Collection number: MC 374
Size:
(7 items)
(0.15 cu.ft.)
About Allan Block (1923-2023)
Allan Block (1923-2013) was an accomplished dance fiddler, poet, and leatherworker. Originally from Wisconson, he studied classical violin before moving to New York’s Greenwich Village in the early 1950s. His sandal shop became legendary for its jam sessions, and was a stop for many high profile musicians of the day including Doc Watson and Bob Dylan. During the 1970s he moved to Francistown NH and became the fiddler for the Francistown dance. Over the subsequent decakes he regularly played for callers such as Ralph Page, Duke Miller, and Dudley Laufman.
About the Allan Block Collection (1986-1914)
This collection consists of tapes of Allan Block teaching workshops at the Music Emporium in Cambridge MA, fall 1986. Topics include repertoire, bowing, harmony, accompaniment, and tune history. Block plays fiddle and guitar throughout. Workshop participants are not named, but one of them was Patrick Hornig, who donated the tapes and digitized their contents in 2023.
Administrative Information
Access Restrictions
This collection is open.
Copyright Notice
Contents of this collection are governed by U.S. copyright law. For questions about publication or reproduction rights, contact Special Collections staff.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], [Box number], Allan Block Collection, 1986-2014, MC 374, Milne Special Collections and Archives, University of New Hampshire Library, Durham, NH, USA.
Acquisitions Information
Donation of Patrick Hornig, 2023
Collection Arrangement
- Arrangement within the tapes is chornological. The biography appears at the front of the collection.
Collection Contents
| Box 1 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Box 1, Item 1 | Allan Block Biography, 2014
Biography of Allan Block by Sarah Jane Nelson, copied from Fiddler Magazine (vol. 21 no. 3 Fall 2014) | |
| Box 1, Item 2 | Tape no. 1, 1986
Allan Block fiddle workshop at the Music Emporium, Cambridge MA, Fall 1986. Tunes: Tater Patch, Walking in the Parlor, Forky Deer, Drowsy Maggie, Still House, La Bastrangue, Paddy on the Turnpike, Cotton Eye Joe, Senaca Square Dance, You Married My Daughter But Yet You Didn’t, Ship in the Clouds, Mackilmoyle’s Reel, Lee Highway, Black Mountain Rag. | |
| Box 1, Item 3 | Tape no.2, 1986
Allan Block fiddle workshop at the Music Emporium, Cambridge MA, September 22 1986. Tunes: Give the Fiddler a Dram, Forky Deer, Quince Dillon’s High D Tune, Green Willis, Walkin’ in the Parlor, Miller’s Reel, Puncheon Floor, Cuckoo’s Nest, Judy’s Reel / The Snoring Mrs. Gobeil, Seneca Square Dance, Drowsy Maggie, Laurie Peckham, Take a Drink. | |
| Box 1, Item 4 | Tape no. 3, 1986
Allan Block fiddle workshop at the Music Emporium, Cambridge MA, September 29 1986. Tunes: Sail Away Ladies, Rye Straw, Take A Whiff, Cornbread, Molasses and Sassafras Tea, Going Down The River, Judy’s Well, Boating Up Sandy, Going Back to Dixie, Yellow Rose of Texas, Cluck Old Hen, Tater Patch. | |
| Box 1, Item 5 | Tape no. 4, 1986
Allan Block fiddle workshop at the Music Emporium, Cambridge MA, October 7 1986. Staten Island Hornpipe, Double File, Liza Jane, Arkansas Traveler, Fire on the Mountain, untitled waltz, untitled Canadian tune, Green Willis, Glise de Sherbrooke, unknown tune in AEae tuning, Yellow Rose of Texas, Round the Horn, untitled waltz, Senaca Square Dance, Bay of Fundy, Sourwood Mountain, Hop High Ladies, Tater patch, Twa Bonnie Maidens, untitled schottische, Durang’s Hornpipe, Wild Rose of the Mountain. | |
| Box 1, Item 6 | Tape no. 5, 1986
Allan Block fiddle workshop at the Music Emporium, Cambridge MA, October 13 1986. Tunes: Polly Put The Kettle On, “Interesting little mountain tune,” Chicken Reel, Mason’s Apron | |
| Box 1, Item 7 | Tape no. 6, 1986
Allan Block fiddle workshop at the Music Emporium, Cambridge MA, November 10 1986. Beaumont Rag, Tater Patch, Billy in the Lowground, Lee Highway, Peekaboo Waltz, Ducks on the Mill Pond, Don’t Let Your Deal Go Down, Sleepy Lou, Still House, Carroll County Blues, Katy Hilll, Billy Wilson, Pigtown Fling (a.k.a. Wild Horses at Stony Creek), Fisher’s Hornpipe, Paddy on the Turnpike | |
| Box 1, Item 8 | Digitized recordings, 1986
Digitized versions of the above tapes. | |
