The Old Mole
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English country dance
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Transcription: by Darryl D. Bush
"The Old Mole" is an English country dance tune in 6/4 or 6/8 time in D Major. The eight-bar melody and<br> country dance were first published by John Playford in his English Dancing Master (1651) and were<br> retained in subsequent editions of the Dancing Master through the seventh edition of 1686.<br> The first edition tune was set in G major and is slightly different from the tune of subsequent<br> editions.<br> Chris Bartram, writing in his article "The Fiddle in England" (Strad, Dec. 1999), finds that<br> East Devon fiddler Harry Denslow (d. 1950's), knew "The Old Mole" from<br> local tradition and concludes that the tune had survived in the East Devon countryside for around<br> three hundred years, passed on by ear. Moreover, photographs of Denslow reveal that he held his<br> fiddle and bow in a manner which would have been familiar to players of the instrument during the<br> Baroque era and Bartram suspects that techniques of older traditional players of southern England<br> would have changed as little as did Denslow's "The Old Mole" from Playford's original. <br> It was printed in Barnes's English Country Dance Tunes (1986), Barlow's Complete Country Dance Tunes<br> from Playford's Dancing Master (1985), Bartram's English Fiddle (2009), Karpeles & Schofield's <br> A Selection of 100 English Folk Dance Airs (1951), Raven's English Country Dance Tunes (1984) and<br> Sharp's Country Dance Tunes (1909). <br> It was recorded by The Albion Dance Band on The Prospect Before Us (1977), Maddy Prior & the<br> Carnival Band on Hang Up Sorrow & Care (1995), Belshazzar's Feast on John Playford's Secret Ball.<br>
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