Annotation:Ephey M'Nab

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EPHEY M'NAB. AKA - "Eppie M'Knab," "Euphie McNab," "Ken You Not Little Jack Rob?," Scottish; Air, Jig and Country Dance Tune (3/4 and 6/8 time). A Dorian (Aird): G Dorian (Oswald): D Minor (Young). Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. John Glen (1891) finds the earliest printing of the melody in Robert Bremner's 1768 2nd collection (p. 111), however, the melody (under the title "Euphie McNab") had much earlier appeared in the Drummond Castle Manuscript (in the possession of the Earl of Ancaster at Drummond Castle), inscribed "A Collection of Country Dances written for the use of his Grace the Duke of Perth by Dav. Young, 1734." Instructions for a country dance to this tune were written down in 1752 by John McGill, dancing master in Girvan. Aird's 6/8 "Ephey M'Nab" is the 'Gig' part of James Oswald's "Appie McNabb," printed in his Caledonian Pocket Companion, Book 6 (c. 1760). The jig appears in the music manuscript collection of 37th Regiment fifer John Buttery (collected beginning in the late 1790's, sometimes referred to as the 'John Fife' manuscript), and fluter Thomas Molyneaux (1788, Shelburne, Nova Scotia).

A song called "Eppie McNab", set to a different air, appears in James Johnson's Scots Musical Museum, vol. 3, 1790; p. 290.

Source for notated version: Buttery copied the tune faithfully from Aird's Selection vol. 2, as he did with many others.

Printed sources: Aird (Selections of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs, vol. II), 1785; No. 163, p. 60. Oswald (Caledonian Pocket Companion, Book 6), 1760; p. 18. David Young (Drummond Castle/Duke of Perth Manuscript), 1734; No. 14.

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