Bill Charlton’s Fancy jig

I first came across this Northumbrian jig courtesy of Kathryn Tickell on the superb "William Kennedy Piping Festival" CD. I’ve attempted to play this on numerous occasions, but some of the stretches are beyond me. I’ve decided to post it regardless, because I reckon it’s a cracking tune and for those who are able for it, it would make a great addition to the repertoire!

this’un plays rather nicely as a waltz as opposed to a jig…

This is usually played as a 4 parter. The second part here is variations on the A part. The third part here is variations on the missing B part which goes something along the lines of

d|:b2B a2B|g2B f2B|e2B d2B|cAF DFA|
a2c g2c|f2c e2c|d^cd ^de=c|Bdg B2d|
etc…

This is a listening piece composed by Billy Pigg for the Northumbrian Smallpipes in response to watching drops of rain trickle down a windowpane. Bill Charlton heard it, liked it and Billy Pigg named it after him. This is not the full version as there is also a set of quadruplet variations which are quite difficult.The structure of tune, variation, triplet and quadruplet variations is one of the standard ways of altering a tune in a variation set. As such it doesn’t fallintoone dance meter though there is a fundamental two beat pulse throughout the tune.

This plays very much like something out of a tutor from the 1800s, like an exercise or study, but a kick to play just the same. One could easily keep the variations flowing ad infinitum, or ad nauseam… If you are going to exercise it might as well be for the funny bone too…

We had this lad who used to bring such things to sessions, things he had obviously learned from piping books and had spent alot of effort learning. In his case it was ad nauseam. He’d start playing, and often it was something we recognized, and then after the first 32 bars of ‘norm’ he’d kick into the party piece variations ~ little by little we’d all drip out and leave himin his rapture… Probably kinder than just, we did let him get away with it a few times before losing patience and finding ways to reduce the number of show pieces in an evening to close to ‘0’… Once in awhile is OK, but most of us were there to share the music in ensemble playing, with the occassional flights of fancy…just occassional… 😉

Billy Pigg was recorded playing this on a record of his playing called "The Border Minstrel" (or "Billy Pigg: The Border Minstrel" - I forget which). I don’t know if it is still obtainable. His playing ended with the fast runs at the end mentioned above by noelbats.
I played this one right through, end runs and all, on the whistle one night in a folk club in Falkirk in early 1982: it was my high point as a whistler - it’s been downhill ever since. Common sense tells me that
certain whizzy bits in the Northumbrian smallpipes repertoire are best left there in peace. Alternatively, I’m lazy and unadventurous.

Leader, and Amazon has it… Also available is the publication of transcriptions of his playing by the same name, a Northumbrian Pipers Society publication:

http://www.northumbrianpipers.org.uk/
http://www.northumbrianpipers.org.uk/books/pigg.htm

Submitted on August 4th 2006 by ceolachan.
https://thesession.org/recordings/2132/

There’s a recording of Billy Pigg playing this at http://www.asaplive.com/FARNE/RadioFARNE.cfm?ccs=150&cs=768

Near enough transcription of Miss Tickell’s version:-

X:1
T:Bill Charlton’s Fancy
M:6/8
L:1/8
R:jig
K:Gmaj
|d3e3f3||gzG fzG|ezG d3|DGB dBG|DGB c3|aAc gzA|fzA e3|d^cd e2=c|Bdg B2d|
|gGB fzG|ezG d3|DGB dBG|ecG E3|ecG EGc|gdB DGg|fed ^c=cF|GBd g2d|
|gGB fzG|ezG d3|DGB dBG|DGB c3|aAc gzA|fzA e3|d^cd e2=c|Bdg B2d|
|gGB fzG|ezG d3|DGB dBG|ecG E3|ecG EGc|gdB DGg|fed ^c=cF|GBd g2d||
|:gGB fGB|eGB dGB|eGB dGB|cAF EFA|aAc gAc|fAc eAc|d^cd e2=c|Bdg B2d|
|gGB fGB|eGB dGB|eGB dGB|ecG E3|ecG EGc|gdB DGg|fed ^c=cF|GBd g2d:|
|:bBd aBd|gGB fGB|eGB dGB|cAF EFA|aAc gAc|fAc eAc|d^cd e2=c|Bdg B2d|
|bBd aBd|gGB fGB|eGB dGB|ecG E3|ecG EGc|gdB DGg|fed ^c=cF|GBd g2d:|
|:(4gDGB (4fDGB|(4eDGB (4dDGB|(4eDGB (4dDGB|(4cEFA c2e|
|(4aFAc (4gFAc|(4fFAc (4eFAc|(4d^cd^d (4ez=d=c|(4Bdgd B2d|
|(4gDGB (4fDGB|(4eDGB (4dDGB|(4eDGB (4dDGB|(4ecAF A2c|
|(4ecAF (4Aceg|(4dBGD (4GBdg|(4fed^c (4ed=cF|(4GBdg G2d:|
|:(4bGBd (4aGBd|(4gDGB (4fDGB|(4eDGB (4dDGB|(4cEFA c2e|
|(4aFAc (4gFAc|(4fFAc (4eFAc|(4d^cd^d (4ee=d=c|(4Bdgd B2d|
|(4bGBd (4aGBd|(4gDGB (4fDGB|(4eDGB (4dDGB|(4ecAF A2c|
|(4ecAF (4Aceg|(4dBGD (4GBdg|(4fed^c (4ed=cF|(4GBdg G2d:|