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[Clive Williams]

Here's a theme that we haven't run for six years, gosh!

Any tune used for, or connected with, Morris dance (or indeed the related dance traditions, hello you Molly, Rapper, etc fans); it can be authentic to a particular tradition if you like, or simply interpreted as you like to play it and not necessarily for dance; whichever you fancy!

Cheers,

Clive

[Lester]

How about the, in my opinion, least Cotswold morris sounding, Cotswold morris tune


Wheatley Trunkles

[folkbluesnbeyond]

This recent entry to a previous ThotM fits. There will be a fresh post in a while:

https://youtu.be/JwqJYREaqMs

PDF attached.

All the best

Bill

[Anahata]

Let's get prior art out of the way then...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AVdVM5RgOU - A tune I wrote, now used by Old Glory Molly
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XzOrizlCiw - Adderbury Princess Royal
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU8RHXEVXdY - William And Nancy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKDKSggP1tc - Young Collins
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UX--KYRn4YU - Idbury Hill
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQ48VEYxzx8 - Orange in Bloom/Sherborne Waltz

I'll get around to posting a new one dreckly...

[Jesse Smith]

Anahata, you can't leave out your recording of Old Molly Oxford, one of my favorites: https://youtu.be/A8alhcFYFPM

I probably won't have a new recording ready until late in the month, but here's my "prior art" as well:

Bonny Green Garters
Constant Billy

[Anahata]

Oh yes - don't know how I missed that one - thanks for pointing out!

[Peadar]

With the greatest respect to the serious musicians up in the organ loft, life is too short for us amateurs with day jobs where the rythym section is a pile driver to listen to your back catalogues. We listen to the back catalogues of our colleagues working lives in the bothy over a cup of tea and (on a good day) a bacon roll.

So I will wait for how you play it today...

Morris is either live or it's dead....just like any other dance (music).

[nigelr]

George Green's Slow College Hornpipe as used by the step clog side I play for in one of our routines.  Also used a lot for Border or Molly I believe:

https://youtu.be/6cdvCHLSDFw

This theme gave me an excuse to record it especially, so not "prior art" from me for once 

[playandteach]

With the greatest respect to the serious musicians up in the organ loft, life is too short for us amateurs with day jobs where the rythym section is a pile driver to listen to your back catalogues.
So I will wait for how you play it today...

Morris is either live or it's dead....just like any other dance (music).

I believe the purpose of the back catalogue posts was precisely to allow for the two areas - 'here are the old ones, if you want to listen to them, but new ones coming soon'. So that we didn't risk the ThOTM becoming swamped with drip-feed links to old videos OR the other end of the spectrum: has to be recorded during the month set. Whilst I too intend to listen to every new recording, as the main motivation for these monthly tunes is to get us playing, I will also listen to some older ones to see what the tunes are like, or just to listen to Anahata's Oakwood.
Also as a fine player here mentioned, we should welcome those in frail health to post back catalogues rather than not post at all.

[Anahata]

Peadar: point taken, but I did make it clear they are old ones, and listening is not compulsory!

[Mark Leue]

George Green's Slow College Hornpipe as used by the step clog side I play for in one of our routines.  Also used a lot for Border or Molly I believe:

We just call it Mr. Billy here, often used as a mass dance for border sides in the US.  Nice to know the actual title of the tune.

[Peadar]

Anahata: Accepted-and I don't mean to offend anyone but whilst I will try to listen to the current offerings I really don't have capacity to listen to everything else as well.

[Jesse Smith]

Well, I can certainly understand a concern about the ThotM threads ending up without a lot of new recordings relative to "ones I made earlier", and I do think it's more in the spirit of the thing for people to make new recordings. But from my own perspective, the Tune and Theme of the Month threads have been one of the best sources for me to learn new tunes and get new ideas. Especially as an American playing English music and not having any local connection to these tunes, my repertoire of tunes that I recognize has been greatly expanded by this forum. So from my view, the more music the merrier!

[Anahata]

OK, here's a brand new one: Riggs of Doom by Frans Tromp of Utrecht Morris.
Played on the Oakwood, because that's the one i'd use if I was playing for a dance team for real, and still do for ceilidhs (loud, fast!).

[folkbluesnbeyond]

And here is my up to date offering:

Squire's Jig, (Cave's Capers), which Adam Garland performed in Ipswich as he 'danced in' (?) as Squire of the Ring, with his sister Emma Melville playing a piano accordion about four years ago. Jon Melville kindly provided me with the notation, which he says is an arrangement from Michael Praetorius Courante, (and should be re-christened anyway). The dots indicate this was by Jim ME in 1981. As much as I know, (with no intention to go off thread).

https://youtu.be/GA8ENBG180Q

Played as for the jig. A.AB.(CB)2. Notation attached.

All the best

Bill

[Anahata]

Interesting, and yes, it is indeed a heavily mangled version of Praetorius's Courante. It makes a good morris tune!

[Thrupenny Bit]

As a dancer I never play for the morris as it is extremely difficult, particularly for the double step tradition I dance, Fieldtown.
Our other dance tradition is Bampton, a single step tradition.
Here's my favourite tune from Bampton, 'Step and Fetch Her' otherwise known as 'Shave the Donkey' for the chorus sung (!) on the last chorus of the dance.
I think it's roughly at our dance speed, possibly a touch quicker (?)

https://soundcloud.com/thrupenny-bit/step-and-fetch-her

cheers
Q

[Lester]

Here's my favourite tune from Bampton, 'Step and Fetch Her' otherwise known as 'Shave the Donkey' for the chorus sung (!)

<pedantry> Shave the Donkey and Step and Fetch Her are different dances to different, albeit, similar tunes. Shave the Donkey is a two part tune whereas Step and Fetch Her is three piece. </pedantry>

[Thrupenny Bit]

OK... fair enough. I take the point.
We'll just call it 'Step and Fetch Her' but we still always sing the chorus in the B part of the music last time through as we have done for over 40 years. The chorus we sing is
"Shave the donkey, Shave the donkey, Shave the donkey underneath the @rse" and it goes well with capering across the set.

How come we've run those two together is lost in time for us, though an early member was quite close to one of the Bampton sides, but it was a very long time ago.
Such creative mistakes keep traditions alive!
Q

[Tone Dumb Greg]

...Such creative mistakes keep traditions alive!
Q

The living tradition. Nicely played. Luckily, the tune is it's own entity.