SERGEANT STACK'S FAVORITE (Roga Maor Staic). Irish, Double Jig. A Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (O'Neill/1850 & 1001): AABB (O'Neill/Krassen). Musician and researcher Paul de Grae, in his notes to the O'Neill collections [1], suggests the tune is more playable in A dorian or with mixed accidentals. De Grae also remarks:
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The recurring feature of four notes in the time of three is carefully notated, and must have been a prominent feature of Stack's playing:see also Edward Cronin's setting of "Banish Misfortune" [MI 776, DMI 53], where this characteristic also occurs. It is still a featureof Sliabh Luachra music; and O'Neill writes that Stack "was born and brought up within a radius of a dozen miles or so of where theCounties of Kerry, Cork and Limerick come together" [IMM, p. 422), i.e., he was a Sliabh Luachra native.
Additional notes
Source for notated version: -
Printed sources : - O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; p. 57. O'Neill (Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies), 1903; No. 1028, p. 192. O'Neill (Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems), 1907; No. 241, p. 54.