Annotation:Lochness
X:1 T:Lochness M:C| L:1/8 R:Strathspey B:Aird – Sixth and Last Volume of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs (1803, No. 15, p. 7) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:Amin A|A/A/A a2 g>ed>e|c<GG>E G>AcG|A/A/A a2 g>ede|d<AB>G A/A/A A:| B|A>Bcd e>cde|G/G/G G>E c<GG>c|A>Bcd e>gd>e|c<AB>G A/A/A AB| A>Bcd e>cde|G/G/G G>E cGG (e/g/|a>)(eg>)d e>cde|c<AB>G A/A/A A||
LOCHNESS. AKA and see "Laodh mo chroidh Alastir," "Sandy is My Darling." Scottish, Strathspey (cut time). A Minor (Aird): B Minor (Buttery). Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. The melody is contained in the music copybook [1] of John Buttery (1784-1854), a fifer with British army's 37th (North Hampshire) Regiment of Foot (so designated in the army reorganization of 1782), who served from 1797-1814. Later in life Buttery emigrated to Canada, where he died. In his manuscript Buttery identifies the tune as “A Troop”, which could refer to any tune played over a distinctive drumbeat as the unit was about to march off from their assembly to relieve others from duty. It was also used at dress parades, when the band or drum-corps, marched playing some slow marching tune, from their position on the right of the battalion to the extreme left of the line, where they wheeled about, and changed music to a quickstep before returning to their post on the right. Buttery's manuscript collection has also been identified as belonging to John Fife [1], with a suggested date of 1780. Fife was a family name, like Buttery, identified with the manuscript.
"Lochness" can be found in the c. 1741 MacFarlane Manuscript by Edinburgh fiddler and writing master David Young, albeit under the title "Laodh mo chroidh Alastir." The Gows printed it as "Sandy is My Darling."
- ↑ Early American Secular Music and Its European Sources, https://www.cdss.org/elibrary/Easmes/Index.htm