New Hampshire Country Dance Fiddle Tunes Website

This is a basic version of the melody. I also include a fuller version transcribed from the fiddling of Maine fiddler Doug Protsik. All eigth note rests apply to all players.

There were a number of guest musicians. Yvan Brault played piano on several tracks. He was an amazing piano player. I once got to watch him play at an evening party at the Champlain Valley Festival in the late 1980s and it completely changed my understanding of piano accompaniment. I certainly missed a lot in figuring out the chords; these are my best guesses and are much simplified from what he played.

Nearly every part of the tune was subject to variation, so this is really a sampling of how it was played.This was played by the Trio Rosaire Girard under the name Reel des pilotes (on 100 Ans de Musique Traditionnelle Quebecoise, Vol. 2: Deuxieme Epoque 1940-1960, compiled by Gabriel Labbé). I've seen it under other names as well.

The melody is a fairly standard New England version. Chords are from the playing of Randy Miller on Castles in the Air. The final D eighth note would be omitted the last time through the tune.

This tune was first recorded by button accordion player Theodore Duguay. This is a reasonably representative transcription of how it's played today.

Here's a transcription based on the teaching of Don Roy as taught at Maine Fiddle Camp, 6/15/02. Don sometimes plays it as a step dance tune for Cindy Roy.

The syncopated phrases were most likely played as ghost notes originally. There are a number of tunes which include variations of the A part in Quebec; in most cases those notes are still played as ghost notes. Using the bowing bowing shown above, this would involve a slight down bow instead of the rests.

Batchelder's Reel is often played together with Ross's Reel #4.

I often play the alternate chords listed for emphasis.

Much thanks to Randy Miller who found this book in the collection of the New Hampshire Historical Society Library. The repertoire and sometimes interesting versions of tunes likely represent the dance repertoire of the region a century or more ago.

This is a tune I remember hearing from Bowdoinham dances with the Maine Country Dance Orchestra long ago. They often played it with the Dominion Reel. There's another transcription from a recording Doug Protsik made for the Maine Fiddle Camp website in 2020.

Transcribed from the playing of Doug Protsik. This is a tune I remember hearing from Bowdoinham dances with the Maine Country Dance Orchestra long ago. There is another transcription from Old Grey Goose recorded in 1993, played in C.

This is how he played the tune for a recording. to be compared with how he wrote it, as shown in the previous version. There are substantial differences in both melody and chords. There are a few notes he consistently played slightly sharp; these are indicated by the "^" signs.

This is a New England version of the tune, learned mostly from Fennig's All-Stars.

This is a Québécois version of the tune, based on the playing of Joseph Allard. He plays it somewhat differently on earlier recordings.

Written for the Dionne quintuplets from Ontario, born May 28, 1934. Despite being relatively recent, it appears not to have a known composer. Some people play it straight through, some people repeat the first two parts in the order ABAB just the first time, and some people do that every time.

Written by Bob for Dave Cousineau, retired bass player for the Lamprey River Band. Chords by Peter Yarensky. I'm really not all that confident about chords for parts of the tune.

In measure A2 the A chord was written in by mistake at one point; but as I listened to the tune with an A chord I rather liked it so I left it in as an alternate chord.

I learned this version from Cammie Kaynor's Wellington Bilgewater recording; I don't know anything more about it.

I generally play the B7 instead of the Bm. Lady Walpole's Reel has been the traditional opening dance at many New Hampshire dances (especially in the Monadnock region) for many years. Many old-time fiddlers didn't play in Bb, so the Fireman's Reel became the standard tune for the dance.

May be played as a polka. I wrote this while I was living on Elm Street in Dover. Fisher Street was just a couple blocks away.

The chords for the B-part come from Otto Soper (1970-1975), an old-time Maine piano player and fiddler (who also played saxophone and other instruments) who was very influential in the playing of the Maine Country Dance Orchestra. Like many of the old time piano players, Otto only played major chords. The alternate chords (upper line) represent the more commonly played chords.

The A part especially is based on the playing of Louis Beaudoin. A few notes are in parentheses. They may be played as usual, as ghost notes, or treated as rests.

The Identitairs Québécois web site comments that the tune is an adaptation of Home Sweet Home, thus the name Quadrille de chez nous. The Ralph Page Orchestra started each phrase of the B part on a G chord. For many years that chord has been played as a C chord or, with some versions of the melody, as | G-C | G |.

See Glise de Sherbrooke #1 for further notes.

This is based on Louis Beaudoin's playin of the tune, under the name La Grande Chaine. This most likely referred to the name of a dance or dance figure done to the tune. More information with Glise de Sherbrooke #1.

This transcription is recommended for fiddlers and for accordion players who would rather not try to play all Marcel Messervier's ornamentation. There is another transcription that includes his impressive ornamentation. The chords are a bit difficult to figure out at times. I didn't even try to include the many passing chords that led into the next measure. The timing in the A part is a bit different from how Marcel Messervier plays it, with a more syncopated beat. This reflects how it was played at the jam session.

Melody and chords are from the Canterbury Orchestra recording. The alternate chords in the B part reflect the fact that Bob McQuillen had a few different ways of playing it, and I added in the F#7 that I sometimes play.

This is a standard New England version, although the B-part chords are a bit unusual. Simon St. Pierre, Maine French fiddler, played an interesting rather different version. Go to http://www.mainefiddlecamp.org/music-of-simon-st-pierre/ and click on The Woods of Maine for a PDF, or on the abc version right below.

The title probably refers to an associated dance rather than the tune. Chords are probably mostly correct. The parts involving diminshed chords seem to work best in root position.