Annotation:Waterman's Hornpipe (The)

Back to Waterman's Hornpipe (The)

WATERMAN'S HORNPIPE, THE. Shetland (5/2, 2/2, 3/2 time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). The rhythm was transcribed by the collector Pat Shuldham-Shaw in 5/2 time, collected in 1947 from the playing of Shetland fiddler John Stickle. Interestingly, "waterboy" and "waterman" are names for fairy spirits in Germany, the country of origin of John's fiddling grandfather Fredemann Stickle who was shipwrecked in the Shetlands and decided to settle there; of course, the Shetland Islands have numerous associations with the sea and seafaring apart from this. Supposedly the tune was of Norse and Scottish origins. See also Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society (1962 p. 133, No. 24, and p. 142, No. 30), and see Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society (1947, p. 80, No. 34).

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Pat Shuldham-Shaw ("A Shetland Fiddler and His Repertoire: John Stickle, 1875-1957, Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society), vol. 9 No. 3, Dec., 1963; p. 133.

Recorded sources: Folktrax FTX-068, John Stickle - "Da Mirrie Boys: Shetland Fiddle Music" (Various artists. From Pat Shaw's 1947 field recording). Topic 12TS431, "Brass Monkey" (1983). Topic TSCD467, "The Complete Brass Monkey."