Paul H. Umfleet
Stephen Foster for Irish Whistle
Most of Foster’s songs are about the lyrics. Like many modern day “folk songs” the melodies are often short and keep repeating with different lyrics. Often the melodies are rather boring. Then and now. Don’t even get me started about “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”! I studied nearly 200 Foster tunes to find the great melodies that would stand alone without the lyrics. Then I had to decide which tunes would work within the limitations of the Irish Whistle. After that I wrote the accompaniments on the computer so I could record the tunes. I tried to get variations on the tunes with key changes or changes in the accompaniments. Several of the tunes were so short that I combined them with similar sounding songs.
I started this collection with Foster’s first big hit and followed that with the first song he published. I end the collection with the first Foster tune I fell in love with while watching a movie about a giant ape! This is also said to be the last song he wrote. The title is so appropriate.
Paul H. Umfleet March 23, 2016
List of Tunes
1. Oh! Susanna ----mp3 file
2. Open Thy Lattice Love ----mp3 file
3. Old Folks At Home ----mp3 file
4. My Old Kentucky Home ----mp3 file
5. Nelly Bly ----mp3 file
6. Hard Times Come Again No More ----mp3 file----sample pdf
7. Camptown Races ----mp3 file
8. Autumn Waltz ----mp3 file
9. I Will Be True To Thee ----mp3 file
10. Ah, May The Red Rose Live Always ----mp3 file
11. Angelina Baker / Dolly Day ----mp3 file
12. Annie My Own Love ----mp3 file
13. Jeanie With the Light Brown Hair ----mp3 file
14. Stand Up for the Flag ----mp3 file
15. Beautiful Child of Song ----mp3 file
16. Comrades Fill No Glass for Me ----mp3 file----sample pdf
17. Slumber, My Darling ----mp3 file
18. Old Black Joe ----mp3 file
19. Fairy Belle ----mp3 file
20. For Thee Love For Thee ----mp3 file
21. Ring Ring de Banjo ----mp3 file
22. Gentle Annie ----mp3 file
23. Glendy Burk / Merry Little Birds Are We ----mp3 file
24. I'll Be a Soldier / I'm Nothing But a Plain Old Soldier ----mp3 file
25. Lena Our Loved One Is Gone / Under the Willow She's Sleeping ----mp3 file
26. Willie Has Gone To War / Willie We Have Missed You ----mp3 file
27. Cora Dean / Eulalie ----mp3 file
28. No Home, No Home / When Old Friends Were Here ----mp3 file
29. Sweet Emerald Isle That I Love So Well ----mp3 file
30. Where Has Lula Gone / Farewell My Lilly Dear ----mp3 file
31. Nelly Was A Lady ----mp3 file
32. There Are Plenty of Fish In the Sea ----mp3 file
33. Voices that Are Gone ----mp3 file
34. We Are Coming, Father Abraam / That's What's the Matter ----mp3 file
35. Beautiful Dreamer ----mp3 file