Playful Ponies: A Song History

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Twelfth of the fourteen tunes in DulciFlute 3, "Playful Ponies" belongs to John Keane and Karen Keane's Fingers Of Steel collection of duets pairing the mountain dulcimer with the Native American flute.[1] The listing asks for a dulcimer in DAD and a flute in B minor, and the download bundles a 26-page PDF of the full book, one PDF per tune and a set of 28 MP3 recordings.[1] The listing credits no composer for individual pieces, so it does not say who wrote this one.[1] Both Keanes are Shreveport, Louisiana, musicians who earned music education degrees at Northeast Louisiana University, known today as the University of Louisiana-Monroe; between them they have taught for more than seventy years, and they have released several books and CDs of their own compositions for mountain dulcimer and Native American flute.[2][3] The sources consulted here offer no account of the ponies in the title.[1][2][3]

Lithograph of a mare and her foal standing beside rocks

Théodore Géricault, The Mare and Her Foal, lithograph, 1822. A mare and foal rather than ponies, shown in fun; it has no connection to the tune.

Our book that contains the song "Playful Ponies"

Sources

  1. Fingers Of Steel: "John Keane And Karen Keane, DulciFlute 3".
  2. DulcimerDownloads: "John Keane".
  3. DulcimerDownloads: "Karen Keane".
  4. Image: Théodore Géricault, The Mare and Her Foal, lithograph, 1822. The Cleveland Museum of Art.

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