abbey - Posted - 09/23/2010:  19:56:20

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TOTW Ducks on the Pond, aka Ducks in the Pond

I learned Ducks on the Pond this past spring from Matt Morelock, my first banjo teacher. I loved this tune from the first time I heard it-which is why I chose it. I was pleased to find out that it is one of the Henry Reed tunes.

Though I was familiar with the name, I didn't know much about Henry Reed until last spring when I attended Breaking Up Winter near Nashville, and attended a workshop by Alan Jabbour. Back in the 1960s, Alan Jabbour was in the process of recording traditional fiddlers in the South, heard a fiddler play some tunes that Mr. Jabbour had never heard before (including Ducks on the Pond), and went to visit the man who was the source, Henry Reed. You can read more about Henry Reed here loc.gov/folklife/news/pdf/FCNxxii3.pdf scroll down to page 10), in the Folklife Center News, in an article written by Alan Jabbour.

Field recording of Henry Reed playing Ducks on the Pond
memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r...ed:@field (NUMBER+@band(afcreed+13037a20)) .

Alan Jabbour speaking briefly about Henry Reed
aca-dla.org/cdm4/item_viewer.p...06&REC=14

Ducks on the Pond, Alan Jabbour fiddle, Bertram Levy banjo
aca-dla.org/cdm4/item_viewer.p...879&REC=4

A list of artists who have recorded Ducks on the Pond ibiblio.org/folkindex/d10.htm#Duconthp

A youtube version I love, by the Me, Myself and I Stringband (actually BHO member Gadaya) youtube.com/watch?v=oBnbURyTuu8 on tenor guitar, banjo and fiddle.

Also on youtube, a couple of clawhammer versions:
il.youtube.com/watch?v=az_FLyc...e=related
il.youtube.com/watch?v=X_Pc6TmCyQE

The version I learned has reversed A and B parts as compared to the Henry Reed recording. In a quick survey of BHO and FHO, a little less than half of the recordings on are also reversed. Its a great tune either way! Of all the excellent recordings on BHO, this is most like the one I learned banjohangout.org/myhangout/mus...icid=1830 . I believe this is the same person as in one of the youtube videos linked above.

arnie - Posted - 09/23/2010:  20:02:21

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I love this tune & play it often. I recorded a banjo version on "5 Strings Attched With No Backing" with Chris Coole

LyleK - Posted - 09/24/2010:  04:06:28

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Great pick! I always forget about this one because of its sister tune that shares nothing other than the title (Ducks on the MILLpond). Hi to Matt M. from me when next you see him.

hendrid - Posted - 09/24/2010:  05:07:20

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thesession.org has the sheet music and ABC in G and under the comments tab has the Henry Reed version ABC in D.
Don

thesession.org/tunes/

LyleK - Posted - 09/24/2010:  06:17:44

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quote:

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Originally posted by hendrid
thesession.org has the sheet music and ABC in G and under the comments tab has the Henry Reed version ABC in D.
Don

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This is a mode issue. The tune ends on "A," and is variously written with one sharp (so A Dorian, as in the sheet music at thesession.org) or two sharps (so A Mixolydian, as in Jabbour's transcription of Henry Reed). Reed played this as A Dorian/Mixolydian (with a dash of major when he played a G# in the second measure).

carlb - Posted - 09/24/2010:  06:49:04

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For years, Ducks in the Pond" was my "Choice" banjo tune (another BHO topic), until it was replaced "Singing Birds".

vrteach - Posted - 09/24/2010:  07:25:23

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Great tune, and one that I never really learned even though I enjoy it.

Your link to the Library of Congress copy of Henry Reed's field recording is broken. Not your fault, the LOC American Memory site has the worst URLs in the world. It's hard to understand how browsers can handle that site at all!

I got to it by going to the main American Memory page memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html

and typing in "henry reed ducks pond" without the quotes. A page for "Ducks in the Pond" shows up as the first choice, and that then has the link to audio files.

banjoannie - Posted - 09/24/2010:  07:36:46

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Someone have some tab to get me going...

hendrid - Posted - 09/24/2010:  07:45:19

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Yes, Lyle I just looked at the one sharp on the sheet music, the ABC shows K:Ador, Thanks

X: 1
T: Ducks On The Pond
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: barndance
K: Ador
|: [A,4E4] [A4e4] | edef g4 | B2Bc BAGA | BABc BAG2 |
[A,4E4] [A4e4] | edef gaba | g2e2 d2B2 |1 A3B A4 :|2 A3B A2e2||
|: aebe a2g2 | edef g2g2-| gfga bagf | edeg age2 |
aebe a2g2 | edef g2ba | g2e2 d2B2 |1 A3B A2e2 :|2 A3B A4 ||

bluemule_77 - Posted - 09/24/2010:  08:16:18

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quote:

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Originally posted by arnie

I love this tune & play it often. I recorded a banjo version on "5 Strings Attched With No Backing" with Chris Coole

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And a fine job you did! One of my favorite albums.

Mark Johnson - Posted - 09/24/2010:  09:10:12

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quote:

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Originally posted by vrteach


Your link to the Library of Congress copy of Henry Reed's field recording is broken. Not your fault, the LOC American Memory site has the worst URLs in the world. It's hard to understand how browsers can handle that site at all!

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Here's the link to the whole Henry Reed archive, which is so worth a visit: memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/reed/

Here's a more direct link to the tunes that start with D: memory.loc.gov/ammem/collectio...tleD.html

The link thing is frustrating (and agreed about their URLs, Erich), I'm hoping it doesn't dissuade anyone from visiting the site and hearing all that Alan gathered.

Great TOTW. I may have to record a version this weekend. Like others here, it's one of my favorites to play.

cbcarlisle - Posted - 09/24/2010:  09:31:01

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This has been one of my favorite hammered dulcimer tunes since I learned it from Larry Hanks in the mid 1970s. We were recording a movie soundtrack (for a film which didn't use but a few seconds of the whole project) with a bunch of old-time musicians, including Byron Berline, Skip Weschner, and Holly Tannen. Larry and I were sitting on the sidewalk outside the studio in the San Fernando Valley, at 2 in the morning, while the others were recording and all we had was his mandolin. I was especially taken with the two slower, octave rising notes at the beginning of the low section. I don't play the mandolin but I made him show me how to play it and I practiced and practiced until I got it in my ear. When I returned to San Diego I pulled out my old Washburn taterbug and relearned it until I could transfer it to the dulcimer.
I've been playing it ever since and, a few years ago, I played it at a San Diego Folk Festival workshop when Larry was there, telling the story. He didn't remember the tune.
It's on my new CD, "Banjer on my Knee," which comes out next month.

Curt Bouterse
curt.bouterse.com

Yigal Zan - Posted - 09/24/2010:  10:05:00

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My favorite rendition of Ducks On The Pond is Earl White's fiddling. There is no banjo - a fact which suits my learning style. I prefer to learn the melody, timing, etc., from a fiddler rather than a banjo player, then find the notes on the banjo on my own, and only after coming up with my own arrangement, I might check those of others. Banjo accompaniment gets in the way of learning the fiddler's melodic line.

aca-dla.org/cdm4/item_viewer.p...596&REC=1

abbey - Posted - 09/24/2010:  10:13:39

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quote:

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Originally posted by Yigal Zan

My favorite rendition of Ducks On The Pond is Earl White's fiddling. aca-dla.org/cdm4/item_viewer.p...596&REC=1

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I love this one!

rendesvous1840 - Posted - 09/24/2010:  10:57:52

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Is this the same tune as "Ducks On The Mill Pond"?
Paul

dangibson - Posted - 09/24/2010:  12:25:00

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quote:

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Originally posted by Yigal Zan

My favorite rendition of Ducks On The Pond is Earl White's fiddling. There is no banjo - a fact which suits my learning style. I prefer to learn the melody, timing, etc., from a fiddler rather than a banjo player, then find the notes on the banjo on my own, and only after coming up with my own arrangement, I might check those of others. Banjo accompaniment gets in the way of learning the fiddler's melodic line.

aca-dla.org/cdm4/item_viewer.p...596&REC=1

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Interesting.

That's the same version I used to learn the tune (It's on my music page). I also prefer learning from a solo fiddle rather than a banjo (with or without fiddle) for the same reasons you mentioned. Either way, it's a great tune and makes a great TOTW.

Dan Gibson, Storyteller/Banjoplayer
Dallas, TX; Burlington, NC
dangibson.net

LyleK - Posted - 09/24/2010:  12:29:07

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quote:

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Originally posted by rendesvous1840
Is this the same tune as "Ducks On The Mill Pond"?
Paul

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They are decidedly different tunes, per my comment above. The ducks on the mill pond are "happy" (D major), while the ones just on the pond are rather forlorn (A Dorian).

rendesvous1840 - Posted - 09/24/2010:  13:37:18

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Somehow I missed your post above. Thanks for clarifying.
Paul

ramjo - Posted - 09/24/2010:  14:20:04

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I learned this from Cathy Fink's driving version on "Banjo Haiku." Clip here. Her high part is a bit different. Miles Krassen had this on the flexi-vinyl that came in his "Clawhammer Banjo" book. In his introduction to the tune he encourages us to "try different ways of playing the first [high] part varying your use of drop thumbing and pull-offs." Great tune. Thanks abbey and thanks for the info and versions from all the remarkers above.

PS. This makes a tasty medley sandwiched between "Pretty Little Dog" and "Frosty Morning"

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Edited by - ramjo on 09/24/2010 14:21:27

Yigal Zan - Posted - 09/24/2010:  19:13:46

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Just to clarify, I didn't learn Ducks On The Pond from Earl White's fiddling. I learned it (the tune! not a banjo arrangement) from friends in Los Angeles in the late sixties. I saw and heard Earle White for the first time in this year's Port Townsend "Tunes" festival. Having been impressed with his playing, I googled the net, and one of the hits was his clip at the Digital Library Of Appalachia. I was astonished by his timing, and other fiddling aspects. Simply said, I have never heard as good a rendition of the tune as his in that clip.

BANJOJUDY - Posted - 09/24/2010:  21:04:19

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quote:

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Originally posted by Yigal Zan

Just to clarify, I didn't learn Ducks On The Pond from Earl White's fiddling. I learned it (the tune! not a banjo arrangement) from friends in Los Angeles in the late sixties. I saw and heard Earle White for the first time in this year's Port Townsend "Tunes" festival. Having been impressed with his playing, I googled the net, and one of the hits was his clip at the Digital Library Of Appalachia. I was astonished by his timing, and other fiddling aspects. Simply said, I have never heard as good a rendition of the tune as his in that clip.

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Thanks for the info, Yigal. He starts the tune the same way I do. I always get mixed up when someone plays the B part first.

Monday - we'll play that tune together in what promises to be an A modal Monday perhaps.

janolov - Posted - 09/25/2010:  01:04:54

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I have tried to figure out a version based on Henry Reed's fiddling. His music is very interesting. In a lot of tunes he is modulating between minor (or dorian key) and major. Some phrases is based on minor (or dorian) and some phrases on major. In this tune he have changes between minor and major thirds (C and C# - third and fourth fret on third string on banjo) and between minor and major seventh (G and G# - third and fourth fret on first string on banjo).

Yigal Zan - Posted - 09/25/2010:  05:30:44

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See Monday Judy, but... it is better to speak of high and low, not of A and B when it comes to parts. You and Earl start with the low, Henry Reed starts with the high, which is the way I learned, had and will always play it. A. Jabbour and B. Levy also start with the high part. There are two Henry Reed renditions in the URL below. (The tune name has "in" instead of "on.") He starts with the high part in both.

Note: don't click, copy the entire address to the clipboard and paste into the address box; make sure there are no spaces, and then go. Works for sure with IE and Firefox.

memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/
S?ammem/afcreed:@field(TITLE+@od1
(Ducks+in+the+Pond))

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Edited by - Yigal Zan on 09/25/2010 06:57:14

Kitt - Posted - 09/25/2010:  13:51:12

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Arnie's version on the 5 Strings Attached With no Backing is a real winner. His playing on that tune qualifies as a significant inspiration to learn to play clawhammer.

Julian 44 4 has a tab that renders, what I consider to be, an interesting, nice sounding version of the tune.

Here's the link to that tab:
clawhammerbanjotab.co.uk/page2...0Pond.pdf

RWJones1970 - Posted - 09/26/2010:  14:58:04

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*** Some really nice versions here. I learned this tune from Miles Krassen's Clawhammer Banjo tab book. It's one of my favorite modal tunes. Here is a vid of me playing what I learned.

youtube.com/user/77Fairbanks77...VVbNRITU4