Hangman's Reel
Notation:
Standard Notation
ABC Notation
Banjo Tablature
Mandolin Tablature
Violin Tablature
traditional
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Standard Notation
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American
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Transcription: by Darryl D. Bush
"Hangman's Reel" is an old-time breakdown from southwestern Va. in A Major. It is<br> played in AEae or AEac# fiddle tunings. The parts are played AABB, ABCD<br> (Silberberg), AABCCDD (Songer), AABBCCDD (Kuntz) or AABBCC'DD (Phillips).<br> The origins of the tune are somewhat obscure. Some players claimed a British<br> source but many collectors doubt it.<br> Susan Songer and Clyde Curley (1997) report that New York fiddler Judy Hyman<br> (of the Horseflies) believes it originally derived from the Québecois tune<br> "Reel du Pendu" (Hanged Man's Reel) and that it was rendered in a Southern<br> old-time style by younger upstate New York fiddlers.<br> Whether the tune was a Southern traditional tune or a "revival" processing, it has<br> since become a very popular "festival tune" among younger old-time fiddlers and<br> frequently heard at square dances.<br> It was printed in Phillips' Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 1 (1994),<br> Silberberg's Tunes I Learned at Tractor Tavern (2002)(appears as "Hanged Man's<br> Reel" and<br> Songer's Portland Collection (1997).<br> It was recorded by Kirk Sutphin on Old Roots and New Branches (1994),<br> John McCutcheon on The Wind That Shakes the Barley (1977),<br> The Heartbeats on Living in Black and White (1990),<br> Bill Northcutt, Bill Clemmons and Doc Hamilton on Old Time Hoedown (1968).<br>
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