Sheet Music: Because He Was a Bonny Lad

TitleBecause He Was a Bonny Lad
Alternate titlesBecause I Was a Bonnie Lad
ComposerTraditional Scottish
InstrumentationFlute solo
KeyA major
RangeA4–A5
Time signature2/2
Tempo104 BPM
Performance time0:40
Difficulty levelintermediate
Download printable scorePDF Sheet Music (50 kB) (preview)
Download audio tracksMIDI (change tempo/key) MP3 (313 kB)
Date added2018-05-17
Last updated2018-05-17
Download popularity index☆☆☆☆☆ 0.4 (below average)
Categories
Dance tunes, Reels, Traditional/Folk

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Thursday 17 May 2018

Tune of the Day: Because He Was a Bonny Lad

Traditional country dance and reel

This tune appears in the Drummond Castle Manuscript, inscribed “A Collection of Country Dances written for the use of his Grace the Duke of Perth by David Young, 1734”. Nearly simultaneously, the melody was printed in London by John Walsh in his Third Book of the Compleat Country Dancing Master (1735). The piece retained its popularity through that century and into the next, and to this day it is a core tune in Northumbrian piping repertory.