aeroweenie - Posted - 03/01/2013:  18:18:34

This week's Tune Of The Week is "New Five Cent Piece", a fiddle tune in the key of D.  I stumbled on it while browsing youtube videos from the Centralia Campout and I really liked it, so I learned it.  I have no idea how prevalent it is in Old Time circles but was somewhat surprised, and pleased, that it had not been TOTW before.



Here is what Fiddler's Companion has to say:



"NEW FIVE CENTS [1]. AKA – “Five Cents,” "New Five Cent Piece." AKA and see “Buffalo Nickel [2],” "Ruffled Drawers." Old‑Time, Breakdown. USA; Cumberland Plateau border region of Ky./Tenn., western North Carolina, Missouri. D Major. Standard or ADae tunings. AB (Silberberg): AABB (Phillips): AABBCC (Titon). In the repertoire of fiddler Isham Monday (1879-1964), who played the tune in ADae tuning, but who tuned his fiddle so low it sounded below C. See also the closely related “Robinson County,” and the accompanying note. Marion Thede, in connection with an unrelated Oklahoma tune, prints the following lyrics, indicating the floating nature of some verses:



***

I wisht I had a new five cents, wisht I had a dime,



I wisht I had a new five cents, to give that gal of mine.



***



Mark Wilson says the tune is called “Buffalo Nickel” in the Ozarks, dating that title for the tune to around 1913 (albeit the melody may be older, under different titles). Drew Beisswenger (2008) points out the second strain is similar to the second strain of “Grey Eagle,” as played by Missouri fiddler Ike Helton. Gus Meade (2002) finds the earliest recording of the tune to be by Paul Warmack, who recorded it in 1928 as “Five Cents.” Sources for notated versions: Paul Warren [Phillips]; Isham Monday (Tompkinsville, Monroe County, Ky., 1959) [Titon]; Carthy Sisco [Silberberg]; Cecil Goforth (b. 1936, Eminence, Missour) [Beisswenger & McCann]. Beisswenger & McCann (Ozark Fiddle Music), 2008; pg. 186. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), Vol. 1, 1994; pg. 164. Silberberg (Tunes I Learned at Tractor Tavern), 2002; pg. 107. Titon (Old-Time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes), 2001; No. 109, pg. 138. County 787, Clarence Ferrill Band ‑ "Five Miles Out of Town: Traditional Music From the Cumberland Plateau." County CO-CD-2711, Kirk Sutphin - "Old Roots and New Branches" (1994. Learned from fiddler Bert Edwards, "a native of the hills of Alleghany County, North Carolina"). Marimac 9060, Jim Bowles – “Railroad Through the Rocky Mountains” (1994). Rounder 0435, Gene Goforth – “Traditional Fiddle Music of the Ozarks, vol. 1” (1999).



X:1



T:New Five Cents



M:C|



L:1/8



K:D



(A|:A)f2 f3e|dfed BcdB|Abde f2f2|e3 fe2[DA]-|[DA] f2 fgfe|



dfed BcdB|A2 FD ED C2|1 D3E D2(A:||D3 E D2 dB||



A2 F2F2 dB|A DFG F2 dB|A2F 2 FEDE|F E2F E2dB|



AFDF AFdc|B [GB] A BcdB|A FD ED C2|1 D3 ED dB:||2 D3 E D4||"





And here is a link to the Centralia Campout youtube video I learned the tune from:

youtube.com/watch?v=tWEA6M0qCVM



Here is a link to banjo and fiddle versions on Clawhammer Tune of the Day (great site):

clawhammertuneoftheday.blogspo...iece.html

 

And a nice version from Missouri:

mofiddledance.org/tunes/new-fi...-piece-3/

And here is my take on the tune.  I forgot to capo so it is in double-C rather than double-D:

New Five Cent Piece

Mtngoat - Posted - 03/01/2013:  20:35:24

A  Kentucky group from down on the Tennessee line, Walker's Corbin Ramblers recorded a version they called Ruffles and Bustles in 1934.

 amazon.com/Ruffles-And-Bustles...000QOB1DU

MrManners - Posted - 03/02/2013:  03:51:29

I first heard Paul Warren do this with Flatt and Scruggs,here is my 3 finger version,but i certainly bow to your tempo and melody notes,i will be doing some homework on mine-----Tom

mbuk06 - Posted - 03/02/2013:  04:07:47

Great tune and definitely one I now want to learn. Love your version. Thanks for picking it as the subject of TOTW.

Clawdan - Posted - 03/02/2013:  05:40:46

One of my favorites and Miss Jennifer's too.

erikforgod - Posted - 03/02/2013:  05:49:21

awesome I am listening to this right now!

Brooklynbanjoboy - Posted - 03/02/2013:  05:59:13

youtube.com/watch?v=IHCwnFK_qyE

Here's a fiddler playing it.  Helps me to hear what the fiddler's doing.

vrteach - Posted - 03/02/2013:  11:56:56

This is a great tune. It is very close to, and perhaps the same as, the tune Robinson County. I've got a version under that name, I think played in C because I didn't capo, which I call Robinson County after hearing it in a version on fiddle by "banjopogo".



I have a hard time playing it these days because the A part begins so much like "Rochester Schottiche" and the B part matches "Crow Creek", which we tend to do in D in Illinois..

 

Edited by - vrteach on 03/02/2013 11:58:37

Robinson County

Beachbum Scott - Posted - 03/02/2013:  13:17:47

I like this song and would like to learn it.

How does some one go about learning to read what i am assuming is some form of tab that was used?

stevel - Posted - 03/03/2013:  05:29:36

There's a tab in the archives:

hangoutstorage.com/banjohangou...12012.pdf

Sorry, don't know how to make a live link on my phone.

Edited by - stevel on 03/03/2013 05:30:40

Brooklynbanjoboy - Posted - 03/03/2013:  06:26:22

hangoutstorage.com/banjohangou...12012.pdf

Beachbum Scott - Posted - 03/03/2013:  08:24:05

Thanks guys I didn't think to look there.

Now about learning to read that "code" that was used, I have seen it other places. What is is it?

mbuk06 - Posted - 03/03/2013:  10:36:07

quote:

---

Originally posted by Beachbum Scott

Thanks guys I didn't think to look there.

Now about learning to read that "code" that was used, I have seen it other places. What is is it?

---

That 'code' is banjo tab. Simply a visual representation of your strings and which string to fret. A very helpful skill to learn and far easier than the abstract nature of standard music notation. There are guides to learning to read tab here on the hangout:

banjohangout.org/lessons/brows...amp;id=13

LyleK - Posted - 03/03/2013:  11:05:53

quote:

---

Originally posted by mbuk06

quote:

---

Originally posted by Beachbum Scott

Thanks guys I didn't think to look there.

Now about learning to read that "code" that was used, I have seen it other places. What is is it?

---

That 'code' is banjo tab. 

 

---

I think the code Scott is referring to is from the original post, where we have:

X:1

T:New Five Cents

M:C|

L:1/8

K:D

(A|:A)f2 f3e|dfed BcdB|Abde f2f2|e3 fe2[DA]-|[DA] f2 fgfe|

dfed BcdB|A2 FD ED C2|1 D3E D2(A:||D3 E D2 dB||

A2 F2F2 dB|A DFG F2 dB|A2F 2 FEDE|F E2F E2dB|

AFDF AFdc|B [GB] A BcdB|A FD ED C2|1 D3 ED dB:||2 D3 E D4||"

That code is abc music notation.  Copy and paste that to concertina.net/tunes_convert.html and hit "submit" and you can get a *.pdf of the muscial notation.  But from there to tablature is quite the journey. There is software that can convert abc notation to tablature, but it produces rather unusable tabs because it doesn't understand the subleties.

Oh, and nice tune.  Rarely played here because of the Crow Creek issue that Erich pointed out above.

Edited by - LyleK on 03/03/2013 11:07:31

mbuk06 - Posted - 03/03/2013:  11:23:52

Ooops...! I missed that one...sorry Scott. 

Edited by - mbuk06 on 03/03/2013 11:26:12

trapdoor2 - Posted - 03/03/2013:  15:54:03

Great tune. Was played a lot this weekend at Breaking Up Winter. I'm sure I played it at least four times over the weekend. Most there called it "Ruffled Drawers."

aeroweenie - Posted - 03/03/2013:  19:43:53

vrteach - nice version of Robinson County.  It is indeed very similar to 5 Cent Piece though I do hear a different chord change about half way through the A part, at the turn around.  If it were in D, I hear it going to G rather than A.

I'm glad to learn that it is widely played, I certainly enjoy playing it and look forward to the chance to play it with a real, live fiddler.

celtic trad - Posted - 03/04/2013:  15:09:44

Wasn't that an old Roy Acuff song?

RG - Posted - 03/04/2013:  22:44:59

I love Isham Monday's fiddling, he was born in 1879 and was playing professionally before the turn of the (last) century; he played with an almost flat bridge and really worked those drones, playing multiple strings almost constantly...a very archaic sound and a great tune...here's him playing it...

Edited by - RG on 03/04/2013 22:47:41

New Five Cents

slc - Posted - 03/06/2013:  15:51:40

^^^ That's some great playing!