At the Mudcat Cafe a fellow from England was after getting an abc of the tune. I had suggested he ask on these mailing lists. However I don't think he ever has. I certainly don't remember seeing the request. If anyone can help, if you could go to:
http://ragtime.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=35370 Tune Req: The Tea Gardens [87] From: [88] derrymacash Date: 13-Jun-01 - 04:29 AM Came across a jig - played by a bunch of Cape Breton musicians - called the Tea Gardens. Can't find abc or sheet music for it anywhere on the Web. Anybody got any ideas as to where it can be tracked down? It's a relative of the tune to "The Humour Is On Me Now", but a more elaborate relative! Many thanks in advance. Subject: RE: Tune Req: The Tea Gardens [93] From: [94] derrymacash Date: 14-Jun-01 - 04:06 AM Refresh. Apparently the tune is associated with Angus Chisholm about whom, sadly, I know nothing. Does this further info jog anyone's memory? Thanks again in advance. Subject: RE: Tune Req: The Tea Gardens [105] From: [106] George Seto - [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: 14-Jun-01 - 06:01 AM Shop: [107] Going Home I can probably tell you a number of the CB players who play this tune. You are correct that it is an Angus Chisholm composition. Here is what Kate Dunlay said a couple of years back. >From the back of the 1978 Shanachie recording, "the early recordings of Angus Chisholm: Legendary performances of traditional Scottish Fiddling": "SIDE B: (5) TEA GARDENS/MRS. McGEE--...'Tea Gardens' was composed by Angus as he was waiting for a bus in front of a Chinese place by that name in Sydney; he wrote down enough of it on the bus going home so that he could remember and sort it out later. It is the only one of Angus' compositions which he himself recorded." Oh. The Chinese place was in Sydney, Cape BReton, Nova Scotia. Corner of Charlotte Street, and Pitt Street. The name of the restaurant, until the mid sixties, was the Tea Garden Restaurant. It changed then to the name it still holds - The Maple Leaf Restaurant. At the time, my father was one of the owners. Current owner is my uncle, Johnny. Stop in and say hello if you're ever in town. I live about 300 miles away in Halifax these days. Subject: RE: Tune Req: The Tea Gardens [118] From: [119] derrymacash Date: 14-Jun-01 - 07:28 AM Wow ... You see for someone living in London, UK ... originally from Derrymacash, County Armagh, Ireland ... this level of local detail is amazing. I am particularly interested in the link that musicians establish between their music and their sense of place. I am very conscious that when I compose tunes, there is often for me some link with a particular place from my past that drives the composition and is reflected in the tune's name. (Some of my compositions have names such as "Derryadd Bay", "The Wee Lough", "Kitty Smith's Corner", "Ballinary Turn", "The Rich View", "The Head of the Plain", "Distillery Hill", etc., all of which are very local to where I was born and raised. Anyway ... enough of my rambling. Thanks for your info and your efforts to assist! Subject: RE: Tune Req: The Tea Gardens [124] From: [125] George Seto - [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: 14-Jun-01 - 11:08 AM If you need information on joining Scots-L or CB-Music Mailing lists, please e-mail (see above). Other tunes of the sort, look up Scott MacMillan. He has a web-site, but I don't know if I have a link to him handy or not. He's written a lot of fiddle tunes that are on 3 CD's, the Minnie Sessions, Vol 1 through 3. He's not a CB Fiddler, doesn't even PLAY fiddle. However he's a true musician. He is also a composer of note. Also, the tune might be found through Paul Cranford, musician-lighthouse keeper. He's published several books of Fiddle Tunes. Kate DUnlay and David Greenburg might have also, in the Dungreen Collection. Here are some web-sites to check into [126] Cranford Publications [127] Scott MacMillan - Composer [128] Scott MacMillan - Web Page [129] TideMark Canada - Music Distributors [130] DunGreen collection Web-site Subject: RE: Tune Req: The Tea Gardens [167] From: [168] derrymacash Date: 19-Jun-01 - 10:49 AM I'm giving this a refresh in a last ditch effort to try to flush out someone who has the tune available in electronic form. I tried transcribing it last night and could not get my head around it at all. First off, I couldn't get get my mandolin to sound in tune with the tape of the tune which I have ... could just be that my machine was running slightly faster or slower than the machine on which it was taped? And then just couldn't figure out what was happening in the fourth and fifth bars. And had to give up ... (principally cos my missus was going nuts after hearing me repeat three bars over and over again, then attempting countless variations of the next two. Divorces have been sought on much weaker ground!) Which makes me wonder. Does the fact that there is so much material available to us in abc and other formats mean that we can no longer play by ear as well as previously? I know that this holds true for me ... I didn't have the world's best ear. But it was my primary means of learning tunes. Now, I'm afraid the availability of abcs means that I rarely learn tunes in this way! Subject: RE: Tune Req: The Tea Gardens [179] From: [180] derrymacash Date: 08-Jan-02 - 11:56 AM Refresh ... Just in case some new rapscallion has sneaked aboard the good ship Mudcat and might have information about the whereabouts on the web of the tune I'm after! Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music & Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
