Key signature: Gmajor
Submitted on October 11th 2007 by Dow.
This tune has been added to 11 tunebooks.
Also known as Holm's Fancy, Holme's Fancy, Holmses Fancy.
Recordings of a tune by this name:
X: 1
T: Holmes' Fancy
M: 2/4
L: 1/8
R: polka
K: Gmaj
GB/c/ dB|ec dB|GB/c/ dB|cA c/d/e|
GB/c/ dB|ec dB|c/d/e d>c|1 BG GD:|2 BG Gg||
|:fd ec|dB Gg|fd ec|d2 e/f/g|
Gg Ag|Bg cg|d>e dB|1 G2 Gg:|2 G2 GD||
Holmes' Fancy
Also played in A, this Northumbrian tune looks like a polka on paper but is really a rant or a 2/4 march - slower than a polka and with more emphasis on the 1st beat of the bar rather than that lopsided but driving backbeat emphasis you get in polkas. I have to say this would make a great polka too, if you wanted to play it that way. I always assumed this was a modern tune, but I just looked it up, and found that it appeared in John Peacock's MS. from the early 1800s. That version is almost exactly as I have it, but transcribed differently, in 4/4, and with some strange triplet notation, which makes me wonder if some people might have played it more like a sort of fling or reel at one time:
X: 1
T: Holmes' Fancy
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: polka
S: John Peacock MS. (1800-1805)
K: Gmaj
GB/c/ dB ecdB|GB/c/ dB cA (3cde|GB/c/ dB ecdB|(3cde dc BG G:|
|:g|fdec dB Gg|fdec d2 (3efg|GgAg Bgcg|d>edB G2G:|
Notes at the Farne website say that it was probably composed by a local piper called Holmes.
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by Dow
Transcribed as a Scottish-style reel, the A-part reminds me of the Doon/Pat Ward's family of tunes.
X: 1
T: Holmes' Fancy
M: 2/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Gmaj
GBdB ecdB|GBdB cAce|GBdB ecdB|1 cedc BGGD:|2 cedc BGGg||
|:fdec dBGg|fdec d2 (3efg|GgAg Bgcg|1 dedB G2Gg:|2 dedB G2GD||
# Posted on October 11th 2007 by Dow
Holmes Fancy
This is a Northumbrian standard. Everyone plays it. up here but most don't doi it justice and don't make it rant properly. It really is NOT a reel. Angels of the North link it with Salmon Tails and Nancy Clough. We use it quite frequently for things like the Cumberland Square Eight..
Noel
Angels of the North
# Posted on October 14th 2007 by noelbats
Holmes Fancy
In A.? I don't think so. Not in civilized company anyway.
Noel
Angels of the North
# Posted on October 14th 2007 by noelbats
For a transcription in that key, have a look on Richard Robinson's website.
# Posted on October 15th 2007 by Dow