Annotation:General Monk's Goosestep

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GENERAL MONK'S GOOSESTEP. AKA - "General Monk's March," "Lord Monk's March," "Monk's March". English, Morris Dance Tune (4/4 time). C Major (Carlin): G Major (Bacon): D Major (Bacon). Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB (Bacon--Hathaway): AA'B (Carlin): AA'BB (Bacon-Benfield): AABA (Bacon-Bond). The melody is a morris dance tune from the village of Bledington, Gloucestershire, in England's Cotswolds.

Source Charles Benfield (by artist A van Anrooy) was a fiddler for the Bledington morris men in the second half of the 19th century. Benfield started out by playing the pipe and tabor, instruments he had 'inherited' from the renowned Sherbourne and Northleach musician Jim 'the laddie' Simpson, who had succumbed to an overdose of alcohol in 1856. The fiddler became a key figure in the Bledington morris tradition, eventually leading the "junior side" of dancers born in the 1860's, men who survived to pass on their tradition to larger audiences when collectors visited in the 1930's.

Sources for notated versions: Charles Benfield (Rollo Woods) via Cecil Sharpe [Bacon]; Bond via Cecil Sharpe [Bacon]. Hathaway via Dr. Kenworthy Schofield [Bacon].

Printed sources: Bacon (The Morris Ring), 1974; pp. 85-86. Carlin (Master Collection), 1984; No. 35, p. 32.

Recorded sources: See also listing at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]