Transcription notes for "24 Country Dances for the Year 1803" by Mr. Gray, published 1803 in London at Thompson's Music Warehouse. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = It's not clear whether "Mr Gray" wrote both the tunes and the dances, or just the dances. It was common practice at the time to use tunes without giving any credits to the musicians. So I've included a commented-out "%C" line in the tunes that mentions Gray, to help search sites find these tunes using his name, while not explicitly listing him as the composer. You can change this in your copy if you like. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Some of the dance descriptions use phrase separators that are mostly a horizontal line with 2 dots above and/or below. These are notated in the ABC as ":|", "|:" or ":|:, i.e., rotated by 90 degrees. Modern notation would replace these with the bar numbers (1-8, 9-16, etc.) aligned at the left edge. These symbols are used inconsistently, as was common at the time. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = The music typically has no initial repeat, and a final double repeat that looks like :||: as was common back then. The ABC transcriptions have |: at the start if there is no pickup note, and :| at the end. All the tunes in this collection have two 4- or 8-bar strains, both repeated. A few have phrases with odd length. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Abbreviations: Cu: Couple Gen: Gentleman Jst: first (using the 'J' as '1') "Madme" with the "me" as a superscript appears in one title; it's clearly an abbreviation for "Madame".