hangman's reel

[fatt-dad]

I found the version at www.mandozine.com but it wasn't quite what I was looking for. I'd be interested in other versions of this interesting 4-part tune if they are out there.

f-d

[Jim M.]

Dan B. has a couple of versions here:

Dan B.'s tune book (http://www.celticmusic.com/cgi-bin/tunes.pl)

I've always like his version, which you can hear on his CD "Shatter the Calm".

[Scott Rucker]

Here's a version I tabbed out some time ago. It's not quite like I now play it, though. Try copying and pasting into MS Word or Notepad, using monospaced font, size 10. If this won't work (it worked when I just tested it using MS Word, send me a PM, and I'll send you a text file.


Hangman's Reel
Fiddler's Companion, Andrew Kuntz
Key=A

||------------------|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|
||o-0---0-0-2-0-2---|-4-2-4-0-2-0-2---|-0---0---2-0-2-2-|-4-2-4-4-2-----2-|
||o---2-------------|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|
||------------------|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|------------------||
|-0---0---2---2---|-4-2-4-0-2---0-2-|-4-2-4-0-2-0-2---|---0-----0-------o||
|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|-2-----2---------o||
|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|------------------||
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

||--0-------0-------|-----------------|-0-------0-------|------------------||
||o---0-4-0---0-4-0-|-2-0-2-2-4-2-0---|-----4-------4---|-2-0-2-4-0-------o||
||o-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------o||
||------------------|-----------------|-----------------|------------------||
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

||------------------|-----------------|-----------------|-0-2-0------------||
||o-02----0-2---0---|-0-2-4-0-2-0-----|-0-2---0-2-0-2---|-------5-4-2-0---o||
||o-----------------|-------------4---|-----------------|-----------------o||
||------------------|-----------------|-----------------|------------------||
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

||------------------|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|
||o-4-2-4---5---5---|-4---4-4-5-4-5---|-4---4---5-4-5---|-4-2-4-0-2---2---|
||o-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|
||------------------|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|------------------||
|-4-2-4---5-4-5---|-4-2-4---5-4-5---|-4-2-4---2-0--2--|---0-----0-------o||
|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|-2-----2---------o||
|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|------------------||
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

[fatt-dad]

Thanks T-D. Thanks also to Jim M. but alas, I just can't read the standard notation.

f-d

[Adam Tracksler]

theres a nice version in marcy marxers slow jam for old time, but it too is in notation.

[danb]

http://celticmusic.com/virtual_tunebook/hangman2.gif

[danb]

Try in AEAC# tuning.. or AEAE (be real careful with string gauges though, don't use a standard set in that tuning..)

[David M.]

I just did a google and found sites below with one MP3 and this video:

http://www.ezfolk.com/forums/forum25/1413.html

http://www.johnandtrish.com/sounds.html

Good tune. Don't know if it's the same since I don't read the notes that Dan put down.

[fatt-dad]

Looking for "Hanged Man's Reel" provided yet more results. Thanks for the posts!

f-d

[Jim Garber]

Ther are two main versions I know of. One is the French Canadian one in AEAC# tuning -- I know it primarily from fiddling. It is one of the more commonly played French Canadian tunes and is quite the show piece esp when preceded by the story that goes with it. I first heard it played by Jean Carignan when I started playing fiddle.

The second version has more of a southern flavor and is usually played in AEAE tuning on the fiddle. I does bear some resemblance to the French Canadian one but is more of a fast reel.

Jim

[fatt-dad]

esp when preceded by the story that goes with it.
. . . . and the story is?

fatt can't-wait-for-this dad

[Jim Garber]

[. . . . and the story is?

fatt can't-wait-for-this dad

The story behind it is about a fiddler who is about to be hanged and is given a last chance. The handed him a fiddle in a strange tuning and said "If you play a good piece on the fiddle, we'll let you live." This is the tune he played, so you can decide the outcome for yourself. from Zoe Conway's CD (http://www.taramusic.com/sleevenotes/cd4012.htm)

As to the Southern version: from Andy Kuntz' site:

HANGMAN'S REEL [1]. Old-Time, Breakdown. USA, southwestern Va. A Major. AEAE or AEAC#. AABB: AABCCDD (Songer): AABBCCDD (Kuntz): AABBCC'DD (Phillips). The origins of the tune are somewhat obscure. It was in the repertoire of Albert Hash, a traditional fiddler of Whitetop or Rugby, Va. and identified by him as originally a British Isles tune, though stylistically that provenance is doubtful. Susan Songer and Clyde Curley (1997) report that New York fiddler Judy Hyman (of the Horseflies) believes it originally derived from the Québecois tune "Reel du Pendu" (Hanged Man's Reel) and that it was rendered in a Southern old-time style by younger upstate New York fiddlers. Whether the tune was a Southern traditional tune or a "revival" processing, it has since become a very popular "festival tune" among younger old-time fiddlers and frequently heard at square dances.

Jim

[acousticphd]

There is a great version on Brian Sutton's Bluegrass Guitart CD. Doesn't help with TAB, but if you have an opportunity (the CD is great and well worth owning) to spend some time with the recording, it should give ideas for alternate melodies. Stuart Duncan I believe does the fiddling, and Tim O'Brien plays a mando solo, but unfortunately only two parts of the tune.

[danb]

The story that goes with it..

A fiddler is convicted of murder. At the Gallows, he asks to play his fiddle. He plays this tune.. then smashes his fiddle on his knee and is hung. The first part is to represent his sadness, then some anger/hope.. the pizzicatto on the fiddle has a "Cracking" sound to it that is evocative of his neck breaking.. the rolling last part is his body bobbing in the wind..

It loses a lot if you don't play it in at least AEAE or GDGD. Many unisons, nice showipece tricks. Harmonics instead of the left finger flick.. and the sound clip on my old tunebook page predates the invention of electricity.. the one on the disk is more to my liking, but Aly Bain's Hardanger grabs it in "Fully Rigged".. That is the way I always hear it in my head now

[fatt-dad]

I got to tell you that the thought of trying to mess around with alternate tunings just undoes me. I struggle finding the time to play the mandolin (much less learn) in the "regular" tuning. Another dimension of complicating such a seemingly simple instrument is beyond my grasp.

That said, I know some fairly regular folks that play the fiddle in different tunings - maybe they use terms like "cross tuning" or (could this be right) "sawmill" tuning? Oh well, it freaks me out. . . . . !

fatt trying-to-keep-it-simple dad

[danb]

I guess I started out on zook more so than mandolin, where retuning is pretty rife. It was actually a great place to start, very liberating.. you almost auotmatically get your own unique sound. Anyway, it's surprisingly easy to get past that mental block for alternate tunings.. Trust me, it internalizes pretty quick. Drop your A&E down to G&D to play around a little, it's pretty easy to get used to http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[fatt-dad]

Learning to read the musical notes on the mandolin was (is) one of my New Year's resolutions. Do you read from the musical notes in these alternate tunings also?

fatt I'm-getting-a-brain-cramp-on-this dad

[Jim M.]

If you can read the notes, you can figure out the fingerings for the cross-tuning much easier than trying to transpose tab. [EDIT: I was thinking of transposing notes from a regular tuned tab; if you have tabs for the cross-tuned version, which I think Dan provided, it will be easy from tab]

I find cross-tuning much easier on fiddle than mando because there are half as many strings, and the friction pegs change much faster than mando tuners. But still, I keep one fiddle with steel strings for cross-tuning because the synthetic strings I generally like to play want to return to their original tuning.

[danb]

Hmm, I think I picked up the bones of it from the fiddler's fakebook.. I bought the tab version by accident then the dots.. so I think I combined the two due to the odd fingerings. The numbers in my transcription up there show where the frets are in some of the interesting spots.. that tune has some stunts where you play the same note on a couple different strings in a row to get interesting tone effects..

[David M.]

So, FD, which one you gonna learn? the Can. or the Appal. version?

FD, I just want to say "thanks" for starting this thread. I now have a new tune. Tonight I got my fiddle and tuned up to the A cross and went at that version in the above EZ Folk link I posted. Not a hard tune on the fiddle and really goes. But this version may not be the one you're interested in (sounds like you're heading toward the one Dan posted). 4 parts, though and it's a good tune.

..back to more sawin'...

[fatt-dad]

As it stands, I'm trying my hand on the one listed in the key of Am (see listing HERE (http://www.mandozine.com/music/search_results.php?searchfor=hang&tuneselectby=C&mandolevel=&category=&songkey=&artist=&transcriber=&sortby=T&sortorder=A&submit=Find+TableEdit+Files)) What I'm actually doing though, is waiting for the next jam (my house later in the month) where I'll get the guy that started all of this to do another run through. As it stands, playing it from the tab's I've found hasn't been quite right yet. BTW, he played it with standard tuning - but I plan on discussing with the other local O-T mandolin players whether they use alternate tunings.

f-d

p.s., I'm also working on "Big Mon", which is another fun tune!

[harwilli55]

Cool Tune, now ya'll got me working on it too. Thanks http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[PhilGE]

Check out this version (http://www.efolkmusic.org/ArtMusic/viewalbum.asp?ProductCode=unger_uncle&Artist=Larry+Unger&AID=290#unger_uncle) by Uncle Gizmo on eFolk Music. Scroll down about half the page and you'll see sample mp3 tracks.

[David M.]

Check out this version by Uncle Gizmo on eFolk Music. Scroll down about half the page and you'll see sample mp3 tracks.

Dang, that's a good 'un, too. Sounds like Tim O's fiddlin'. In fact, I may have a boot of Tim doing this one somewhere, but not sure.