ScottK - Posted - 07/26/2013:  08:37:51

Hi All,

This week’s Tune of the Week is Black Hills Waltz.  I learned this tune from Lisa Ornstein last year while preparing to play for a contra dance with her and my buddy Joe Moore.

From The Fiddler’s Companion:

BLACK HILLS WALTZ. American, Waltz. USA, Arizona. A Major. AEae tuning. AB (Silberberg): AABB (Shumway). Kartchner said, "it goes at least back to 1890." Source for notated version: Kenner C. Kartchner (Arizona) [Shumway]. Shumway (Frontier Fiddler), 1990; pg. 265. Silberberg (Tunes I Learned at Tractor Tavern), 2002; pg. 11. County 2730, Rafe Stefanini – “Glory on the Big String.” Okehdodee OK75003, Kenner Karchner – “The New Beehive Songster vol. 1: Early Recordings of Pioneer Folk Music.” Rounder CD 0359, Skip Gorman - "Lonesome Prairie Love" (1996).

Lisa said that Kenner Kartchner, author of the book Frontier Fiddler, was her source for this tune.  Rafe Stefanini has a good recording of Black Hills Waltz on his Glory on the Big String.  The Deseret String Band has another good recording of it on their Utah: Songs of Statehood.

While preparing this post I found sheet music for Black Hills Waltz on the Library of Congress Performing Arts Encyclopedia.  (I didn’t know there was such a thing.)  It’s dated 1877 and lists the author as H.C. Marcyes.  I don’t read music, so can’t tell if it’s the same tune.  I’ll have to leave that exercise for someone who does read music.

My version of Black Hills Waltz is posted on my BHO music page.  When I posted it last year I received a request for corresponding tab which I never had time to produce.   I figured that by making this my TOTW choice I would get myself to write that tab.  But it’s been a busy week and I still haven’t got to it.  I should have time to write the tab this weekend so will try to get that posted by early next week.

Finally, here's a YouTube video of the Mountain Boomers Old-time String Band playing Black Hills Waltz (which they call Black Mountain Waltz):

All for now, Scott

hendrid - Posted - 07/26/2013:  09:34:47

PDF of the sheet music.  Several key changes.

hetzler.homestead.com/transcri...Waltz.pdf

Some commentary, more than one tune with that title?

mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid...39#681633

hetzlersfakebook.com/music_3.html

Down the page under waltzs,  tune and sheet music

mne.psu.edu/lamancusa/tunes.html

Edited by - hendrid on 07/26/2013 09:43:36

janolov - Posted - 07/26/2013:  09:54:52

I think the sheet music neither from Library of Congress and from Hendrid do match Scott's recorded versions. Here is a better fiddle notation  mne.psu.edu/lamancusa/tunes/blackhills.pdf  that is closer to Scott's versions (if anyone is interested in fiddle notation).

JanetB - Posted - 07/26/2013:  10:24:11

Scott, I couldn't wait to try your prettiest version of Black Hills Waltz, so I tried tabbing it.  I hope it's close to what you played.

Black Hills Waltz tab

ScottK - Posted - 07/26/2013:  10:37:51

Wow, thanks Janet!  Your tab looks pretty close to what I play.  I'm at work right now, but will try it out with banjo in hand when I get home later.

And thanks for the contributions Don and Janolov.  That comment at the bottom of the Mudcat Cafe discussion is interesting:

I would like to verify the authorship of the Black Hills Waltz. We think that its author was our great grandfather, Hiram R. Marcyes. We think that he wrote it round the time that the Federal Govornment ordered all of the white settlers out of the Black Hills, one of whom was my great grandfather.

Makes me more curious about the history of the tune and whether there is some linkage or evolution between the H.R. Marcyes version and Kartchner's version.

Scott

LyleK - Posted - 07/26/2013:  11:37:08

Real purty!

​The original from Kartchner is at: slippery-hill.com/M-K/AEAE/Bla...Waltz.mp3

I looked at the Marceyes composition and don't see anything much in it that sounds like Kartchner's, but I'll give it a more careful look over the weekend.  Incidentally, the transcription at Hetzler's is note for note from Marceyes, except that Hetzler missed the first key change from G to D.

ScottK - Posted - 07/26/2013:  17:48:48

Thanks Lyle!

I hadn't known that any Kartchner recordings were available.  I don't have the book myself.  But now that you pointed it out, I did a little more Googling.  Per this Mudcat Cafe discussion there was a cassette tape recording to accompany the book.  And this archived FHO thread indicates that there was a Kartchner recording called "Tunes from Deseret, AZ".  I haven't been able to find too much on either of those recordings.  But I did find a couple more Kartchner recordings on Slippery Hill:

Birds in the Brook (Key of F)

Walk Along John to Kansas (Key of A)

Tom Wagner (Key of C)

I hadn't realized that Kartchner was a (the?) source for Walk Along John to Kansas.  That's a popular tune around here and no one has chosen it for a TOTW yet. 

One of the cool things about doing a TOTW is that it gets you digging a little deeper into all this stuff.  I just picked Black Hills Waltz, because it's a pretty waltz and it's fun to play.  Hadn't given too much thought to the source.  But now I'm curious and will probably order a copy of Frontier Fiddler to satisfy that curiosity.  Before poking around on this stuff I didn't know what Deseret meant, and now I do. 

In my original post I forgot that there's another good recording of Black Hills Waltz on the Pleasant Hill CD.  Really bluesy version featuring Joel Bernstein in a harmonica / banjo duet.  I highly recommend the whole CD!

Scott

Edited by - ScottK on 07/26/2013 17:51:01

hendrid - Posted - 07/26/2013:  22:01:47

Thanks Scott, off topic but if you type in Deseret String Band and Red Rock Rondo on youtube.com some nice music there.  Interesting looking at this background and history and such.   Don

JanetB - Posted - 07/27/2013:  13:54:14

This is so pretty I could play it all day on both the cello banjo and a Whyte Laydie.  I'm using your version, Scott, and I can play along with K.C. Kartchner's fiddle on the Slippery Hill web link above.  In the Milliner-Koken Collection of American Fiddle Tunes there's a little bio information.  His full name is Kenner Castille Kartchner (1886- 1970) and he resided in Snowflake, AZ.  He worked in the Forest Service and Fish and Wildlife Service for many years.  His grandson, Larry Shumway, published his book, Frontier Fiddler:  The Life of a Northern.  Here's what he says about it on an amazon review:  "K.C. Kartchner was my grandfather, and I barely knew him when he passed away in 1970, when I was eleven years old. However, this book, K.C.'s unfinished memoir, paints a vivid picture of his youth, as well as the historical, religious, and geographical context whence he sprung. His early career as an intinerant fiddler, which began around the time his father was serving a Mormon mission (during a crucial period in K.C.'s life when he sorely needed fatherly guidance), made him a sort of "rock musician" of his day. In that framework, it is much easier to understand some of the later events of his life. In any case, he had some interesting adventures."

Edited by - JanetB on 07/27/2013 14:04:26

Black Hills Waltz

banjo_brad - Posted - 07/27/2013:  14:31:44

The Kartchner book is an excellent read, and the last chapter is composed of 17 transcriptions of his tunes, the very first of which is, ironically, "Black Hills Waltz."

Brooklynbanjoboy - Posted - 07/28/2013:  14:01:36

I'll take a crack at it.  On a "new" -- for me -- old A scale banjo joining a Wyatt Fawley neck and a Vega Little Wonder Style S pot -- with a 24.5 inch scale.  Cute little banjo.  I've long wanted a neck by Wyatt.

must fret - Posted - 07/28/2013:  15:26:32

Couldn't get this out of my mind - lovely song so I took a shot at it.

Paul

Black Hills Waltz

ScottK - Posted - 07/29/2013:  20:12:19

Hi All,

I'm really enjoying all the versions you've posted!  Sounds great!

Turns out that I spent Saturday morning learning Jones' Waltz to play at a square dance that evening with my son Erik.  If Black Hills Waltz left you hankering for another waltz to work on, Jones' Waltz is another fun one.  Key of D.  Future TOTW, maybe.

This thread got me inspired to pull my copy of Glory on the Big String off the shelf and listen to it in the car during my commute to work.  I haven't listened to it in a while and forgot how good it is.  Now I'm smitten with "Walking Water" which is not good, because I have too many tunes on my to-learn list already.  Anyway, I highly recommend the CD if you don't already have it.  It's also got Kartchner's "Walk Along John to Kansas" on it.

Scott