"Kitchen Girls" draws on swift bow rhythms and gives each instrument an expressive melodic voice and a chance to be part of an unstoppable interlocking groove. The unconventional arrangement of "Durang's Hornpipe" is rife with rhythmic textures and lush harmonies that are sure to inspire adventurous quartets.

(Excerpted from the Performance Notes)
"Kitchen Girls," a takeoff on the traditional tune "Kitchen Girl,"was inspired by my experience as the violist with the Real Vocal String Quartet, a group that integrates improvisation and authentic music from many cultures of the world. This version of "Kitchen Girl," which I learned from Bay Area fiddler Chad Manning, is attributed to Virginia fiddler Henry Reed. This arrangment imagines a meeting between a string quartet and a string band, and like many Appalachian fiddle tunes, has two strains that repeat, one high and one low.

In the introduction, the viola and first violin trade bow chops as a percussive background. Simple quarter-note chops can be used as indicated in the score, or a more elaborate chop rhythm that maintains an accented pulse on each beat. To get a simple quarter-note chop, practice dropping the bow hair onto the string and allowing it to skid slightly with the right hand, while lightly muting the strings with the left hand, creating a controlled crunch with no pitch.

Kitchen Girls

This arrangement of "Durang's Hornpipe"—which takes its name from the famous 18th- and 19th-century American dancer John Durang—is based on a version I learned at a jam session during the 2008 Berkeley Old Time Music Convention. Little did I realize this permutation, which begins the low refrain with a G chord rather than the tonic D, was a rather unconventional version that barely resembles the way "Durang's Hornpipe"is normally transcribed in fiddle-tune books. Seattle musicians Jere and Greg Canote, who play and teach this version of the tune, helped me trace its origin to Bruce Greene in North Carolina, who had heard and recorded it played by William Lee "Jake"Phelps, a Kentucky fiddler born in 1883.

This arrangement of "Durang's Hornpipe" for string quartet is neither "authentic" nor definitive! In fact, traditionalist fiddlers might be surprised by this arrangement for string quartet. Still, it's not completely unmoored from the old-time fiddle world, and I encourage any adventurous violinist, violist, or cellist to check out the wonderful collections of "old-time" fiddling recorded in Kentucky and all over the United States.

Durang's Hornpipe

—Dina Maccabee