Heard this tune played by the Carolina Chocolate Drops ! Hauntingly beautifull !
I’d like to try this tune on my whistle but fail to find the dots (or abc). I know it’s not ITM but maybe someone can help me.
Thanks in advance…
It can be played on a D whistle half-holing the F naturals. I’ve found the term “jig” is used rather loosely in stringband repertoire. Anyone else notice that. I’m terrible at notation or I’d try to write it out. It is notated in the 'drops songbook. CCD Songbook
There has been some discussion about the cd and the tune on a couple of banjo and Olde Tyme boards too. I do not remember seeing tabs or ABC though. A search might turn up something for you though. I’ll look around a bit later on. Snowden’s was written (or collected) by Dan Emmett, an Irishman by the way, who is infamous for having also written “Dixie” and others like “Old Dan Tucker”. He along with Stephan Foster were the superstars of the 1850’s or thereabouts. You may be able to find a version of one of Emmett’s collections.
Feadoggie
I can’t help with dots, but thanks Feadoggie for posting the url for that YT video. Love it.
Thanks for the great video and the link to the book, Feadoggie. I did a search but sofar that turned up void… I’ll keep on searching though…
Credit to Histojobman (hope I got this right) who posted this on the BlackBanjo-group at Yahoo… but this is not playable on a D-whistle (unless you transpose, I guess but I’m not good enough yet to see how that would work)…
There you go! Nice find.
I’m just a player I don’t do dots but her’s a basic outline that might get you started.
A | f(nat) e | ddCe dCAG | f(nat) e |ddCe dCAG |
ACef# g2f#g | ACef# g2f#g | ACeg a2ga | ACeg a2ga||
Of course Giddens varies the tune quite a bit as she plays through it but you should be able to pick things up from here.
When I first heard Snowden’s I thought of a Loreena McKennitt type arrangement for some reason.
^WHS^ Thanks for that. Brilliant. 
I love the Chocolate Drops version of that tune too. I got to see them live a few months ago…was right up at the side of the stage. Very good!!!
-Brett
Thanks for the link to video, a pleasant and unexpected surprise. 
Got even more intrigued by the celtic-chocolate drop connection after seeing the following clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aChSCpczhzo&feature=related
I’m also glad that Brett saw them live and kicking as I first misread the video heading to “RIP 2008” instead of
“PIP 2008”.
Cheers!
/M
Thanks to Feadoggie for the ABC’s but I do have another questions. Maybe I’m missing something but you wrote that the tune could be played on a D-whistle (with half-holing the F nat’s). How can I play the C’s mentioned in the ABC with a D-whistle ?
However you usually prefer to play Cnat
on a D whistle… It’s pretty common.
Half hold or cross finger. Most whistles
can cross finger with
0X0 000
0XX 000
0XX X0X
Yep, what fearfoin said. (Thanks) I assumed too much, I guess. I assumed that a high D would be the most likely key of whistle at hand for most players. And…I assumed that we’ve all been confronted by c-naturals in tunes written in the key of G. Half-hole (D00 00000) or cross-finger as you may prefer. The f-naturals are the blue notes that stand out in the A part of the melody so I pointed them out (not nearly as common as c-naturals on a D whistle). The B part of the tune uses f-sharps. I was just giving you some notes to get you started. I assumed that once you have those notes and the range of the tune that you would “feel” the variations in time. The tune is mesmerizing and thanks for calling attention to it. It would sound nice on a low whistle (it sounds good on a dobro too!). And while we concentrate here on the notes Rhiannon Giddens is playing, the rhythm provided by the gentlemen is not to be overlooked. Body percussion is just so primal.
Feadoggie
Is there a more ‘natural’ whistle for this note set? I guess the fnat/f# would need to be oxxooo and oooooo, making the whistle a G?
Is this how it works? (music theory is not my strong point).
There’s nothing wrong with your thinking, DrPhill. A G whistle would work well. It depends on what you want to do with the melody (what notes you want to color and how) and where you want the range of the piece to sit. I come from it as a string player. Dan Emmett was known to play banjo (he probably was familiar with other instruments as well). Some think this tune is best suited traditionally to a fretless nylon strung banjo with a natural skin head. (I’ve got a 19h century banjo for this kind of stuff but it’s not fretless) The fiddle works quite well because it can bend the notes too and the bow dynamics add a lot to the performance. Hang the tradition! We’re whistlers here and we want to play the tune too. Maybe a slide whistle is called for in this case.
I’m still hearing Loreena McKennitt a la Book of Secrets in my mind.
Feadoggie
Thanks for the confirmation Feadoggie. At my level of competence I just want to be able to play without stumbling on the half-holed Fnat.
Hmmm, I have like a few of her songs, (The Highwayman particularly). Perhaps I should look up some more…
Yes, that’s the type of instrumentation and arrangement I’m referring to. The Highwayman was on the Book of Secrets CD I believe.
Of course since I said that I’ve been hearing Otha Turner playing Snowden’s on a fife in my head along with a dobro, banjo and fiddle. Kinda like this: Otha Turner
Now I just may have to go to work on this tune. Thanks, Belgian Waffle!
Feadoggie