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The Great Northern Tunebook: Unveiling William Vickers' Collection of Dance Tunes from 1770

The Man and the Manuscript

William Vickers remains a somewhat elusive figure. He is believed to have been a dancing master or a musician operating in and around Newcastle upon Tyne and the wider Northumbria region. View the music as sheet music (via ABC

The manuscript is famous for including early versions of tunes that remain staples of the Northumbrian piping and English fiddling traditions today: The Keel Row: A classic Tyneside melody. Bobby Shaftoe: One of the earliest known transcriptions. Lads of Alnwick: A traditional regional favorite. The collection is notable for its geographic and

4. ABC Notation and MuseScore

The best free resource for playing the tunes (as opposed to looking at the manuscript) is the community-driven ABC notation site: thesession.org. A dedicated user transcribed over 300 tunes from the Vickers book into ABC code. You can download these as MIDI files or PDF sheet music for free. Search "Vickers" on thesession.org. and Rants Cotillons and Airs

High and Low Art: Traditional jigs and reels sit alongside complex pieces adapted from "high art" and foreign sources.

• View the music as sheet music (via ABC software like EasyABC).
• Play MIDI versions of each tune.
• Convert to PDF.

The collection is notable for its geographic and stylistic breadth. Although it has a strong focus on Northumbrian pipe and fiddle tunes , it also incorporates music from . The types of tunes include: Common and Triple-time Hornpipes Jigs, Reels, and Rants Cotillons and Airs