Blue-Tail Fly, The

From Wind Repertory Project
Clare Grundman

Clare Grundman


This work bears the designation QMB Journal 175.


General Info

Year: 1951
Duration:
Difficulty: (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Boosey & Hawkes
Cost: Score and Parts - Out of print.

For availability information, see Discussion tab, above.


Instrumentation

Full Score
C Piccolo
Flute
Oboe I-II
Bassoon I-II
E-flat Soprano Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Clarinet Solo-II-III
E-flat Alto Clarinet
B-flat Bass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Bass Saxophone
Cornets Solo-II-III
B-flat Trumpet I-II
Horn in F I-II-III
Trombone I-II
Bass Trombone
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass
Timpani
Percussion, including:

  • Bass Drum
  • Crash Cymbals
  • Fly-Swatter (Slapstick)
  • Snare Drum
  • Triangle
  • Xylophone


Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

"Jim Crack Corn" or Blue Tail Fly is an American song which first became popular during the rise of blackface minstrelsy in the 1840s, regained currency as a folk song in the 1940s at the beginning of the folk revival, and has since become a popular children's song under the name Jimmy Crack Corn.

Over the years, several variants have appeared. Most versions include some idiomatic African English, although sanitized General American versions now predominate. The basic narrative remains intact. On the surface, the song is a black slave's lament over his white master's death in a riding accident. The song, however, can be—and is—interpreted as having a subtext of celebration about that death and of the slave's having contributed to it through deliberate negligence or even deniable action.

-Program Note from Wikipedia


Media

(Needed - please join the WRP if you can help.)


State Ratings

None discovered thus far.


Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

  • Ventura County (Calif.) Concert Band (Julie Judd, conductor) - 12 April 2015


Works for Winds by This Composer

Adaptable Music

  • Kentucky 1800 (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Longfield) (1954/2006/2017)


All Wind Works


Resources