John,
I am both in your debt, and hugely impressed at the speed and
thoroughness of your series of replies... you obviously got the
proverbial bit between the teeth!
Fantastic - I like ending up with Marlborough! And what's more it's a
tune I can play on the gurdy when talking about Old Sarah, assuming the
hurdy gurdy Mayhew talks of is indeed a hurdy gurdy and not a dulcimer,
of course.
(More about that to Anthony in a moment.)
Again my very many thanks, John.
Best wishes,
Richard.
(I'd love to know what the rest of the words were! )
On 31/10/2010 17:41, Gibbons, John wrote:
To go with the anglicised title, there's a first line -
"Moll Brook she went to be shaved,"
________________________________________
From: [1][email protected] [[2][email protected]] On Behalf Of R
ichard York [[3][email protected]]
Sent: 31 October 2010 16:13
To: NSP group
Subject: [NSP] Tune hunt: OT but I hope interesting!
I'm hunting tunes. Nowt to do specifically with smallpipes, but at
least one is Scots. And I know there are some mighty experienced tune
historians among you
And I have looked in Farne, Matt! :-)
Henry Mayhew in the 1850's interviewed "Old Sarah" a blind Londonstreet
hurdy gurdy player who was taught in the very early years of the 1800's
to play what she called the "cymbal".
He lists tune names she gives. Some, like "The Turnpike Gate" and "At
Patrick's Day in the Morning" are on "The sessions" listing, though I
can't know how much or little they've changed.
Some others I can find, or know already, but I'm drawing a blank on
three, and will be very grateful for any pointers.
"Where have you been all the night?" she describes as a "Scotch Tune".
It's tempting to think she's mis-remembered the line in "Billy Boy",
but if there's a title out there it would be good to know.
Then there's "Moll Brook", and "Harlequin Hamlet".
Some others she mentions are trad. tunes like "Haste[n] to the Wedding"
and "The Gal I left behind me" so while these may be stage tunes, it's
apparent she was playing traditional dance tunes. She also says that
she played Polkas, but doesn't name any.
Thanks for looking - thanks for any info.
Best wishes,
Richard.
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