Annotation:Cliff Hornpipe
X:1 T:Cliff Hornpipe M:C L:1/8 R:Hornpipe S:Honeyman - Strathspey, Reel and Hornpipe Tutor (1898) Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:F V:1 clef=treble name="1." [V:1] c>A|F>Ac>A F>Bd>B|A>cf>c a>fc>A|B>dg>b A>cf>a|(3gaf (3efd (3cdB (3ABG| F>Ac>A F>Bd>B|A>cf>c A>fc>A|B>dg>b a>gf>e|g2 (f2 f2):| |:e>f|g>c (3ccc c2 a>c|g>c (3ccc c2 g>a|b>ga>f g>ef>a|(3gaf (3efd (3cdB (3ABG| F>Ac>A F>Bd>B|A>cf>c a>fc>A|B>dg>b a>gf>e|g2 (f2 f2):||
CLIFF HORNPIPE, THE. AKA and see - "Cliffe Hornpipe", Fred Wilson's Clog, Higgins' Hornpipe, Fred Wilson's Hornpipe, Ruby Hornpipe, Sheep Shearing, Uncle George's, Wilson's Jig, Cliffe Hornpipe, Reel du chat noir, Reform Hornpipe, Haymarket Hornpipe, Double Shuffle (3).
Irish, English, Scottish; Hornpipe. D Major (Allan's, Callaghan, Craig, Kennedy, Kerr, Raven): F Major (Honeyman). Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The melody is thought by some to have been one of the many justifiably famous hornpipe compositions 19th century Tyneside, Newcastle, tavern fiddler James Hill (c. 1815–c. 1860), although there is little hard evidence.
A early version of the tune appears as "Reform Hornpipe" in the music manuscript collection of Yorkshire musician Joshua Burnett, which seems to weaken the claim for a Hill composition. The hornpipe is a member of a large family of related hornpipe melodies, some more closely related than others.
Compare, for example, the signature first four bars of the second part of "Cliff" with the same four bars of the familiar "Harvest Home (1)" hornpipe, although the rest of the melodic material differs. "Castle Rag Hornpipe (The)" is a similar melody (or similar in parts) to the "Cliff", as are "Brown's Hornpipe," "Cincinnati Hornpipe (1)," "Cork Hornpipe (1)," "Dundee Hornpipe," "Kildare Fancy," "Ruby Lip," "Standard Hornpipe," "Zig-Zag Hornpipe/Clog," "Kephart's Clog" (Pa.), "Granny Will Your Dog Bite?" (Pa.), "Snyder's Jig" (Pa.). A distanced American version can also be found in E.F. Adams' Old Time Fiddler's Barn Dance Tunes (1928) as "Double Shuffle (3)."
Norfolk, England, musicians Billy Cooper (1883–1964) and Walter Bulwer (1888–1972), on dulcimer and fiddler respectively) recorded a version of the tune in 6/8 time. Honeyman uses the "Cliff" in his hornpipe instructor to introduce another variety of the Newcastle style of hornpipe playing. A hornpipe called "Haymarket Hornpipe" in the Thomas Craig collection, issued around the same time as Honeyman's volume, shares the same first strain as "Cliff."
Barry Calaghan (2007) prints two version, as "Cliffe Hornpipe," to illustrate the heavily doted-rhythm hornpipe style of northern England players contrasted with the fast and smooth versions favoured by East Anglia or Devon players (who employ it as a vehicle for step dancing). "Hereforshire Hornpipe" is a title for a simplified version of the tune from Gloucestershire melodeon player Beatrice Hill, finds Phillip Heath-Coleman (2010). South Tawton, Devon, melodeon player Bob Cann (1916–1990) called the tune as "Uncle George's Hornpipe," having learned it from his Uncle George, one of his musical mentors.
The Dorset Trio played a version as "Sheep Shearing," and one member of the trio remembered it as his 'grandfather's tune', which has been raised to a proper title in modern usage ("Grandfather's Tune") [1].
In North America the tune was known under other titles: for example, West Virginia/East Kentucky fiddler Ed Hayley called the tune "Wilson's Jig," while Montreal fiddler Joseph Allard called his reel-time setting "Reel du chat noir."
See also the tune under the title "Fred Wilson's Clog," named for a famous American blackface minstrel dancer.
