Leslie’s March - Mandolin

Recorded for the Facebook Tunesday Tuesday group 9/1/24. The tune is headed on thesession.org as a jig composed by Williams Reeve. The discussion below the various versions of the tune listed on thesession, and comments on the Traditional Tune Archive, for example, suggest that it isn’t clear who the original composer is. I’m also unclear whether it was originally written as a 6/8 march or a jig…??? Comments welcome… I’ve played the version posted by Nfldwhistler on thesession, twice through. Played on a vintage Vega cylinderback mandolin, model 203.

[@monkeytennis7477]

Making the world a better place for mandolins to thrive 💚🌠🌻☮️

[@johnwilliamson6846]

Many thanks…if I have made the smallest of contributions to promoting the playing of mandolin family instruments then I am more than happy.

[@johnwilliamson6846]

Thank you Richard and Aidan, not only for the complementary comments but for shedding much light on the matters of composer and tune type…2 ‘masterminds’ !

[@alastair6356]

Leslie's March tremendous.🤩👍

[@johnwilliamson6846]

Thank you very much, glad you enjoyed it.

[@richardcarver6849]

Great playing, John - what a lovely sound. My understanding is that this was originally a quickstep march and that the Leslie in question was Alexander Leslie (later Lord Balgonie, he of the favourite, among other titles), the Scottish Covenanter who commanded the victorious Parliamentary forces at Marston Moor (and was previously a field marshal in the Swedish army). The tune developed into Blue Bonnets Over the Border, the Jacobite march, which has a similar feel to it. That in turn was the source for the Irish jig Scotsman Over the Border.

[@johnwilliamson6846]

Thank you Richard and Aidan, not only for the complementary comments but for shedding much light on the matters of composer and tune type…2 ‘masterminds’ !

[@coniow]

Thank you for posting your performances. I am afraid that I am starting out with a Bodhran and your tunes are ideal to practice with! Easy to play along with, not to long, and not difficult to follow the tune so while I am probably murdering an accompaniment, I hope, with practice, to get better :-).

[@johnwilliamson6846]

Excellent! Good luck with the Bodhran playing (I have one, but I have not attempted to play it nearly enough).

[@johnonmandolin]

Nice tune nicely played.

[@johnwilliamson6846]

Thank you.

[@TheIrishMandolin]

Hi John. Firstly great playing on the Vega which really records very well indeed. There's very little doubt in my mind both from the structure of the tune itself and "the evidence" that I've got to hand that this was composed (whether by Reeve or not) as a march rather than a jig. (The clue isn't always in the title. 🙂 ) I've come across the tune in one of the volumes of O'Farrell's Pocket Companion under the title "Highland March in Oscar and Malvina". As is typical of O'Farrell's transcriptions it's a tad "florid" with occasional phrases that don't lend themselves easily to being played on plucked instruments. NW's transcriptions (he's posted quite a number, as is his wont) tend to be much more mando-friendly. Of course just because a tune is described/intended as a march, there's nothing to stop anyone playing it as a jig - and indeed that's how it's often played nowadays. Any more than there's a rule which says hornpipes can't be played as 4/4 marches, for example.

[@johnwilliamson6846]

Thank you Aidan and Richard, not only for the complementary comments but for shedding much light on the matters of composer and tune type…2 ‘masterminds’ !

[@TheIrishMandolin]

@@johnwilliamson6846 👍🏼