Needlecase (Clawhammer banjo tune normally in D but played in C here

A banjo tune played here clawhammer style; the video is a "memory aid" for my student Julie.
EDIT: I want to add that while commenter Paul Ritscher (see below) learned it in the key of C, from Kirk McGee in his living room, it was recorded by the McGee brothers Sam and Kirk (and is generally assumed to have been composed by Sam McGee) in the key of D, which is where almost every oldtime musician plays it today. (Here's a link to that:) www.folkways.si...
Because of the certainty with which Mr. Ritscher declared that the tune as he learned it was played in classic C tuning (which of course I don't dispute) I wanted to be sure I was not leading folks who might learn the tune from me astray in the matter of the key most folks play it in. But a quick listen to all the people who had a version of the tune on iTunes demonstrated that the tune is indeed almost universally played in the key of D, at least these days. Bob Carlin, Dan Levenson, Brad Kolodner, Rafe and Clelia Stephaninni, and lots of assorted stringbands all recorded it in D. Indeed, there's even KZbin footage of Sam McGee's grandson Jimmy playing it in D. The only exceptions were on a children's album called "Banjo for Babes" (key of C) and Mike Seeger, who seemed to be splitting the difference by playing in C# :-)
In the matter of the melody, in Mr. Ritscher's comment he stated that it "almost sounds a little bit like the real tune. Kinda." So, while it was probably intended as a disparaging remark, I'm going to take it to mean that I've done my job of accompanying the fiddle, sketching out the melody, and providing some percussion. I realize that the finger picking style in which the tune was composed and recorded is not the same as the frailing/clawhammer style which I play, and which this video demonstrates. But it's a fine tune, deserving of being played, and I hope you all have a chance to enjoy playing it with lots of folks.

[@Joe.Newberry]

If she had said, at the outset, "I am playing Kirk McGee's 'Needlecase," then Mr. Ritscher would certainly have a point. It is not his version, not done fingerstyle, and is not played out of straight C tuning (I love McGee's beautiful playing on it). However, she is playing a very good and accessible version of the tune that has become part of the old-time scene as a fiddle number. Also, if I were quoting most of the older, iconic players whom I visited over the years, I can share that the majority of them just asked, "Did you bring your instrument? Let's play."

[@banjopicker114]

Will Keys, who (IMHO) was far more of an original and far more skilled than Kirk McGee, told me that I should steal all his licks and then use them in my own way. When I played his tunes for him, they were never perfect copies of his playing. He was happy with what I did and was a huge encouragement to me. He was an original and he hoped I would be, too. We've already had Will and he can't be out Will'ed, and we have already had the McGees, so we don't need copies. I'll never be the musician that Will was, but I'm far better for having had the chance to sit with him and to receive that encouragement from him.

[@dimitrikellan9642]

Man that is so cool. Makes me feel motivated to get my banjo out today and practice it.

[@banjopicker114]

I play Snowdrop and Needle Case the way I feel them. This is not scripture, it's music. If Paul wants to preserve the way he learned it, that's fine. If he wants to shove that down everyone else's musical throat, he has become the fundamentalist preacher who wants to legislate his version of religion. I truly appreciate that there are those who try their best to preserve traditional arts. But there is a difference between intellectual correctness and love for tradition. One is located in the head and the other in the heart. There are preservationists from both extremes. Spare me the ones who, from the head, disparage and demean those who march to their own drummer.

[@ZachVance108]

Chip Arnold agree 100% but who let you out of banjo hangout haha jk someone called the old time police and a ambulance help Paul get his head unburied out of his arse !

[@dimitrikellan9642]

This is so helpful. Thanks!

[@restaurantsalaam]

Paul: Arthur Smith and the McGee Brothers played it in D, as does pretty much the entire old-time music community these days. Who plays it in C? It's being played finger-style here, of course, by Sam McGee. While this is not a very academic version, it's an accessible one that works just fine to accompany any fiddler I've ever played it with.

[@Typesticker1860]

First, it's a banjo tune, not a fiddle tune. Second I learned it from Kirk McGee while sitting in his living room in C. Perhaps Mr. Sam preferred to play it in D, perhaps they just happened to be in D when it came up. It's still actually played in classic C tuning, not double C. Mr. Kirk rarely played with a capo, and a D tune would be fingered differently up the neck.

[@revdocx]

Was Pete Sutherland the first to record it as a fiddle tune? In doing so he changed the nature of it. I like it as a fiddle tune and have played it for years but recently went back and listened to the original and changed my approach to playing it, but since then I have changed it even more so who knows what it is now, but I like it. I defiantly play things my own way but like to keep the old stuff in my head.

[@joannehack7588]

😊

[@debshebish]

Well done, thanks!

[@showmanjohnny99]

Nice tune!

[@Typesticker1860]

I love all of the people who have posted here who make excuses for not playing a tune correctly. As I said before, if you change a tune, and alter it as significantly as Needlecase and Snowdrop have been altered, then you are not honoring tradition. As for the pile-on - I'm thrilled that you all feel comfortable in diminishing my musical experience and my attempts to correct the musical record. I would be more impressed if any of you could actually source the playing of the versions of these two tunes that you choose to play. You all play a version that is nearly identical, and not sourced from the playing of either Sam nor Kirk McGee. Please share with me the traditional genius who proffered your version.

[@clawhammerist]

We are still waiting for YOUR OWN demonstrations of the "correct" way to play these tunes. YOU started this trajectory in the comments on a video that has been online for three and a half years; no one else did so. Therefore, I feel that the onus is on YOU, not anyone else on this thread, to defend what you are saying with examples. Also, perhaps you could link to versions of Needlecase that I--and others here--play that are "nearly identical" to Hilarie's. I have never to my knowledge performed, videoed, or otherwise recorded any version of this tune.

[@Typesticker1860]

In one short paragraph you have stated that this is all on me, and then made it about yourself, classy. I suggest that you might want to listen to almost every version of "Needlecase" played clawhammer posted to the right of this message if you wish to hear a plethora of similar versions. You and I have already had a discussion about your liberties with Snowdrop, and there is no argument from me that you play way out of any sense of tradition. I don't feel compelled to prove anything to you, and the more you demand it the less inclined I am to share any of my playing with you. I am fully content that I have learned to play in the tradition of banjo pickers from Middle Tennessee, and satisfied with the praise I received from my mentor. I don't need nor do I desire your approbation.

[@clawhammerist]

Then why did you start commenting out of the blue on Hilarie's video and how "wrong" it was? If you have nothing to prove, why did you say anything at all here, positive or negative? A three-and-a-half-year-old video did nothing to provoke this.

[@clawhammerist]

Furthermore, in a memorable and not-dissimilar thread from November 2014 on the Banjo Hangout that seems to have gotten your Hangout account locked, you said that you "will see if I can find a way to record on video the way I learned to play Snowdrop" following many requests--none from me, and also none from Hilarie, by the way--that you demonstrate what is the correct and proper way to play that tune. It is striking to me that you are still speaking as THE arbiter of what is "right" and "wrong" concerning certain tunes, yet over the course of years you have somehow not managed to share with any of us what that actually means. This will be my last comment here so that Hilarie's video can resume its peaceful online existence.

[@Typesticker1860]

Last time I checked it is a free country, and if people post things on the internet in places that offer comments, they should expect comments. Anyone without a tin ear should be able to hear substantial differences between what is played here, and in many, many other videos, and the actual tune. I'm just fascinated how so many people are willing to defend an arrangement that doesn't follow the notes of the original, and yet attack someone with actual knowledge of the way the tune is played for pointing out the discrepancies. Not one of you has been respectful in your comments, but have instead piled on one of the only people who could actually show you how it is played.

[@Typesticker1860]

It is a C tune, using classic C. It almost sounds a little bit like the real tune. Kinda.

[@Typesticker1860]

As far as I know, not one of the people you mentioned actually spent the time learning the tune from Sam or Kirk McGee. That it is now a "cool" tune to play using clawhammer doesn't change the fact that it not a clawhammer tune, and the same people who relish playing Tommy Jarrell tunes note-for-note should be a respectful toward tunes that have different origins. If you were actually playing the tune it would be one thing, but you are not. Your notes and inflections are wrong, and you don't even follow the actual notes of the tune. The McGees had great respect for the tunes they learned in their youth, and indeed acted as folklorists in their own way, preserving tunes that had their origins in the 19th century. If I had taken the liberties with the tunes when I was learning that you do, Mr. Kirk would have not continued to teach me his tunes. For example: Before I lived in Nashville I had sort of learned Snowdrop from a recording by Mike Seeger. In Mike's playing, in the first part while coming down the neck he plays a barred G chord, an error that I copied. When I sat down with Mr. Kirk to actually learn the tune, I kept accidentally barring the chord rather than playing it fingered on the fifth string only with a pull-off to an open C chord. After about the third time I made the mistake he said firmly, "If you don't play it right, I'm not going to show you any more." When I pointed this out to Mike, he changed the way he played it, because accuracy was important to him as well. Just because you sort of play a tune that is something similar to the actual tune doesn't mean you are playing it correctly. I don't know who released a tablature that everyone seems to be following, possibly Bob Flesher, but their version doesn't do justice to the tune, instead it changes the tune into something different. If people who call themselves traditional musicians have no respect for tradition this music will die a miserable death.

[@thomasworm4198]

Your OT cred is longer, harder and more authentic than anyone else's. congrats. If everyone played every tune note for note the way they heard it, we wouldn't have a bunch of sweet versions of some tune called Cumberland Gap - we would have one. This is folk music, and the variability inherent in oral transmission makes this artform what it is. Hillarie made no claims of playing anyone's version of the tune, she is playing her version as a helpful tool for a student. Those who treat oldtime like historical reenactment kill a living tradition. Instead of being critical, perhaps you could post a video of yourself flawlessly playing then version of this tune you learned from the McGees with authentic note choice and inflection.

[@revdocx]

You speak the truth and people don't like it . I don't think everyone should play the tune the same but respect for the music dictates that you should have an idea of the true nature of the piece you are playing, then you play it your way in the end. You can usually tell if someone is playing a tune in a brilliant interpretation of their own, if they understand the character of the music. I am constantly surprised at the fiddlers I meet who have never listened to any source music.

[@dimitrikellan9642]

Wow, you sound like an awesome musician. Where can I watch your videos and tutorials so that I, as a beginner, might learn the proper way to play this instrument?

[@clawhammerist]

Paul Ritscher: it would be helpful to everyone in this thread--and in various others in which you have offered similar criticisms--if you were to post examples of YOUR OWN playing to demonstrate the "right" way to play Needlecase, Snowdrop, or any other tune that you feel must be played a particular way. We are not looking for links to historical recordings, because those are already out there for us to hear (and to interpret). Since our hearing of (and interpreting from) these sources so clearly misses the mark for you, please show us all where we are going wrong. Unless or until you do so, you come across--at least to me--not as an authoritative musician and musical historian nor as someone giving constructive feedback; rather, you come across as a bully and a name-dropper, slamming for no clear reason the personal musical expression of Hilarie, who is well-known--and will be well-remembered--not only for her banjo playing but also for her kindness, her generosity, and her community-minded spirit. How would you prefer to be known and remembered?

[@ZachVance108]

Good gawd one of those rapid animals someone call the old time music police ! Two sides to this,history and specifics are good.Is Hilarie in the wrong no ! I would like to know Paul if the specifics and history are so important to you why do you have no videos of tutorials and what not ? I think someone thinks a little too highly of themself lol 😂 Which is a shame...