Annotation:Shammie Breeches

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X:1 T:Shammie Breeches M:C L:1/8 S:Aird – Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs, vol. II (1785) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:G c | Bddg e(cc)d | B(GG)B A(FF)A | Bddg eccd | BGAF G/G/G G :| |: d | BGdG BGdG | AFcF AFcF | BGdG B/A/B/c/ dg | AFcF G/G/G G :|]



SHAMMIE BREECHES. AKA – “Shamboe Breeches/Breeks.” AKA and see "Bernard's Well" or "St. Bernard's Well." Scottish, English, Reel (whole time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. ‘Shammie breeches’ = a pair of soft pants made from chamois cloth. John Glen (1891) finds the earliest appearance of the tune in Neil Stewart's 1761[1] collection (p. 35). Kidson (1890) names this as one of the "Keel Row (The)" family of tunes.

Additional notes

Source for notated version: -

Printed sources : - Anderson (Anderson's Budget of Strathspeys, Reels & Country Dances), c. 1820; p. 13. Aird (Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs, vol. 2), 1785; No. 26, p. 10.

Recorded sources: -



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  1. Stewart's volume is dated 1775 at Early American Secular Music and its European Sources site.