John D. Burgess jig

A Scottish pipe march.I play it before “Kathleen Hehir’s”

Sorry to be picky but your version of this tune is significantly wrong and the lovely swing that this march (not jig) has is lost completely. Scottish pipe tunes unlike many Irish tunes have much more rigid settings as the limitations of the instrument would make all tunes sound the same if too much variation was allowed. At least there are 4 parts, as many musicians often miss out one or other of the parts. The tune wqas written by George Coburn

I hate people who say a tune is wrong……grrrrr.Tunes can be played in different ways.how do you think music evolves mate?Prouse even,lighten up!!

Well, Prouse is right actually. This is *not* how the tune is normally played in Scotland. However, I agree that tunes will evolve through time and many Scottish tunes change when they find their way into Irish sessions. Having said that, this tune isn’t that old and it would be nice to have the original or normally played version here. It would be up Dafydd to alter the “ABC” if he wishes but perhaps you might like to paste the other version here in the comments, Prouse?

Re the fact that the tune is listed as a jig, there isn’t a facility for marches here due to the different possible time signatures.

It was reported elsewhere today that John D Burgess after whom this tune was named has sadly passed away. Condolences to his family.

http://www.footstompin.com/forum?threadid=34282

I said it was a march.I posted it the way I play it.That’s the folk process in action

Try if after “Going To The Well For Water”

There are so many mistakes in this that it’s virtually worthless.
The first part of the tune is missing completely. You can call it the folk process. I call it sloppiness.

Blame it on The Battlefield Band,I transcribed it from a cassette of one of their albums,so it’s not sloppiness,I’ve faithfully followed their version.They play it on an Appalachian dulcimer too,which probably would be a “mistake” to you too.I’ve never heard this played on the pipes,but I think it makes a good jig.How do you think that all these settings and versions of tunes arrived in the world? Lighten up,and resign from the Tune Police.

Do you think that “Rakish Paddy” is just a sloppy version of the pipe tune “Caber Feigh”?

Worthless to who?

Or whom

If you apply the term “worthless” to something as subjective as a tune,then you’re on a slippery slope
That’s how things started in Nazi Germany.

Don’t think I’ve anything more to say to you after that last comment, “daffyd”. Bye.

It was only a joke,c’mon!

P.S. My name is Dafydd.

It’s Welsh for “David”,just in case you didn’t know.
Hwyl nawr!

pronounced ~ Dah-vi-th ( ‘i’ as in ‘it’ / ‘th’ as in ‘the’, aspirated…
Hwyl fawr a iechyd dda!

Hereby invoked.

~ with piping flurries:
http://www.owltownband.de/
http://www.owltownband.de/tunearchiv/pdf/burgess.pdf

& without them:

K: D Major
|: A |
f3 g>fe | d3 A3 | d2 e f2 a | a>gf e2 A |
f3 g>fe | d3 c2 B | A>df a>Ag | f2 e d2 :|
|: A |
f2 d e2 B | d>cB A3 | d2 e f2 a | a>gf e2 A |
1 f2 d e2 B | d>cB A3 | A>df a>Ag | f2e d2 :|
2 f3 g>fe | d3 c2 B | A>df a>Ag | f2 e d2 ||
|: d |
A>df a2 g | f>de f3 | A>ce g2 f | e>Bc d2 B |
A>df a2 g | f>de f2 B | A>df a>Ag | f2 e d2 :|
|: g |
a2 a a2 g | f3 A3 | d2 e f2 a |1 a>gf e2 g |
a2 a a2 g | f3 d2 B | A>df a>Ag | f2 e d2 :|
2 a>gf e2 A |
f3 g>fe | d3 c2 B | A>df a>Ag | f2 e d2 ||

The following is a quick transcription of Willy Taylor’s playing of this march, and almost identical to the one I’ve given just before this. There are a few points where he sometimes swings the beat (N>NN) but I’ve chosen to leave it straight (NNN) in the transcript:

K: D Major
|: A |
f3 g>fe | d3 A3 | d2 e f2 a | a>gf e2 A |
f3 gfe | d3 c2 B | Adf aAg | f2 e d2 :|
|: A |
f2 d e2 B | d>cB A3 | d2 e f2 a | a>gf e2 A |
[1 f2 d e2 B | d>cB A3 | Adf aAg | f2e d2 :|
[2 f3 g>fe | d3 d>cB | Adf aAg | f2 e d2 ||
|: d |
A>df a2 g | f>de f3 | A>ce g2 f | e>Bc d>cB |
A>df a2 g | fde f2 B | Adf aAg |[1 f/e/f e d2 :|[2 f2 e dfg ||
|: aAa a2 g | f3 A3 | d2 e f2 a |
[1 a>gf efg | aAa a2 g | f3 d>cB | Adf aAg | f2 e dfg :|
[2 a>gf e2 A | f3 g>fe | d3 d>cB | Adf aAg | f2 e d2 ||

reminiscent of: The Weaver And His Wife
https://thesession.org/tunes/6945

In case anyone is still paying attention (!) – Dafydd transcribed this tune wrong from the Battlefield Band, that’s the confusion. He didn’t notice that the band started the tune with the mountain dulcimer for the first part, and then the fiddle joins for the second, third, and fourth parts. He started this transcription when the fiddle joined.

A lot of tunes on The Session are transcribed from someone, and not always correctly (i.e. the way the performance actually went) or if done right, it may not be the way the composer made the tune or the way most people play it. I like having a tune the way it was written and then to reference some of the ways other players have interpreted it. But to each his/her own, I guess. When I care about a tune I usually don’t settle for the Session version but research it or transcribe it myself – but sometimes the Session version is spot on…a great resource.

https://youtu.be/0CDYcYhHGPA

play video

After Pipe Major John Stuart“, starts at 1m.45s.

https://youtu.be/W28HVgZG-Jg

play video

Has anyone got information about George Cockburn, the composer of this tune? Was he also a Pipe Major in the military and when did he live?
Aad

Aad, I believe he was a piper in the Edinburgh Police band. I have no idea if he served, though given he was around in the National Service era it’s quite likely. Stewart Gardiner is the man to go to for L&B and Edinburgh Police pipe band history.