Annotation:General McKay's Reel

|Tune properties and standard notation

 GENERAL McKAY. AKA and see "Colin M'Kay's Reel," "Colonel McKay." Scottish, Reel. C Mixolydian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. Composed by Daniel (sometimes given as Donald) Dow, although also attributed to Robert Petrie (see alternate titmes). It is printed in Kohlers' Violin Repository Part Third as "Colin M'Kay" but this is probably a corruption of "Colonel McKay." Perhaps this refers to Major General Mackay who led William of Orange's forces in their defeat at the hands of Lord ("Bonny") Dundee at the Battle of Killiekrankie, 1689. In the opinion of Mr. Troup of Ballater (as cited by David Baptie in Musical Scotland, Past and Present, 1894, p. 46) "General Mackay's" is among the dozen or so of Dow's best compositions.  Source for notated version:  Printed sources: Carlin (The Gow Collection), 1986; No. 402. Gow (Complete Repository), Part 3, 1806; p. 22.  Recorded sources:

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