Margaret’s waltz

Composer Pat Shuldham Shaw
History Shetland

This waltz is more commonly played in C and D rather than in G.

I’ve heard it played most often in A.

I agree with Dow. Nearly always played in A in Scotland. I believe that’s the key it was composed in , but there’s nothing wrong with changing it if you want to.

I’ve never seen this tune in any other key but A & I’ve played it for ….14 years or so. Nice wee tune, I think it’s well known for being a tune Aly Bain plays.

X: 1
T: Margaret’s Waltz
M: 3/4
L: 1/8
R: waltz
K:A
AF|:E3 FAB|{B}c4 Ac|BA F2 Ac|B4 AF|
E3 FAB|ce3 AB|c2c2B2|1 A4 AF:|2 A4 cd||
e2 f2 g2|a2 g2 a2|fe d2 f2|e4 cB|
A3 B cd|e2 c2 e2|fe d2 c2|B4 cd|
e2 f2 g2|a2 g2 f2|e2 d2 c2|B4 AF|
E3 FAB|ce3 AB|c2 c2 B2|A6||

It also gets air in G, for example amongst the contra and country dance circuit across North America…

I "learn’t" it from an old Kentucky fiddler (used to play with Bill Monroe) in D.

X: 3
T: Margaret’s Waltz
C: Pat Shuldham Shaw, 1959
M: 3/4
L: 1/8
R: waltz
K: Gmaj
|: G>E |\
D2- D>E G>A | B4 G>B | A>G E2 G2 | A4 (3AGE |
D2- D>E G>A | B>c d2 G>A | B4 (3ABA | G4 :|
B>c |\
d2 e2 f2 | g2 f2 g2 | e>d c2 e2 | d4 B>A |
G2- G>A Bc | d2 B2 d2 | e>d c2 (3BcB | A4 (3ABc |
d2 e2 f2 | g>G f>G e>G | d>G c>G B>G | A4 (3AGE |
D2 D>E G>A | B>d- d2 d>e | B4 (3ABA | G4 |]

http://abcnotation.com/tunePage?a=homepages.ihug.co.nz/~dexy/music/celticl/0047

Margaret’s Waltz (Variation)
In the file celticl.abc from Dexter N. Muir

There was also a time problem with one of the bars and the B-part was repeated with a first and second ending, offering a variant on the last 8 bars.. I’ve removed the suggested chords, which I’ll add later. I’ve also re-transcribed this from 9/8 to 3/4, waltz time, and I’ve corrected the one bar that was too long, and removed the incorrect repetition of the B-part. Two turns on c (~c>A) have also been removed.

X: 4
T: Margaret’s Waltz
N: variations
Z: original - Dexter N. Muir in 9/8 time
M: 3/4
L: 1/8
Q: 100
R: waltz
K: AMaj
|: [A,A]>F |\
[A,2E2]- E>F [DA]>[EB] | [E4c4] [EA]>[Ec] | [EB]>[A,A] [A,2F2] [DA]>[DB] | [E4B4] [A,A]>F |
[A,2E2]- E>F [DA]>[EB] | [E4c4] [Ee]>A | [E4c4] [D2B2] | [A,4A4] :|
c>d |\
[A2e2] [d2f2] [e2g2] | [c2a2] [B2g2] [c2a2] | [df]>[Ae] [F2d2] [df]>[Ae] | [E2e2]- [Ee]>A [Ec]>B |
[D2A2] A>[GB] [Ac]>[Fd] | [E4e4] [Ec]>[EA] | [df]>[Ee] [Ed]<[Ec] [DA]>[Ec] | [E4B4] [Ec]>[Fd] |
(3eAe (3fAf (3gAg | (3aAa (3gAg (3fAf | (3eAe (3dAd c>A | B4 [A,A]>F |
[A,2E2] [A,E]>[A,F] [DA]>[EB] | [E4c4] e>A | [E4c4] [ EB]>[DA] | [E4A4] |]

& here’s a variation given for the last 8 bars of the B-part
e>A f>A g>A | a>A g>A f>A | e>A d>A c>A | B4 A>F |
[A,2E2] [A,E]>[A,F] [DA]>[EB] | [E4c4] e>A | [E4c4] [EB]>[DA] | [E4A4] |]

As promised, his suggested chords, as he has given them, but minus the melody ~

K: AMaj
|: "A" | "(F#m)" | "D" | "E" | "A" | "(F#m") | "E(D)" | "A" :|
"A" | "D" | "(Bm)" | "E" | "A(F#m)" | "(C#m)" | "D" | "E" |
"A" | "D" | "A" | "E" | "A" | "(F#m)" | "E(D)" "(E)" | "A" |]

Pat Shaw wrote this for the retirement of a lady called Margaret Grant from the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS) in 1959 (as mentioned above).

PS - He wrote it in G.

Margaret’s Waltz Set - Glasgow Fiddle Workshop Slow Session; Fiona Cuthill
Margaret’s Waltz, Louis Waltz, Kate Martin’s Waltz.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDr3Rtj-FKg

play video

Fiona Cuthill ~ fionafiddler’s channel
http://www.youtube.com/user/fionafiddler

Aly Bain and Peerie Willie Johnston playing Margaret’s Waltz
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nbOaPN5toM

play video

Thanks for that one, Ceol - nice stuff fae oor Aly

I notice in the Aly Bain video listed above that the B section is repeated so it lasts a full 32 bars. I know it messes with the symmetry of the tune but that section is so nice, it is worth repeating.

Great tune. Dancers love it.

nice tune🙂

Setting as played at the Golden Guinea pub session, Bristol, UK.

Query another setting? I liked this version I learnt at the fiddle class in Kirkwall and think I’ve remembered it
more or less right. We enjoyed playing it though the octave quavers in the 2nd part were hard for 1 or 2 oldies
like me to play fast enough. Orkney’s not far from Shetland where the tune originates.

It is also a English Country dance, composed by Pat Shaw. It is often played with Farewell to Devon to mark the leaving of Margaret Grant.
Sylvia Miskoe Concord NH USA

what feast of waltzes enough to last me a while

thank you Session for some lovely tunes Jim potter

"Originates in Shetland"? seems to be what a lot of people think since Aly Bain made it popular. But the composer, Pat Shuldham Shaw is, a stated above, English. None of the versions above really totally correspond with what we usually play: far more dotted notes than shown. As I don’t do ABC, I can’t submit a version, other than in standard notation.

I knew Shuldham Shaw was English but thought he either wrote the tune in Shetland or collected - and probably
adapted it - in Shetland. Wasn’t he doing research into the music of Shetland so spent some time there? X:7 is how I remember us playing it in Orkney, though there may indeed have been more dotted notes. We were learner fiddlers.

It is sometimes difficult to define what is a Shetland, Irish, or Scottish tune…….

Is it a tune composed by somebody living in that area, or a tune composed in the same style of the music from that area(by anyone, anywhere), or a tune popularised or adopted by players of that particular music?

This could be another thread but I can’t quite be bothered at the moment. 😉

The tunes become part of the local tradition and, over time, their composers are forgotten (if they were ever
known).

My impression is that it is better known in Scotland than England (and usually played in A in Scotland, while the G/D melodeons in England must have it in G.) Certainly played a lot up here. So you are probably right there Susan. We did have a visiting German group recently who said they would play us this Scottish waltz………………..!

X:9 is a very rough transcription of the tune as played by Aly Bain in the clip with Willie Johnson highlighted in the comments above.

I learned to play Margaret’s Waltz from working with a fiddler who played for dances for the local country dance society. He prefers to play this tune in "A". We worked together to figure out chords which would work with Margaret’s Waltz. I was playing piano for the dances.

Laurence