Big Mon

[glauber]

Sorry for the stoopid question, but i know very little about bluegrass. What kind of tune is "Big Mon"? For example, is it a breakdonw? I've just finished transcribing it, and i just want to know how to file it.

Thanks! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

[evanreilly]

I beleive it was written as a 'fiddle tune'.....
Also, to get the correct sound on the mandolin, an F-4 must be played.

[glauber]

So the correct sound will not be attained just yet. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

Tell me, what's a fiddle tune? Is it a specific kind of tune (as opposed to say, a hornpipe or a reel)? I have the impression that anything that doesn't have words to it gets called a fiddle tune.

[evanreilly]

Bill wrote a number of tunes for specific instruments, as well as writing specific types of dance and/or other tunes.
Monroe contended that a musician needed to be able to differentiate between different 'times' as they were played for dances.
He started out his musical career as a square dancer and that sense of timing for dances stayed with him.
Monroe remembered: "[Big Mon] was written in South Dakota. We was playing a square dance out there and it was wrote on the stage."

[glauber]

Thanks! Great info, fascinating stuff.

[Moose]

Mr. Monroe..., was a fascinating person - to say the LEAST! - Enjoy your music - and your research. Moose. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Darryl Wolfe]

Also, to get the correct sound on the mandolin, an F-4 must be played.
Ha..I've noticed that too, and on several others. Evan do you think it's happenstance, or possibly "hey I need and easier to play mandolin to get this really right"

[Old Red]

I thought I read somewhere (maybe Neil Rosenberg's notes to the Bear Family Monroe 1950s box) that the Loar was in the shop during the 1959 session when Bill cut "Big Mon" and "Monroe's Hornpipe" so he borrowed an F4 from a bandmember (or somebody who was in the studio) for those two numbers. #Just a vague recollection. #Anyway, it's definitely Bill but the does mandolin sound different. #It just goes to show you that F4 mandolins are great for bluegrass.

Andy

[Moose]

"...F4's are great for Bluegrass." - If Jimmy Martin was still among us - (and he may well be...), Im sure he would "pontificate" upon the merits of the F4 mandolin in Bluegrass ; think about it... - http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[evanreilly]

Bill's F-5 was being worked on, and Connie Gately, a Blue Grass Boy, lent Bill his F-4 for the sessions.

[Skip Kelley]

"Big Mon" and "Monroes Hornpipe" are both fiddle tunes that were recorded with an F4.