>I'm sure I've encountered the A minor version too, but can't think where. >Is it similar to the one in pipe tune books?
I found this article which was printed in Cape Breton's Magazine in the 1980s. Paul Cranford wrote: "This is Mary MacDonald's setting of 'Johnnie Cope.' There are three common settings of this tune in Cape Breton. There's a pipe setting in B Minor, and a setting that Angus Allan Gillis recorded on a 78 in G Minor. Probably the G Minor setting is the most common of the three because of that recording. The setting that we're giving here is similar to some printed collections in Scotland, notably the Gesto Collection compiled by Keith Norman MacDonald in 1895. However, Mary's setting is much tastier. Mary Jessie MacDonald, Mary's daughter -- a piano player who now lives in Boston and who often accompanied her mother -- added two extra turns. And some of the younger players today are playing Mary Jessie's setting. But I didn't include those turns because I want to stay close to Mary Hughie's setting. "Over the years, there have been different song lyrics sung to this melody, in both Ireland and Scotland. And it is played today as a march in Ireland, in a setting totally different from any of the three Cape Breton settings." There following the article is Paul's transcription, seven parts in A dorian. We just looked up the Gesto setting, ten parts in Am. David remarks that yes, it is somewhat similar to Mary MacDonald's setting, but not really close. >If I remember, the Cape Breton version that you and David put on the >Lighthouse Publications website is virtually identical to this one, >which is presumably pretty close to what Maclean originally wrote. ... >Charles Maclean, Collection of Favourite Scots Tunes, pub. Neil Stewart, >c.1770 Oh gosh, how could I forget that it was in MacLean? Lots of great stuff there. I went to Paul Cranford's site (that's what you mean by Lighthouse Publications, yes?) and I didn't see "Johnnie Cope" there. - Kate D. -- Kate Dunlay & David Greenberg Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada http://www.total.net/~dungreen Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music & Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
