A Highland Quickstep jig

I’ve waited and searched and even sent this to others for help. I’m sure I first came across this tune, possibly a ‘quickstep’?, in something likes Howe’s massive collection, or Cole’s, or some such thing, and I’ve heard it played by old time fiddlers, possibly on field recordings. I’ve also stepped to it as well, Cape Breton musicians playing it in one of two keys, either ‘G’ as given here, or ‘A’ as Winston “Scotty” Fitzgerald chose to play it.

I haven’t access to a lot of resources I’d like to be able to pour over to find this. I’m sure I remember a really interesting way with it in an early notation, but that could have been any of the endless single sheets I’ve studied and played for in various libraries in North America and Europe. And some may yet wonder why I sometimes seem ‘fried’? I won’t stop looking for it, but I’ve waited at least a month before submitting this.

There is a transcription of it in ‘A’ in:

“Brenda Stubbert’s Collection of Fiddle Tunes” ~ page 32
Cranford Publications, 1994
ISBN: 0-9691181-4-7
http://www.cranfordpub.com/

Here it is merely called “Highland Jig”, which is really another way of saying, “I don’t know”, or “gan ainm”. That’s the other reason I waited, preferring to give you a name for it. It’s a fun tune and the transcription in the Stubbert book is a nice one too. If anyone else out there knows this and its history and a name for it ~ please help. I was about to send it out to several others, including folks on site here, but hey, here it is, with dots and a midi. I hope the story grows…

Oo I bet that *really* annoys you, not having a name for it. Does it? Do you have to knock yourself out with drugs at night so it stops niggling at you and you can get some sleep? I bet your finger wavered over the “submit” button before you posted it, did it? Did you cringe and grind your teeth as it set itself in stone, forever to float nameless in cyberspace?

Yes…

Damn, all that staring at it before hitting submit and I missed that ‘=d’: | e^de f2 =d |

Well, it’s your responsibility now, now you’ve set it free, into the wild. I hope you can cope with the burden, and that your actions don’t come back to haunt you in the future 😉

Some beginner somewhere who only learns off sheetmusic is gonna learn this tune and play it to all their friends, and people will like it so much they’ll play it to all of their friends, and it’ll spread all over the world, and one day you’ll be taking tea and having tunes with a friend, and they’ll say, “hey ‘c’ I learnt a nice tune at a session the other day. I don’t have a name for it, but it goes like this”, and they’ll play it to you with those D#s instead of D nats, and it’ll all be your fault 🙂

Beginners wouldn’t know what Gan Ainm means. So they might start calling it Ganymede Jig.

The first part is quite like Langston’s Quickstep:
The similarity ends there though.

X:1
T:Langston’s Quickstep
B:American Veteran Fifer #120
C:H.C. Langston Co.E.11th O.V.I.
M:6/8
L:1/8
Q:1/8=300
K:D t=8
((3D/E/F/) | GDG BGB | dBd g2g | f2e efe | A3 A((3EFG) |
AFA cAc | ece f2f | f2e efe | B3- B((3DEF) |
GDG BGB | dBd g2g | f2e efe | a3 a2f/g/ |
a>ba agf | gag gfe | fed c2e | d3 d2 :|
|: d/e/ | fgf a2e | f2a d2c/d/ | efe edc | d3- d2c/d/ |
efe ede | fgf fef | gag- gfg | a3- a2d/e/ |
fgf g2e | f2a d2c/d/ | e2e ede | a3- a2f/g/ |
a>ba agf | g>ag gfe | ged c2e | d3 d2 :|

Good find and comparision Donough… I have had my nose in old fife collections before, musty as they can be. There are a lot of interesting tunes to be found there, and version…

Here’s another way I’ve known it, minus the middle part:

K: Gmaj
|: B>A |
GDG BGB | dBd gag | f3 e2 c | A3 A2 G |
FDF AFA | cAc fgf | e3 edB | G3 GBA |
GDG BGB | dBd gag | f3 e2 c | e3 e2 f |
gag fed | edB GBd | ede f2 d | g3 g2 a ||

bfa g2 f | gfg d2 B | gfg bgd | c3 cBA |
DFA DFA | DFA f3 | e3 edB | G3 GB/c/d |
bfa g3 | gfg d3 | gfg bgd | c3- c3 |
DFA D2 A | DFA fgf | e3 edB | G3- G ||