Annotation:Tamerack 'er Down Reel
X:1 T:Tamerack 'er Down Reel C:Donald Angus Beaton M:4/4 L:1/8 K:Amix f| ecBc AFEF| A2 af ecce| =g2 fa ecBc| AFEF A2 Af| ecBc A2 A:|! f| eAce =g2 fa| eAce fBBa|1 ecce f2 af| ecBc A/2A/2A A|2 ecce fgaf| ecBcA/2A/2A A||
TAMERACK 'ER DOWN REEL. AKA – “Tamarack 'er Down.” Canadian, Reel. Canada; Cape Breton, Prince Edward Island. A Mixolydian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. "Tamerack 'er Down Reel" was composed by Mabou Coal Mines, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, fiddler Donald Angus Beaton (1912-1982). A tamerack (wikipedia:Larix_laricina) is a kind of cold-tolerant larch tree often found in boggy, peaty lands. The wood has minor commercial uses, but was used by native peoples to make snowshoes. Ontario fiddler Graham Townsend's (1942-1998) father, Fred Townsend (b. 1900), was a dance caller for Don Messer's Islanders and used a call that goes "Tamarack 'er down on the old plank floor, that's all there is, there ain't no more!" Tamerack, being a cheap but resilient wood, was placed on the floor to protect it from the wear and tear of stepdancing, as noted in this printed remark from Ontario:
"Tamarack'er down on the red pine floor!" Many of us remember the dance hall called Sunnydale Acres on Lake Dore, or Royal Pines at Higgison's Hill. Some of us know how to tamarack'er down as the fiddle plays and the caller shouts, "partners for a square." Only a few may know why it was "on the red pine floor." A red pine floor was considered a hard surface; tamarack was even tougher. If you've listened to a step dancer slap the floor, you get the idea easily[1]
However, 'Tamerack 'er down' came to be an expression voiced to give encouragement to musicians to continue playing the kind of driving music that would excite dancers. The tamarack tree is called a 'juniper' on Cape Breton, so it's possible the expression 'tamarack 'er down' originated in Ontario, perhaps brought back to the Maritimes by returning workers.
It is an irregular tune--the ‘A’ part has five measures, the ‘B’ part four. Burt Feintuch (2004) notes that this kind of ‘crooked’ but driving tune is unusual in Cape Breton tradition. Ken Perlman (1996) suggested the “circularity” of the ‘A’ part had something to do with the repetitive nature of the work of logging.
