing traditional tunes, and was written for the members of that session group.

X:61059
The high south facing cliffs of Cape d'Or, rising over 250 feet, is the most distinctive geographical feature between the tiny community of Spencer's Island and the village of Advocate far out Minas Basin at the head of the Bay of Fundy. Between Cape Spencer and Horseshoe Cove the high backbone of Cape d'Or sits atop these sea cliffs. Bennett Brook is the largest stream tumbling down over these cliffs from the steep slope above. During his exploration of the area in 1607, Samuel de Champlain mistakenly identified the copper lodes at the base of these cliffs as deposits of gold. Hence the name Cape d'Or. During the first decade of the 20th century a short-lived mining operation extracted copper ore from the lodes at the edge of the sea. A small gauge railroad, known as the Bennett Brook Railroad was constructed near the top of the ridge to transport workers and supplies to, and from the mines. While the rail bed remains, now as one of the finest woodland walks in the area, I have yet to discover the route taken by the ore from the shore up the cliffs and slope above, to the rail cars.

X:61055
Dedicated to all the indefatigable octogenarian session players who, in addition to their instruments, show up with their bionic devices to aid their failing body parts in negotiating the tunes.

X:61050
Birch Hill is a wooded top about 165m above sea level, whose closest approach is by dirt logging road from the paved road between the communities of Spencers Island and Advocate Harbor. The area was recently logged and dense new growth prohibits access to the top, or any views  from the logging road as it passes just below the top, except in the direction of travel on the road. These are of the expansive wooded interior, and of the high ridge of Cape d'Or in the direction of the sea. I took tumble down an embankment when attempting a few steps in the brush off the logging road. Hence this "slide".

X:61002
The winner of the Great March 2015 BotHSS soda bread bake-off was promised an original tune. The hands down winner was Cheryl Rozenas - who for a long time previous I mistakenly called Bonnie (confused no doubt with her husband's name, Bronie.) Hence the title "Bonnie Cheryl".

X:61003
This jig has been arranged from a quadrille attributed to Canadian fiddler Jim Magill (1902-1954), though parts of it are found in earlier manuscripts. Magill was likely originally from northern Ireland. In the 1930's he showed up in Toronto where he worked as a telegrapher for the Canadian National Railroad (CNR). A skilled fiddler, he was much in demand for square dances in the region and formed a band called the Northern Ramblers, which broadcast from CFRB from 1946-1954. He was a prolific composer of tunes, and made 34 recordings. His brother Joe played bass in The Northern Ramblers. This arrangement is of a transcription from the playing of Ned Landry on YouTube. Ned Landry (1921 - 2018) of St John, New Brunswick, was a prominent Canadian old-time fiddler.

X:61004
Dashed off in a flash late at night after Rebecca Connor leader of our Northumbrian small pipe Zoom session, reminded us of a session the next day. In the reminder she invited all to "Come and play, listen, or heckle." A recipient immediately wrote back, "Bring on the hecklers!" I responded with this march of the hecklers. 2020.09.24 (corrected vers. 2020.09.27)

X:61005
Buddy O'Reilly is a lovable bow-legged Pekingese, part of a large managerie housed with Mary O'Reilly and Ron Bergstrom at their home in northwest Chatham site of fine barbecues and memorable late night sessions.

X:61006
A bumbleberry pie is a mixed berry pie. When first introduced to this delicacy in western Ontario, I decided it merited a hornpipe. This hornpipe is comprised of wild phrases plucked like succulent berries from along a roadside in Western Ontario. (A revision of the original from 2007).

X:61007
For over two years, following sewer construction main road into my town of Chatham remained patched and bumpy while the bureaucatic Gods argued over re-paving. This jig memorializes that body-jarring period. Dedicated to my friend Linda Devonshire who, living on that road, got to hear the banging and clanging of passing traffic 24/7.

X:61056
Cape Spencer is located between Spencer's Island and Cape d'Or. It is remote and difficult to access by land, requiring either negotiating a dubious 4WD track out from the foot of the Cape d'Or road to the beach at Marsh Creek, or a long stony beach walk from Spencer's Island, timed to cross Marsh Creek near low tide. In either case a long stoney beach walk follows out to the Cape itself. Cape Spencer is marked by a large triangular sea stack surrounded by water at high tide. High cliffs tower above the sea stack. Beyond, all the way to Horseshoe Cove on Cape d'Or, dramatic south facing cliffs rise several 100 feet above a rugged, largely basalt beach, in many places submerged to the cliff base at high tide. It is rough terrain where the unwary walker can easily be caught against the cliffs in a fast rising Fundy tide. The only land access to this beach is via Cape Spencer. While I have walked to Cape Spencer a couple times, I may never walk the beach beyond.

X:61008
My friend Lynn Sarver was a party clown in an earlier life. When asked what became of her clown outfit, she replied it was in her attic. Immediately I pictured a disembodied clown outfit doing a solitary polka in the attic. This is the polka.

X:61009
Crapple is John Alden's special cranberry apple jelly served alongside Gene Clancy's legendary Irish Brown Bread during intermission at Rose Clancy's House Concerts at The Chatham Fiddle Company. Somehow this polka is supposed to capture the succulent essence of crapple.

X:61010
On the occasion of their wedding, September 2013. 

X:61011
In honor of Debra's foot. When it's not high in the air signaling the approaching end of a tune, it's dancing around the session room.

X:61013
This slip jig was written for Kathy Herrick as the prize for the winning soda bread in the 2017 BotHSS Soda Bread contest. Kathy is one of several BotHSS lasses from Eastham, Cape Cod.

X:61015
I was quite taken by this jig when I first came upon it years ago. However B part had only 4 bars, repeated. Since then I've seen many "fixes" of this deficiency, but none that I've found really satisfactory. Here's mine.

X:61016
This was written during in a flash of inspiration at 2 AM on December 22 first night of winter, 2017.

X:61017
Flannel Cetto (January 1998 - August 2014) was a very special black lab. Throughout her exceptionally long life, she provided companionship and joy to all she was with. This reel celebrates Flannel's life.

X:61018
Paul Baisly was both a friend and a local character. As a musician he made up in enthusiasm what he lacked in musicianship. Next to Chatham he loved most his shorefront land in Fraserville, on the Bay of Fundy, near Parrsboro, Nova Scotia. He enjoyed telling all who would listen of his silent rows along the Fundy shore in improbably small boats. Thanks to Bill Black for the chords.

X:61019
This hornpipe was written to mark the perilous journey of my new Northumbrian smallpipes from northeast England to Chatham, Cape Cod in late December 2016. I ordered these custom designed G session pipes from Andy May in August 2014. What with waitlist and construction, he didn't have them until December of 2016. Just before Christmas we discovered that an international ban on the importation of blackwood (the material of these pipes) would go into effect on January 1, 2017. Andy scrambled to make final adjustments and ship just after Christmas. The pipes made it out of Great Britain, across the Atlantic, and through US Customs in Tennessee at the very last minute, arriving at my door the afternoon of December 31st. An anxious time indeed.

X:61052
The Mary Celeste was an American brigantine that was found adrift in the open Atlantic with no one aboard on December 5, 1872. The fate of the 10 people aboard remains a mystery to this day. The ship was built on the beach at Spencer's Island, Nova Scotia, in 1861, and christened the Amazon. It encountered a number of mishaps during its first years. On its maiden voyage its Captain contacted pneumonia and died, it later ran aground off Cape Breton, got entangled in fishing gear off the coast of Maine, and, in the English channel, accidentally rammed and sank another vessel, drowning its entire crew. In 1868 it was sold to an American, underwent significant structural  changes, and was rechristened the Mary Celeste, before being resold. On November 7, 1872 Mary Celeste set sail from New York with 10 people on board and a cargo of more than 1700 barrels of alcohol destined for Genoa, Italy. According to the last log entry - dated November 25 - the Mary Celeste was some 6 nautical miles from the Azores. Ten days later the vessel was spotted 400 miles east of the Azores by the British brig Dei Gratia. Crew from that ship boarded the Mary Celeste and discovered it deserted. Although there was more than 3 feet of water in the hold - an amount that would not have caused panic - the vessel was seaworthy. Adding to the mystery was the fact that the cargo and personal belongings were largely undisturbed, although a longboat was missing. It appeared that the ship had been abandoned quickly. Crewmen from the Dei Gratia sailed the Mary Celeste to Gibraltar, a distance of 800 miles. There, British authorities conducted an investigation, that ultimately found no evidence of foul play. Despite being seen as unlucky Mary Celeste remained in service and went through a number of owners before being acquired by Capt. G.C. Parker. In 1885 he deliberately sailed it into a reef near Haiti as part of a plan to defraud an insurance company. When the vessel failed to sink, authorities discovered his scheme. The Mary Celeste, however, was damaged beyond repair, and it was left on the reef, where it deteriorated. Tune composed in July 2023 at Spencer's Island, NS., just up the hill from the beach where the Amazon was built.

X:61020
Gracie is Barbara and Chris Adams' not particularly lovable mutt. You've got to admire a dog who, due to an early injury, has gone through life pretty much on three legs, oblivious that things would be a lot easier on four. Barbara and Chris host an irregular Friday session followed by potluck (The Grey Door Session) at their home in Eastham.

X:61053
For Heather Swanson on the occasion of her big birthday, April 2022. Heather is one of Cape Cod's finest traditional musicians and fiddle teachers. She hosts a weekly Zoom session exploring new and unusual tunes. 

X:61021
A reel for Heather Swanson, good friend, fiddler and session collaborator. This is one of those tunes that seem never to be completely finished. However from Heather's fiddle it always sounds better than I wrote it, so I've sworn off revisions.

X:61060
Eskutassis Pond is a rocky, mostly shallow pond of nearly 900 acres located in the headwaters of the Passadumkeag River in Penobscot county, Maine. I have spent many pleasant summer days there as a camp guest of Chris and Barbara Adams, while breaking up my drives to and from my summer retreat in Spencer's Island.

X:61022
Izzie was a much loved Great Pyrenees belonging to John and Stephanie Reeve. In her day Izzie would lie contentedly listening to Stephanie practice her fiddle. In March 2018 Izzie passed away after a long illness. This jig is in memory of Izzie.

X:61023
For Judy Ballantine on the occasion of her very special birthday. Judy is a great friend of many years, first as harpist-accompanist in our little quartet, "Apples in Winter," with Alice VanBuren and Katherine Farnham, and, more recently, as that group faded, simply accompanist to my recorders and Northumbrian smallpipes. This waltz was played one time at a party for the said birthday, and and then forgotten for over 10 years. After Judy recently reminded me of it, I resurrected and revised it.

X:61024
This is the 2nd of two jigs written for Kathy Herrick as the prize for the winning soda bread entered in the Back of the House Slow Session (BotHSS) annual Soda Bread contest in 2016. Kathy Herrick won with a soda bread incorporating orange zest. Hence Kathy's #1 is better known as "The Orange Zest Jig". I got carried away in composing that one and ended up with a jig more challenging than suited the purpose. So I composed this #2 one evening hoping to redeem myself for excesses committed in #1, naming it "Kathy's Consolation."

X:61025
Stage Harbor at Chatham on Cape Cod is located at the northeast corner of Nantucket Sound. It is a popular port for summer-time sailors visiting Cape Cod. The harbor was first visited in 1606 by Samuel de Champlain French explorer, navigator, map maker, journalist, artist and soldier. At that time the land was occupied and farmed by the Wampanoag Indians. Pat Clancy (RIP) was the uncle of the well known fiddler Rose Clancy,  proprietor of the Chatham Fiddle Company.

X:61027
A revision into a mazurka of a song by the same name, based in turn on an air found in O'Neill's "The Music of Ireland" ("The 1850"). Lough Sheelin (or more properly Loch Siodh Linn - meaning Lake of the Fairy Pool) is a large freshwater lake in County Westmeath.

X:61028
Written for Marie McGaugh, now residing near Souris, PEI, on the occasion of her double knee replacement. Debra Murphy and I played the world premiere to a very groggy Marie at the foot of her hospital bed.

X:61029
http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/MART_MATI.htm#MARTHA_CAMPBELL_%5B1

X:61030
Martha Thayer is a good friend, and fine fiddler with strong connections to Cape Breton, and their fiddling tradition. She hosts a monthly Cape Cod Scottish Session in her home, and her extensive  knowledge of both the Irish and Scottish repertory is a welcome addition at any session.

X:61031
A jig to celebrate the many years of fine sessions in Mike Connolly's garage in Osterville, MA.

X:61032
For Barbara and Chris Adams' first grandson, Nathaniel. While composing this march I envisioned 3 year old Nathaniel marching around the kitchen to his grandmother's fiddle while banging a large pot lid with a wooden spoon. Mother and father have fled.

X:61033
The New England Northumbrian Small Pipers is a loosely organized group of intermediate level players of the  Northumbrian small pipes that has been meeting near Boston irregularly since 2016. This march was written for them. Play with a bit of a swing in the 8th notes.

X:61058
New Salem is a small cluster of older homes amidst hilly
blueberry fields on the highway between Advocate Harbor
and Apple River, as far out Cape Chignecto as cars can travel.

X:61034
This jig was written for Kathy Herrick as the prize for the best soda bread entered in the 2016 Back of the House Slow Session (BotHSS) annual Soda Bread contest. It has been revised countless times since. This is unlikely the last. Kathy won with a bread incorporating orange zest.

X:61035
Driving my friend, Paddy O'Brien, to a session in an icy January snowstorm, my car slid off the road into the woods taking Paddy with it.

X:61036
Good friends Jean Segara and John Best, who make up the outer Cape duo "Black Whydah", specialize in pirate themed trad music programs. Much of what they play is composed by John. When I asked if they had a tune by the name of "The Pirates' Jig" they answered in the negative. So I wrote this 3-part jig for them.

X:61037
When Del Johnson, a retired Falmouth plumber, and husband of Kathy, one of our session stalwarts, mentioned he was taking up the mandolin, I wrote him this jig to encourage him along.

X:61038
Written to honor Falmouth's very own popcorn man. Every week Brian hosts a popular slow session of traditional tunes at his home in North Falmouth, MA.

X:61039
One glorious July evening, while enjoying an excellent potluck dinner on Pam and Reese's deck over-looking Brewster's extensive Punkhorn wilderness area beginnings of this, "The Punkhorn Hornpipe", came into my head.

X:61040
"The Red Nun Bar and Grill in Chatham, MA was the scene of a short-lived nautical themed session. 
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A red nun is the name given to the red channel buoys in Chatham Harbor.
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(BB intrusion:  Memory aide given to fledgling US Navy navigators: "Even red nuns have odd black cans." Meaning: red nun buoys (marking the inboard side of a channel) have even numbers; black can buoys [now green] have odd numbers.)

X:61057
Red Rocks in West Advocate, marks a prominent site of the collision of two continents about 200 million years ago. The same red rock is found on both sides of the north Atlantic, laid down 400 million years ago, long before the Atlantic formed.The Red Rocks are the first rock outcrops on the shore after the high basalt columns of Cape d'Or just east of the entrance to Advocate Harbor. Between, lie the low tidal lands in front of Advocate village. Beyond the Red Rocks, west to the tip of Cape Chignecto gray sea cliffs rising as high as 600 feet, are a remnant of another ancient continent.

X:61041
For Pam Paine on the occasion of her 'insignificant' birthday. Pam and Reese host regular traditional music sessions, and occasional music potlucks at their home tucked away in the woods off Run Hill Road, up behind the historic Old Brewster Grist Mill on Cape Cod. Perhaps Run Hill is in reference to the old mill run.

X:61042
Historical notes:

The earliest record of this tune is in David Young's "Duke of Perth Manuscript" (also known as the "Drummond Castle MS"), from 1734, making it of Scottish origin. It appeared in many subsequent English 
and Scottish collections through the 18th century.

It made its way to Northumberland to appear in Northumbrian musician William Vickers' 1770-72 music manuscript under the title "Sleeping Maggie" (in Bm). It was renamed "Small Coals and Ready Money" in Henry Robson's list of popular Northumbrian song and dance tunes ("The Northern Minstrel's Budget"), which he published c. 1800.  It appeared again in 1833 in the music manuscript copybook of Lionel Winship (actually as "Sleepy Moggy"). There it is transposed to A dorian, presumably to fit the range of the Northumbrian smallpipes, and given a couple variations. The Scottish poet Robert Tannahill set words to it: "O Are Ye Sleepin' Maggie".

In Ireland the tune is found under its original Scots title, "Sleepy Maggie," as well  as in the variants "Lough Isle Castle," "Sean sa Cheo" and "Tullaghan Lassies." It is the precursor to "Jenny's Chickens." In his "Music of Ireland" O'Neill gives a version nearly identical to Winship's but retains the original Scottish key.   

The basic tune is today a popular beginners' tune on the Northumbrian smallpipes. The Northumbrian smallpipe' repertory includes a large number of extensive variation sets on popular old tunes, but curiously none, to my knowledge, for this one. I was unaware of the Winship set when I wrote my set for Northumbrian smallpipes during the Covid-19 lockdown.  

Given the magnitude of my set, I sometimes play only a subset - for example theme with variations 2, 3, 7, 9, 14, and conclusion. Any subset will do. Playing only a selection is reminiscent of the "choose your own adventure" series of juvenile books popular in the 1980s. 

Not being of Northumbrian stock (my ancestors came from the "wrong" end of Hadrian's Wall), I make no claim that these are "Northumbrian" variations.

X:61051
Spencers Island is a small seaside community on the north side of Minas Channel at the top end of the Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia, Canada. It takes its name from a bulbous nearby island unusual for being as high as it is wide. The community consists of fewer than 30 homes, a seasonal beach camp ground, and a small lumber mill off in the hills behind. The nearest store, gas, restaurant, school, and health center are in Advocate 5 miles further out the highway. 150 years ago the beach at Spencers Island was a flourishing ship building center. Recently my summer retreat from the summer time noise and congestion of Cape Cod has been a hand built tiny house on wheels in Spencers Island.

X:61043
This polka was written for Stephanie Reeve, good friend, fiddler, and regular supporter of the Wednesday evening Back of the House Sessions (BotHSS) at O'Shea's Olde Inne in West Dennis.

X:61044
This jig appears in P. W. Joyce's "Old Irish Folk Music and Songs", (1909), as #831. Joyce took it from a manuscript complied by John Edward Pigot "The Pigot Manuscript." Pigot in turned had copied it from a "MS. lent by Mrs. Woodroffe (of Cork?)" Joyce gives it in D dor.

X:61045
For the Mazurka Kids: Barbara, Andrea, and Judy. Thanks to Heather Swanson for the chords.

X:61046
For Rev. Edmund Robinson on the occasion of his 70th Birthday. For over 10 years, until his retirement, Edmund served as minister at the Unitarian Universal Church in Chatham. In his spare time he has supported virtually every trad session on Cape Cod, regardless of genre. This support† contributes mighty to the vibrant session life here. He plays fiddle, concertina, 5-stringed banjo, harmonica and can always be counted upon for a song or a recitation. Edmund gravitates towards sets of 3 or 4, 3 and 4 part reels in A, hence a 3 part reel in A for his special birthday.

X:61045
On my recent visit to Newcastle, U.K., Maurice Condie of Phoenix Folk Sessions took me on two grand tours of the Northumberland countryside. Our 2nd tour ended back in old Newcastle in the alleyway behind St. Nicholas Cathedral, where we said our goodbyes. There, leering down on our parting from atop an ornate doorway perched a very black vampire rabbit with blood dripping from its teeth. Once back home on Cape Cod, with time to leisurely review memories of my visit, my mind  kept returning to the vampire rabbit and what it suggested of the folklore of Northumberland. The very idea of a vampire rabbit seemed to call out for a tune. In writing this one I was challenged to make it just a bit hoppy, vampirish, and spooky, while still playable on the 7-key Northumbrian smallpipes chanter. It can be played slow, or faster - if you can manage it. Google "vampire rabbit Newcastle" to learn more.

X:61047
The evening after giving a mid-winter fiddle concert at the Truro Library, Dinah Mellin told me of the ethereal experience of playing a waltz in a room filled with light "purple and claret" from the low, late afternoon mid-winter sun. This unusual color combination evoked in me this waltz, my opus 1. For me its writing was a sudden awakening of almost religious intensity. I could actually write tunes.

X:61048
Ned Landry (1921 - 2018) of St John, New Brunswick, was a prominent Canadian old-time fiddler. He was a member of the North American Fiddlers Hall of Fame, and The Order of Canada.

X:61049
This jig was transcribed from the playing of Stewart Hardy on his "Hawthorne's Sweeter Shade" fiddle album *. Frankie Cleeve composer of this tune, is a fiddler living in north London. It gets played all year round, but never more than in the Yuletide season.
* https://www.stewarthardy.co.uk/product/10-yule-sea/