Annotation:Tom Thumb (1)
X:1 T:Tom Thumb [1] M:C| L:1/8 R:Reel B:Abraham Mackintosh – “Collection of Strathspeys, Reels, Jigs, &c.” (c. 1797, p. 19) N:”Teacher of Dancing Newcastle-upon-Tyne” Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:A C2 EA cecA|B2 dB GB GE|A2 E=G FDCB,|CEcB A2A,2:| |:c2 cA c2 cA|cAec A2 Ac|B2 BG B2 BG|EFED C2A,2:| |:ceee e2 ee|eagf fedc|defd ecBA|Gfed {d}c2{B}A2:| |:A3 EC A2 EC|AB/c/ BA AGFE|EAGF FEDC|D2E2A,4:|]
TOM THUMB [1]. AKA and see "Adventures of a Steam Packet (The)," "Picknickery," "Lady Berkley's Whim (1)," "Lord Holderness's Rant." Scottish, Country Dance Tune (4/4 or 2/4 time). A Major (Mackintosh, White): B Flat Major (Laybourn, Manson). Standard tuning (fiddle). AABBCC (Laybourn, Manson): AABBCCDD (Mackintosh, White). "Tom Thumb (1)" was printed around the year 1810 by music seller Robert Purdie for his Princes Street, Edinburgh, shop on a single sheet issue (2 pages), together with "three new strathspeys and a reel" by James Boick (Boick's name is not attached to "Tom Thumb" as it is the other tunes). However, as researcher Conor Ward has found, the melody is a close version of an older country dance tune first published in London by John Walsh in the mid-18th century as "Lady Berkley's Whim (1)," and has a few variants under various titles.
James Boick's name crops up as a composer of tunes in the collections of Robert Petrie, and, later, in Hamilton's Universal Tune Book (1843) and Köhler's Violin Repository (1881-1885); John Pringle composed a strathspey for him. David Baptie (Musical Scotland, 1885), however, makes no mention of him.
