The Lowland Jig
Blanche of Middlebie II
- Details
- Created on Saturday, 21 January 2012 17:41
My two recent posts on gracings are particularly relevant to the interpretation of this tune, but before going on to look more closely at that question I wanted to ask a question which follows directly from Robert Riddell's story
about the origin of the title of the tune. In hie discussion of the tune in the recent Common Stock [December 2010], Matt Seattle retold how it was added to the tune during a visit of Charles II to Middlebie [or was it James IV?]. The point being that the tune had an earlier existence with a different title. Matt mentions a number of tunes which appear to be of the same family; I have been unable, so far to trace a histoyr for 'Larach Alasdair' but 'The Old Woman of the Mill Dust' is a well-known and apparently antiqu enough tune:it may well be familiar to highland pipers:-
X:9
T: Old Woman Of The Milldust [Cailleach An Dudain]
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
R: jig
K: Amix
AAA a2e|g2f edB|AAA a2e|g2e dBG|
AAA a2 e|g2d efg|agf g2e|d2e dBG:|
Bcd e2A|a2A e2A|Bcd e2A|g2e dBG|
Bcd e2A|g2d efg|agf g2e|d2e dBG:|
c2A AAA|cee a2e|c2A AAA|B2e dBG|
c2A AAA|cee g3|agf g2e|d2e dBG:|
a2A e2A|a2A ecA|a2A e2A|g2e dBG|
a2A e2A|a2A efg|agf g2e|d2e dBG:|
AAA AAA|c2A edB|AAA AAA|g2e dBG|
AAA AAA|cee efg|agf g2e|d2e dBG:|
a2A AAA|a2A ecA|a2A AAA|g2e dBG|
a2A AAA|AAA g3|agf g2e|d2e dBG:|
and here for completeness is Larach Alasdair:
X:7
T: Larach Alasdair
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
R: jig
K:Amix
|: ABA a2e | f2d ecA | ABA a2e | g2e dBG |
ABA a2e | f2d efg | agf g2e | d2g dBG :|
|: A2e c2e | A2f ecA | A2e c2e | B2g dBG |
A2e c2e | d2e B2g | agf g2e | d2g dBG |
A2e c2e | A2f ecA | A2e c2e | B2g dBG |
A3 c2A | d2e g2e | agf g2e | d2g dBG ||
While you'd be unlikely to play either of these together with Blanche in a set, Blanche as recorded by Riddell is to my mind a distinctive enough version, and of the three the one I prefer - the second strain in particular being an interesting one for the pipes which leads us back to the question of ornamentation.
