Pacific Slope
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Standard Notation
ABC Notation
Mandolin Tablature
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traditional
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Transcription: by Darryl D. Bush
"Pacific Slope" is an American contra-dance and old-time breakdown, reel or<br> hornpipe known in the Midwest, southwestern Pa. and New England in A Major.<br> The parts are played AABB (Christeson, Cole, Hinds, Phillips, Sweet) or AB<br> (Bayard).<br> The Pacific Slope refers to that part of North America that drains into the<br> Pacific Ocean, a term that had particular meaning in the 19th century prior to<br> the formation of the region into states and territories. Then it was America’s<br> “manifest destiny” to settle and develop the lands of the Pacific Slope, then<br> the frontier.<br> The melody is commonly played at mid-western fiddle contests.<br> It is one of '100 essential Missouri tunes' listed by Missouri fiddler Charlie<br> Walden.<br> An Irish version appears in O’Neill’s Music of Ireland under the title<br> "Chief O'Neill's Visit", set as a hornpipe and a hornpipe version is also known<br> to Scottish musicians as the "The Cambridge Hornpipe". Compare it to this tune<br> to see how subtle variations can appear in differing fiddle traditions.<br> The high notes in the B part require the fiddler to shift to third position<br> which traditional fiddlers know only by intuition. The high E can be most<br> easily played as a harmonic and is noted as such in Cole's.<br> It was printed in Bayard's Dance to the Fiddle (1981),<br> R.P. Christeson's Old Time Fiddlers Repertory, vol. 1 (1973),<br> Cole's 1000 Fiddle Tunes (1940),<br> Hinds/Hebert's Grumbling Old Woman (1981),<br> Phillips' Traditional Music in America (1994),<br> Ryan’s Mammoth Collection (1883) and<br> Sweet's Fifer’s Delight (1965/1981).<br> It was recorded by Howard Bursen on Cider in the Kitchen (1980),<br> Rodney Miller & David Surette on New Leaf (2000),<br> Taylor McBaine on Boone County Fiddler and Country Cooking,<br> Dwight Lamb on Old Ladies Pickin' Chickens and<br> Cyril Stinnett on Old Time Fiddler's Repertory (1976).<br>
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