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Old-Time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes | 
| Author: Jeff Todd Titon
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
Category: Book
List Price: $45.00
Buy New: $36.00
You Save: $9.00 (20%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 751524
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 272
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.9
Dimensions (in): 10.1 x 6.8 x 1
ISBN: 0813122007
Dewey Decimal Number: 787.209769
EAN: 9780813122007
ASIN: 0813122007
Publication Date: October 5, 2001
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Book Description
For years fiddlers and folklorists have prized the old-time fiddle tunes from Kentucky. Many of the most outstanding country music artists hail from the state, including Bill Monroe, widely regarded as the founder of bluegrass music. Even Aaron Copland lifted, note-for-note, a Kentucky fiddler's performance of “Bonaparte's Retreat” for the “Hoedown” section of his ballet Rodeo. That tune and nearly 200 others are transcribed here, most for the first time. They are taken from recordings of Kentucky fiddlers, many of whom were born before 1900, practitioners of a style of playing now extremely rare. Jeff Todd Titon places the tunes in their historical context, provides biographical sketches of the performers, and offers suggestions for contemporary fiddlers who want to use the book for performance. A compact disc of recordings is also included.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 Indispensable Resource for Fiddlers August 22, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is an indispensable resource for people interested in the fiddling traditions of Kentucky. It includes transcriptions of 170 tunes from a number of Kentucky fiddlers, some well-known (relatively speaking) and some rather obscure. The tunes also run the gamut of familiar (Arkansas Traveler) to obscure (Cotton Bonnet, Pick a Little Cotton and Spin Some Too, and many many other examples). Transcription alone may not be enough to convey the sound and feeling of the tunes so Titon has included a CD with this volume which is a selection of tunes from the book played by the source fiddlers. I wish Titon had included more tunes on this CD as it only covers a few of the 170 tunes in the book. However, for those who wish to locate more of the source tunes, there is a great resource where one can download many of them for this book (but certainly not all). It is the Digital Library of Appalachia (do a Google search and you will find it). Here you can search for a tune or fiddler and download MP3's for free. Much of Titon's book is based on field recordings done by folklorists like Bruce Greene and John Harrod, and these people have donated their recordings to the various libraries involved in the Digital Library project. For example, one can download the complete home recordings of Kentucky fiddler John Salyer on this website-- this includes all the Salyer tunes in Titon's volume and many more that are not transcribed in his book.
In my experience not all of the transcriptions exactly match the source tunes, but Titon admits in the introduction it is nearly impossible to fully capture a fiddler's setting for a tune on the written page. This is true, and I use this resource as a companion to the source tunes to clarify certain passages when needed and learn the tunes primarily by listening to them. Titon's transcriptions are clean and simple, and he does not muddy the page with a lot of prescribed bowing patterns-- he allows the fiddler to interpret the transcription and come up with his/her own bowing patterns for the tunes.
Each tune has a brief history printed below the transcription along with a list of other fiddlers who have recorded the tune (published and unpublished versions) and other books where the tune has been transcribed.
This volume also includes an excellent introduction on the evolution of old-time fiddling in Kentucky and the various tune types that have evolved in Kentucky (Titon outlines 3 different types distinguished by region). Titon includes a capsule biography section that gives a brief bio on each of the fiddlers whose tunes are transcribed in the book and in many cases a photo of the fiddler.
Overall, this is a great resource and learning tool for fiddlers and others interested in Appalachian fiddling traditions. It is in my opinion one of the best (if not the best) books on the subject of Appalachian fiddling. Highly recommended!
must have for any fiddler's library July 9, 2006
This is a terrific book for anyone who loves old time fiddle music. Easy to read transcriptions of some different regional styles, including references to field recordings and other artists. The back of the book features biograpies of important Kentucky fiddlers with many great old photos.
Then, if you really want to know what this stuff sounds like... there is a cd included which is guaranteed to inspire you to play or just go to Kentucky as I did.
 not that great July 15, 2004
11 out of 19 found this review helpful
Maybe my expectations for this book were off base. The book has 170 fiddle tunes and also alot of historical and geographical references of where in Kentucky they originated from. I see that the book was funded in part by grants and it does read like alot of Masters Theses and grant proposals that I've encounted. Which is to say I think it's packaged well but also has alot of b.s. in there. I wouldn't recommend this book especially if if you want to learn some fiddle tunes, which gets back to the fact that maybe I was expecting something else altogether. On the cd there's 26 of the 170 tunes and only 9 of these are in standard tuning. Also the pitch is often way off and the transcription don't seem to jibe either. The better thing to do is just forget about the transcription and try and fiddle along. In this repect there are some pretty interesting recordings. What this book is mainly is a reference book so if you want to learn some fiddle tunes I'd say to spend your money on something else such as the Fiddler's Magazine Favorites book which comes with 2 cds and all the tunes accuratly transcribed. I don't see it on Amazon but Fiddlers Magazine puts it out ... Another good book is the Advanced Fiddling Book by Craig Duncan. It does get pretty advanced but some of the tunes are more beginning and intermediate. Also not on Amazon from what I can see but I think it's through Mel Bay. Mel Bay's Complete Fiddling Book, also by Duncan (and available thru Amazon) has some good beginning to intermediate tunes but the video which must be ordered seperatly through Mel Bay doesn't have all that many of the 300 tunes in the book so if you want a recorded rendition this is a problem as only about 10% of the tunes are on the video. What it does have though is good. Again I can see how the other reviewers gave this Kentucky Fiddle Tunes book 5 stars because it's a nice package and a decent reference book but you better be into altered tunings quite a bit... Anyway there's no way I'd tell a friend it was anything above 2 stars.
Kentucky Fiddling January 31, 2004
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
There are very few good compilations of fiddle tunes from various states. While there are excellent tunebooks from a range of fiddle traditions, it is also important to have great collections of good tunes from individual states and regions. This book is an important addition to the research on fiddling traditions that comprise an important part of American folk music. The introductory materials in the book provide a fine understanding of the background of fiddle traditions in Kentucky. Titon then presents the transcriptions of dozens of great tunes, and the book includes an audio CD to help provide a better understanding of old-time fiddling in Kentucky. Highly recommended for fiddlers and old-time music fans.
Get it now, don't wait October 17, 2002
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
It took me a while to cough up the do, re, mi for this one, but I'm glad I did now it's in my hands. I love this book because it's all about the music. It has enough ethnomusicoligy in it to assure you it's honest. It has a wealth of wonderful tunes both in print and on a CD. The CD gets the underlying rhythm across like notation just can't do. And the stories about the old boys and girls are a bonus. Too many old time fiddle books seem to be a catalogue of old boys. You sometimes wonder if the author ever heard them play. Not this book. This is a university press publication, so if it sells out it probably won't be available again for a long time, if ever. So get it now.
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