Transcription notes for "A Collection of Scots Reels or Country Dances", by Robert Bremner published 1757 in London by Robert Bremner transcribed 2013-2014 by John Chambers = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = These transcriptions were made from a photocopy of the original at: http://imslp.org/wiki/A_Collection_of_Scots_Reels_or_Country_Dances_(Bremner,_Robert) Pages 19-20, 24-27, 30-31, 51-52, and 55-56 are missing. If anyone finds them somewhere, send me a message or a copy and I'll add the missing tunes to this collection. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = The individual tunes are in files with the name PPN_Tune_Title.abc, where PP is the part number, N is the tune number within the page, and the title has underscores separating the words. This gives a very readable system that puts the tunes in the same order as in the book. Perhaps it would be better to leave off the PPN_ part, giving us alphabetical order, and we wouldn't then want an index. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = The capitalization of titles is sometimes odd. Some have been changed to the more modern scheme of lower-case initial articles and the first "significant" word capitalized. This helps software use the right title in indexes. The rest of the title's capitalization is preserved unchanged. File names use the same scheme, but omit initial articles. There are also a lot of spellings that are different from modern practice. Also, I and J are the same letter, both in the index and in the tunes' titles; I've used my judgement to choose the appropriate modern form of this letter. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = The bass lines are quite simple and not very interesting. They're included mostly for historical reason. Occasionally, they imply a chord that isn't totally obvious, and a few are even slightly melodic. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Most tunes have voice 1's staff breaks revised to a "modern" form, mostly with 2- or 4-bar staff lines, and '\' used to combine them into lines that are usually 4, 6 or 8 bars. This gives a reasonable layout for a fairly small scale on A8 or US Letter pages. The bass lines preserve the book's staff layout, which often has staff breaks in the middle of a bar. Of course, you should revise the staff layout to fit your needs, since they're not at all relevant to the actual musical information. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = A few concessions to modern practices have been made: Initial (double/repeat) bar lines have been added to tunes without initial pickup note(s). This is sometimes suggested to help software figure out the correct initial note, since long pickups can be difficult to distinguish from an initial bar, and there are often incorrect note lengths in such cases. Delete these initial bar lines if you don't like them. This book uses the old :||: notation at the end of a tune for repeated final parts; this has been transcribed as :| because some ABC software considers a final |: to be an error. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Some pages are missing. This is (temporarily?) indicated by linking the file missing.abc to PP0_.abc, where PP is the page number. This gives us files for all the pages, so I won't wonder if I missed a page somewhere. Maybe these missing pages will be found somewhere. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Several tunes show the common "mistake" of a repeat sign at the start of the last strain, but no final repeat. This is due to some confusion in the 1700s about what those dots next to bar lines mean. These haven't been fixed here. You are free to repeat that strain or not, as you like. If playing for dancing, you should determine the length (16, 24 or 32 bars) required for the dance. You can also "correct" your copy of a tune to show the repeat pattern that you prefer. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = There are instances of "scordatura" and overlaying of partial second voices, both using violin/fiddle notation that not all ABC software can handle. The cases of this are handled by having two versions, with either 'O' (Overlay) or "S" (Single voice) as the 3rd character in the file name. This is why there are two "all tunes" files created, CSRCD1.abc and CSRCD2.abc, which are converted to their .ps and .pdf files for proofreading. Scordatura should be banned, of course, but multiple voices are inevitable in some music. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =