Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone (officially, its the parade day here in Montreal),
In honour of this holiday and the Irish roots of Douglastown, I thought I'd post a tune that really exemplifies the strong Irish influence in the music of Douglastown. This is a haunting tune in D (or D modal) that really echoes the sounds of many old Irish reels. However as we discussed in on our post on the Coleman Reel, this is a "half-tune", which is a very New-World tune-type being half as long as a traditional Irish/Scottish reel.
This tune was one from Miss Oliver Morris. There is a tradition around Douglastown of referring to a married woman by the title "Miss" followed by the husband's name. Miss Oliver Morris was a woman named Emily or Emilie Crotty and she was the second wife of Mr Oliver Morris who was related to Erskine's father. They had 15 children together. Apparently she was quite musical and would lilt this tune which is probably where Erskine picked it up.
Hear Erskine play Miss Oliver Morris' Tune in the 1980s
We also have a recording of Erskine playing this tune from a cassette made in 1978 under the title, "The Pride of Quebec". We're not sure if where this title came from and whether or not is the correct title
Hear Erskine play Miss Oliver Morris' Tune in 1978 (The Pride of Quebec)
As with most of the older Douglastown tunes in the key of D, the tuning of the fiddle is ADAE from bass to fine string, though you can get away with playing this one in standard tuning as the melody is on the three high strings. That being said, the fiddle will ring a little nicer with the bass tuned up.
Hello,
ReplyDeleteI am the greatgranddaughter of Miss Oliver Morris, and I am looking for anyone with information about her or her daughter Elizabeth Anne Morris (May) which was my grandmother and her daughter Dorothy Morris.
Please email me
I don't have any specific information. You should get the book Elaine Rehel put out about the list of Births and Marriages in Douglastown. Nice to have you here.
DeleteHi Anonymous,
DeleteYes, I, too, am a part of this Crotty family. Mille Crotty was my great great great aunt.
During the 2012 Douglastown Irish Festival, I had a wonderful time sharing what I know about the Crotty family history. I just donated a Grady - Crotty - Langlois family notebook compiled and written by a team of Crotty cousins to the Musée de Gaspésie for all Crotty relatives to enjoy for years to come.
If you want to contact me, I would be happy to share what I know about Millie Crotty and her descendents. I am actively looking for Crotty family photographs, especially of Mille Crotty.
Looking forward to hearing from you,
Cherie Bowers
cpt.bowers {at} gmail (.) com
Notes: my email address above is coded to avoid unsolicited emails and spam harvestors; so, when you email me, you will need to break the code -- for example, myaddress {at} domain (.) com becomes myaddress@domain.com
Be sure to write Mille Crotty in the subject line so I can recognize you through my spam filter.
I just got back from attending the 2012 Douglastown Irish Week and had a great time.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much, Glenn, for posting Miss Oliver Morris's Reel on this blog. I think what you are doing to help preserve the musical culture of the Gaspé area is inspiring.
During the festival, it was announced that a Douglastown Fiddling CD was going to be commercially produced in time for next year's festival. I know you can't possibly fit every terrific fiddling tune onto a single CD. But, if Miss Oliver Morris's Reel made the cut, I would be interested in purchasing a copy. Even if it didn't make it onto that Douglastown CD, if Miss Oliver Morris's Reel was ever made available as a single .mp3 file for purchase, please contact me.
Thank you for what you are doing for our heritage!
Cherie Bowers
cpt.bowers {at} gmail (.) com
Notes: my email address above is coded to avoid unsolicited emails and spam harvestors; so, when you email me, you will need to break the code -- for example, myaddress {at} domain (.) com becomes myaddress@domain.com
Be sure to write Miss Oliver Morris's Reel in the subject line so I can recognize you through my spam filter.