Reel for a Portland Fancy

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X:1 % T:Reel for a Portland Fancy T:Portland Fancy [2] S:John Taggart M:C| L:1/8 K:G G3B A2G2|GABc d2g2|G3...


REEL FOR A PORTLAND FANCY. AKA - "Portland Fancy (2)." American, Reel. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). ABC. Portland Fancy is the name of a contra dance.
John Taggart, N.H.
The piece is an untitled reel from the music manuscript collection of early 20th century New Hampshire fiddler John Taggart (1854–1943), meant to be played for the dance Portland Fancy. Taggart, originally from Sharon, N.H., wrote an memoir called "Recollection of a Busy Life" (1938), and included a number of dance tunes and ballads. While he learned his fiddling from the age of 12 from his father, other family members and neighbors, Taggart received some formal musical education while working later in life in Greenfield, Mass., where he was a member of Putnam's Orchestra in 1877 and Steigleder's Orchestra. In 1881 he married and formed his own orchestra, which played western Massachusetts venues for the next fourteen years.


Additional notes

Source for notated version: - the 1938 typewritten manuscript of fiddler John Taggart, entitled “Recollections of a Busy Life” (New Hampshire Historical Society, Concord, N.H.) [Miller].

Printed sources : - Miller (Fiddler’s Throne), 2004; No. 238, p. 145.

Recorded sources: - New Hampshire Fiddler’s Union, Miller & Peery – “The Music of John Taggart” (1989). The Golden Griffon Stringtet - "Propinquity" (1993).


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