The Frost Is All Over - Week 1

My 52-week challenge is underway!  I picked my first tune primarily based on its title.  I'm not sure about the weather in the rest of the country/world, but this has certainly been a record-breaking and odd winter season here in the Midwest!  My friends Caitlin and Jason exchanged marriage vows on Saturday, March 26 in four inches of snow.  The temperatures the prior Saturday and the following weekend topped 70 and 80 degrees!  As such, I thought "The Frost Is All Over" might be an appropriate tune - and will hopefully keep those cold temperatures away for the rest of the year!

It's a simple jig in the key of D, and it has a light-hearted feel to it - makes me hopeful for spring!  From just a bit of research, it appears that this traditional Irish tune goes by many names:  "Frost Is All Over," "The Slán le Sioc," "The Frost Is All Gone," "The Loughrea Jig," "Lisdoonvarna," "Frieze Britches," "The Praties Are Dug and the Frost Is All Over," "The Praties are Dug," "The American Dwarf," "What Would I Do if the Kettle Boiled Over?," "Mist of Clonmel," and "On a Monday Morning," among others.

I even found lyrics!

What will we do if the kettle boils over
What will we do only fill it again
What will we do if the cow eats the clover
What will we do only set it again
The preaties are dug
And the frost is all over
Kitty lie over close to the wall
How would you like to be married to a solider
Kitty lie over close to the wall

What would you do if you married a solider
What would you do only follow his gun
What would you do if he died in the ocean
What would you do only marry again
The preaties are dug
And the herrings are roasted
Kitty lie over close to the wall
You to be drunk and me to be sober
Kitty lie over close to the wall

What will we do if the kettle boils over
What will we do only fill it again
What will we do if the cow eats the clover
What will we do only set it again
The preaties are dug
And the frost is all over
Kitty lie over close to the wall
How would you like to be married to a solider
Kitty lie over close to the wall

According to Ted on Yahoo! Answers, apparently it's safe to assume that "preaties" or "praties" refer to potatoes - fun fact to know and tell!

One of my favorite things to do is to string like-sounding tunes together.  After a few loops through this jig, I fell right into "Peter's Peerie Boat," another D tune in 6/8 by Tom Anderson that I learned from my friend Wes Chappell of No Strings Attached.

A cheap trick we attempted late one night at Swannanoa (Asheville, NC - 2005)

I might try to look for another new tune for next week to make it a three-tune thread!

Johnny you rosin up your bow and play your fiddle hard

When I was seven years old, I ventured into a local music store with my parents and brother to buy harmonicas.  Out of the corner of her eye, my mom spied a hammered dulcimer and took me by the hand.  The co-owner of the store at the time introduced himself and handed me a hammer.  D-D-A-A-B-B-A-G-G-F#-F#-E-E-D - after one round of "Twinkle, Twinkle," I was in love.  My parents surprised me with a Cloud Nine for my eighth birthday.  February 12, 1993 marks the day I began this wonderful, musical journey.

Just a few years later, I picked up the fiddle.  It was a painful beginning - for not only me, but any of those within hearing distance.  It was a challenge to tame this wonderful instrument and learn how to manipulate it into making beautiful music - it still is!  This was a test of my abilities in a demanding but exciting undertaking.  Still today, holding the fiddle up to my chin brings a comforting, yet exhilarating feeling. 

I am so thankful for all of the opportunities that have presented themselves to me through music.  I have balanced on milk crates when I was too short to reach someone's instrument, and I have stood on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry.  I squeezed into massive jam sessions of more than 50 players, and I have huddled in circles, knee-to-knee with some of the greatest old-timers.  I picked out tunes in hotel hallways with world-renowned musicians, and I played music til dawn in the Pecan Grove at the WVA Festival in Winfield, Kansas.  I will treasure these experiences always and look forward to making many more memories in the future.

Having graduated from college and started my career, finding the time to play has been difficult.  As such, I am issuing a challenge to myself to learn 52 new tunes in the next 52 weeks.  I'll be picking songs out of the myriad of music books and albums I have acquired over the past 18 years, in addition to taking suggestions from fellow musicians and sitting in on local jam sessions.  I would like to not only learn how to play the tunes, but also learn a little history about and anecdotes related to each of them, if possible.  The next year will be music-filled and a great learning experience.