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Author Topic: Jolly Bird  (Read 3962 times)

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smiley

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Jolly Bird
« on: June 22, 2011, 11:36:39 PM »
In an old scrapbook I found the dots for a tune called 'Jolly Bird' but it doesn't appear in any published tunebooks I've got or in the usual internet tune sources. The tune name was mentioned in the old melodeon.net forum by Pauly Worly in 2007 and Mike Jackson recorded it on a CD for kids called Dr Knickerbocker. Here's the abc notation [not exactly how I play it]:

X:1
T: Jolly Bird
K: G
|"G" G2 gf g2 d2|"C" e2 e2 "G" d2 B2|"C" c2 c2 "G" GA G2|"D" A4-A4|
"G" G2 gf g2 d2|"C" e2 e2 "G" d2 B2|"C" c2 c2 "G" BA G2|"Em" E4-E4:||
"Em" E2> F G2 B2|"D" AG FE D2|"Em" E2> F G2 B2|"D" A4-A4|
"Em" E2> F G2 B2|"D" AG FE D2 EF|"Em" G2 G2 "Bm" FE D2|"Em" E4-E4 :||

Does anybody have some background to the tune, or their own version? Is it related to a particular person or area?
thanks, Ian
« Last Edit: June 23, 2011, 12:24:12 AM by dogbox »
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Lester

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Re: Jolly Bird
« Reply #1 on: June 23, 2011, 02:40:34 PM »
Nice tune Dogbox but I think there are some errors in the ABC,

X:1
T: Jolly Bird
K: G
|"G" G2 gf g2 d2|"C" e2 e2 "G" d2 B2|"C" c2 c2 "G" BA G2|"D" A4-A4|
"G" G2 gf g2 d2|"C" e2 e2 "G" d2 B2|"C" c2 c2 "G" BA G2|"Em" E4-E4:||
"Em" E3 F G2 B2|"D" AG FE D2 EF|"Em" E3 F G2 B2|"D" A4-A4|
"Em" E3 F G2 B2|"D" AG FE D2 EF|"Em" G2 G2 "Bm" FE D2|"Em" E4-E4 :||

A Music - should the third bar match the seventh, certainly sounds that way to me?
B Music - The first, third and fifth bars are short a bit of a beat when displayed in ABCNav with your coding and Bar 3 is missing two notes which are, I guess, the ones I've added.

Sorry cant be of any help with your questions though  ???

edited to correct my correction thus avoiding Skitt's Law  ;)
« Last Edit: June 23, 2011, 02:47:26 PM by Lester »
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smiley

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Re: Jolly Bird
« Reply #2 on: June 24, 2011, 10:47:54 AM »
Thanks for sorting out my mistakes Lester. I've obviously never mastered my abc's.
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smiley

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Jolly Bird - a rare bird indeed
« Reply #3 on: July 19, 2011, 02:14:23 PM »
I like a story with a happy ending, so here 'tis.
The Jolly Bird is played in english/morris sessions around Adelaide, South Australia in a set beginning with the Bear Dance. Local musicians first heard it in the 1980s played by a visiting morris side from New Zealand. Regardless of the tune's origins, I reckon its a beauty and deserves to be heard more.
You can hear the tune at http://www.onmvoice.com/play.php?a=60819
It's a rough recording and I apologise for the poor quality, but its my first attempt at this sort of thing.
Ian
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Ebor_fiddler

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Re: Jolly Bird
« Reply #4 on: July 19, 2011, 10:17:01 PM »
A very nice piece. Next TOTM? When I saw the name, my heart dropped as I remembered a tune with a similar name from which I suffered for something like ten years as each of my three younger sisters hammered their way through it around year two of their piano lessons.  :Ph It must have had its good points since they are all music teachers, but listenability wasn't one for: "Pretty bird, I have heard, What a xxx-xx song you sing, et cetera (rest of the words fortunately forgotten)".
Thanks for "JOLLY Bird".  :||:

Chris.
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smiley

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Re: Jolly Bird
« Reply #5 on: June 11, 2013, 01:34:27 PM »
I've resurrected this discussion after seeing mention of the http://www.kiwifolk.org.nz by Chris Ryall elsewhere. I emailed kiwifolk about the Jolly Bird and a knowledgeable Kiwi folkie pointed me to Jane Firth as their source for the tune, sometime in the 1980s (?).
She'd brought it over to NZ and  "it was played for a dance that she used to perform with Derby Crown in England. The dance was written by Darryl Dawson, the foreperson of Derby Crown, and Jane thinks that the tune was written by her husband Brian Dawson"

So does anyone on melnet know the Dawsons? The Derby Crown women's morris side seems to be defunct and I've run out of ideas.
I'd like to hear how the composer originally played the tune to see how its mutated over the years. Its such a good tune that it deserves to be played more widely. I'll put it on soundcloud when I get a chance to do a half-decent recording. Ian
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jonm

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Re: Jolly Bird
« Reply #6 on: June 11, 2013, 02:41:54 PM »
Brian (I think it may actually be Bryan) Dawson was a Derby Morrisman slightly ahead of my time; Derby Crown were a ladies' team and are indeed defunct.

I think you'll find any recordings etc. to be unlikely - we're talking late 70's / early 80's so the practice now becoming commonplace of recording things and putting them on YouTube instantly was a pipedream.

I remember the awe when Ram's Bottom (a band which grew out of the Derby Morrismen) released an LP. Now there was a band - featuring Barry Coope, Keith Kendrick, caller of note Ian Carter, Rick Scollins (Ey Up Mi Duck) and at various times other luminaries like Lester Simpson.
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pbsalt

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Re: Jolly Bird
« Reply #7 on: June 12, 2013, 06:32:30 PM »
I think you'll find any recordings etc. to be unlikely - we're talking late 70's / early 80's so the practice now becoming commonplace of recording things and putting them on YouTube instantly was a pipedream.
I don't know - I have quite a few cassette recordings of sessions from the late 80's onwards 
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911377brian

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Re: Jolly Bird
« Reply #8 on: June 12, 2013, 09:20:47 PM »
Smiley, tried clicking on your link but the recording comes up 'not available'...... :'(
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smiley

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Re: Jolly Bird
« Reply #9 on: June 13, 2013, 10:19:10 AM »

Quote from: 911377brian on June 12, 2013, 09:20:47 PM
Smiley, tried clicking on your link but the recording comes up 'not available'...... :'(
The onmvoice.com site disappeared a while ago, so I'll load another recording of the tune onto soundcloud. Bryan Dawson has been in touch and I'll write up the story of his tune's travels from its 'Russian' Derbyshire roots over to New Zealand then across the ditch to Australia.

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smiley

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Re: Jolly Bird
« Reply #10 on: June 13, 2013, 11:56:01 PM »
Here's a recording of The Jolly Bird. At sessions in Australia where I've heard it, its invariably played together with the Bear Dance. That combination was an inspired idea by Mark Hallam in Adelaide. After a few bevvies we tend to hit the tune change with gusto and give it a great lift. Hope you enjoy it too.
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911377brian

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Re: Jolly Bird
« Reply #11 on: June 14, 2013, 12:01:35 PM »
Smiley, thanks for that, it goes so well with Bear Dance. Will now abandon present learning project and take on 'Jolly Bird'. wish me luck.... :||: ;D
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smiley

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Re: Jolly Bird
« Reply #12 on: June 14, 2013, 01:17:30 PM »
Bryan Dawson provided this background to the Jolly Bird: "I wrote it in about May 1976 just after spending some time in Moscow which may have influenced my move into the minor key.  Daryl then put the dance to it."

So the 'Jolly Bird' I play is quite a rare bird: its a Russian-influenced morris dance tune from Derbyshire that went to NZ on a cassette tape. Then a NZ muso visiting Adelaide played it to some Aussie morris musos who took it up and later adapted it for bush dances.

I reckon this Bird has mutated and adapted so well that it deserves to thrive  (:)
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911377brian

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Re: Jolly Bird
« Reply #13 on: June 14, 2013, 02:11:56 PM »
Lester, what chance of you playing 'Jolly Bird'? Smiley's Soundcloud version is very nice but it would be very helpful to see your fingering and how you tackle this splendid tune..... :||: (:)
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smiley

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Re: Jolly Bird
« Reply #14 on: June 16, 2013, 04:46:29 AM »
I agree with Brian that a video of 'Jolly Bird' being played would be handy, as the audio doesn't show how the colourful parrot needs to stay balanced on your shoulder throughout the tune while you're wearing a silly hat pushed down over your eyes. And Lester would be just the bloke to sink a few ales and still carry the whole thing with aplomb  :|glug

or maybe not ;)
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smiley

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Re: Jolly Bird
« Reply #15 on: June 29, 2013, 06:05:51 AM »
Bryan Dawson has sent me a home recording of his tune played on a D/G melodeon and he's happy for it to be shared. I like the nuanced way he plays the tune and then comparing it with the rough treatment its received in the colonies (:)
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Re: Jolly Bird
« Reply #16 on: July 02, 2013, 12:43:39 PM »
Thanks so much Bryan Dawson of Derbyshire! Have been playing your tune for many years now. It now happily sits in a set with Bear Dance/Jolly Bird/Bransle de Bourgogne. We play it regularly at our English Session in Willunga, South Australia - https://www.facebook.com/pages/English-Folk-Music-Sessions/458642240841665. Hoping some of you Melnetters will join us some day!

Here's our set (sorry for any unexpected changes) -

X:1
T:Bear Dance - 2/4 - Em
R:Polka
C:Trad.
O:Flanders
M:2/4
L:1/16
K:Em
"Em"B2E2E4|B2E2E3F|"C"G2G2F2G2|"D"A6GA|"Em"B2B2"D"A2A2|"Em"G2G2"Bm"F4|"C"E2G2"D"FED2|"Em"E8:|
|:"Em"E2GGE2G2|"D"F2D2D4|"Em"E2GGE2G2|"D"A6GA|"Em"B2B2"D"A2A2|"Em"G2G2"Bm"F4|"C"E2G2"D"FED2|"Em"E8:|

X:2
T: Jolly Bird - 4/4 - G
C: Bryan Dawson from Derbyshire!
K:G
|"G" G2 gf g2 d2|"C" e2 e2 "G" d2 B2|"C" c2 c2 "G" BA G2|"D" A4-A4|"G" G2 gf g2 d2|"C" e2 e2 "G" d2 B2|"C" c2 c2 "G" BA G2|"Em" E4-E4:||
"Em" E3 F G2 B2|"D" AG FE D2 D2|"Em" E3 F G2 B2|"D" A4"Bm"A4|"Em" E3 F G2 B2|"D" AG FE D2 EF|"C" G2 G2 "Bm" FE D2|"Em" E4-E4 :||

X:3
T:Branle de Bourgogne - G - 2/2
C:trad
M:2/2
L:1/4
K:G
|"G" B>A Gd|"C" cB "D" AG|"G" G/2A/2 B "D" AG|"G" G/2A/2B G/2A/2B|"G" G/2A/2 B "D" AG|"G" B>A Gd|"C" cB"D" AG|"G" G "D" F "G" G2:|
|:"G" d2 "C" e>d|"C" cB "D" AG|"G" G/2A/2 B AG|"G" G/2A/2B G/2A/2B|"G" G/2A/2 B "D" AG|"G" d2 "C" e>d|"C" cB "D" AG|"G" G "D" F "G" G2:|

Cheers,
Mark Hallam
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smiley

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Re: Jolly Bird
« Reply #17 on: July 03, 2013, 12:22:06 PM »
Good to see another Aussie on melnet. And Mark in Adelaide can lay claim to having the only regular English tune session in Australia.
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