Larry Warren of http://slippery-hill.com/ has been maintaining a public digital collection of C, F, and Bb tunes for some time. He has now added to his site digital audio versions of most or all of the 1404 fiddle tunes in Claire Milliner and Walt Koken’s collection.
As a result, everyone on planet Earth has easy access to virtually the entire old time repertoire via the internet.
When you see Larry, please give him a warm “thank you.” Below is a description of the project in his own words.
The Slippery-Hill site really started at an Old Time party in Newfound Lake, NH back in 2005 I think. There was a C tune session that went on for 3 or 4 hours. I got thinking that I only knew 6 or 8 tunes in the key of C. So I started collecting C tunes. I have traded out of print LP’s and cassettes for years so I have quite a big collection to choose from.
Then I decided to make the C Tune web page so other people could listen to them. I started with a couple hundred tunes. Well, people started coming across the site and sending me suggestions and if I didn’t have the tune they’d send it to me. The F tune and Bb pages came shortly after that. The DDAD, GDAD and Calico pages are more recent additions. As of today (08-22-2011) there are 465 tunes on the C tune page. To me that’s amazing.
Before I started that C tune page it was hard to find people to play in C. Now it seems like everybody places C tunes. Or maybe it’s my imagination.
The Milliner-Koken idea came to me the day I got the book in the mail. Even if you don’t read music the book is worth the price of $90. It’s an incredible resource.
I can read music, but learning a tune from dots on a page, is to me, far far to much work. I have to listen to the tune. So why not have a web page with all the tunes from the book on it. Try to get the exact source Clare and Walt cite in the book. I must say I’m still working on that part. I didn’t want to get too carried away until I could get Clare and Walt’s blessing on the project. I got that at the 2011 Mt Airy music festival. When I left the festival I had my lap top with me and I got to work. My goal was all 1404 tunes up there by CliffTop.
I have probably 85% of the tunes in my collection. In the beginning the tunes I didn’t have were not linked. People started finding the site and bingo I was flooded with tunes in my mailbox. They came in so fast I couldn’t keep up with it.
BTW, if there is an asterisk beside the tune on the M-K page it probably is not the exact source cited in the book. (And if anyone has the exact tune cited in the M-K book, I’d appreciate an mp3 of it!) It will always be the same artist however. With two exceptions. The two Fate Morrison tunes. Fate’s family is very sensitive about allowing recordings of his music to become public. I do have copies of Brad Leftwich playing the two tunes up there though. Thanks to Brad for giving me permission to use those.
Speaking of permission, my biggest fear is copyright problems. That’s why I only use about 1 minute and a half of the tune and link to where a person can buy the recording if possible. Many of those recordings are still available.
I do want to say that although the M-K has been alot of work (my wife has used the word obsessive more than once) it has also been alot of fun. And the help I’ve gotten is incredible. People sending me tunes, corrections, advice and encouragement. Dr. Malcolm Smith, Jerry Dallal, Keith Stubbs, David Allen and a couple people who want to remain anonymous have been a big, no huge help.
And of course I need to thank my wife Susan for her patience, she is quite extraordinary with that virtue.
Larry Warren
Tags: audio resource, larry warren, milliner/koken, slippery hill
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