Argyle's Bowling Green

 X:1 T:Argyle Bowling Green M:C| L:1/8 R:Reel B:Stewart-Robertson – The Athole Collection (1884) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:C E|C2c2 cded|cdcA G^FED|C2c2 cded|cBcE D3:| c|GecE GEEA|GecE G2 GA|GecE GEEF|GAGE D2Da| gec'e geea|gec'e g2ga|gec'e geef|gage d2d||

 ARGLYE('S) BOWLING GREEN. AKA and see “Braes of Glencoe (The).” Scottish, Reel. C Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Gow/Repository, Surenne): AAB (most versions): AABBCCDD (Bremner). The melody appears in the Drummond Castle Manuscript, inscribed &quot;A Collection of Country Dances written for the use of his Grace the Duke of Pert by Dav. Young, 1734,” which in the early 1970's was in the possession of the Earl of Ancaster at Drummond Castle. A melody entitled &quot;Argyle's Bowling Green&quot; appears in the Holmain Manuscript (1710 50), a six page book of instructions for country dances. However, perhaps not aware of those sources, antiquarian John Glen found the earliest appearance of the piece in Robert Bremner's 1757 collection (Scots Reels, p. 70). It has been suggested that the ‘bowling green’ title is an Englished corruption of the Gaelic &quot;buaile na greine&quot; (sunny cattle-fold). However, Argyle’s Bowling Green is also the nickname of a range of hills and mountains known as the ‘Arrochar Alps’, especially as seen from the fjord-like Loch Long. A melody by this name (“Argile’s Bouling Green”) appears in the Holmain Manuscript (1710 50), a six page book of instructions for country dances. The name Argyll derives from the Gaelic ‘Airer Gaedel’, or ‘coast of the Gaels,’ and refers to the area of Scotland first invaded by the Irish tribes in the 5th century. The tune also appears in the music manuscript collection (No. 49) of piper Robert Miller (1789-1861), born in Perth, who enlisted as a drummer boy in the Breadalbane Fencibles at age nine to begin a long military career. In 1821 he began to compile his "Highland Manuscript" of Scottish pipe music. Miller also was a pipe-maker and made improvements to the design of the instrument.

Printed sources: Bremner (Scots Reels), 1757; p. 70. Gow (Completre Repository), Part 4, 1817; p. 31. Kerr (Merry Melodies), vol. 2; No. 85, p. 12. Lowe (A Collection of Reels and Strathspeys), 1844. MacDonald (The Skye Collection), 1887; p. 120. Perlman (The Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island), 1996; p. 119. Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; p. 66. Surenne (Dance Music of Scotland), 1852; p. 71. Source for notated version in print: George MacPhee (b. 1941, Monticello, North-East Kings County, Prince Edward Island) [Perlman]. Recorded sources: WMT002, Wendy MacIsaac – “That’s What You Get” (1998?).

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