X:1
T:Deal stick the Minister [1], The
M:3/4
L:1/8
B:Henry Playford - A Collection of Original Scotch-Tunes, (Full of the
B:Highland Humours) for the violin (London, 1700, No. 39, p. 16)
N:"Most of them being in the Compass of the Flute."
Z:AK/FIddler's Companion
K:C
E|A/A/A A2B2|c4 EB|c3 BA|B2G2 EB||
e/e/e e2c2|d/d/d d2B2|c4 BA|B2 G2 EB|
e/e/e e2c2|d/d/d dB2|c/c/c B2A2|A/A/A A3||
DEAL STICK THE MINISTER [1]. Scottish, Dance Tune (3/4 time). A Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. Printed in Henry Playford's Collection of Original Scotch-Tunes (London, 1700, p. 16), a collection of Scottish dance tunes. The title is a defiant response to religious conservatives who frowned on dancing as dangerously immoral. "(The tune) is still as well-known as it was in 1683 when a Stirling man was 'tried for reviling a parson,' in causing the piper play 'The Deil Stick the Minister'. Sundry pipers were there present as witnesses, to declare it was the name of ane spring'" (Alburger, 1983). Poet Robert Burns noted the association between devilry and Scottish dances in his poem "Tam o'Shanter" (1791) when he wrote:'Warlocks and witches in a dance' by 19th-century illustrator John Faed.
Warlocks and witches in a dance: Nae cotillon, brent new frae France, But hornpipes, jigs, strathspeys, and reels, Put life and mettle in their heels.
Printed sources : - Alburger (Scottish Fiddlers and Their Music), 1983; Ex. 7, p. 25. Playford (A Collection of Original Scotch-Tunes), 1700; No. 39, p. 16.
