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Beginning Fiddle: 17 – Soldier’s Joy

Taught by Vi Wickam

April 1, 2014

Fiddle • Beginner

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About Beginning Fiddle: 17 – Soldier’s Joy:

“Soldier’s Joy” is a fiddle tune, classified as a reel or country dance. It is popular in the American fiddle canon, in which it is touted as “an American classic” but traces its origin to Scottish fiddling traditions. and Irish fiddle traditions. It has been played in Scotland for over 200 years, and Robert Burns used it for the first song of his cantata ‘The Jolly Beggars’. According to documentation at the United States Library of Congress, it is “one of the oldest and most widely distributed tunes” and is rated in the top ten most-played Old Time Fiddle tune. According to the Illinois Humanities Center, the tune dates as early as the 1760s. In spite of its upbeat tempo and catchy melody, the term “soldier’s joy” has a much darker meaning than is portrayed by the tune. This term eventually came to refer to the combination of whiskey, beer, and morphine used by Civil War soldiers.

Like many pure tunes with ancient pedigree, the melody of Soldier’s Joy has been used as a basis for construction of songs, which, unlike pure tunes, have lyrics. Robert Burns wrote lyrics for the tune in which a dismembered, homeless veteran sarcastically recounts his delight with battle.

Vi Wickam

Vi Wickam

Vi Wickam of Loveland, CO has been performing fiddle and writing music since before he could read. Along with his brothers and dad, The Wickam Family Band performed regularly on Blinky’s Fun Club, a nationally syndicated TV program. Vi’s fiddling can be heard on numerous CD recordings, including two of his own. He’s played with many different bands throughout the United States, and even briefly in England. Among his fiddling honors, Vi has won the Colorado State Championship twice, and been a finalist four times at the Grand Masters’ Fiddler Championship. He has judged fiddle contests throughout the US, and directed regional and state level fiddle contests. Read More About Vi→

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Series Lessons

Beginning Fiddle

  • Beginning Fiddle: 01 - This is Your Fiddle
  • Beginning Fiddle: 01B - How to Tune Your Violin
  • Beginning Fiddle: 02 - Holding Your Fiddle and Bow
  • Beginning Fiddle: 03 - Bowing Open Strings
  • Beginning Fiddle: 04 - Open String Song
  • Beginning Fiddle: 05 - Introducing the Fingers
  • Beginning Fiddle: 06 - Hot Cross Buns
  • Beginning Fiddle: 07 - Mary Had a Little Lamb
  • Beginning Fiddle: 08A - Boil Them Cabbage Down
  • Beginning Fiddle: 08B - Boil Them Cabbage Down with Drones
  • Beginning Fiddle: 09 - Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
  • Beginning Fiddle: 10 - Little Liza Jane
  • Beginning Fiddle: 11 - Cripple Creek
  • Beginning Fiddle: 12 - The Fox
  • Beginning Fiddle: 13 - Shady Grove
  • Beginning Fiddle: 14 - Possum Up a Gum Stump
  • Beginning Fiddle: 15 - Cluck Old Hen
  • Beginning Fiddle: 17 - Soldier's Joy
  • Beginning Fiddle: 18 - Ragtime Annie
  • Beginning Fiddle: 19 - Turkey In the Straw

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