I’ve chosen THE LOGGIEVILLE TWO-STEP for this installment of TOTW.
The tune was composed by Matilda Murdoch (1920-2019) a Canadian fiddler from Miramichi, New Brunswick. The Traditional Tune Archive says “She learned to play the fiddle as a child and played and performed throughout her life. She composed hundreds of tunes, many of which were 'covered' by other musicians, including Don Messer. She was inducted into the Order of Canada and the Order of New Brunswick and received a lifetime achievement award from Music New Brunswick in 2016.”
Ms Murdoch was known as the “Queen of the Down East Fiddle” and is remembered by her friends and fans “for being humble and kind with an absolute love of playing her fiddle. Almost always the first to arrive and the last to leave, she played her final engagement, along with all the other fiddlers from beginning to end, on her 99th birthday.”
A Canadian Snowbird introduced the tune to our weekly jam in January and it has become popular with our fiddlers.
Fiddlers have posted lots of internet performances, but no banjo version could be found. I’ve linked some of my favorites below.
Here’s Murdoch playing the tune at age 90: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FniMTwzxRZQ
Here’s a workshop class recital: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g25O79QkoXA
Here’s a working band: https://www.facebook.com/100061079241177/videos/loggieville-two-step-saltwater-joy/1902166120689203/
Here are twin fiddles with keyboard accompaniment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mK-izNggUFI
Here’s a jam group featuring mandolin: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2551910281742126/posts/3548199922113152/
Wikipedia says Loggieville, originally named Black Brook, was a village on the Miramichi River in Northumberland County, New Brunswick founded in 1809. The community developed into an important shipping port in the mid-1880s after the Canada Eastern Railway established its eastern terminus there. The village was amalgamated into the City of Miramichi in 1995.
I could not find a banjo tab for the tune, but most folks should be able to pick out a basic arrangement after listening to the recordings for a few minutes.
A transcription of the tune in standard notation is here: http://www.oldtimefiddletunes.net/tunes/LoggievilleTwoStep.pdf
Readers are encouraged to post observations, opinions, performances, and tabs contributing to this thread.
Wow! That'll start your day! Thanks for the lead on the notation(for those of us with only 4 strings).
Nice choice, as always, Mtngoat! A two-step sounds like a polka, but apparently there are differences. I read that the tune is literally famous in Canada. Coincidentally, Paul Roberts began a thread highlighting another famous Canadian fiddler who is said to have played many of Matilda Murdoch's compositions, Don Messer (https://www.banjohangout.org/topic/408770).
I listened to your link with the elderly Matilda playing The Loggieville Twostep. She looks great for 90, much like the worship team leader at my church who plays piano and allows me to accompany her on banjo each week. Music and longevity go together for many musicians we hear about. :)
Because Matilda's range is wide on the fiddle, I tried the cello banjo after trying a regular banjo tuning. I found that by tuning to open D, equivalent to open G but tuned down to dADF#A, I could get all the notes. I realize that for a jam, that might be hard, but some people bring two instruments to a jam. Another solution might be to have a six string banjo custom made by Ryan Navey of Carolina Banjos, but I haven't commited to the idea yet...It sounds like a lot of work to learn to use it well.
Boblamoy, thanks for the feedback. Consider posting a sample when you get it down.
Janet, fine work as usual. I'm not one for strict adherence to the fiddle melody, close enough is good enough for me, so I play what I can and hide behind the fiddle and bass for the notes outside the range of a particular banjo tuning.
quote:
Originally posted by MtngoatI'm not one for strict adherence to the fiddle melody, close enough is good enough for me, so I play what I can and hide behind the fiddle and bass for the notes outside the range of a particular banjo tuning.
I agree with you. When you play with a fiddle and in a jam, it's not important or necessarily desirable to play exactly what the fiddle plays. When I hear a duet where the two are playing identically, it doesn't really sound good. An example of good dueting is how Chris Coole plays with John Showman. They complement each other by being both distinct yet in sync: Chris Coole and John Showman live.
You know my playing here -- it's solo, as I enjoy the challenge of arranging a fiddle piece for banjo.
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