Annotation:Willie we have missed you (1)

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 A' WILLIE, WE HAVE MISS'D YOU. Scottish, Strathspey. D Major. Standard tuning. AB. A Scottish strathspey collected by William Bradbury Ryan (about whom very little is known), published in Boston by Elias Howe in Ryan's Mammoth Collection (1883). Strathspeys occsionally appear in American music manuscripts in the 19th century, however, as a form they were disappearing in the United States even as Ryan's Mammoth was being published. In fact, a downward graph could be traced from the mid-18th century to the end of the 19th century, after which they almost never appear in manuscript or print in American collections. They same strathspey appears in Cole's 1000 Fiddle Tunes (Chicago, 1940), but Cole's is a nearly identical reprint of Ryan's Mammoth. Both strains of the melody require third position playing on the violin; a challenge for the average fiddler. Source for notated version: Printed sources: Cole (1000 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; pg. 126. Ryan’s Mammoth Collection, 1883; pg. 164. Recorded sources:

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