Lucy Farr's

barndance

Key signature: Gmajor

Submitted on January 8th 2003 by Bannerman.

This tune has been added to 91 tunebooks.

Also known as 7-Step, The 7-Step, Cross Schottische, The Cross Schottische, Da Seven Step, Da Seven Step Polka, Double Schottische, The Double Schottische, German, The German Schottische, The German, Italian Schottische, The Italian Schottische, The Plain Schottische, The Seven Step Polka, The Seven Step Schottische, The Seven Step, Seven Steps, The Seven Steps, The Seven-Steps, Shottee, Siebenschritt, Spanish Schottische, The Spanish Schottische, The Ulster 7-Step, The Ulster Seven Step Polka, The Ulster Seven Step.

Recordings of a tune by this name:

A North Country Barn Dance by The Morpeth Ranters
Behind The Mist by Various Artists
Dance Music Of Ireland: Volume 11 by Matt Cunningham
Drops Of Spring Water by Comhaltas Concert Tour 2004
Echoes by Winnie Chafe
Foinn Seisiun 2 by Ceoltóirí Cultúrlainne
Irish Fiddle Solos by Pete Cooper
Rig-a-jig-jig: Dance Music Of The South Of England by Various Artists
The Long Trip Home: Traditional Irish Music From D.C. And Baltimore by Josh Dukes
The Princess Royal: Dance Music From South Armagh by The Nine McCusker Brothers And Hugh Savage
Tracin' by Gearóid Ó HAllmhuráin And Patrick Ourceau
Turas by Turas
Under The Moon by Martin Hayes

Details ABC Sheetmusic Comments

X: 1
T: Lucy Farr's
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: barndance
K: Gmaj
|:DE/2F/2|G2 G2 G2 G2|GABG E2 D2|B2 B2 B2 B2|BcdB A3 A|
BcdB G2 G2|GABG E2D2|DEGA BddB|A2 G2 G2 :||
|:A2|BcdB G2 G2|GABG E2 D2|DEGA BddB|B2 A2 A3 A|
BcdB G2 G2|GABG E2 D2|DEGA BddB|A2 G2 G2 :||

Details ABC Sheetmusic Comments

Details ABC Sheetmusic Comments

Lucy Farr's Barndance

This tune is named after the London-based East Galway fiddle player, Lucy Farr who sadly died on Tuesday, 7 January at the age of 91 years. It's a simple but very effective tune with a great melody. Emphasis is placed on on the G and B crotchets in the first and third bars respectively and this gives the tune a very special character. I'm not certain whether or not Lucy composed the tune herself.

# Posted on January 8th 2003 by Bannerman

Lucy Farr - Heart and Home

The name of the tape Lucy recorded was Heart and Home.
Quote from her obit on concertina.net by Roger Digby, "She had a repertoire which included a number of untitled tunes and these are regularly referred to as Lucy's Polka No 1, etc."

# Posted on January 8th 2003 by aliceflynn

I have just been taught this tune, with the variation that the 1st and 3rd bars of the A part are |G4 G4| and |B4 B4|, which gives even more emphasis to the character of these bars. BTW, I was taught it in A, so the 1st and 3rd bars for me were in fact |A4 A4| and |c4 c4|. I'm also informed that Martin Hayes plays it in B-flat.

# Posted on February 20th 2003 by lazyhound

This is a tape transcription of the A major version I;ve been taught. In addition to the A4's and c4's there are one or two other minor differences.
|:A4 A4|ABcA F2 E2|c4 c4|cdec B3B|
cdec B2 A2|ABcA F2E2|EFAB ceec|B2 A2 A4:||
|:cdec B2 A2|ABcA F2 E2|EFAB ceec|c2 B2 B3B|
cdec B2 A2|ABcA F2 E2|EFAB ceec|B2 A2 A4:||

# Posted on February 23rd 2003 by lazyhound

WELL, MAYBE YOU COULD CALL IT THAT - - - "SIEBENSCHRITT"

OR - SEVEN STEP...really if anything, Deutch, or 'German'...of it you like - 'The Ulster 7-Step'...

There's a good chance that this and the 'Germans', which also incorporated the '7-step', are responsible for what was eventually stylized for stage in the last decade of the 1800s by the dance cadre associated with the Gaelic League, that 'Irish 7-Step'. Anyway, it was the style before that time. I'll come back and give you another version of the melody and the actual dance, which was pretty consistant across the many countries where it found its way...

# Posted on July 23rd 2004 by ceolachan

The Threat of Standarization and lost connections - - -

In the earliest traditions of this little number, it isn't 32 bars, but, using the version above:

|(3DEF|G2 G2 G2 G2|GABG E2 D2|
B2 B2 B2 B2|BcdB A2 G2||
|:BcdB G2 G2|GABG E2 D2|DEGA BddB|1 B2A2 A4:|
2 A2 G2 G2||

# Posted on July 23rd 2004 by ceolachan

NATURAL SELECTION & EVOLUTION

As it is most likely, by carbon dating, that the '7-Step' is the mother of all 'Germans', it is only natural that it find a more identifiable count, 32 bars. All subsequent 'Germans' have tended to fit that mold. The dance went the same way, but in two flavours, the 'Long German' and the 'Short German'... The original 7-step as went with this tune mates perfectly with the 12 bar version I've given...

# Posted on July 23rd 2004 by ceolachan

- - - SHETLAND 7-STEP POLKA - - -

I first learned this Shetland version from the excellent fiddler and teacher Pam Swing. This can be found on page 8 of her book "Haand Me Doon De Fiddle" by Pam Swing and Tom Anderson, ISBN 0-901636-25-8.

The following is a translation of Tom Anderson's Shetland dialect and written after the tune in the book:

"Seven Step Polka - This tune was used for an old Shetland dance called by the same name. What way it came to Shetland we do not know. There is a version of it in England used for a different dance."

# Posted on July 25th 2004 by ceolachan

- - - "The Fiddle Tradition of the Shetland Isles" - - -

by Peter Cooke, page 78:

"-one seldom sees a polka dance in Shetland today, and three tunes are today regarded as traditional Shetland polkas - 'The Bonnie Polka', 'The Seven STep Polka' and 'Sister Jean'-."

# Posted on July 25th 2004 by ceolachan

- - - DONEGAL - ULSTER 7-STEP - - -

This was played by and heard in variation from a number of different players, even the Shetland version given previously is closer to this Irish one than the Lucy Farr version is. So, different melody and a different bar count and historically older as well,

BARNDANCE - The Ulster 7-Step ( - some sources: Mick Hoy - Fermanagh; The Cassidys - Donegal; The McCuskers - Armagh; etc...)

The Ulster 7-Step

I'll try to put together a short notation of the dance to place here later for those interested...

# Posted on July 25th 2004 by ceolachan

TANZ! - Steps for this 'seed':

The Seven-Step (originally 12 bars) / The German (short/long) / The German Schottische / The Seven-Step Polka / The Ulster 7-Step

http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display.php/3371/comments

# Posted on August 9th 2004 by ceolachan

The McCuskers' go of it - in keeping with the original tune and dance, 12 bars

# Posted on September 15th 2004 by ceolachan

Messed that up and I'm not even under any influence tonight -
bars 5 - 8:

f>ga>f d2 d2|e>fg>f e2 e2|e>fe>d c>AB>c|d>ef>g a2 a>f|

# Posted on September 15th 2004 by ceolachan

Lucy Farr - a bit of history:

http://www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/farr.htm

# Posted on November 27th 2004 by ceolachan

Lucy Farr herself seems to have played it in D, though, at least on the tape Heart and Home.

# Posted on May 31st 2006 by Markus

"Siebenschritt" ~ "Volksmusik und Volkstanz im Alpenland"

http://www.volksmusik.cc/

There are a load of different 'folkdance' tunes here, and some great MP3s scattered throughout, including some relatives to things 'Irish', such as a take on the "7-Step", "Siebenschritt":

http://www.volksmusik.cc/volkstanz/siebenschritt.htm

And a few other familiars...

# Posted on June 13th 2006 by ceolachan

"The Seven Steps"

The following are versions all in keeping with the actual 12 bar dance:

# Posted on July 8th 2006 by ceolachan

"Siebenschritt" ~ Salzburg, Austria

X: 1134
T: Siebenschritt
M: 2/4
L: 1/8
Q: 1/8 =126
O: Salzburg, Austria
R: Austrian Folk Dance
K: G Major
|: DG GG | F/G/A/F/ G2 | DB BB | A/B/c/A/ B2 |
dd e2 | cc d2 | BB cc | AA B2 |
dd e2 | cc d2 | BB cc | AA G2 :|

# Posted on April 18th 2007 by ceolachan

"Folktanz in Salzburg"
128 pages ~ dance descriptions & music
Salzburger Landes-Arbeitsgemeinshaft Für Volkkstanz
Salzburg, 1993 & an English translation is in prepation...

# Posted on April 18th 2007 by ceolachan

A slip, not an 'f' but a 'v' ~ "Volkstanz in Salzburg"

# Posted on April 18th 2007 by ceolachan

7 Step

Ceolachan sent me an mp3 of this tune earlier, and I thought it reminded me of a tune I used to play at school. I started singing it in my head and it seemed kind of half-finished, but I didn't think there was any more to it. I tried googling the abc and kept being brought back here. I thought "that tune's so similar but it's not the same". Well, I should have read ceolachan's comments. Thanks for all the info on this tune, 'c'. I realised that it was the Shetland 7 Step version we used to play - perhaps a bit faster than they'd take it in Donegal - about 90-95bpm, and with a bit less swing.. maybe more of a 2/4 feel? I don't know why we played it like that, but I suspect it was because we were playing a lot of 2/4 march type tunes. I think we put Da Boannie Polka with it http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/5559.

It's the same as your setting, 'c', but we played an E at the start of bar 7. Our teacher had connections with Tom Anderson and we used to play some tunes out of his book, plus other Shetland tunes, and some Scandinavian ones too. We did exchanges to Norway and there'd be some tune swapping going on. I suppose the adults did the tune swapping, and then our teacher gave the tunes to us to learn.

# Posted on May 11th 2007 by Dow

Childhood memories, I love it...

# Posted on May 11th 2007 by ceolachan

You drew my attention to Tom Anderson's comment about the dance for it being different between the Shetlands and England, and that started a search. Again I came up empty. I do have notes for the Shetland dance, but not here. While I've heard and played English takes on the tune, I can't remember ever dancing anything strikingly different. I'd love to hear from others on this...

# Posted on May 11th 2007 by ceolachan

Now go to June 2007

http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/7298

# Posted on June 9th 2007 by hetty

"Seven Step" ~ via America, New England contra & couple dancing

“The Fiddlecase Book of 101 Polkas”
Compiled and edited by Jack Perron & Randy Miller
Fiddlecase Books, 1978
Tune #29 ~ the book is out of print...

X: 29
T: Seven Step
M: 2/4
L: 1/8
R: polka ~ 7-step
K: G Major
GG GG | F/G/A/F/ GD | BB BB | A/B/c/A/ BG ||
|: ee d>B | cc B>B | AA A>G | F/D/E/F/ G/A/ (3B/c/d/ :|

# Posted on June 18th 2007 by ceolachan

"The Italian Schottische" / "The Seven Step" ~ "The Dorset Trio"

Here's another interesting way with this, transcribed from the playing of "The Dorset Trio", Charlie Pond on fiddle, Bill Hooper on melodeon and Perce Damer on cello, as recorded on the 17th of September, 1954, by Douglas Cleverden, and circulated on the recordings BBC 6778 & Topic 12T240, and currently available on "Rig-a-jig-jig: Dance music of the south of England", part of Reg Hall's "The Voice of the People" series, Topic records TSCD 659, and a recommended purchase and listen... Here's that transcription ~

X: ~
T: The Italian Schottische
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: barndance / 7-step
K: C Major
c2 c2 c2 c2 | B>cd>B c3 d | e2 e2 e2 e2 | d>ef>d e4 ||
|: e>fg>e d4 | e>fg>e c4 | d>ef>d B>GA>B |[1 c>de>f g4 :|[2 c2 c2 c4 |]

# Posted on June 26th 2007 by ceolachan