Maggie Pickens barndance

Could be Picken a Chicken!?
I feel this is more a schottishe than a Hornpipe and I have been playing this in a set along with a tune which I believe to be ‘Lord Moira’ and ‘Follow me down to Carlow’. The latter being different to the same named tune submitted to the session 17th may 2002. I will submit my version of FMDTC in a few days time.
The ‘A’ music of Maggie Pickens is identical with the ‘A’ music of TWCITS (submitted May 14th 2004) but the ‘B’ music is totally different except for the last two bars.
Hope it’s liked.

It’s a nice tune, but why all the dotted notes? It makes it sound more like a slide than a hornpipe. I’ve done a lot of listening to the way hornpipes are being played and recorded in Ireland and I never hear them played with dotted notes like this. Sometimes there will be a slight swing, but never so extreme that dotted notes are necessary.

I posted "The Whole Chicken In The Soup" a few days ago.This is almost the same tune.

Because that’s how I play it. Note that I liken it to a Schottishe.
I am aware that many of the Hornpipes here on the session and in published manuscript are written without dots but are they played flat like reels? I do not think so. How do you measure a slight swing? At least with the dots there you know that ‘swing?’ is needed for the purpose that I use the tune.

I have just uncovered a recording of this tune on an LP produced in 1975 by The Rakes (a London based ceilidh band formed in the late 50’s and influenced by Irish music played in pubs in Cambden Town and other places and by their contact with Michael Gorman, Sligo fiddle player)
This is labelled as a Schottishe and is played alongside a tune called Ma McNulty’s which I also know as ‘Follow me Down to Carlow’ also labelled as a Schottishe.

Again, as I’ve been told to do so, "how I would play it", and with that ‘swing’ classic to the form. This one has the usual 16 bars and the defined second ending for the B part of the melody. As well in the North there was and is also a specific solo dance also danced to this tune, stepping, and carrying the same name - ‘Maggie Pickins’, and lyrics too. This stepping could also be done in pairs, dancer facing dancer…

T: ? - ? - ?
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: march
K: Gmaj
|: B/A/ |
GE DE GA B2 | cB/A/ BA GE D2 | G>E DE GA Be | de/f/ gB AG G :|
| e |
de/f/ gf ed g2 | de/f/ gB AG E2 | de/g/ gf e/f/e/d/ gG | G>A BG AG G2 |
g/a/g/f/ gf ed B2 | de/f/ gB AG E2 | G>E DE GA Be | de/f/ gB AG G ||

Key signature: A Major
Submitted on August 29th 2003 by dafydd.
https://thesession.org/tunes/3007

This is the same A-Part, different take on the B-Part, but the one I am most familiar with… This is also as it is used for a step dance by the same name…

Key signature: A Major
Submitted on August 29th 2003 by dafydd.
https://thesession.org/tunes/2051

Some sources to be skeptical of have it that "Maggie" came before the "Whistle", but then that would be the case anyway wouldn’t it?! 😉

Key signature: G Major
Submitted on August 25th 2004 by gian marco.
https://thesession.org/tunes/3441

Submitted on August 28th 2005 by Lissagriffin.
https://thesession.org/tunes/4904

As played by Terry Teahan on the 1977 LP "Old Time Irish Music in America". The notes say, "terry learned this back in Kerry. Mick Howard was an old man who lived near Scartaglin. It is also played in Donegal where it is known as "Maggie Pickin’s"."


X:969
T:Mick Howard’s Polka
S:LP, Terry Teahan, Old Time Irish Music in America (1977)
Z:Nigel Gatherer
L:1/8
M:4/4
K:A
A>F E>F | A>B c2 | e>c B>A | FB Bc/B/ |
A>F E>F | A>B c2 | e>c Bc/B/ | A2 A2 :|
a>f e>f | a>f e>c | e>c B>A | FB Bc/B/ |
A>F E>F | A>B c2 | e>c Bc/B/ | A2 A2 :|

"Seamus Egan: Traditional Music of Ireland"
https://thesession.org/recordings/546
12. ) "Grandmom’s" / "Maggie Pickins"

Notes from the recording: "This is a tune which is special to us because it is one of only a few tune which we learned from our Grandmother. She was a melodeon player from Knock, Coounty Mayo. At one time it would not have been uncommon to hear this tune played at the house dances which were popular throughout Ireland, a tradition which, unfortunately, has been all but forgotten."

This is an excellent example of how things can get mixed up and confused, reversing the parts and starting the low part on the second ending of the high part, consequently losing two bars of the music, 14 bars instead of 16, the high part being only 6 bars in length instead of the usual 8. Another usual direction of a highland fling like this is for it to become a reel, single or doubled, 16 bars or 32. I’ve ‘adjusted’ the transcription to the traditional 16 bars for the dance, but kept both transcriptions close to how the melody is taken by the Egans.

How they take it on the recording:

K: DMaj
d>cA>c d>cA>G | (3EFG F>E D>C A,2 |
d>cA>c d>cA>G | (3EFG F>E D2 D2 |
d>cA>c d>cA>G | (3EFG F>E D>C A,2 ||
|: D>CA,>C D>EF>G | A2 A>F E>D (3B,CB, |
D>CA,>C D>EF>G | A>F (3EFE D2 D2 :|

As already mentioned before, this is used to accompany a step dance by the same name, but it is also used for the highland fling in its many forms ~ 2 (couple), 3, & 4-hand… It’s closest relative would be the strathspey, but also noted above, the melody has also been used as a march. The types of dances associated with marches, highland flings, barndances, schottisches, and hornpipes all share similar basic steps and all have been at times called a ‘barndance’ (barn dance)…

see Grattan Flood, p156…..heard in 1756 in Co. Donagal, and printed on Oswald’s Caladoneon Collection in 1759. Stolen by the Scots for whistle o’re the lav o’t.

Fuxter, you might have a case, but quoting (the discredited) Grattan Flood isn’t the most authoritative way of going about it. "Whistle O’er the Lave O’t" is said to have been composed by John Bruce of Dumfries in about 1720, although that too has been disputed.

"Stolen by the Scots"!! What a line. Maybe you need to think differently about this kind of music Fuxter.