Annotation:Birdie (3)
X:1 T:Birdie [3] N:From the playing of Henry Reed (1884-1968, Glen Lyn, Virginia), N:Transcribed in 1966 in Reed's home by Alan Jabbour M:4/4 L:1/8 R:Reel F:https://jenikirbyhistory.getarchive.net/amp/media/birdie-music-transcription D: Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:C P:A |"1st measure missed"z8|c(cA)c (G>E) Gc |([^de]<[ee]) [e2e2][e3e3] c|A/(c/d/B/) d>(e d)B (AG)| ([^de]<[ee]) (ed) (([^de]<[ee]) [ee])(e/d/|c)(A.A)c (G/A/G/E/) .G A{efg}|.a a2 (e/f/ g) g2 ((3A/E/F/|G)([GB].A).B [c2e2][c2e2]|| P:A1 ([^de]<[ee]) [e2e2]J[e3e3] (e/d/|c)(c.A)c (G/A/G/E/) Gc|([^de]<[ee]) [e2e2] (([^de]<[ee]) .e)c|(A/c/d/c/) (d>e d)B (AG)| (d[ee]) (e^d) ((d<[ee]) [ee])([e/e/]=d/|c)(cA)c (G/A/G/E/) .G ([A/e/]f/4g/4|a) a2 (e>f g) g2 ((3A/E/F/|G)([GB].A)B [E2c2]>[Ec]|| P:B G/-|.Gc c/d/c/A/ .Gc c/d/c/A/|.GB B/c/B/A/ .GB B/c/B/A/|.Gc c/d/c/A/ .Gc c/d/c/A/|[M:5/4].GB (B/A/)(B/c/) d c3|| P:C Gc|[M:4/4](e<g) g2 (a<g) (a/g/.e) {A}|"4"(GA "0"A)(A/B/ A) (A/<d/- d/)(e/d/c/)|B2 b2 (a>g e)(a/g/|[M:3/4]a)(ge)c (Gc)| [M:4/4](g/>e/ g) g2 (a<g) (a/g/e/A/)|([GA]A) ([AA]>[AB] [AA]) ((3A/B/c/ d/)(e/d/c/)|B2b2a2g2|[M:2/4]c3|| P:B G|[M:4/4]Gc c/d/c/A/ .Gc c/d/c/A/|.GB B/c/B/A/ .GB B/c/B/A/|.Gc c/d/c/A/ .Gc c/d/c/A/|.GB (B/A/)(B/c/) d c3||
BIRDIE [3]. American, Reel (whole or cut time). C Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). C Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABCBABC. "Birdie" was in the repertoire of Fiddlin' Cowan Powers 1877-1952? (Russell County, southwest Virginia) and Glen Lynn, southwest Virginia, fiddler Henry Reed (2884-. Reed's tune is identified by Alan Jabbour as the customary "Bridie" tune (the second and third strains) coupled with a strain from the tune usually known as "Fourteen Days in Georgia" (the first part of Reed's "Birdie"). Jabbour remarks on the "raggy" nature of the tune:
The unusual phrase structure as well as the key of 'C' signal connections to the amorphous but characteristic class of tunes here described as "rags". They seem to be of late nineteenth century of turn-of-the-century origin and presumably have African-American associations, but they are not all derived from the ragtime repertory of popular music at the turn of the century, and they perhaps provide a glimpse into the country rags of folk tradition which may have preceded and certainly coexisted with the ragtime genre in cosmopolitan popular music.
