Annotation:Ball's Hornpipe
X: 1 T:Balls Hornpipe(?). GS.035 M:4/4 L:1/8 S:George Spencer m/s, Leeds,1831 R:Undotted Hornpipe O:England A:Leeds N:Title looks like 'Balbs' Hornpipe. H:1831 Z:vmp.Cherri Graebe K:G D2 | G2 BG A2 cA | B2 dB G2B2 | c2 ec B2 dB |ABAG GFED | G2 BG A2 cA | B2 dB c2 ec | cBAG D2f2 | g2 G2G2 :| |:z2| gfge edcB | dfge edcB | ca2 c B g2 B | A2 BG GFED | G2 BG A2 cA | BcdB c2 ed | cBAG D2 f2 | g2G2G2 :||
BALLS HORNPIPE. AKA and see "March W.S. Royals," "Quick Step 25th Regiment." English, Hornpipe. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. According to Barry Callaghan, the tune takes its name from its appearance in Balls Gentleman's Amusements Book (1815). However, as a military march it predates that printing, having been included twice by James Aird, as "Quickstep 25th Regt." in vol. 2 of his Selections (1785, p. 9), and again as "March, W.S. Royals" in his vol. 6 of the same series. It appears under the "Quickstep 25th Regt." title in the music manuscript copybook of British army fifer John Buttery, who served for twenty years, joining in Lincolnshire just before the turn of the 19th century. After his discharge he eventually emigrated to Ontario, bringing his music manuscript with him (now housed in the National Library of Canada). As "Ball's Hornpipe" it is in the George Spencer (Leeds, W. Yorkshire) manuscript of 1831, however, the title was indistinct in the ms. and was only conjecturally given as "Balls" in modern times. Spencer's title may have been a miss-hearing of the word "Royals."
