Old Mother Oxford

Here are a couple of Morris tunes the first being "Old Mother Oxford". A tune collected by Cecil Sharp from William Kimber of Oxfordshire. "Argeers" is apparently from the South of England and is a garbled version of the word Algiers. I found them in Robin Williamson's excellent book of English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh Fiddle tunes.

For historical information on Morris tunes and the folks who collected them go here.

I have changed the rhythm slightly on the second time around to give it a bit of swing. In bar six there is a triplet which in the book comes at the beginning of bar seven, in my opinion it works better by coming at it from the previous bar. (I have done it both ways so take your pick) It should be light and airy taking hardly any time at all. In the second part I prefer to articulate the notes a little more by adding some triple tonguing to spice it up a little. As this is being played just as a tune (that is without dancers) then it can be played more or less as desired. If it were being played as a dance tune, with actual Morris dancers then the rhythm and speed would have to tie in with the dancers wishes.

Hear the two tunes played together "Old Mother Oxford" and "Argeers" 

Sindt C whistle Old Mother Oxford slowly

Argeers

This follows on nicely to the previous tune with mostly the same type of tonguing. On the faster clip I finish on the higher written note D instead of the lower. If it is being played on the C whistle the actual sound of the tune is in C so the written D will sound C....phew that was a bit of a mouthful.

The triplets should be single tongued if it is played slowly, but at a faster pace triple can be used.

C whistle Argeers