Bob’s Book of New Hampshire Tunes

Description

Before Bob McQuillen died in 2014, he had completed writing tunes for all the New Hampshire towns—well as they were presented in the phone book. The result was 240 new tunes!

They are now published in this collection put together to honor is 100th birthday at “Kwackfest” back in July 2023 – the party he wished all of us to have in the Peterborough, NH Town House, when he turned 100, whether he was there or not!

From the Introduction:

Bob McQuillen and his remaining tunes . . .

Shortly before Bob died, he came wheezing up to my office in Peterborough in the Granite block (he loved to exaggerate the wheezing, but there were a lot of stairs!) and presented four note books full of tunes that he had yet to publish. All but nine of them are New Hampshire town names. They are not every town name, and some of the towns aren’t actually incorporated names—but what an undertaking to come up with 240 new tunes in his late 80s!

The notebooks were all in pencil with about twenty or so final copies of tunes “inked” as he called it—his process for readying them to be scanned for the printer. He was in his 91st year and he had run out of steam to do his usual “inking” process so I reassured him I would take care of that. And then Bob left this world on February 6th, 2014. That was more than 10 years ago, with me always thinking that this would be my next project!

As Bob’s centennial in 2023 began to dazzle on the horizon, it felt like the right time to finally publish this last collection. Along with planning the big
celebration—Kwackfest 100—with members of the Monadnock Folklore Society, in particular, Lisa Sieverts, we undertook the transcription of the tunes, and got this book ready for press. I think Bob would be thrilled to know that it’s finally here, and that at the same time as the publication we are honoring his life and music in the Peterborough Town House. where he made us promise to gather for just such an occasion!

Thanks to Isa Burke for the transcriptions, to Henry James for Photoshop work and layout, and to Lisa for her organizational skills! Also thanks to the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts for a grant helping us make this a reality, and the Monadnock Folklore Society for being willing to take on both the book and the festival!

—Sarah Bauhan