I transposed the sheet music for an old tune called Jenny Lind Polka so that I could easily jam on this song with players of various different instruments.
This song was popularized in 1846 by a dance instructor named Allen Dodworth, who is also responsible for inventing a way to waltz in 5/4. Here’s that 1852 original in the Library of Congress. I recorded a composition for dancing his waltz, a pice called “Dodworth’s Five Step”, on three occasions, including once in my Ghost Solos EP. I learned Jenny Lind Polka from a relatively modern transcription in “The Fiddler’s Fake Book.”
In case my transpositions are useful to others, here is my sheet music:
That’s a single multi-page PDF with a different key on each page. It has the following parts:
| Key | instruments |
|---|---|
| G | Concert pitch: fiddle, mandolin, guitar, etc. |
| D | F: french horn |
| A | Bb: trumpet, clarinet, tenor sax, soprano sax |
| E | Eb: baritone sax, alto sax |
| tab | tablature for guitar players who don’t read notation |
For people who work with digital instruments, here’s MIDI:
For people who might want to edit the original Sibelius source file, here’s that:
Here’s a version I found on YouTube that’s not exactly the same but close enough:
Thank you for sharing! My daughter who is classically trained is wanting to expand her horizons beyond the Orange Blossom special – one that’s a standard bluegrass will delight!.
That’s awesome. Thanks for letting me know, Holly.