Annotation:Bold Wilkinson
X:1 T:Bold Wilkinson N:From the John Smith music manuscript collection, dated 1752. Unfortunately, N:the original ms. is lost, but 20 tunes survive in a copy made by John Stokoe in N:the latter 19th century. The tune appears in the mss. of the Melodies Committee N:of the Society of Antiquaries (Northumberland). B:http://www.farnearchive.com/show_images.asp?id=R1113401&image=1 M:9/4 L:1/8 R:Slip Jig Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:Gdor G2A2G2 B4 g2Tf4g2|G2A2G2 B4 c2 dcBAGF|G2A2G2 B4 g2 f4d2| Tf4 c2 (dc)(BA) g2c2A2F2::Tf4 d2d2 Bc d2 d2Bc d2|f4 d2d2 Bcd c2A2F2| Tf4d2d2 Bc d2d2 Bc d2|Tf4 c2 dcBA f2c2A2F2::G2g2G2 B4g2f4g2| G2g2G2 B4 c2 (dc)(BA)(GF)|G2g2G2 B4g2f4d2|Tf4c2 dcBA f2c2A2F2:| |:f2d2B2f2 efge gfef g2|f2e2B2d2f2d2c2A2F2|f2d2B2d2 efge gfed f2| c2A2F2 B2 f2d2c2A2F2::G2B2G2B2d2B2d2f2d2|G2B2G2B2d2B2 (dc)(BA)(GF)| G2B2G2B2d2B2d2f2d2|Tf4 c2 (dc)(BA) f2c2A2F2::f2B2d2g2B2d2f2B2d2| g2B2d2f2B2 d2 (dc)(BA)(GF)|f2B2d2g2B2d2f2B2d2|Tf4 c2 dcBA f2c2A2F2:| GFGABc dcBcdB gfefge|GFGABc dcBcdB cBAGAF| GFGABc dcBcdB gfefge|Tf4 c2 dcBA f2c2A2F2:| |:gfefge dcBcdB gfefge|gfefge dcBABdB cBAGAF| gfefge dcBcdB gfefge|Tf4 c2 dcBA f2c2A2F2:|
BOLD WILKINSON. AKA - "I've seen as good as you muped/muffed below the covering." English, Reel (9/4 time). G Dorian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABBCCDDEEFFGGHH. "Bold Wilkinson" was entered into the music manuscript of musician John Smith, dated 1752. The volume was bought in a farm sale with some other old books by a Mr. Fish, who gave it to Lewis Proudlock of Longhorsely by Morpeth around the year 1881. The copybook was borrowed by collector John Stoke, who transcribed some 20 of the tunes contained in it, among them "Bold Wilkinson." It is fortunate that he did so, for the original Smith collection is now lost and only Stokoe's transcriptions survive in the manuscripts of the Melodies Committee of the Society of Antiquaries (Northumberland), who collected and recorded local tunes from 1857-1887.
Researcher and Northumbrian piper Matt Seattle found two short untitled versions of the tune in the music manuscripts of Northumbrian fiddler Henry Atkinson (1696), and another in the George Skene manuscript of 1717 (under the title "I've seen as good as you muped/muffed below the covering"). Seattle suggests that the tune may also have been played in the mixolydian mode, particularly if the tune originally had piping origins (and if older bagpipes were tuned similarly to modern ones). He concludes, "...we do know that some tunes were played in different modes according to which instrument they were played on, so it may be that both modes are 'correct' in this case"[1].
