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In 1989 Early Turner passed away at the age of 89. We have found an old reel to reel tape of him playing the violin a few weeks before he died. This is all that could be recovered. This was my grandfather that I grew up listening to play the violin.
Does anybody know the tune?
Does anybody know how to transpose the notes?
I would Love to be able to play 1/2 as good as he did in his life. He even played on the vrand ole opre in years past. Short story, he always shared that when he was a young boy that he traded his first horse to an old farmer in Kentucky for his old violin. When he got the violin it was already over 100 years old. His violin was his most cherished possession here on earth.
WIt was converted to a black s screen video to edit and recover tune.
Thanks for any information you might can share.
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Adorable, what a great history, I have some old time fiddlers coming over this week, I will see if they know.
And hopefully they will be able to notate it for you....will check back...they kind of get really interested with things like this, so I'm sure they'll help...(if you haven't had a reply by then)...
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love it! anybody here think its possibly a version of Westphalia waltz? it seems close. I'd at least like to give it a try and see if can come close. thanks for posting this was good! cool history as well.
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Thank You!
I know it is early but your replays have touched my heart already.
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DrMike
Very cool to have a recording of your grandfather playing and to remember him playing that song.
I don't recognize that song but hopefully some one will help figure it out.
Mark
Master the Frog and you have mastered the bow.
Albert Sammons
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@DrMike
Im thinking this was a viola or alternate tuning..maybe a 5 string? I could be wrong. This is a very rough transcription and I left off the 2nd time through since it seems to just being played an octave higher. Again this is real rough and what I could come up with. Think its played in F. Someone fact check if you want to jump in. Also, Ive listened to most of what I have in the way of waltzes and cant find anything that matches to MY EAR. It could be the most obvious tune from that time but I don't know what it is.
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this starts out close to what he was playing. see what you think.
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Thank you! Sounds close, I will look at music also. You may be right about tuning, he was an old man then and from the hills of Kentucky so they may have turned differently. He also would have had old type gut strings and I assume they would sound some different.
Thank you again.
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no problem. and the more I lve listened to different versions of this id say this was what he was playing. I was able to play on violin starting on G string but it didn't sound low enough and when I tried to play along with your recording on my keyboard thats when it seemed like he was either detuned or using something other than a fiddle in standard. here is another link to a transcription someone did in G that might be helpful and another youtube link
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Could it be a small viola? I am not sure, but her arm angle looks more like my arm angle when holding my 15.5” viola than when I hold my violin. The sound is more like my viola than a violin. Does this help?
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@DrMike , @Mimi Aysha , @ABitRusty , @Mark
Is this the sheet music?
Here is a link to the video of the guy who learned it using the above sheet music link:
It was apparently written about the Shannon River in Ireland. What I read about it, one place said it is bluegrass, another said it is Celtic. Does Ireland have Bluegrass? Since it is about the Shannon River in Ireland, I would think it is some form of Irish. The sheet music comes from a Celtic music site.
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it could have been the recording process as well shifting the pitch if thats possible. and he was in G instead of F. most of what I found was in G and played on violin. It just sounded lower to me when I was working with it last night. BUT.. after I guessed it being in F I searched for fiddle waltzes in F and that was when I found the links above so there may be something to what I was hearing. at any rate I'm pretty sure this is the tune. Nice waltz. ginna have to learn it. good post Drmike thanks!
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There are tune detection apps either free or for a small amount that can detect a tune. I have successfully used Soundhound. You simply hold your phone up to the source of the music. My past teacher used something like this to identify tunes.
Here's a link to a few others-
If he wasn't in tune I could see that maybe throwing it off. He seems to be well on pitch.
There's a DAW called Ableton Live 10 that can take audio and change both the key and the speed of the audio.
Not sure if either of these will help, but I figured I would throw that out there.
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"If he wasn't in tune I could see that maybe throwing it off. He seems to be well on pitch."
It sounds like he is in tune and plays great..I just wasn't sure if he was using an alternate tuning like alot of old time fiddlers do. And regional differences give a tune differences as well of course.
@DrMike I found a version of it in F and Gdae tuning for fiddle on melbay in this book as played by Ron West. I'm thinking the version in this book is supposed to be a Texas/Oklahoma version of it if Im remembering what Ive read. I know your Grandfather was a Kentucky fiddler so it will be slightly different. Lol..this one has been an earworm and alot of fun searching for and a good exercise. There isn't any audio versions of the tunes available with the book though so bummer there but youve got the source already and once you mess with it I'm sure you'll be playing along.
https//www.melbay.com/Products/20583EB/favorite-american-waltzes-for-fiddle.aspx
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Maybe? But it sounds to me like he is playing in A and not in G
Thanks to all!!
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@DrMike
In my post above, I have this sheet music with a link, the same one you have here. Also in that post is a link to a guy playing it that used this sheet music to learn it. Listen to that and compare to your grandfather’s version.
It is Shannon Waltz.
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The guys here thought Shannon too...got these first few notes...will carry on next time if you would like it all...they all loved it!
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I found this little program called melody scanner while I was trying to help my friend with some fill in solos - and it seems to work with some fiddle too if anyone needs - Seems pretty close...with some adjustments - Can see where it would be helpful sometimes.... I'm sure everyone may have already known this but I didn't, so just sharing!....I'm glad to have found it, when there is no option to buy the sheet music...
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