I once wondered if the ballad fits the tune - can you sing it in 9/4?
The answer is a tentative yes... But it isn't as obvious as I'd like.
I have not checked every verse.
The ballad seems to be a local analogue of a Robin Hood one, with
Carlisle for Nottingham etc,
Adam a Bell is not the Robin Hood figure - that job went to William of
Cloudesley.
But who had it first is a question I won't go into - except that the
Borders, and borders in general,
have always been better bandit country than middles of countries.
(Duck!)
John
In a message dated 29/02/2012 05:53:51 GMT Standard Time,
dir...@gmail.com writes:
Many thanks to Julia Say for selecting a classic tune for March.
Julia writes:
William Dixon's "Adam a Bell" and its tune family - through the
Peacock
"My Dearie sits ower late up" (and the similar but not
identical one
in Clough).
If any new players find these too intimidating there's a 2 strain
version in the
NPS first tunebook.
Its an old tune whose title commemorates an even older event in
West
Border history
- see the ballad of the same name.
Dixon's version has 9 strains, Peacock's 5 - I'm sure others must
have
extended
these or inserted strains of their own to suit their own taste
for
inventiveness.
It would be interesting to hear the latest additions. I'm also
interested in the
different rhythmic emphasis occasioned by the 9/4 or 9/8 time
signatures.
It goes on both BP and nsp: if anyone wants a transposition of
Dixon's
version into G for nsp, I can supply either appropriate abc or
"the
dots".
I might even try to find the time to fire up my own recorder and
register
on soundcloud. Mind...I did say "try"!
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