New York Folklore: Volume 14, No.3-4: The Anglo-American Fiddle Tradition in New York State

VOICES
The Journal of New York Folklore

The membership magazine of the
New York Folklore Society

Look inside issues of this publication and join the New York Folklore Society now to receive more issues.

The Journal of New York Folklore was published 1975-1999. Back issues are still available.

The New York Folklore Quarterly was published 1946-1974. Back issues are still available.

New York Folklore Society
P.O. Box 764
Schenectady, NY 12301
518/346-7008
Fax 518/346-6617
nyfs@nyfolklore.org

NEW YORK FOLKLORE
Vol. 14, Nos. 3-4, 1988
Folk and Traditional Music in New York State
Ray Allen and Nancy Groce, Guest Editors

THE ANGLO-AMERICAN FIDDLE TRADITION IN NEW YORK STATE
by Simon J. Bronner

British settlers spread their fondness for dancing to the accompaniment of the fiddle across the North American continent. A single fiddler could rouse a whole community, even in the back reaches of the colonies. The fiddle helped to carry Old World culture across the new nation. With his old familiar tunes and a style that recalled the mother country, the American country fiddler could lead dances, lighten the load at work bees, delight the young, and raise conversation at the village crossroads. Portable and capable of a rich piercing sound, the fiddle was the common backdrop for North American work and play.

New Englanders coming to New York State in great numbers during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries brought their fiddle-tune tradition with them. In one respect the New Englanders who moved to New York outdid their British cousins. Dancing became even more the rage in New England than in Old. Among the favorite dances were jigs, reels, contra dances, cotillions (forerunner of the square dance), quadrilles, minuets, and hornpipes. Commonly relying on the storehouse of British tradition, many of the old tunes for the dances were converted to the new national spirit. In 1807, for example, A Selection of Cotillions & Country-Dances offered the “Federal Cotillion” along with the old “Money Musk.” That same year, Collection of the Most Celebrated Figures of Cotillions and Contra Dances included “Humors of Boston,” “Jefferson and Liberty,” “American Fair,” “Democratic Rage,” and "“Independence.”

Still, the old British Isles tunes persisted. One reason for this was that the familiarity of the tunes helped to signal the dances. Another was the repetition of the short tunes to accompany dances. Both dancers and musicians easily remembered the tunes and called for them at dances. The shared repertoire also lent itself to communal music-making at social gatherings where many instruments could be heard joining in unison on a folk tune.

The British fiddle tune was almost free of syncopation; notes were brief and distinct. The melody had a clear, lilting quality. Many listeners have also noted the “endless” character of the old fiddle tunes; the last strains lead easily to the repetition of the tune....

PURCHASE THIS ARTICLE

To order this article, click on an order button below to purchase through Paypal or with your credit card. We will send you a PDF of the article via e-mail upon receipt of your order.

ITEM #602 "Fiddle Traditions" (NYF 14, No. 3-4, pp. 22–36) $3.00
Member Price (NYF 14, No. 3-4, pp. 22– 36) $2.00

BACK TO NEW YORK FOLKLORE, Vol. 14, No. 3-4 — Table of Contents.

NOTE: The New York Folklore Society Newsletter and New York Folklore Journal were replaced by Voices: The Journal of New York Folklore which debuted in December, 2000.

Membership in NYFS includes a subscription to Voices: The Journal of New York Folklore.