Annotation:Bride's Garter (The)
X:1 T:Bride’s Garter, The M:C L:1/8 R:Air Q:"Slow" B:Oswald – Caledonian Pocket Companion, Book 12 (c. 1760) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:Gmin D|(GA)(Bc) d2 BG|g2 BG g2 BG|(FG)(AB) c2 AF|f2 AF f2 AF| GABc d2 ga|b2 ag d'3c'|(ba)(g^f) g2 (ce)|(dc)(BA) G2:| |:A2|(Bc)(de) f2 dB| f2 dB fFAF|(Bd)(gb) (Bd)(fb)|(ge)(dc) B3c| d2 (b/a/g) c2 (a/g/f)|(Be)(dG) (BA)(G^F)|(Gg)(fd) (d2 c)e|(dc)(BA) G2:| M:6/8 L:1/8 "Brisk"G3B2c|dcB TA2G|GAG T^f2g|GAG T^f2g| =F3 A2B|cBA TG2F|FGF T=e2f|FGF =e2f| G3B2 c|dcB TA2G|GAB cd^F|G3 g3:| |:B3 d2e|fdB TA2F|fdB AcF|fdB TA2F| B3 (bab)|B3 (bab)|fdB cAF|B3 b3| .d.d.d (g2b)|.c.c.c f2a|B3 edc |BAG T^F2D| G3 B2c|dcB AG^F|GAB cd^F|G3 g3:|]
BRIDE'S GARTER, THE. Scottish, Air (whole time and jig). G Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB & Jig. Oswald printed a duple-time air, followed by a jig. The jig was printed by London publisher John Johnson in his Two Hundred Favourite Country Dances, vol. 7 (1756, p. 96), at about the same time Oswald published his Caledonian Pocket Companion.
Lilly Grover in her book Dancing (1895, p. 200) mentions the bride's garter in the context of 18th century Scottish weddings:
In the eighteenth century dancing took place on the green when weather permitted. The first reel was danced by the newly-married pair; next on the floor were the bride's maidens and her male bodyguard. At one point of the proceedings the company danced with flambeaux and formed a circle, the preparation for a sixsome reel, after which each guest put a piece of silver in the hand of the musician, who would probably be a piper, with a piece of the bride's garter tied about his pipes.
