Annotation:Greig's Strathspey

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GREIG'S STRATHSPEY. Scottish, Slow Strathspey or (Pastoral) Air (4/4 time). A Minor (Skye): G Minor (Cranford, Hunter, Skinner). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Cranford, Hunter, Skinner): AABB (Gow, Skye). "Very old" (Gow, Skye); "Ancient Melody" (Skinner). John Glen (Early Scottish Melodies, 1900) said it was believed this strathspey was the composition of James Greig, a teacher of dancing in Ayrshire (as was "Greig's Pipes"). J. Murdoch Henderson (1902-1972) said the tune was "Nathaniel Gow's favourite ancient melody."

Source for notated version: Winston Fitzgerald (1914-1987, Cape Breton) [Cranford].

Printed sources: Joshua Campbell (A Collection of New Reels and Highland Strathspeys &c.), 1789, p. 5. Cranford (Winston Fitzgerald), 1997; No. 229, p. 92. Gow (Second Collection of Niel Gow's Reels), 1788; p. 20 (3rd ed.). Henderson (Flowers of Scottish Melody), 1935. Hunter (Fiddle Music of Scotland), 1988; No. 48. MacDonald (The Skye Collection), 1887; p. 101. Skinner (Harp and Claymore Collection), 1904; p. 16.

Recorded sources: Olympic 6151, Arthur Robertson - "Scottish Traditional Fiddle Music" (1969). Topic 12TS424, Jock Tamson's Bairns - "The Lasses Fashion" (1982).

See also listing at:
Alan Snyder's Cape Breton Fiddle Recordings Index [1]