Annotation:Blue Ribbon Scottish Measure

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BLUE RIBBON SCOTTISH MEASURE. AKA and see "Blue Ribbon at the Bound Rod," "Lord of Carnavon's Jig (2)." Scottish, Scottish Measure or Strathspey ("Slowish"). F Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The tune was later renamed by Niel Gow, but was originally published in the Skene MS., c. 1610, as "Blew/Blue Ribbon at Bound Rod." Robin Williamson speculates that the title may refer to a gathering staff for soldiers or a boundary road, and notes that the border at Berwick on Tweed was called the bound rod at one time. The melody was published by Gow in his Repository, Part Second, 1802, under the above title. It is correctly classified as a Scottish Measure, having the characteristic emphasis on the first three beats of the bar, with the phrase beginning on the up-beat.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Carlin (Gow Collection), 1986; No. 12. Emmerson (Rantin' Pipe and Tremblin' String), 1971; No. 24, p. 127. Gow (Complete Repository), Part 2, 1802; pp. 4-5.

Recorded sources: Flying Fish, Robin Williamson - "Legacy of the Scottish Harpers, vol. 2" (Skene version). Mill Records MRCD018, William Jackson - "Duan Albanach" (2003).

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