Annotation:Birmingham March
X:1 T:Birmingham March, The M:C L:1/8 B:John Moore music manuscript (Shropshire c. 1837-40, Book 2, p. 91) B: https://www.vwml.org/topics/historic-dance-and-tune-books/Moore2 Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:G dc|B2 BB BdcB|A2 A>A A2 B>c|edcB dcBA|G2 G>G G2 dc| B2 B>B BdBc|A2 A>A A2 Bc|d2 cB dcBA|G2 G>G G2:| |:gf|e2 d>d d2 GA|B2 B>B B2 gf|e2 d>d d2 cB|A2 A>A A2 d>c| B2 B>B BdcB|A2 A>A A2 B>c|d2 cB dcBA|G2 G>G G2:|]
BIRMINGHAM MARCH, THE. AKA and see "Captain and His Whiskers (1) (The)," "Captain Money's March," "Captain with His Whiskers (The), "Chimes, "From the Man I Love," "Give me the girl that's ripe for joy," "Tulip (The)." English, March. England, Shropshire. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. "Birmingham March" is one of many descendants of cellist-composer wikipedia:James_Oswald_(composer)'s (1710-1769) "Tulip (The)," from his Airs for the Spring (c. 1747). The tune is also cognate with the Adderbury stick dance tune "Lads a Bunchum (1)" AKA "Balance the Straw (1)."
American versions of the march can be found as title "Chimes" in the 1785 music manuscript collection of American flute player Henry Beck, and as "Captain Money's March" in the early 19th century editions of Alvan Robinson's Massachusett's Collection of Martial Musick (1818-1826). The melody was published under the "Give me a girl..." title in Daniel Steele's New and Complete preceptor for the German Flute (Albany, N.Y., 1815). The march was also entered into the c. 1776-1778 music copybook of fifer Thomas Nixon Jr. [1] (1762-1842), of Framingham, Connecticut. Nixon was a thirteen-year-old who accompanied his father to the battles of Lexington and Concord, and who served in the Continental army in engagements in and around New York until 1780, after which he returned home to build a house in Framingham. The copybook appears to have started by another musician, Joseph Long, and to have come into Nixon’s possession.
See also the Irish derivative member of the tune family, "Wearing of the Green."
The name Birmingham (Warwickshire) derives from the Anglo-Saxon place-name 'Beorma's ham', meaning 'the homestead of Beorma'.
