The Bois-Brulé Jig

Here is a great tune Brian sent me last year that I have been meaning to share on the blog. Its a rather mysterious sounding 3 part tune in the key of Em (this one of the few recorded example we have of Erskine playing in this key). Erskine played this on an old reel-to-reel recording made in the 1960's where Erskine recorded a lot of the old tunes he learned in his youth.

Hear the Bois-Brulé Jig

Erkine's playing on this tune is really powerful and carries great emotion. For this reason, I've always considered this tune one of Erskine's masterpieces along with tunes like Tommy Rooney's Jig, Reggie Rooney's Tune, the Shannon Reel, and Fat Molasses.

This tune again seems to represent a great mix of the Irish and French influences in Erskine's style. The harmonic content has strong echoes of many Irish tunes in minor keys and this tune also features a really nice key change to Bm. The phrasing in the middle section also has a smoothness I would normally associate with Irish players, especially those from Sligo. Erskine even uses a few Irish-style rolls thrown in on some of the notes. In the other two sections, the rhythmic setting has a strong French Canadian character and the jaggedness of these sections really makes a lovely contrast against the smooth middle section.

We have talked a lot in previous posts about how important string crossing are in getting that highly characteristic syncopation so important in the Gaspe fiddle style around Douglastown.  Except for the middle part, this tune is almost entirely composed of string crossings and so, this tune is a great way to work on your syncopated string crossings.  Without these, the tune wont come to life. The prototype for this syncopated lick would be to downbow on a lower string, upbow on the higher string, go back with a downbow on the lower string, then upbow the higher string again. However, the trick to getting the syncopation is to play the third note in the string crossing (the second downbow) a little softer, just sort of letting your bow glide over the string, not putting any weight on the bow.  This syncopated bow lick seems to be something that the Gaspesian players shared with older Acadian players.

Anthony Drody once told me that the Spruce Knot was the original name of the Bois-Brulé Jig although Erskine played a different melody under the Spruce Knot title.  Cyril Devouge also remembered this tune being a favourite around home and was commonly requested for step-dancing.  Though Erskine's tune has 3 parts both Anthony Drody and the great Chateauguay Valley fiddler, Neil MacKay play a tune with the same first two parts.  Neil remembers his father playing this tune and despite being from an area very far from the Gaspé said that his dad called this tune both the Bois-Brulé Jig and the Spruce Knot.  Its very possible then that this tune is the "real" Spruce Knot.  As always, determining the correct tune titles in Quebec is a very elusive pursuit.

The Murphy Reel

Here's another nice half-tune, with a really lovely and hypnotic rhythm. We currently have two recordings of Erskine playing this tune on separate occasions:

Hear Erskine play the Murphy Reel from a home recording he made in February 1978

Based on the contour of this melody and the fact that it is another half-tune, my best guess is that this is another tune local to the Gaspe coast. The low part of this tune really has a strong French or Acadian character, relying on a heavily accented bow and syncopated string crossings to bring the tune to life. The high part on the other hand features a heavy dose of Irish-style left-hand ornamentation with these rolled out triplets which really provide a smooth contrast to the syncopated, jagged contours of the other phrases.

I'm not sure which Murphy this tune was named after. Generally, tunes on the Gaspe coast were named after the fiddlers that played the tune or stepdancers that liked the tune for dancing. Despite this tune's obviously Irish name, it seems unlikely to me that this would be a tune brought over from Ireland. The combination of the Irish and French Canadian elements suggest that perhaps this was a tune forged out of the interactions of the Irish and French settlers of the Gaspe coast, many of whom often intermarried. There were several Murphy families on the Gaspe coast, but quite far from Douglastown further down the coast in the Bay de Chaleurs region at places like Chandler, Pabos, New Carlisle, and Carleton. Here is a great map of the coast. I don't think there were any Murphy's around Douglastown. So perhaps this was a tune Erskine or another Douglastowner picked up from a fiddler from the Bay de Chaleurs area. However, one of Erskine's ancestors in Ireland was a one Ms Mary Murphy, who was the mother of the first Morris to settle the Gaspe coast in 1785, Thomas Morris of Wexford County, Ireland. So who knows, its possible that this tune traces its way all the way back to Ireland and evolved through the generations to acquire an essentially French Canadian character.

Here is another recording of Erskine playing at a family reunion in 1984 in Douglastown.

This one was recorded at a somewhat legendary Morris family reunion held that year at Erskine's brother Manny's place in Douglastown. Erskine's playing here is really electric and has a much harder driving edge. I really love the recordings from this session because you can feel the excitement in the room on that day. Brian recently told me that he remembers at one point during this reunion his uncle Watson leaned over and said to him something to the effect of, "jeez, I've never heard Erskine play like this before". Depending on the setting, Erskine would use a different attack and feeling in his music. From what Brian and others have told me, when Erskine played for party's where there was almost always some step dancing and spirits were high, he would play really hard and driving. Cyril Devouge remembered playing with Erskine under a big tent in Douglastown many years ago and told us that Erskine was playing and clogging his feet so hard that the sweat was just dripping off of him. However, when Erskine would get alone with his fiddle and record some tunes on his own he would often use a more measured approach at more moderate tempos like we heard in the 1978 recording of this same tune.

Here is a fascinating article written about Thomas Morris and Douglastowns early settlers.

Also, an excellent resource for genealogical information is the Our Gaspe Roots website.

The Spruce Knot - Teaching Files

I've posted a link to a folder of me breaking down the Spruce Knot for anyone interested in learning it over in our "Learning the Music" page.

The Spruce Knot - Another Great Half-Tune

Hears a great, peppy tune Erskine recorded on several occasions that we are fairly sure is a tune local to the Gaspe coast around Douglastown.

Here is Erskine playing the Spruce Knot from a tape probably recorded in the 1980's.

Here is a version from the 1960s recorded by Erskine's brother, Manny Morris of Douglastown.

The older Drody's all played the Spruce Knot and this is probably where Erskine learned the tune. Anthony Drody tells me that the Spruce Knot was the original title of a tune they eventually started calling the Bois-Brûlé Jig because it was apparently so popular for step-dancing around Bois-Brûlé. However, when I asked Anthony if he could play this tune for me, it was a different melody in the same key. One of the sections was very close to another tune Erskine played. Erskine recorded the melody above under the title, "The Spruce Knot", several times over many years so its very possible that Erskine's tune is the real Spruce Knot.

This tune is a fine example of what I call "half-tunes", which we've made reference to a few times in the past couple months. These are tunes with two sections half as long as a conventional reel. These tunes seem to have existed in great quantity around the Douglastown area. Many of the local tunes that Erskine, Cyril, and the Drody's learned growing up were these half-tunes.

Anyhow, my own theory about the prevalence of these tunes is that the fiddle tradition around Douglastown was so heavily intertwined with the great step-dancing they used to have out there that these tunes half-tunes were probably especially tailored to the needs of step-dancing. Really, there isn't a whole lot of melody happening in these tunes. They just consist of a two catchy phrases in each section. When I first began learning this music I remember Brian telling me that for step-dancing you didn't necessarily want a "pretty" melody. Really, the most important thing is that these tunes were highly rhythmic in order to rile up the step-dancers. So, what these little tunes lack in terms of melody they make up for in rhythm. I also believe their shorter structure may have made it easier for the step-dancer to internalize the tune and complement its rhythms. Perhaps they also allowed the step-dancer more freedom to improvise and try different steps as the tune repeats twice as frequently.

I'd love to hear from people more knowledgeable about step-dancing if they have their own ideas on the older styles of step-dancing in Quebec and Canada.

Grandmother's Reel

Here's a lovely, rolling G tune played in the old Douglastown Gaspé style. The tune comes from a great tape Brian recently digitized that was given to him by his aunt Phyllis. Phyllis' husband Manny (Erskine's brother) really loved to hear Erskine play and there were many a night in Manny's kitchen where Erskine would be in the corner playing the fiddle for a house party or family reunion. Manny would always encourage Erskine to make recordings of the old Douglastown tunes that he learned as a boy growing up in the 1920's and 1930's.

Hear the Grandmother's Reel

Here is another recording of this tune from the same session

I'm not sure where this tune comes from and I couldn't find any references to this tune on the Internet or under a French translation, "Reel de Grand-mère". Based on the contours of this tune, its melodic content, and duration, my best guess is that this tune is local to the Douglastown area. Perhaps this is a tune that Erskine learned from his Grandmother. Erskine's mother was Beatrice Fortin and Brian tells me a lot of Erskine's music comes from this side of the family. The Fortins were one of Douglastown's few early French families, though at some point they were assimilated into the large English-speaking culture of Douglastown's Irish families. Erskine composed several tunes and another possibility Brian suggested is that this could be one of Erskine's original compositions.

This tune really exemplifies a lot of the characteristics of the old Gaspesian style like the rolling bow, doubling up on notes, and cross-string syncopations. This tune is another "half tune" as we described in other posts where each part only consists of two phrases and so is half as long as a conventional reel. These little tunes where great for step dancing on account of their repetition and cute rhythms.

For the fiddle players out there, this tune is a great tune for beginner-intermediate players who would like to pick up some of the characteristics of the Gaspé style. Here is a link to a folder of me breaking this tune apart for anyone who would like to learn it.

Here's a link to the folder

Enjoy

Learn the Golden Wedding Reel

I took a stab at slowing down and breaking apart the phrases of Erskine's setting of the Golden Wedding Reel tonight. The version I teach is based more or less around how he played it on the reel-to-reel recording made in the 1960's. I'll also put these teaching files on our new page, "Learning the Music".

Here's a link to the folder

Enjoy

Eva's Tune - Better Audio Quality

Readers,

Thanks to a great cassette copy that Joseph Drody gave me last November, I have a higher fidelity recording available of Eva's Tune that we posted a while back. This is in fact from the same recording session, but is a copy of the original recording, so the quality is much improved.

Hear Erskine play Eva's Tune from February 3, 1983

On February 3, 1983 Joseph and Anthony had Erskine record them a set of mostly local fiddle tunes played in a hard-driving old-time style. They all had the foresight to realize that there was hardly anyone left who remembered these old Douglastown tunes and that they ought to be recorded for future generations. We are thankful that they did this and look forward to sharing more great recordings from this tape.

For more info on Eva's Tune, please see our earlier posting on this tune from 2010.

Enjoy