6/8 IN A AND D

The following tunes are tunes in 6/8 time in the keys of A major and D major.

A MAJOR

1. Nameless tune played by Stewart Carmichael, accompanied by Paul Gifford, dulcimer, Jon Blasius, guitar, Evart, Michigan, October 1971.

2. Here are two different versions of the following nameless tune. Les Raber recorded it as Jig in A, the name he henceforth used for it; but he learned it from Varsal Fales, who thought of it as a tune he learned from George Wheaton, a fiddler from Allegan County.

a. Nameless tune played by Varsal Fales, accompanied by William White, piano, Bud Pierce, dulcimer, Paul Gifford, dulcimer, Hastings, Michigan, June 14, 1981.

b. Nameless tune played by Arthur Gage, of Lake Orion, Michigan, accompanied most audibly by Paul Gifford, piano, and Clarence Ewing, guitar, at a jamboree in Romeo, Michigan, April 23, 1977.

3. Cock o' the North played by Gale McAfee, accompanied by Paul Gifford, guitar, Manton, Michigan, May 1975.

4. Nameless tune played by James Moran, accompanied by Paul Gifford, dulcimer, St. Clair Shores, Michigan, January 18, 1978. Moran learned this from a cousin; it was said to be the tune that his great-uncle, Patrick Moran (b. 1846), liked to start the first set of square dances with. He played at many firemen's dances and other events in Flint.

5. Nameless tune in A and D played by George Pariseau, accompanied by Mina Pariseau Hurdell, piano, Bad Axe, Michigan, 1941.

6. Nameless tune played by Frank Stevens, accompanied by Paul Gifford, dulcimer, Sand Lake, Michigan, August 8, 1971.

7. Nameless tune played by Helen Gross, accompanied by Paul Gifford, piano, Saline, Michigan, April 25, 1978.

8. Sandy Floor played by Gale McAfee, accompanied by Paul Gifford, dulcimer, Manton, Michigan, May 1976. He said that his father called the words "Mother, oh, Mother, my toes are sore / From dancing so long on your sandy floor" to this tune, which is in A minor. I met only one other Michigan fiddler, who was from around Marshall, who played a version of this. Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle, March to the Fife) includes (no. 452) nine versions of this tune, with the name O Dear Mother My Toes Are Sore.

D MAJOR

1. The following nameless tune seems peculiar to western Michigan. Once I was playing somewhere in that part of the state, and someone requested a tune that her grandfather had played. She said or sang a little of what he had sung to the tune: "Wishteroddity, wishteroddity!" I played this tune for her, and she said that was the tune! Surprised, I later told Viola Cox, who played that tune on the dulcimer, having learned it from her father. Viola's daughter-in-law, Esther, who was from around Worcester, Massachusetts, claimed that must be "Worcester Oddity." On the 1977 ODPC record American Hammer Dulcimer, this tune was labelled Worcester Oddity. I mention the story behind the naming in order to explain how arbitrary such names are. This tune may be a version of New Rigged Ship, but, in any case, it was widely known in this version, up and down U.S. 131.

a. Nameless tune played by Frank Mattison, accompanied by Ken Staines, tenor banjo, Paul Gifford, dulcimer, and others, Sheridan, Michigan, February 22, 1976. Frank said that this was the first tune he ever learned.

b. Nameless tune played by August Hasted, accompanied by William White, 2nd fiddle, and Paul Gifford, electric toy organ, Spring Lake, Michigan, September 22, 1985.

c. Nameless tune played by Varsal Fales, accompanied by William White, piano, Paul Gifford, dulcimer, at Hastings, Michigan, June 14, 1981.

2. Nameless tune played by Pete Keller, accompanied by Paul Gifford, piano, Cross Village, Michigan, September 7, 1976.

3. Nameless tune played by Pete Keller, accompanied by Paul Gifford, tenor banjo, Cross Village, Michigan, January 30, 1977.

4. Nameless tune played by Pete Keller, accompanied by Paul Gifford, tenor banjo, Cross Village, Michigan, January 30, 1977.

5. Rabbits in the Brush Fire played by Edward Kranz, of Harbor Beach, Michigan, accompanied by Paul Gifford, piano, at a jamboree in Port Hope, Michigan, April 30, 1977. A tune composed by Kranz.

6. Nameless tune played by Orin Miller, accompanied by Paul Gifford, dulcimer, Scottville, Michigan, September 8, 1977. This tune is similar to others, like Bill Walker's on this page, but we should probably consider it as a different tune.

7. Unknown quadrille in D, B minor, and G, played by Orin Miller, Scottville, accompanied by Paul Gifford, dulcimer, Scottville, Michigan, September 8, 1977. The three parts suggest that it appeared in Gems of the Ball-Room or some other collection.

8. Nameless tune played by Russell Nelson, accompanied by Paul Gifford, guitar, Lansing, Michigan, January 7, 1978.

9. Lucille played by Walter Taylor, accompanied by Glen Martin, guitar, and Paul Gifford, piano, at a jamboree in Romeo, Michigan, April 23, 1977.

11. Nelson Harkness' tune played by Wallace Tuttle, accompanied by Paul Gifford, dulcimer, and William White, guitar, Lansing, Michigan, February 1, 1977.

12. Nameless tune played by Wilbert (Bill) Walker, accompanied by Phil Miller, piano, and Paul Gifford, dulcimer, at Kinde, Michigan, April 29, 1978.

13. Unnamed tune played by Elmer House, accompanied by Paul Gifford, guitar, Mackinac Island, Michigan, August 2, 1976.