Annotation:Tipstaff Strathspey
X:1 T:Tipstaff Strathspey C:Robert Petrie (?) S:Petrie's Collection of Strathspey Reels and Country Dances &c., 1790 Z:Steve Wyrick <sjwyrick'at'astound'dot'net>, 3/5/04 N:Petrie's First Collection, page 3 L:1/8 M:C R:Strathspey K:G c | B<Gg>G DG-GA/B/ | c<Aa>A EA-A.c | dB-Bd ec-ce | g>dTc>B (TB2A>)c | BGgG D(G G)A/B/ | cAaA EA-Ac | Bg-ge (f/e/f/g/) ag | fd f/e/d/^c/ dDd || d | (d<=f)(Tf>e) (Ted)(Tdc) | cBA^G A2 A,A/B/ | c<eTe>d d>cB<d | g<dTc>B TB2Az | G,<G-TG>B A,<ATA>c | B,<TBB>d C<Tc-c>e | B>de>f g>dTc>B | TA>GA<B G2 G,2 |]
TIPSTAFF STRATHSPEY. AKA - "The Tipp Staf." English, Scottish; Strathspey or Reel (whole or cut time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. The "Tipstaff Strathspey" appears in the 1790 collection by Kirkmichael, Perthshire, fiddler biography:Robert Petrie (1767-1830). The tune does not seem to have been reprinted in other music publications, however, a version can be found as “The Tipp Staf” in the large 1770 music manuscript collection of Northumbrian musician William Vickers, about whom, unfortunately, nothing is known. Vickers’ version was entered without the dotted strathspey rhythms of Petrie's version. Another manuscript version was contained in London musician Thomas Hammersley's c. 1790 music copybook as simply "Tipstaff." "Tipstaff Strathspey" is often attributed to Petrie, but the the dates of the Vickers ms. do not support this, as the fiddler-composer would have been aged three at the time.
