Annotation:Sundrum House (1)
X:1 T:Sundrum House [1] C:John Hall M:C L:1/16 R:Strathspey B:John Hall – “A Selection of Strathspeys Reels, Waltzes & Irish Jigs” (c. 1818, p. 27) B: https://digital.nls.uk/special-collections-of-printed-music/archive/104981834 N:”Printed and sold by John Hall, at his Music Room.” N:Hall (1788-1862) was a music teacher in Ayr, Scotland. His dancing master’s ‘kit’ N:(a small fiddle) used in his dancing lessons, is still preserved. Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:D F2|DD3 {c}d3A GFED A2F2|EE3B3A G2E2E2F2|DD3 dd3 cc3 BB3|A2F2 EFGE F2D2D2:| FG|Ad3Fd3 Ad3AF3|E2e2 gfed c2A2A2Bc|dD3 cD3 BD3 AD3|G2B2 AGFE F2D2D2FG| Ad3Fd3 Ad3AF3|E2e2 gfed c2A2A2Bc|db3ca3 Bg3A2F2|G2B2 AGFE F2D2D2||
SUNDRUM HOUSE. Scottish, Strathspey (whole time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. "Sundrum House" was composed by Ayrshire fiddler-composer biography:John Hall (1788-1862). Sundrum House was an estate near the town of Ayr, Scotland, that inocorporates an ancient tower that makes it amongst the oldest inhabited castles of Scotland. It was John Hamilton that assisted William Burns, the father of poet Roberty Burns, in his disupute over debts to his landlord. Unfortunately, Hamilton merchant and agricultural improving were not confined to Ayrshire, as he had estates in Jamaica and was a slave owner (as were his descendents). Jean Acheson ("Servants in Ayrshire 1750–1914", p. 15 in Ayrshire Monographs No 26) records:
In the village of Joppa on the main road from Ayr to Cumnock there were at one time a number of Negroes brought from the plantations in West Indies, belonging to John Hamilton of Sundrum. They intermarriedwith the local inhabitants, and traces of Negro in the hair and countenance could be observed for some generations.
