Details ABC Sheetmusic Comments

Flee As A Bird

hornpipe

Key signature: Gmajor

Submitted on April 17th 2006 by darinkelly.

This tune has been added to 22 tunebooks.

Also known as Flea As A Bird.

Recordings of a tune by this name:

Details ABC Sheetmusic Comments

X: 1
T: Flee As A Bird
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: hornpipe
K: Gmaj
B c>^c|: (3dba (3gfe d>^ce>d | B>GD>B, G,>B,D>G | E>cA>F D>cA>F | G>Bd>e d>Bc>^c |
(3dba (3gfe d>^ce>d | B>GD>B, G,B,D>G | E>cA>F D>cA>F |[1 G2 B2 G>Bc>^c:|[2 G2 B2 G2 ||
|: (3B^AB |g>ba>g f>ag>f | e>gf>e f>^d B2 | g>ba>g f>ag>f | e>gf>e f>^d B2 |
(3cde A>c (3Bcd G>B | (3ABc F>A (3GAB D>F | (3GAB (3DEF (3GBA (3GFE | (3DED (3CB,A, G,2 :|
|: e>f | g>ag>e f>gf>^d | e>Be>g b>ga>^a | b>c'b>a f>^dB z | b>c'b>a f>^dB z |
g>ag>e f>gf>^d | e>Be>g b>ga>^a | b>^dc'>^d b>^dc'>^d | b>c'b>f e2 :|
|: D>C | B,>DG>D B>DE>D | B,>DG>D B>DE>D | (3D^CD F>E D>=CB,>A, | G,>GF>A G2 D>C |
B,>DG>D B>DE>D | B,>DG>D B>DE>D | (3D^CD F>E D>=CB,>A, | G,>GF>A G2 :|

Details ABC Sheetmusic Comments
Flee As A Bird sheetmusic
Details ABC Sheetmusic Comments

Tasty tune

I just heard this for the first time in quite a while from an old Jimmy Shand record. A graceful little tune, if a bit awkward. I'm still pretty shaky with the ABC thing, but I think this is the gist of it.

# Posted on April 17th 2006 by darinkelly

This tune is from Yorkshire if I'm not mistaken.Isn't there a clog dance that goes with it?

# Posted on April 17th 2006 by dafydd

Is this also known as Fleebird?

Quit groaning, you know you were thinking it, too.

# Posted on April 17th 2006 by Bob himself

Flee as a Bird

i ahev known this tune for decades and always thought it was northumbrian, though it doesn't et played much up here.

From the structure its got to be a "stage hornpipe" for virtuoso performance by a an instrumentalist (fiddle or concertina) or perhaps for performance as a clog dance..

Its a good tune and worth perservering with.

# Posted on May 1st 2006 by noelbats

Find it in Ryan's

For the original sheet music, see Ryan's Mammoth Collection, 1880s Boston tunebook reissued by Mel Bay, editor Pat Sky. Or Cole's 1000 Fiddle Tunes, which is most of the same work in reprint.

# Posted on May 11th 2006 by blarneystar

Fiddler's Companion says this is a Lancashire clog dance. Also this regarding the title:

New York City researcher, writer and musician Don Meade believes the title is “from Psalm 11:1 (“Flee as a Bird to your mountain, thou who art weary of sin…”) and a hymn based on it.”

# Posted on May 9th 2007 by Dow

Don't like this one much. Whoever wrote it seems to have stolen James Hill's "riffs" like his classic (3dba (3gfe d... and patched them together in an incoherent mass of twiddles. It lacks the subtlety and well-thought-out structure of James Hill's work imo. There must have been a lot of copycat tunes like this going around in the late 1800s when Hill's work was popular.

# Posted on May 9th 2007 by Dow

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