Loch Earn
Notation:
Standard Notation
ABC Notation
Mandolin Tablature
Violin Tablature
legacy / Scottish
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Mandolin Tablature
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Tune Sheet
Nathaniel Gow
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Transcription: by Darryl D. Bush
"Loch Earn Reel", also known as "Jumping Joan" is a Scottish and Canadian reel in
G Major. The parts are played AB (Honeyman, Surenne) or AAB (most versions).
One of the better known compositions by Nathaniel Gow 1763-1831, who claimed 197 tunes;
it is sometimes erroneously listed under Niel Gow's name (Skye) or as the ambiguous
"N. Gow".
Loch Earn is in the west of Strathearn, Perthshire, Scotland. The River Earn flows
out of it eastward to eventually join the River Tay Estuary. Unusually, the loch has a
tide-like phenomenon (though unrelated to the moon) called a
seiching
, in which
wind action over the surface of the water sets up an oscillating cycle resulting in a
rise and drop of water levels over a 16-hour period.
There exists a ruin called Loch Earn Castle, once the stronghold of the MacNeishes
from the year 1250 to the mid-15th century.
The MacNeishes of Loch Earn appear to have been predatory raiders like their MacInnes
kin in not so distant Glencoe. The MacNeishes were continually at war with their
neighbors the MacNabs. In 1612 the MacNeishes made the mistake of preying on the
McNabs by stealing their Christmas feast. The McNabs raided the MacNeish castle while
the MacNeishes were drunk after consuming the stolen feast. The McNabs slaughtered
everyone but a one girl and one boy who escaped by hiding. The McNab crest historically
depicts the dead McNeish chief's head.
It was printed in
Anderson's Anderson's Budget of Strathspeys, Reels & Country Dances (c. 1820),
Brody's Fiddler's Fakebook (1983),
Glen's The Glen Collection of Scottish Dance Music, vol. 2 (1895),
Gow's 2nd Collection of Niel Gow's Reels (1788),
Henderson's Flowers of Scottish Melody (1935),
Honeyman's Strathspey, Reel and Hornpipe Tutor (1898),
Hunter's Fiddle Music of Scotland (1988),
Kerr's Merry Melodies, vol. 1 (c. 1880),
Lees's Balmoral Reel Book (c. 1910),
Lowe's Lowe's Collection of Reels, Strathspeys and Jigs, Book 1 (1844–1845),
MacDonald's The Skye Collection (1887),
Moffat's Dance Music of the North (1908),
O'Farrell's Pocket Companion, vol. IV (c. 1810) (as "Lough Earn"),
Preston's Preston's Twenty-Four Country Dances for the Year 1804 (1804),
Stewart-Robertson's The Athole Collection (1884) and
Surenne's Dance Music of Ireland (1852).
It was recorded by The Edinburgh Highland Reel and Strathspey Society (1936),
Winnie Chafe on Highland Melodies,
Joe Cormier on The Dances Down Home (1977) and
Pete Clark on Even Now: The Music of Niel Gow.
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