Money Musk

Composer : Daniel Dow c.1776
Source: Packie Duignan & Seamus Horan : "Music from County Leitrim"
Transcription: Gian Marco (craniota)

Monymusk is a lovely village in Aberdeenshire, Scoltland.

Some say this tune is a reel, a highland, a strathsspey, a scottish, a fling and so on.

Seems to me a highland.

# Posted on January 28th 2003 by gian marco

Second part

we play it first as a strachspey then as a reel and into devils dream
however, we play a second part:
afda fadf afeb caBg afda faga fdBe cAAf

brilliant tune anyhow

# Posted on January 29th 2003 by timo

Highland

In Hammy Hamilton's "Moneymusk" CD, it's a highland.

# Posted on January 29th 2003 by glauber

... and follows the other highland, "If we hadn't any women in the world" as the first track of the cd.

# Posted on January 29th 2003 by glauber

Moneymusk

It would be a strathspey in Scotland, a "highland" in Donegal, and probably a "fling" anywhere else in Ireland.My father's family come from Moneymusk - it's still there!

# Posted on January 29th 2003 by Kenny

Second part

i messed up that abc for the second part
its actually:
aeca eace aedb caBg aeca eaga fdBe cAAe

dont know what i was thinking
apologies
theres also a nifty version of this tune in oneils

# Posted on January 29th 2003 by timo

Moneymusk

Altan combines this with Duncan Davidson (another Strathspey/Highland depending) and the Wild Irishman on their Blue Idol CD for a great set.
Also, there is a really tasty version of this in Cole's [Ryan's] in the Strathspey section. I would think the Cole's version would be difficult to play at the speed I usually hear "Highlands" played. It seems to me the higland versions of strathspey's are performed at a more brisker pace.

# Posted on January 30th 2003 by ralpheym

Highlands

Donegal Highlands are short for Highland Scottische and are a different dance entirely from a strathspey. Strathspeys as danced in Scotland and by Scottish country dancers are a deal slower than the Highland. Intrestingly enough there are 'Germans' in the Donegal tradition and they are short for German Schottisch taken at a speed of about a Barn Dance. It's even more interesting to realise that the original schottisch was not Scottish at all but a German dance written to be danced to an imitation of scottish music (the snap)

# Posted on February 3rd 2003 by Alancorsini

Moneymusk

Sorry, I meant to add that Moneymusk as a dance is a fine and popular Strathspey

# Posted on February 3rd 2003 by Alancorsini

The Carpathians as a lifespring for Music & Dance ~

GM had it right in the first place...strathspey ~ reel ~ highland ~ fling ~ highland fling ~ single-schottische... These things get around, especially a good tune. I'll be back with some other takes on this lovely and worldly melody. Thank you Danny Dow for the seed...

Now, just for a little clarity where the water is considerably kicked up and muddy, before I add those other takes, 'highland' is one short form as is 'fling', short for 'highland fling', which was not limited to the North, or Ulster, or Donegal and Fermanagh... While 'schottische' also gets knocked around and applied to just about anything with a swing, including these 16 bar wonders, sometimes also refered to as 'single', like for single reels, also 16 bars, mostly 'schottische' is for a larger form, 'double', such as 32 bars...and while they all do share steps across the range, 'schottische' was mostly defined by the accompanying dance form, in it's smallest kernal being four bars/measures in length, but the classic 'hop123, hop123, hop-step, hop-step, hop-step, hop-step' ~ well, for those who have, you'll see that it got around...including into the 'sets of quadrilles', as well as shared within the whole hornpipe clan, highland flings included. Now, as far as 'early' knowledge with regards to a source for the dance and tune forms, despite the name being used 'German Schottische', the nearest we can get to an early source is the mountains of Eastern Europe, or the lovely and environmentally at risk Carpathian mountains. The dance the schottische has been blamed on Poland and the former Czechoslovakia. It is likely that the Polish dance craze started off the spread the lovely music and dance of the schottische which reached all around the world ~ South Africa and Tasmania to Greenland and Alaska, from the Tatras to the Rockies... Yeah, so I'm biased, I love the numerous versions and variations of the form...

# Posted on April 19th 2006 by ceolachan

Oh yeah, there were two common national attachments made back in the 1800's, aside from the eponymous 'German' Schottische there was also the 'Spanish' Schottische' with no huge differences between them...

# Posted on April 19th 2006 by ceolachan

The Moneymusk

You can listen to Hammy Hamilton play it: http://homepage.tinet.ie/~hammie/Musk.mp3 It's obviously coupled with a barndance "If We Hadn't Any Women in the World."

# Posted on April 19th 2006 by slainte

Nice one Slainte, but that second one ain't a barndance or "If We Hadn't Any Women in the World". It's another highland, but I haven't the name for it just now, but it's a damn sweet set... Thank you Slainte, thank you Hammy... :-)

# Posted on May 14th 2006 by ceolachan

It seems Mr. Hamilton doesn't know how to edit the sample clip. Well, the first one is "If We Hadn't Any Women...." I thought the second one is the Moneymusk, but actually not. Thanks 'c' for pointing that out.

# Posted on May 14th 2006 by slainte

Mixin' it up ~ Barndance into Highland ~ hmmmmm...

Slap, slap, SLAP!!! YES! ~ The first one is "If We Hadn't Any Women in the World" ~ what an awful place it would be...and the second is a take on Moneymusk.

This I should have picked up but was in highland fling mode and obsessing over all the variations I've got of this one, in name and in sequence of notes and parts and endings, playing through them and trying to remember others while listening to some fine playing of the melody from Eire and Cape Breton and beyond... I tend not to mix the two into a set, so I either play 16 bar highlands, though I sometimes throw in some peculiarities, or 32 bar barndances, but not mixed together. Hammy's soup sent me a little off kilter, as if I wasn't squiff enough already. I have come across the occassional rare 4-part highland (strathspey), 32 bars = A8-B8-C8-D8, and there are a couple of takes of this melody in that doubled form...including a printed source or two from the 19th Century. What is a kick is that some are like having two 16 bar highlands glued to each other, each with a second ending, in other words for parts B & D...

While I like the Hammy track, the take on Moneymusk was too short and that laying on to the closing note made me wince...like drinking pickling vinegar, if you know what I mean...
;-)

# Posted on May 14th 2006 by ceolachan

"Moneymusk" ~ another key and way with this lovely melody

K:G
|: (3gfe |
d<GB>G d>Gc>e | d<GB>G A>Bc>e |
d>GB>G d<G (3Bcd | e>cA<d B>G :|
|: G>f |
g>dB>g d>g (3Bcd | g>dB<G e>Ac>f |
1 g>dB>g d>g (3BAG | e>cA<d B>G :|
2 g>ef>d e>cd>B | c>Ad<c B>G ||

# Posted on May 14th 2006 by ceolachan

"Sir Archibald Grant of Monymusk" ~ by Daniel Dow

Now for some touchstones, history, this transcription is taken from that great 1887 compilation of tunes by Keith Norman MacDonald ~ "The Skye Collection", page 97

K: G Major
|: e |
d<GB>G d>Gc<e | d<GB>G (3ABA c>e |
d<GB>G B<dd>g | e>cA>d B<GG :|
|: f |
g>dB>g d>gB>g | g>dB>g c>gA>f |
1 g>de>g d>gB>g | e>cA>d B<GG :|
2 g>de>g d<bc<a | B<gA<g B<GG ||

& "The Athole Collection", 1884

K: G Major
|: e |
d<GB>G d>Gc<e | d<GB>G (3ABA c>e |
d<GB>G B<dd>g | e>cA>d B<GG :|
|: f |
g>dB>g d>gB>g | g>dB>g c>gA>f |
1 g>de>g d>gB>g | e>cA>d B<GG :|
2 g>de>g d<bc<a | B<gA<g B<GG ||

# Posted on May 14th 2006 by ceolachan

Oh yes, I forgot the compiler of "The Athole Collection" ~ James Stewart Robertson... Another superb Scottish compilation and source of inspiration...

# Posted on May 14th 2006 by ceolachan

Yes, as you can see above, absolutely no change over 3 years and between two different collectors/compilers, even the snaps. James Stweart Robertson was also one of the founding members of 'The Edinburgh Highland Reel and Strahtspey Society, and had also been its president, pretty serious stuff. Maybe all that suggests the vesrion given is fairly close to as Daniel Dow had intended? It has changed into many forms since then... I'll return with at least another one of those many versions of distinction later... It is a tune that found a home all over Eire... ;-)

# Posted on May 14th 2006 by ceolachan

"The Skye Collection" ~ "The Athole Collection"

~ two important Scottish sources:

Reprint of "The Athole Collection", 1884
ISBN: 0952830809
Highland Music Trust
http://www.heallan.com/index.html
http://www.heallan.com/athole.html
James Stewart Robertson
http://www.nigelgatherer.com/
http://www.nigelgatherer.com/perf/fiddlers/jsrob.html

Reprint of "The Skye Collection", 1887
ISBN: 0786665106 (Cranford Pub. & Mel Bay)
http://www.cranfordpub.com/
http://www.cranfordpub.com/books/skye.htm

# Posted on May 14th 2006 by ceolachan

Go here for what I think might be a Donegal reel setting http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/2897.

# Posted on June 7th 2006 by Dow

I think this might also be a version of it http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/654.

# Posted on June 7th 2006 by Dow

AKA "Danse du Jardinier"

Has also been recorded as the "Gardener's Dance" in Québec by Edouard Picard and Henri Lacroix in 1930.

In Québec many versions of Money Musk exist in different keys, with sometimes a 'C" part and a bridge. On a 1-row melodeon in key of D people change key to A by playing the accordion "backwards" and compensating for the missing G#.

Typical of this playing is this wonderful recording by Eugène Collin, ca. 1932 with an added bridge and 'C" part:
http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/m2/f7/13087.mp3

# Posted on March 10th 2008 by québécois