Annotation:Sean Trews (1)
X:1 T:Shaun Truish Willichan M:C L:1/8 R:Reel B:Robert Bremner – Collection of Scots Reels or Country Dances (1757) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:Ddor A,|D/D/D D>F E2 A,>F|F2 (ED) G/F/E/D/ CE|D/D/D D>F E2 A>E|F2 TED CA,A,:| |:G|A>cAF G>AGE|F>GFD G/F/E/D/ CG|A>cAF G>AGE|FD G/F/E/D/ CA,A,:| |:A|d/d/d d>f Te2 A>e|{de}f2 ed g/f/e/d/ ce|d/d/d d>f Te2 ce|fd g/f/e/d/ Tc>AA:| |:g|aa _b/a/g/f/ gg a/g/f/e/|ff g/f/e/d/ eccg|aa _b/a/g/f/ gg a/g/f/e/|fd g/f/e/d/ TcAA:|]
SEAN TREWS [1] (Seán Triubhas). AKA and see "Gin Ye Kiss My Wife I'll Tell the Minister," "Seann Triubhas," “Shaun Truish Willighan/Willichan” (Willie’s auld Trews), "Shaun Truish," "Dr. William Grant." Shetland, Scotland; "Double Hornpipe," Strathspey or Rant. D Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB (Martin): AABBCC (Bremner): AABB'CCD (Emmerson). Alan Cunningham in Scottish Songs (1825) refers to this piece as a 'popular hornpipe air'. Scottish step dances to native common-time tunes were termed 'double hornpipes' in the late 18th and early 19th centuries (Emmerson, 1971). O’Neill (1922) notes: “With this tune is associated a special Highland dance, commonly referred to as ‘Sean Truis’, but occasionally as ‘Willichan’. John Glen (1891) finds the earliest printing of the air in Robert Bremner's 1757 (dates vary) Second Collection of Scots Reels or Country Dances (as "Shaun Trush Willichan"), the Gillespie Manuscript of Perth, 1768 (as "Shan Trowes"), Captain Simon Fraser's Airs and Melodies, 1816, and, in a different form, in Wilson's Companion to the Ball Room, 1817. After Robert Bremner's death in 1789 his collections were reprinted by Preston, a great London publisher. Emmerson (1972) calls it a set of “De'il Stick the Minister (2).” The solo dance "Sean Triubhas," performed in tartan trousers rather than plaid kilts, is today commonly associated with the air "Whistle o'er the Lave O't" and features a distinctive 'side-cutting' step. A version, almost note-for-note with Wilson’s Companion appears in the manuscripts of American painter William Sydney Mount, also a fiddler.