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