AP SHENKIN. AKA and see "The Tempest," "Even and Odd Like Tom With His Hod," "The Dear Little Island," "Mississippi." English, Scottish; Jig. G Major. Standard. AAB. Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No. 506, pg. 461 (appears as "Square Dance"). Kennedy (Fiddler's Tune Book), Vol. 1, No. 93, pg. 46. Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 3; No. 258, pg. 29. Riley's Flute Melodies, I, pg. 58.
DEAR LITTLE ISLAND, THE (An Oileanin Dileas). AKA and see "The Tempest," "Ap Shenkin," "Even and Odd Like Tom With His Hod," "Mississippi." Irish, March (6/8 time). G Major. Standard. AB. A form of the tune best known as "The Tempest." Bayard (1981) dates the air from at least the early 19th century. He found the tune in Parry's "The Welsh Harper" (Vol. 1, pg. 105), with the claim that it had been "Composed by J. Parry, 1803," who complained that it had been pirated by other publishers in the British Isles and the Continent. O'Neill (1850), 1903/1979; No. 1831, pg. 344.
EVEN AND ODD, LIKE TOM WITH HIS HOD. AKA and see "The Tempest," "Ap Shenkin," "The Dear Little Island." Irish, Jig. G Major. Standard. Learned by Joyce in his boyhood and named after one Tom Curtan, a lame hodman whose lameness was accentuated when he carried his loaded hod. See also a variant given as an untitled square dance in Bayard (1981; No. 506, pg. 461). Joyce (Old Irish Folk Music and Songs), 1909; No. 87, pgs. 45-46.
T:Even and Odd, Like Tom with His Hod
L:1/8
M:6/8
S:Joyce - Old Irish Folk Music
K:G
d/c/|B2B Bgf|e2e efg|ded dcB|A2A ABc|B2B Bgf|e2e efg|ded cBA|
Ggg g2||g/a/|b2g a2f|gfe dcB cde dgB|BAA A2 g/a/|b2g a2f|gfe agf|
Bag fge|dgf edc||
MISSISSIPPI. American. A variant of "Even and Odd Like Tom With His Hod," "The Tempest," "Ap Shenkin," "The Dear Little Island," and a Pennsylvania-collected untitled square dance. Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No. 506, pg. 461. Bruce & Emmett (Drummer and Fifer's Guide), 1880; pg. 61.
OF A NOBLE RACE WAS SHENKIN. AKA and see "Love Neglected," "Nowill Hills." English, Air. The air appears in John Gay's Beggar's Opera (1729) as "Is then his fate decreed, sir?" however, the song of the title comes from D'Urfey's stage comedy The Richmond Heiress (1693). It was sung by Bowman in broken English, put into the mouth of a comic Welshman, Rice ap Shenkin. It was also published in several editions of Pills to Purge Melancholy, along with another song to the same air, and appears on period half-sheets. Playford gives a version in his Thesaurus Musicus, book I, 1693, and in various editions of the Dancing Master.
***
The tune is sometimes claimed as Welsh, states Kidson (1922), but since the music to D'Urfey's play was by Henry Purcell and John Eccles it was probably written by one or the other, although it could have been based on a Welsh air. It does appear in Welsh publications that date from after its English popularity, the first from 1794 when it was included in Jones's collection of Welsh airs in which it was labelled "The Camp." Curiously, it appears under the title "Danish Air" in the Welsh publication of John Parry (Bardd Alaw) called Two Thousand Melodies (1841, No. 1980). Kidson (Groves) finds that Parry had previously published it in his first Welsh collection of 1809, then stating he was unable to trace its origin. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; pg. 59 (a facsimile copy of Gay's 1729 publication).
T:Of Noble Race was Shenkin
L:1/8
M:C|
S:Playford - Dancing Master (1703)
K:D Minor
e2|f2ed ^cdec|d2 D4 e2|f2 ed ^cdec|d6||e2|f2f2 c2c2|f2 f6|F4 E4|D4 ^C2e2|
f2f2 e3e|d2d2^c3A|B2G2 A2^c2|d2 d4:|
TEMPEST, THE [1] (Ap Shenkin). AKA and see "Ap Shenkin," "The Dear Little Island," "Even and Odd Like Tom with His Hod," "Mississippi." English, American; Jig. USA; Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine. G Major. Standard. AAB. The tune is linked with a country dance of the same name in New England, perhaps the one performed at the 150th anniversary celebration of the town of Lancaster, New Hampshire, in August, 1914 (according to a playbill of the time). The title appears in a list of the repertoire of Maine fiddler Mellie Dunham. The elderly Dunham was Henry Ford's champion fiddler in the late 1920's. Source for notated version: Edson Cole (Freedom, N.H.) [Linscott]. Cole (1001 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; pg. 24. DeVille, 1905; No. 69. Howe (School for the Violin), 1851; pg. 35. Howe (Diamond School for the Violin), 1861; pg. 41. Kennedy (Fiddlers Tune Book), Vol. 1, 1951; No. 93, pg. 46. Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 3; pg. 29. Linscott (Folk Songs of Old New England), 1939; pg. 114. Miller & Perron (New England Fiddlers Repertoire), 1983; No. 4. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; pg. 103. Robbins, 1933; No. 24. Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1965/1981; pg. 29. White's Excelsior Collection, 1907; pg. 75. Victor 20001 (78 RPM), Mellie Dunham, 1926 (appears as "Boston Fancy" {the name of a dance}).
T:Tempest [1]
L:1/8
M:6/8
K:G
dc|B2B Bgf|e2e efg|ded dcB|cBc Adc|B2B Bgf|e2e efg|ded cBA|GAG G2 :|]
||ga|b2g a2f|gfe d2c|Bdg dBG|FAA Aga|b2g a2f|gfe agf|bag fge|dgf edc|
B2B Bgf|e2e efg|ded dcB|cBc Adc|B2B Bgf|e2e efg|ded cBA|GAG G2|]