Klarinet Archive - Posting 000297.txt from 2001/10

From: "Michael Bryant" <michael@-----.uk>
Subj: [kl] And now for some new news
Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2001 01:16:41 -0400

My-oh-my! What did those monks get up to!?

The Flash March 1869
Chop Sticks 1877
Hearts and Flowers 1893
The Mississippi Rag 1897
Alabama Dream 1899
Blaze Away 1901
Smokey Topaz 1901
Teddy Bears' Picnic 1907

Charles Ives: The Pond 1906
Charles Ives: Like a Sick Eagle 1909
Charles Ives: The Indians 1912
Charles Ives: The Rainbow 1914
Charles Ives: Luck and Work 1916
The last five genuinely need a basset horn!!

But . . . Turkey in the Straw - Unknown (arranged in 1919 by David W.
Guion) - c.
1830s: Turkey in the Straw, which many of us grew up with on children's
records or tapes, actually started out life as a terribly racist
pre-minstrel song called Zip Coon. It is unknown who actually originated the
tune, but there were at least three pre-Civil War blackface performers who
were known to have performed it regularly on stage and in minstrel shows,
complete with a hoe-down style jig dance. The "Zip Coon" character was
represented in the minstrel shows as a free black who was one of the finest
dressed men about town in his part of the big city, although education and
attitude were not always noted factors in the character. He was opposite of
the not-too-bright but affable "Jim Crow" caricature. Of equally mysterious
origin is the more popular set of lyrics that make up Turkey in the Straw,
although there are publications as early as the 1880s that apply this tune
to that title. It was a favorite of fiddlers, banjo players, and pianists,
and commonly included in performances or contests during the Ragtime era.
The arrangement presented here is not the same one that is contained in the
sheet music covers shown here, which was initially published in 1899 as a
"Rag-Time Fantasie". It is a more challenging and interesting rendition from
1919, based largely on John Philip Sousa's band arrangement, that is
actually more of a piano fantasy than the arrangement shown. It includes a
number of common pianistic tricks of the era, with some salutes to more
traditional and classic styles.

MB

Michael Bryant

www.rosewoodpublications.co.uk
www.codamusic.com/coda/fs_home.asp
fax +44 (0) 20 8390 3236

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