Annotation:Drover Lads (The)
X:1 T:Gillun nan Dròbher T:Drover Lads, The T:Bodach an dranntan T:Grumbler, The M:6/8 L:1/8 R:Jig B:William Gunn - The Caledonian Repository of Music B:Adapted for the Bagpipes (Glasgow, 1848, pp. 58-59) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:G e|GAB g2e|agf g2e|dBB B<BA|dBB B<BA| GAB g2e|agf g2e|dBA A<Ae|dBA A<Ae| GAB g2e|agf g2e|dBB B<BA|dBB g3| agf g2e|fed g2e|dBA A<Ae|dBA A<A|| e|BGB B<BA|e2A dBG|dBB B<BA|dBB B<BA| BGB B<BA|e2A dBG|dBA A<Ae|dBA A<Ae| BGB B<BA|e2A dBG|dBB B<BA|dBB g3| Agf g2e|fed g2e|dBA A<Ae|dBA A<A|| e|AAe AAa|AAg f2e|dBB B<BA|dBB B<BA| AAe AAa|AAg f2e|dBA A<Ae|dBA A<Ae| AAe AAa|AAg f2e|dBB B<BA|dBB g3| agf g2e|fed g2e|dBA A<Ae|dBA A<A|| e|BAe dBG|eAe dBG|dBB B<BA|dBB B<BA| BAe dBG|eAe dBG|dBA A<Ae|dBA A<Ae| BAe dBG|eAe dBG|dBB B<BA dBB g3| agf g2e|fed g2e|dBA A<Ae|dBA A<A||
DROVER LADS, THE (Gillan an Drover). AKA and see "Gillan the Drover." Scottish, 'Highland' Jig (6/8 time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). ABCD (Gunn): AABBCCDD (Skye). A version of the tune appears in Islay fiddler-composer biography:Alexander Mackay's Collection of Reels, Strathspeys and Slow Tunes (c. 1822) under the title "Miss Jean Campbell Ardmore's Jig." Mackay may have been a music teacher for the family or had some other connection to the Campbells of Ardmore, Islay, for he either composed or titled tunes for everyone in the large family. He did not claim composer credit for this jig (as he did with many others for the Campbells), so perhaps this was a favorite tune of his pupil, Jean. See note for "Annotation:Gillan the Drover."
See also an untitled Irish version of the jig in Breathnach's Ceol Rince na hÉireann, vol. II (1976), No. 16. Compare "Drover Lads" with first strain of William Marshall's duple-time "Major L. Stewart's Reel--of the Island of Java."
