Roger Swaine's tunes

Over the years, Roger has written a number of tunes. Some just come "out of the blue", while others are written when he needs a particular type of tune, and can't find a suitable one anywhere. These are his better ones. You're welcome to use them for non-commercial purposes.

• "Barbara Holden's Waltz". (48 bar waltz.) Barbara took up the accordion at the same time as Roger, and the two used to practice together, and both played for English Miscellany. A lovely lady, she sadly died of cancer in 1980. Click here to hear it.
• "Breakfast Reel". (32 bar reel.) This tune arrived while Roger was having breakfast one day. Click here to hear it
• "Broken Boiler". (64 bar rag.) The tune arrived on the day when the hot-water boiler had (apparently) broken down. As it happened, the boiler just needed to be re-set, so all was well.
• "Burnham Green". Composed shortly after walking round the village of the same name.
• "Clone Waltz". (32 bar Waltz.) Roger needed an alternative tune for the dance "Mexican Waltz", and couldn't find one, so wrote this, which is based on the rhythmic pattern of the tune "La Chiapanecas". Click here to hear it.
• "Honeypot Jig". (32 bar jig.) This tune works very well for a Scottish Country dance called "The Bees of Maggieknockater", hence the name. The normal tune for the dance is called "Mr & Mrs MacRogerson", composed by Iain MacPhail. Click here to hear it.
• "Johnny Conquest". (32 bar jig). Johnny Conquest was a well-known fiddler for many years in and around Hertfordshire, and occasionally played in the Brookfield Band. He died in late 2008. Click here to hear it.
• "Kuessnacht am Riga". (Polka.) The title is the name of the home town of a Swiss folk dance team that visited English Miscellany during 2008. They played lots of attractive polkas, which inspired Roger to write one of his own.
• "Mary Gater's Fancy". (32 bar waltz.) Mary is a fellow accordionist (and dancer) in English Miscellany. She expressed a liking for the tune. Click here to hear it.
• "Supermarket Waltz". (32 bar waltz.) This tune arrived while Roger was shopping in the local supermarket.
• "The Queens Head". (32 bar jig.) This tune was written specifically to fit the dance "The Circassian Circle", and is named after the pub where English Miscellany used to go after their Wednesday evening practices. (We now go to a different pub, and the Queen's Head has been renamed "The Skew Bridge".) Click here to hear it.
• "The Roundhouse Jig". (32 bar jig.) This tune arrived in a dream! Roger hummed it into a tape-recorder as soon as he woke up, which has kept it for posterity. In the dream there were also words, but all that he remembered was that the words began "We live at the round house...". Click here to hear it.

For those who are interested in such things, the notation was written using "MusicTime DeLuxe", from Gvox and then converted to PDF using CutePDF .