Oyster River
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Transcription: by Darryl D. Bush
The tune is identified as an "Irish Reel" in Kerr's<br> Merry Melodies vol. 1 (c. 1880's), although it is a polka<br> and not a reel. It appears under the probably American title<br> "Oyster River" set as a hornpipe in William Bradbury Ryan's<br> Ryan's Mammoth Collection (1883), perhaps referring to<br> Oyster River, New Hampshire. The hamlet of Oyster River<br> Plantation was the scene of a devastating massacre during<br> King William's War in 1694. Abenaki Indians, incensed at<br> abuses from the English population and encouraged by the<br> French, killed or captured nearly 100 settlers, one third<br> of the population.<br> I learned the first two parts of this at our Monday night jam.<br> The reason for the octave double stops in the B part is that<br> if I am playing this on tenor banjo or octave mandolin I<br> like to slip into the lower octave occasionally. I sometimes<br> do that on mandolin or fiddle just for fun. I don't<br> play both notes simultaneously.<br> I learned the third part from Adam Hurt and Megan<br> Lynch Chowning's CD Inside Out. If you play the C part, play<br> AA BB CC and end with either an A (omit the pickup to B) <br> or a B part.<br>
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