Tunes by Matilda Murdoch

In view of our having to stay isolated these days, I thought it would be fun to post some tunes to try at home. A tune we have enjoyed playing for years at the Southern Kings Chapter is the Loggieville Two-Step, written by a remarkable woman from New Brunswick, Matilda Murdoch. She passed away last year a few days after she celebrated her 99th birthday by playing music with friends and family. She wrote over 200 tunes and could outlast many younger players at jam sessions well into her 80’s. A mother of 6 children, grandmother to 12 and great-grandmother to 15, she was honored with the Order of Canada and the Order of New Brunswick. An interesting video about her life and fiddle playing was made by Terry Gadsden and is available on youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM53Uyqei6M Below you can find five of her tunes: Evening Star Waltz, Northern Lights Waltz, Semiwagon Breakdown, Up the Bartibogue and the Loggieville TwoStep in pdf and mp3 forms. If you search for them on youtube you may find other waltzes by the same name, so beware! There are lots of videos of the Loggieville Two-Step, including on Day 133 of Patti Kusturok’s 365 days of fiddle tunes and a video of Matilda on her 90th leading a group of fiddlers! I hope you enjoy trying her tunes.

Please note that my Muse Score Mp3 program beeps out two notes instead of one for any TIED notes; obviously  Matilda played these waltzes with the ties. Also I have slowed down the tempo of the three faster tunes a bit to make them easier to learn. If anyone needs them played more slowly, please contact me, and I can send it to you in slower tempo.

Amy Swenson