This is my version of The Rose in the Heather, a traditional Irish Jig in the key of D major, which is popular in sessions everywhere. I’ve always loved playing this smooth, melodic jig, ever since I first came across it at a North London session many years ago.
A 78rpm disc from 1928 features this tune, along with the jig Old Man Dillon, performed by the great fiddler James Morrison, along with box player Peter Conlon. This is the earliest recording of Rose in the Heather and is well worth a listen – it took a while to locate, but you can find it on soundcloud here.
Below is an accurate transcription of the first time through my version on the video.
Slides are marked sl
Bars 7, 8 and 9 in the A part show a lot of double stops on the D and A strings. Here I’m playing the tune on the D string, and accompanying it with the open A string. The bow stays on the two strings for all those double stops.
The beginning of bar 5 sounds like a triplet, and is played like it, but I find it clearer to write it out as shown – two semiquavers followed by a quaver.
The B part is more straightforward with a few varied ornaments on the high F sharp.
