Annotation:Wandering Tinker (The)

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WANDERING TINKER, THE. Scottish, Reel. C Major (Athole, Hardie, Kerr/2): D Major (Kerr/1). Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB (Athole, Hardie, Kerr/1): AABB’ (Kerr/2). This reel first appears in Joseph Lowe’s Collection, Book 5. Lowe was a dancing master and musician at Queen Victoria's residences of Windsor and Balmoral in the 1850's. Brendan Breathnach (CRE II, 1976, No. 250) identified a tune called "Wandering Tinker" as a cognate of the large tune family that includes “Atholl Braes,” “Drinking Reel (The),” “Drunken Tailor (The),” “Gallagher's Best,” “Lagan Slashers (1),” “League and Slasher,” “Pigeon on the Pier (2),” “Pigeon on the Gate (1),” “Reidy’s Reel,” “Scotch Braes (The)," however, the tune printed by Lowe and Kerr seems unrelated.

Source for notated version: William Hardie Jr. of Methlick, Scotland (c. 1856-1944), editor and fiddler Bill Hardie’s grandfather [Hardie].

Printed sources: Hardie (Caledonian Companion), 1986; p. 35. Kerr (Merry Melodies, vol. 2), c. 1880’s; No. 91, p. 12. Kerr (Merry Melodies, vol. 1), c. 1880’s; Set 20, No. 6, p. 13. Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; p. 71.

Recorded sources:

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