Annotation:Garfield's March

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X:1 T:Garfield March S:Clark Kessinger (W.Va.) M:C| L:1/8 R:Air N:"x" = spicatto (bounced bow) notes D:Brunswick 238 (78 RPM), The Kessinger Brothers (1928) F:https://www.slippery-hill.com/recording/garfield-march Z:Transcribed by Andrew Kuntz K:G [d4b4][d4b4]|[d4b4]z2 "x"[d2g2]|"x"d2"x"[d2a2] "x"[d2b2]"x"[c2a2]|[B8g8]| [d6f6]-[d2e2]|[d3f3]-[de][d2f2]+slide+e'2|d'8-|[M:2/4]d'2z2| [M:C|][d6f6]A2|[d3f3]-[de]f2e'2|d'8|-[d'2]"X"d2"X"[d2g2]"x"[d2a2]| [d8b8]|[d6b6]"x"g"x"a|"x"[d2b2]"x"a2"x"[d2b2]"x"[d2a2]|[B6g6][B2g2]| [d6f6]A2|[d3f3]-[de]f2e'd'-|[M:2/4]d'b-b2|[M:C|]e3 b2(a/b/a)|g8|| {F}[G4B4]{A}[B4d4]-|[B4d4]-[Bd][Be][Bd][_B_d]-| [=B4=d4]e-[B3d3]- |[G6B6] [G2A2]-| [A3A3]-[AB]- [A2A2]D2|[D4D4]- [DD]E FA|cBAG FAFE|[D6D6]B,A,| G,B,DG- GAB2|d8|ed3(A Bd)B2|G6 [F2A2]| [A3A3]-[AB]- [A2A2]+slide+[D2D2]-|[D4D4]- [DD]E FA|cBAG FAFE|[D6D6]B,A,| G,B,DG- G2.[G2B2]|dg g2 b/b/b b2|a4+slide+c'4|{A}f4a4-| a2g2ab2ab|g8||



GARFIELD'S MARCH. AKA - "Garfield's Funeral March." Old-Time. The piece was derived from a piece of sheet music called "Garfield's Funeral March," dating from the 1881 assassination of President James A. Garfield [1] (Wolfe, 1997), however, there were a number of pieces with the same name (by Edwin Christie, E. Gilmore and others), mostly minor-key dirges. The tune was recorded in Ashland, Kentucky, by Kanawha County, West Virginia, fiddler Clark Kessinger (1896-1975) and his nephew Luches ("The Kessinger Brothers" as the record label denoted them) for Brunswick Records in February, 1928, learned from local W.Va. fiddler Abe Glenn in 1903 when Kessinger was aged seven [1].
The assassination of James Garfield



Additional notes

Source for notated version: -

Printed sources : -

Recorded sources: -Brunswick 238 (78 RPM), The Kessinger Brothers (1928). County 536, "The Kessinger Brothers: 1928-1930" (1974). Rounder CD 0377, John Masters - "Traditional Fiddle Music of Kentucky: Along the Kentucky River."

See also listing at:
Hear the Kessinger Brother's recording at Juneberry 78's [2], Slippery Hill [3] and youtube.com [4]



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  1. Charles Wolfe, Mountains of Music, John Lilly ed., 1999, p. 28