The Holmain manuscript is a handwritten collection of country dances. They were sketched into a little notebook between 1710 and 1730. My connection to this MS comes via family: my husband's maternal line (Carrothers) were a border family from the region and genetic line where the notebook originated. It is likely that many generations ago, his relatives danced these dances in rooms lit by candlelight, heated by peat fires and lubricated by good local whisky. The notebook itself is basically a dancing master's aide-memoire. It contains the step-by-step instructions for twelve named country dances. The MS sadly contains no notated music. The music itself was so well known at the time that the dancing master didn't bother to include it. Those tunes were the chart hits of the day.
I love a challenge, so this month (September) I began to compile the melodies for the dances named in the notebook. Some appear in old collections under different names, and one ('Miss Hayden') is sadly lost. When I've collected the dances, I'll check the versions I have against the dance steps recorded by the anonymous dancing master in his notebook. If any of them don't agree in terms of timing, I'll have to go back to the drawing board and search again for the closest versions of the tunes to the 1730 music. I'll write a tune to fill the gap left by the missing melody, and I'll make sure it fits the original dance steps so that it's a suitable substitute.
The tunes have wonderful names like ‘Hunt the Squiril’ and ‘This Is Not My House’. Once the melodies are confirmed, I'll begin the long but exciting task of arranging them for plucked strings. I'll eventually make the music available on this website.
The Holmain MS is listed in the Archives of the Records of the Royal Scottish Country Dancing Society, Edinburgh (Item 844 - Holmain MS). Its full reference is GB 3410 RSCDS-8-1-844.