Annotation:Quaker (1) (The)

Back to Quaker (1) (The)

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QUAKER [1], THE. English, Morris Dance Tune (4/4 time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). ABB, x4. The tune and dance (a morris side-step and half hey) were collected from the village of Bampton, Oxfordshire, in England's Cotswolds. At beginning of the 20th century, when much morris material was collected, morris dancing in Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire was seldom still being performed, with the exception of that in the village of Bampton, kept alive largely by the enthusiasm of dancer and fiddler William "Jinky" Wells. Wells was recorded on 78 RPMs by the English Folk Dance and Song Society before he died. The first three notes of the ‘B’ part are similar to the first notes of the second part of “Walter Bulwer’s Polka (2),” leading to the ‘B’ part of “The Quaker [1]” sometimes mistakenly being substituted for the one in the Bulwer tune (the whole amalgamated tune then being called “Walter Bulwer’s Polka”). Unfortunately, this substitution seems to be taking hold, to the detriment of both tunes.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Bacon (The Morris Ring), 1974; p. 34. Mallinson (Mally’s Cotswold Morris Book), 1988, vol. 2; No. 64, p. 31.

Recorded sources: Cottey Light Industries CLI-903, Dexter et al - "Over the Water" (1993).

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