(There is a) Tavern in the Town

[Tom]

Last time I played for the seniors one old chap asked for (There is a) Tavern in the Town.  I had heard the song but never played it. As usual with these traditional tunes, there was no sheet music to my liking immediately forthcoming.   So I arranged the following lead sheet version.   Turns out it's  a pretty fun tune to play, with plenty of room for improvisation and even that arpeggio run which shows up in many of these tunes.  Typically, it involves lost love, drinking strong wine and tombstones. 

 

[Eddy Yates]

I was doing research for a play about nurses. We interviewed one woman in a retirement home who had been a nurse in a small-town hospital during a horrible flu epidemic. Sick people had gathered in the waiting room for treatment and there was a little upright piano in the corner. The nurse thought that it might be a good idea for everyone to sing. Perhaps it would make them feel better. There was one problem:
The only song all the women knew was "The Old Rugged Cross".
The only one all the men knew was "There Is a Tavern in the Town".

 

[Tom]

That pretty much says it all, right there.....

 

[jozz]

here is my take on it

 

[Tom]

Thanks Jazz, pretty good looking fuller arrangement by Mr. Hill.

 

[Eddy Yates]

Hey Jozz,
Helpful.
Do you have an audio to midi to score program? Looks like your chart was done that way. All the notes and chords are right, but if a little work was done with the barlines, it’d be easier to read.

 

[Tom]

Upon further research, the above William Hill and one F.J. Marsh are variously noted as authors (or arrangers) of this song (tune). However, I'm going back to it being an old, "traditional" song, possibly made up of verses/ideas in common usage way back in the day in Merry Olde England or Dour Ireland or Happy Scotland or wherever. I've simplified my lead sheet accordingly, both in chords and ornamentation to allow the players (me, my few friends and anyone that stumbles onto it) to play as desired since I don't believe there is an "official" version. See Cripple Creek, Tarantella, etc. etc.

 

[jozz]

This is the abc:

X:1
T:There is a Tavern in the Town
C:William H. Hill
O:Welsh
M:4/4
K:C
Q:110
E-F-^F| "C"G3 GA G^F G| E2 G3/2 G/2 G3 E| G3 GA G^F G| "G7"D2 G3/2 A/2G-FE-D|"C"
C2 E2 G2 c3/2- c/2| "F"dc Bc A3 A| "G7"B3 BB GA B| "C"c6 G3/2 G/2| "G7"GB BB BG FD|
"C" Cc cc cG EG| "G7"GB BB BG AB| "C"c2 A2 G3 E| G3 GA G^F G| E2 G3/2 G/2 G3 E|
G3 GA G^F G| "G7"D2 G3/2 A/2G-FE-D| "C"C2 E2 G2 c3/2 c/2| "F"dc Bc A3 c| "G7"B3 BB GA B|"C" c4- c|]

I noted Hill as the oldest known reference. I believe I downloaded this one from thesession.org because it is notated with slashes which I never use. I just added chords. You can view and play this in a free program like EasyABC.

 

[Eddy Yates]

Wow! I’ve never seen that kind of notation. Even crazier than Nashville, but it makes sense.

 

[Tom]

Thanks!

 

[jozz]

I believe some people are able to sight-read the abc...

 

[Tom]

I love abc! I make all my arrangements with abc, such as the one above. I find that I can arange a tune with lyrics faster than with one of the wysiwyg editors. Plus its formatting is pretty easy, not perfect but good enough for me. Plus you can often find a version to use as a base, especially traditional tunes. I like reading from my own arrangements in most cases and already have way too many in my music books. In fact, this has become a challenge because it's so easy to like a new song and make an arrangement. I have to buckle down and concentrate on a core set of songs to play because I am not smart enough to show up with a tune book of 100 songs and play them randomly with competence. I wish I could keep more tunes in my head, but it is difficult.

I can see how sight reading from abc could be a thing, especially if you use it a lot.. You've got everything there.

Now, I have seen a new approach where you can interactively draw notes on a staff with a stylus right on your tablet or screen. This looks very exciting, although I have not tried it yet, and I don't know if it supports lyrics. Anybody use one of these systems?

 

[Eddy Yates]

Tom,
I’ve used “NotateMe Now”, and it’s pretty good, but pretty expensive for an app...$39.99
The free version merely gets you started, but will let you see if you like it. Lyrics, pdf, etc. aren’t available on the free version.
You have to train the app to recognize your writing, and that takes an hour or so. I’ve found I have to be very consistent with my scratchings.

 

[Tom]

Thanks for the tip, Eddy, I'll check it out. $40 seems pretty ok if it works.....

---

Btw, how is the formatting once you have a song notated? And can it import and export abc?

 

[Eddy Yates]

Thanks for the tip, Eddy, I'll check it out.  $40 seems pretty ok if it works.....

---

Btw, how is the formatting once you have a song notated?  And can it import and export abc?

---

I’ve just used the free version, so I can’t answer about abc, but once it interprets your chicken scratches, it looks great in regular notation.

 

[Tom]

Thanks again, Eddy! I don't have a large tablet and stylus do probably would want to use Windows 10. Very expensive! But I see there is another called Staffpad which has potential.

 

[george garside]

Why use ABC, the dots or whatever when tunes like tavern in the town are easy to play by ear //from memory.   The trick to playing by ear from memory is the play tunes you can whistle, sing or hum.  With some practice playing by ear /from memory  is as easy as 'think it-play it'   

george

 

[Eddy Yates]

I grew up doing both reading music and learning by ear from friends who didn’t read music. Learning a simple tune like Tavern by ear is great, and even learning more complex Irish or bluegrass tunes by ear means they’ll definitely stick in your head better than if you sight read them.
Most of my trad and bluegrass friends eventually made a point of learning how to sight read better, just because of the volume of tunes required, and because they wanted to play very complex stuff.

 

[Tom]

Good points, guys.  I suppose if I were a lot younger the tunes would stay in my head easier, but at this point it's easier to have the music to refer to, especially on more complex tunes, as Eddy says.  Plus I play tunes that I've never heard before and it's easier to read them than to find them on YouTube.   Plus I like to bring tunes to my friends who read, and I like to share my arrangements on the web.  Plus you don't have to remember 3 or 4 verses of lyrics, especially if they are in Italian!

But I agree that learning by ear is really good for getting them in your head.  I generally get the gist by reading, then work them out in my head if I like them.

 

[Eddy Yates]

Yes. There are many ways to skin a cat. That’s if you want to skin a cat.