Annotation:Free and Accepted Mason
Tune properties and standard notation
FREE AND ACCEPTED MASON, THE. Scottish, Jig. D Major: G Major (Aird). Standard tuning (fiddle). The title is obviously taken from the Masonic organization, and may be "Free Masons." The melody appears in the (James) Gillespie Manuscript of Perth (1768, p. 105). It was used in Charles Maclaurin's The Philosopher's Opera, published in Edinburgh in 1757. The jig also appears in the music manuscript collections of violin player George White, of Cherry Valley, New York, who compiled entries from c. 1790-1830, and of clarinet player J. Williams, of Salem, New York, who started his collection around 1799.
Source for notated version:
Printed sources: Aird (Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs, vol. 1), 1782; p.
Recorded sources: