Annotation:Heather Hill
X: 1 T: Heather Hill C: Dan R MacDonald B: Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island, 1996 Z: Nigel Gatherer scots-l 2002-7-8 S: handwritten MS M: 4/4 L: 1/8 K: G B \ | "G"G2BA BGGB | "(D7)"dedB "G"~G2GB | "G"dedB degd | "C"egdB "D7"~A2AB | | "G"G2BA BGGB | "(D7)"dedB "G"~G2GB | "G"dedB degd | "C"eg"D7"dB "G"~G2G :| |: f \ | "G"gfga gdde | "G"gage degd | "Am"eaab ageg | "Am"abag "C"~e2"D7"ef | | "G"gagf gdde | "G"gage degd | "Am"eaab agea | "D7"gedB "G"~G2G :|
HEATHER HILL. AKA - "Heather on the Hill." Canadian, Reel. Canada; Cape Breton, Prince Edward Island. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). ABB (Shears): AABB (Cranford, Perlman). A popular tune composed (as "Heather Hill") in the 1940's by the prolific Cape Breton composer and fiddler Dan R. MacDonald (1911-1976); it is one of his best. Most Cape Breton and Prince Edward Island fiddlers use the title "Heather on the Hill" to refer to the tune. Dan R's nephew, guitarist John Allan Cameron, related that his uncle wrote the tune in 1943 while working as a lumberjack in Scotland, working to clear land and construct bridges. A tune could come upon the prolific MacDonald at any time. One day he was sawing a tree down and started 'jigging' this tune in his head, and by the time the tree was felled he completed the melody. He took out a pencil out and, not having paper to hand, wrote a sketch of it on the stem of the tree so he wouldn't forget it. The next day he returned with his saw and axe, and this time his fiddle, and played through the as-yet untitled piece. Looking around he noticed a large field of heather nearby and dubbed the tune "Heather Hill." Cape Breton fiddler Winston Fitzgerald recorded the reel on a 78 RPM disc.
