Sutherland manuscript

[Ross]

I finally got round to scanning the Sutherland manuscript - over 250 pages of tunes, from about 1785, and one of the reference sources for the pastoral pipes. I wrote an article on this in An Piobaire a couple of years ago. Anyway, the images are now up at http://www.piob.info.

Happy new year to all!

Ross Anderson
http://www.piob.info

[Kevin L. Rietmann]

Great work as always, Russ. Good lord, Jackson’s Morning Brush, with 3 parts. That tune was about 10 years old at the time, according to the entry at Ceolas. But it says there are American fife manuscripts that are even older! Written down right around the time it was composed...boggles the mind. Sailor's (College) Hornpipe is #65, I believe this would be the earliest printing, again, according to Ceolas.

I think I found a Scottish reel called the Bob of Fettercain, on page 99. I think, because the title given is something like "I Will the His Wife the Bad Me." Looks like the tune, though. With about 25 variations. Curiously enough, in America - Kentucky, to be exact - fiddlers still play this tune, calling it Humphrey's Jig - jig, because in the 2nd part they play a series of bowed/shuffled triplets, creating the impression of lightning speed 6/8 time. Here's an example played by Ed Haley. Of course, the Sutherland version has a variation with 6 crotchets in a bar. Maybe that's where the American setting came from.

Only two tunes with the low C? Note that the fingering chart is for "Irish pipes." I wonder too if some of these real fingertwisters aren't meant for the German flute; also the stuff that really plays around in the stratosphere. You'd kill yourself trying to play that stuff on a chanter. Where are the tunes with regulator accompaniment, too?

[Joseph E. Smith]

Great stuff! Thanks a million Ross!

[s1m0n]

Great work as always, Russ. Good lord, Jackson’s Morning Brush, with 3 parts. That tune was about 10 years old at the time, according to the entry at Ceolas. But it says there are American fife manuscripts that are even older! Written down right around the time it was composed...boggles the mind. Sailor's (College) Hornpipe is #65, I believe this would be the earliest printing, again, according to Ceolas.

The Fiddler's Companion tune database hosted at Ceolas and elsewhere is the spectacular solo accomplishment of Andrew Kuntz. IMO, in the age of wikipedia he doesn't get enough [read: any] kudos for it - time after time, his work is the argument-stopper. And no, I don't know him and have had no direct contct, although I believe he used to post occassionally to woodenflute-L back in the Meso-Listservian epoch, (after the Paleo alt-Irtrad explosion) when it was still almost possible to monitor the threads about tunes on most of the major lists.

[Nanohedron]

I think I found a Scottish reel called the Bob of Fettercain, on page 99. I think, because the title given is something like "I Will the His Wife the Bad Me."

I'm seeing "I Will Kiss The Wife She Bad Me". Put some kind of pause like a comma or dash after "wife", and with an E at the end of "bad" which makes it "bade" (often pronounced "bad"), it starts making sense.

Now whose wife, well........

[s1m0n]

I think I found a Scottish reel called the Bob of Fettercain, on page 99. I think, because the title given is something like "I Will the His Wife the Bad Me." :shock:

I'm seeing "I Will Kiss The Wife She Bad Me". Put some kind of pause like a comma or dash after "wife", and with an E at the end of "bad" which makes it "bade" (often pronounced "bad"), it starts making sense.

Now whose wife, well........

Thy wife!



I think Nano has almost all of it. The letter at the beginning of "she' is a cursive s, not a T (see 'kiss'), and I think 'bade' for 'bad' is right on the money. Scots/Inglis/lallans (or whatever you want to call lowland scots english) is well known for shortening most vowels into ă or aw.

[misterpatrick]

Great great resource. Ross your page is a treasure trove. I'll also second that Fiddler's Companion is wonderful as well. I reference it whenever I am learning a new tune to learn more about its history.

OK, now who is going to translate the entirety of Sutherlands to ABC?

-Patrick

[Joseph E. Smith]

OK, now who is going to translate the entirety of Sutherlands to ABC?

-Patrick

Go ahead Patrick.

[Nanohedron]

Thy wife!

That's a lot better of a title, that's for sure. I didn't see the "i" in "Thi", and I think you have nailed it.