vrteach - Posted - 03/07/2014:  22:11:31

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When eggerRidgeBoy sent me his standard note reminding me that my TOTW slot had arrived, I responded "Ack! I thought it was next week!" I had it all planned out; I would attend Breaking Up Winter and choose the tune that most grabbed me, and I would have a week to learn it and/or research it.

Well, I still wanted to do something from BUW but I only had one day to come up with it. The first two tunes that grabbed me were "Jaybird" and "Shoo Fly". Jaybird is a good tune although a bit difficult to work out a quick version, and I would have chosen it if Shoo Fly hadn't come along..

I've played along with "Shoo Fly" before, and this one was presented by Alan Jabbour in a workshop. I had a great time playing along with it BUT--my recorder didn't have a SD card in it, and the tune had left my brain by the end of the next tune in the workshop. Rats. I could work it out from versions on YouTube, even one by Alan Jabbour, but I wanted to something more associated with BUW.

So, towards the end of the day I joined in with a small group in which I knew one person, fiddler Jeff S from Chicago. And on the last tune he suggested Possum in the Well. We all said that we didn't know it, but as he got into the B part I realized that I had heard him play it before, and perhaps had played along with him, too. Anyway, we all enjoyed it and headed off to supper in the group lodge. I found that I kept on humming it to myself while eating the excellent meal of baked chicken, rice, and green beans. Luckily, I had gotten my SD card in the recorder by that time, and turned it on. So back to the motel...

About the tune; practically no history. The Fiddler's Companion says

POSSUM IN THE WELL.  Old-Time, Breakdown. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. A modern ‘old-time’ composition by Randy Marmouze.

Randy Marmouze is a banjo player in Indiana, I think in the Bloomington area. There are no examples of the tune on BHO or FHO, and one by Yopparai Kyabetsu on youtube as part of his banjo Friday series. Maybe someone can do a better job of searching. Oh, and the site traditionalmusic.co.uk has some notation at: traditionalmusic.co.uk/session..._well.htm

There is short youtube version at youtube.com/watch?v=2v2KweCRDJw, although as you will hear the B part is a bit different from what Jeff was playing.

The concept of a possum in a well is fairly disgusting. I've not had to deal with that, but I can tell you that a mouse (maybe a vole) in the well is quite enough to deal with.

I'm attaching two versions. One is the little session where Jeff was teaching it to us this evening. The fiddlers are Jeff, myself, and a woman whose name I didn't catch. The banjoist was a guy whose name I didn't catch. The other version is me on my WL-250 back in the motel room a couple of hours later.

Edit: I added a video version, one time through slow-ish and one fast-ish. I've got to work on getting more volume from that pinky-on-the-7th-fret part.

 

So, I just offer this as a fun-to-play tune, with no historical depth.

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Edited by - vrteach on 03/10/2014 09:44:47

Possum in the Well (BUW)

Possum in the Well

VIDEO: Possum in the Well (click to view)

LyleK - Posted - 03/08/2014:  05:36:56

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There may not be much history for the tune itself, but there's a fair amount on Randy Marmouze in John Bealle's book "Old-Time Music and Dance"  (iupress.indiana.edu/product_in...25334638X).  And the chapter on "banjo pedagogy" is an interesting read.  The book is a history of the music and dance scene in Bloomington, IN in the 70's.  I was a student there in the late 70s and had the pleasure of playing with Randy (and others) at some of the weekly dances at the "Jukebox."  Am headed to Bloomington for the weekend right now, so will have to wait to work on this tune.  Son is a student at IUB now.  Go Hoosiers!

ajisai - Posted - 03/08/2014:  05:44:34

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I've been enlightened! I picked the tune up from local jams--it's a fun one and I really enjoy playing it--and somehow I had filed it away in my brain as an "Illinois tune" without ever checking to see if that was true. : )

Breaking Up Winter sounds like a lot of fun!

vrteach - Posted - 03/08/2014:  05:58:03

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Lyle: I have that book and will have to revisit it when I get back home.

ajisai: BUW is indeed fun, particularly as the weather is quite nice here. It's warm enough to play outside mid-morning until the sun goes down.

J-Walk - Posted - 03/08/2014:  06:24:03

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This tune is also covered in Dan Levenson's "Old Time Festival Tunes for Clawhammer Banjo." I'd never paid any attention to it, though. Now I will.

vrteach - Posted - 03/08/2014:  06:52:58

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quote:

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Originally posted by J-Walk

This tune is also covered in Dan Levenson's "Old Time Festival Tunes for Clawhammer Banjo." I'd never paid any attention to it, though. Now I will.

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Ahh, that would mean that there is a Levenson fiddle version that can be downloaded from the Mel Bay web site, and I must have it some place.

Brooklynbanjoboy - Posted - 03/08/2014:  08:14:20

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Nice tune.  This is as close as I can get:

 

 

Shot on the downstairs porch of our cabin on the edge of Staunton VA's historic district with THE SNOW FINALLY MELTING and a morning heatwave pushing 50 degrees.

 

To be clear it was the video that was shot, not the possum.

 

Play hard,

 

Lew

whytelaydie7 - Posted - 03/09/2014:  17:56:29

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This is a great tune, I hope to take a crack at it soon.  However, the funny parts is I left the door open when I was getting some stuff together outside after having my coffee and checking out TOTW, and a damn possum just walked into my house while my back was turned, and was wandering around my mud room!!  I took this picture after gently evicting him.

Possum

vrteach - Posted - 03/10/2014:  09:43:11

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Lew: thanks for the fine version.

whytelaydie7: Could have been worse, I could have chosen "Skunk In The Collard Patch."

JanetB - Posted - 03/11/2014:  20:42:04

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Nicely played, Erich--a "modern, old-time tune" that's catchy and interesting.  Nice and rhythmic, Lew.  That possum of yours is going to climb right out of the well.

I'm playing with "modern gut strings"--nylgut.  Thanks for adding this rather obscure tune to our TOTW collection.

Ben's possum

Possum in the Well

Brooklynbanjoboy - Posted - 03/12/2014:  02:28:33

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JanetB.  You add a real lyrical sparkle to the tune. 

Steve Jeter - Posted - 03/12/2014:  06:42:05

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neat tune! thanks VR, im gonna try this ,

vrteach - Posted - 03/12/2014:  09:57:47

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That's wonderful Janet. Do possums make good pets?

JanetB - Posted - 03/12/2014:  16:59:29

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This possum made a good pet for a while, with two idiosyncrasies.  One is that she always wanted to explore around the house at night if she could get out of her box.  She didn't like the daytime much.  The other is that when we took her outside she eventually ran away, though we'd raised her as a teeny tiny baby saved as the sole survivor of a road kill.  She came back the first time after two weeks and next time disappeared into the wilderness for good.  Still, we have fond memories of Meister.  Here's a PDF file of my tab, learned from Erich's BUW recording.

Possum in the Well

Chadbanjo - Posted - 03/12/2014:  17:19:34

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Cool tune, funny name. A lot of old time tunes have these unusual names., funny with out explanation. The feller who came up with and named this tune more then likely had an experience with a possum in a well.

Possum in a Well. Was the Possum dead or alive.

The tune played slow or fast.... as in examples posted above seems light hearted or exciting.

I conclude the possum was alive. It was either content or angry.

 

CS Memphis - Posted - 03/13/2014:  13:23:00

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quote:

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Originally posted by ajisai

I've been enlightened! I picked the tune up from local jams--it's a fun one and I really enjoy playing it--and somehow I had filed it away in my brain as an "Illinois tune" without ever checking to see if that was true. : )



Breaking Up Winter sounds like a lot of fun!

 

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Breaking Up Winter is a ton of fun, wouldn't miss it for anything!  In fact, this year my band had a wedding to play in Memphis on Saturday night, but I still ran up to Lebanon with a buddy to catch Thursday night and Friday of BUW - and even managed to sell a banjo to Jeff S., who was referred to as the inspiration for this TOTW.  ;)  Enjoy your new George Banjos five-string, Jeff, and what a great tune.

theblindmattdark - Posted - 03/13/2014:  16:45:27

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Hello - I'm pretty new to banjo and have been browsing the forum for a while. I was inspired to learn this tune, it is a fun one! The parts that I couldn't quite figure out how to play I just made up.

whytelaydie7 - Posted - 03/17/2014:  10:32:20

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Got to take a crack at it last week.  a little windy, but at least I was outside!!!

 

VIDEO: Possum in the well: BHO OT tune of the week 3-14-14 (click to view)

vrteach - Posted - 03/17/2014:  12:57:11

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I've been away for a few days--Thanks Matt & Alan! Fine versions both.

Also, thank you Janet for the tablature.

jaydobro - Posted - 03/17/2014:  13:27:13

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Enjoyable. Thanks,   Jay