Monthly Archives: September 2014

Quebec Tune of the Month for September 2014: La valse du coq

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By popular request, here is (yet another!) version of a tune most closely associated with the dance, the varsovienne (a type of waltz, also called varsoviana and varsouvienne) which took western Europe and North America by storm in the the mid-1800s. The melody is eminently singable and associated sets of lyrics (and parodies) have circulated widely in Ireland (Shoe the Donkey), France and Quebec (Votre petit chien, madame) and the United States (Put your Little Foot). There are as many variants of the dance as there are tune variants. Generally, the A part tends to be the more stable of the two-part version of this tune, while there are many different melodies played for the B part.

“La valse du coq” (The Rooster’s Waltz) is a Quebec version. I can’t even remember where I first heard “La valse du coq” in Quebec; 78 rpm recording artist Joseph Allard recorded a fiddle version under this title (complete with bird calls) in 1930; my version is a bit different from his. Because there are so many different B parts, I’ve included a second B part (from the Montmagny region). For yet another Quebec variant of this melody, check out the Quebec Tune of the Month for Dec. 2012 (a lovely version from Isidore Soucy in the key of G). 

La valse du coq (dance speed, mp3) [wpdm_file id=421]

La valse du coq (sheet music, pdf)[wpdm_file id=422]

Old Time Tune of the Month for September 2014: Hell Up Cole Holler

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Here’s a great tune from Glen Lynn, Virginia fiddler Henry Reed (1884-1968). Alan Jabbour did a great deal of visiting with and recording of Henry Reed in the 1960s and his field recordings, notes, and transcriptions are now published on a wonderful website.  When I was seventeen, I spent a happy summer transcribing Henry Reed tunes for Alan as an intern at the Library of Congress Archive of Folk Song, and have been a fan of Henry Reed’s eclectic grab bag of tunes and his inventive renditions ever since. Here is what Alan has to say about “Hell up Cole Holler”:
“Hell up Cole Holler” is a local favorite of the last generation in Monroe County and environs. Ross Miller of Monroe County played a similar tune called “Devil up a Stump,” which was recorded by the Hollow Rock String Band (Kanawha 311). The tune may have wider ramifications, but none can be shown here. It is of a type that sounds like a breakdown, but also has a touch of the country rag in it, underscored by its choice of the key of C and its alternations between (implied) tonic and dominant chords. A fragment of this tune appears again on AFS 13705b14, followed by a full performance of “Fiddler’s Drunk and the Fun’s All Over.”

Hell up Cole Holler (dance speed, mp3)[wpdm_file id=418]

Hell up Cole Holler (sheet music, pdf)[wpdm_file id=419]