The Tenpenny Bit
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Mandolin Tablature
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traditional
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Transcription: by Darryl D. Bush
"The Tenpenny Bit". also known as "10 Penny Bit", "Billy’s Awake", "Coffee And Tea", "Jan Koop<br> Mij Kermis", "The Ten Franc Piece", "Ten Penney Bit", "The Ten Penny Bit", "The Three Little<br> Drummer Boys" or "The Three Little Drummers" is an Irish (originally), English and American double<br> jig in A Dorian. The parts are played AABB.<br> From the 16th to the 19th centuries a common term for a small piece of money, especially the<br> lowest denomination of silver coin, was ‘bit’ (and its variant ‘bite’). Thus, ‘fourpenny-bit’, and<br> the title of this tune, ‘tenpenny-bit’. A secondary meaning is ‘bit’ as referring to a woman,<br> usually in a sexual way. In this sense a ‘tenpenny bit’ may refer to a prostitute.<br> The jig is popular in several genres: New England contra dance musicians play it and it is one of<br> the jigs commonly played by English musicians for rapper sword dancing (along with<br> "The Blackthorn Stick" and<br> "Connaghtman’s Rambles").<br> It was printed in Allan's Irish Fiddler,<br> S. Johnson's The Kitchen Musician No. 4: Collection of Fine Tunes (1983),<br> Kennedy's Fiddlers Tune Book, vol. 1 (1951),<br> Kerr's Merry Melodies, vol. 1,<br> Martin & Hughes' Ho-ro-gheallaidh (1990),<br> Miller & Perron's New England Fiddlers Repertory (1983),<br> Raven's English Country Dance Tunes (1984) and<br> Sweet's Fifer’s Delight (1965).<br> It was recorded by John J. Kimmel on John J. Kimmel. Early Recordings of Irish Traditional Dance<br> Music (1918),<br> Patsy Touhey on The Piping of Patsy Touhey (1919),<br> Frank Quinn and Joe Maguire on The Wheels of the World (1926),<br> John and James Kelly with Michael Crehan and Michael Gavin on Irish Traditional Fiddle Music (1973)<br> and Aoife Ní Chaoimh and Paudie O'Connor on Didn't She Dance and Dance (2014).<br>
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