This is the first portion of John Offord's book of the same name, a collection
of many 3 / 2 hornpipes :- transcribed by Steve Bliven and made available to
the 'net by permission of Mr Offord. The book is now, sadly, out of print.
JOHN OF THE GREENY CHESHIRE WAY
by John Offord
INTRODUCTION [to the printed edition]
Folk-dance music in England is now dominated by the melodeon, a
comparatively new instrument which became common in the middle of the last
century, along with the polka, perhaps the most popular dance rhythm. Up
to this time, the most common instrument by far was the fiddle, although
the pipe and tabour were used for Morris dancing. From the time of the
first edition of Playford's "Dancing Master" in 1650, nearly all the
collections of English music are for this instrument. At the end of the
seventeenth century, the new, loud Italian violin came into vogue, giving
over two octaves within easy reach and a choice of any key or accidental.
This led to an increase in music for the instrument and helped to oust old
instruments such as bagpipes, in one form or another once common in some
areas, expecially the north. Some of the music in this book is said to be
for bagpipes in the original publication (Walsh c. 1730, Wright c. 1715,
see bibliography) and this can now be proved, although it might have been
adapted for the fiddle.
This collection is mainly taken from books dating from 1705 to 1816
and for the most part is concerned with the old type of hornpipe which was
usually in 3/2 or 9/4. This musical form was very popular, especially in
the north-west and has relatives in Northumberland, Wales and Scotland,
where it was known as the "double" hornpipe, a term I will now use. The
Northumberland piper Jimmy Allen (1734-1810) stated that the double
hornpipe originated in the Cheviots, but many of the surviving pieces seem
to be from Lancashire and cheshire and often have a distinct regional
flavour.
TRANSCRIBER'S INTRODUCTION
At Mr. Offord's suggestion, only the first portion of the book is
transcribed here. The untranscribed remainder consists of jigs, hornpipes
in common time and general material used in theatres, the ballroom or by
bands of waits. Some waltzes were also included which were "probably
brought over from the Continent, along with other music, by soldiers
fighting in the Napoleonic wars." The material here was transcribed
directly from the book as prepared by Mr. Offord. It was prepared using
BarFly v.1d15, a program written by Phil Taylor. The transcription was
done, with Mr. Offord's permission, by Steve Bliven.