President Garfield's Hornpipe
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Transcription: by Darryl D. Bush
"President Garfield's Hornpipe, also known as "Garfield's Hornpipe",<br> "Blue Water Hornpipe" and "High Level" is an American, Canadian or Irish<br> hornpipe or reel. It is known in New England, Missouri,Canada, Prince Edward<br> Island and Cape Breton. It is played in B Flat major (Brody, Cole, Kerr, Martin<br> & Hughes, Miller & Perron, Perlman, Phillips) or D Major (Sweet).<br> The parts are played AABB (most versions) or AA’BB’ (Martin & Hughes). <br> President James A. Garfield, the twentieth U.S. president, was elected<br> in 1880 and was shot by Charles J. Guiteau, a disgruntled office<br> seeker, at the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station in Washington, D.C. on<br> July 2, 1881. After eleven weeks of intensive care Garfield died in Elberon,<br> New Jersey, the second of four presidents to be assassinated, following Abraham<br> Lincoln. <br> The composition is credited to Harry Carleton in Ryan's Mammoth Collection (1883);<br> Carleton (whose name is perhaps a pseudonym) is thought to have been a journeyman<br> composer in the Boston, Mass. area, who contributed several tunes to Ryan's<br> Mammoth Collection, most having titles associated with the post-Civil War North.<br> "President Garfield's" proved one of the more popular tunes from Ryan's collection<br> and became a staple at New England dances. It also has been widely disseminated<br> in the past century and a half, becoming a popular hornpipe among Maritime<br> Canadian fiddlers. Northumbrian concertina player Alastair Anderson introduced<br> the tune into Northumbrian repertoire, finding it in Kerr’s Merry Melodies,<br> vol. 2, but also being influenced by hearing New England fiddler Rodney Miller<br> play it. As “Garfield’s Hornpipe” it is on Missouri fiddler Charlie Walden’s<br> list of ‘100 essential Missouri fiddle tunes’.<br> It was printed in Brody's Fiddler's Fakebook (1983),<br> Cole's 1000 Fiddle Tunes (1940),<br> Craig's Empire Collection of Hornpipes (c. 1890),<br> Kerr's Merry Melodies, vol. 2 (1880’s),<br> Martin & Hughes's Ho-ro-gheallaidh, vol. 1 (1990),<br> Miller & Perron's New England Fiddler's Repertoire (1983),<br> Perlman's The Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island (1996),<br> Phillips' Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 2 (1995),<br> Ryan's Mammoth Collection (1883) and<br> Sweet's Fifer's Delight (1964/1981).<br> It was recorded by Natalie MacMaster on Fit as a Fiddle (1993),<br> Rodney and Randy Miller on Castles in the Air,<br> Boys of the Lough on To Welcome Paddy Home,<br> Alistair Anderson on Corby Crag (1978) and<br> Paul O’Shaughnessy & Paul McGrattan on Within a Mile of Dublin.<br>
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