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Notated Music Billy in the Low Land [music transcription]

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About this Item

Title

  • Billy in the Low Land [music transcription]

Names

  • Jabbour, Alan (Transcriber)

Created / Published

  • [Between 1966 and 1968]

Headings

  • -  Instrumental music
  • -  Fiddle tunes
  • -  Folk music--Appalachian Region
  • -  Breakdowns
  • -  Reels
  • -  Ethnography
  • -  Sheet Music
  • -  Music score
  • -  United States -- Virginia -- Giles County -- Glen Lyn

Genre

  • Ethnography
  • Sheet Music
  • Music score

Notes

  • -  Meter: 4/4
  • -  Rendition: 1r-2r-1r-2r
  • -  Transcribed by Alan Jabbour, from a performance by Henry Reed.
  • -  Compass: 12
  • -  Key: G
  • -  Strains: 2 (low-high, 4-4)
  • -  Phrase Structure: ABCD QB'QR (abcd aefg qb'cd qb'f'g)
  • -  Stylistic features: Slurred bowing.
  • -  Related Tune(s): Shelving Rock
  • -  Handwritten: Played thru twice: 2nd time transcribed, 1st has some variations recorded below.
  • -  Henry Reed called this tune "the old Franklin County Billy in the Low Land." Franklin County, Virginia, lies along the Blue Ridge in an area from which not only his mother's family but some of his fiddling Monroe County neighbors had come in the nineteenth century. His musical lineage for the tune is borne out by the fact that it appears in Knauff's Virginia Reels (1839), called "Billy in the Low Grounds: A Virginia Reel," which reflects Southside Virginia tradition in the earlier nineteenth century. Another Virginia-North Carolina set with the same title is Person, A Collection of Popular Airs (1889), p. 14, and modern sets were documented by Jabbour from Joe Anglin in Martinsville, Virginia, and by Malvin Artley, The West Virginia Country Fiddler, p. 45, from central West Virginia. The Hollow Rock String Band recorded a version of this tune learned from Henry Reed (Rounder 0024), which has given the tune a bit of renewed contemporary circulation. The tune has the feel of an old British-American tune, but it cannot be traced clearly beyond its roots in the American Upper South. It always seems to be played in the key of G, and Henry Reed's comments cited above reflect in part his awareness that there is another "Billy," usually played in C, with wide circulation in America. In fact, he himself played a version of that other tune, calling it "Shelving Rock."

Medium

  • manuscript; 1 page

Call Number/Physical Location

  • AFC 1967/007: Notebook 2:63

Source Collection

  • Alan Jabbour duplication project, part 1

Repository

  • American Folklife Center

Digital Id

Online Format

  • image

IIIF Presentation Manifest

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress is not aware of any U.S. copyright protection (see Title 17, U.S.C.) or any other restrictions in the material in this collection, except as noted below. Users should keep in mind that the Library of Congress is providing access to these materials strictly for educational and research purposes. The written permission of the copyright owners and/or other holders of rights (such as publicity and/or privacy rights) is required for distribution, reproduction, or other use of protected items beyond that allowed by fair use or other statutory exemptions. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item. See our Legal Notices for additional information and restrictions.

The Center asks that researchers approach the materials in this collection with respect for the culture and sensibilities of the people whose lives, ideas, and creativity are documented here. Researchers are also reminded that privacy and publicity rights may pertain to certain uses of this material.

Photographs in this collection produced by Carl Fleischhauer, Karen Singer Jabbour, and Kit Olson are reproduced here with their permission. Mr. Fleischhauer does not object to additional use of the photos he created provided he is credited as the photographer. Persons contemplating other kinds of uses or use of the other photographers' work should contact the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.

Credit line

Please cite the source collection title, collection number, and repository, for example:

Alan Jabbour duplication project, part 1 (AFC 1967/007), American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Alan Jabbour duplication project, part 2 (AFC 1969/008), American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Fiddle tunes of the old frontier: the Henry Reed collection online presentation (AFC 1999/016), American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Jabbour, Alan. Billy in the Low Land music transcription. [Between 1966 and 1968, 1966] Notated Music. https://www.loc.gov/item/afcreed000021/.

APA citation style:

Jabbour, A. (1966) Billy in the Low Land music transcription. [Between 1966 and 1968] [Notated Music] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afcreed000021/.

MLA citation style:

Jabbour, Alan. Billy in the Low Land music transcription. [Between 1966 and 1968, 1966] Notated Music. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/afcreed000021/>.