Details ABC Sheetmusic Comments

Cold Frosty Morning

reel

Key signature: Adorian

Submitted on December 6th 2006 by litestikpilot.

This tune has been added to 54 tunebooks.

Also known as Cold Frosty Morn, Frosty Morning.

Recordings of a tune by this name:

Apples In Winter by The Itinerant Band
Just Me And A Fiddle by The Flyin' Fiddler Wayne Cantwell
Man With The Wooden Flute by Chris Norman
The Busker And The Devils Only Daughter by Brian McNeill
The Ways Of The World by Mary Custy And Eoin O'Neill

Details ABC Sheetmusic Comments

Details ABC Sheetmusic Comments

Details ABC Sheetmusic Comments

This tune comemerates the defeat of the jacobites at Culloden Moor in 1746. I've heard it played up-tempo as a dance tune but I think it really should be played as a lament.

# Posted on December 6th 2006 by litestikpilot

Huh

We play this, and a rather upbeat version, at my local session. I thought this was an American old-timey tune that had somehow snuck into our mostly Irish session reportoire. This is a mildly different setting. That ascending A C D E pattern in the B part is mighty.

# Posted on December 6th 2006 by crazy_fingerz

I could be wrong. I'm not completeley sure.

# Posted on December 6th 2006 by litestikpilot

This is where I got the history:
http://www.hetzlersfakebook.com/NBCullodonmoor.html

# Posted on December 6th 2006 by litestikpilot

A lovely tune and link... I can hear the Scotch in it (and the red spruce!). It would make a lovely march...

No!, stop that, I take it back, stop hitting me with that it smarts ~ you'll regret it when you end up breakin' it... :-/

# Posted on December 6th 2006 by ceolachan

Damn, some of you are 'tender'... 'SCOTCH' is one of my drinks of choice, especially single malts from Islay...or was the 'red spruce' not enough of a hint? For those who choose to read it otherwise, please forgive my inclinations of madness, here it is rephrased for you:

I definitely get a sense of its Scottish roots... (Yes, of course there's something else hiding in there ~ tubers... ;-) )

# Posted on December 6th 2006 by ceolachan

The Tune

Very common tune at USA old time and Irish sessions... its a great tune slow or fast but trad. versions collected always are at dance tempo... The history behind the tune listed on the Hetzlers site is curious to me... Ive read it before and havent found that info anywhere else... I always wondered if Hetzler was linking the tune to the history behind Johnny Cope which there are some USA versions of that are similar to Frosty Morn. Also it wasnt uncommon to begin the tune with the high part first among older players in the upper south...

# Posted on December 6th 2006 by Sean MacOda Criobhan

Also true of the dance scene in the 1800s, at dance tempo, a lot of marches were used in amongst everything else, especially for the 'Polonaise' / 'Grand March', which later evolved into the 'Big Circle' dances... Not just the Scottish, but they were amongst those that carried these traditions with them from Europe to the 'New World'...bless them one and all...

# Posted on December 6th 2006 by ceolachan

Marches were also used for the 'sets' of quadrilles...

# Posted on December 6th 2006 by ceolachan

Marches

I agree with you "c"... it's very "marchy". While you're here, I've always wondered where the word "hornpipe" came from? Any idea?

# Posted on December 6th 2006 by Sean MacOda Criobhan

"Hornpipe" ~ "Horn Pipe" ~ a musical instrument

Hey, I just answered this, what happened? ~ It went "POOF!"

Anyway, I've taken your question and started a 'Discussion' with it.

"Hornpipe" ~ way back when, and still in some places, the bell of a musical instrument or even the whole instrument could be made from horn ~ so a 'woodwind', the family, and as usual of a 'pipe' nature, and made from horn. There are good examples in 'The Horniman Museum' in London ~ HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

http://www.horniman.ac.uk/
CURRENT EXHIBITION!!!
http://www.horniman.ac.uk/exhibitions/current_exhibition.php?exhib_id=29
MUSIC COLLECTIONS
http://www.horniman.ac.uk/music/music/music_homepage.html

This alone is enough to make me wish I lived in or closer to London... :-(

# Posted on December 6th 2006 by ceolachan

Variation

On the first part last bars try...

gedB ABAG| A4A4:|

It gives it a nice BITE and that high "g" is many trad. versions Ive looked at... the phrase "cBAc BAGB|A4A4" is ok on the 2nd part, but again is probably "softer" than trad. versions I know

try- ccAc |BAGB| A4A4 :|

Your not wrong, just different... and I often vary it myself.

# Posted on December 6th 2006 by Sean MacOda Criobhan

2nd ending I meant ...

ccAd BAGB | A4 A4 :|

# Posted on December 7th 2006 by Sean MacOda Criobhan

"Cold Frosty Morning"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKOvT55wB18

# Posted on December 7th 2006 by ceolachan

You tube

Interesting how he bluegrasses it up and it the same time simplifies the tune...

# Posted on December 7th 2006 by Sean MacOda Criobhan

More on that from me the 36 year old catankerer

I know Im old fashioned for my age but the you tube clip sums up to me how much Ive grown to dislike the modern bluegrass movement... sure its fast and flshy but IMO the tune is slaughtered in comparison to what the older generation would do with a tune... check out this link of a transcription of Frosty Morn from a real old time fiddler Henry Reed of Va...

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=afcreed&fileName=reedt035/afcreedreedt035.db&recNum=0&itemLink=D?afcreed:22:./temp/~ammem_stmX::

Real Appalachian music is subtle, complex, but simple at the same time....many think they have it licked - others drive themselves mad working on it and some can actually do it... sort of like the Irish music... or any good music.

# Posted on December 7th 2006 by Sean MacOda Criobhan

Also

Just wanted to say that I think this guy on you tube is a good player... it's my respect for what came before that leads me to my comments... but that transcription just blows me away!

# Posted on December 7th 2006 by Sean MacOda Criobhan

I prefer Henry Reed too. The link was 'tongue-in-cheek'...
I found several and that one made me laugh... or was I crying?
;-)

# Posted on December 7th 2006 by ceolachan

Are you sure its scottish?

We have this from an American source and always understood it to be American. The version the Angels play is more busy and its definitely a reel but its undoubtedly the same tune.
Noel

# Posted on December 10th 2006 by noelbats

How about a transcript Noel? I can only say what my bones make of it, and then I followed the link given above with some history, for which I try to keep a healthy skepticism... When I first came to it I found myself playing it as a march, but I wouldn't bet my life on what my bones say, rattle as they may... Though, this rattling is despite my having been more familiar with it as an old-time piece...many of which do have Scottish and other Celtic roots... Sometimes style and technique in time cover up much, but there usually remains a hint of peat smoke in these things however many hands they may have passed through...

# Posted on December 10th 2006 by ceolachan

I used to play a version of this on clawhammer banjo. I learned it around thirty years ago from a friend who collected it from a family in...West Virginia, I think. Can't remember the name. It has a crooked B part, with a couple of pickup notes that add an extra half measure. Next time I get out my banjo, I'll try to conjure it up and notate it.

# Posted on December 11th 2006 by Bob himself

That would be nice, I'd like to see that and give it a try...

# Posted on December 11th 2006 by ceolachan

Scottish?

This tune as titled "Frosty Morn" or "Cold Frosty Morning" etc. is an American tune no doubt... but when discussing the roots of it, I'd agree that it "sounds" Scottish and sounds like a March in context with the past three hundred years of tunes and tune types. The Hetzler's description that I commented on earlier eludes to a Scottish connection, but I don't find any clear evidence of this documented other than the way the tune "sounds." I agree with "c" that many marches were once played as dance tunes and it has a "hint of the peat.". Hint of the Peat? Isn't that a hornpipe?

# Posted on January 10th 2007 by Sean MacOda Criobhan

Cold FRosty Morning

Try mixing this up with Drunken Sailor. Its a great match.

# Posted on January 13th 2007 by harpalaska

Cold Frosty Morning

Here's a nice Appalachian version from Truman and Adam Price: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVes1imP19M&feature=related

# Posted on April 24th 2008 by Will CPT

My favourite version of this one is on a bela fleck album which I forget the name of. It has sam bush on fiddle for this track and its phenomonal - totally bluegrassed but hey, thats not a bad thing right?

# Posted on June 12th 2008 by Andrew James