Dance Betsy [music transcription] - Public domain musical sheets

Meter: 4/4
Transcribed by Alan Jabbour, from a performance by Henry Reed.
Key: A
Strains: 2 (low-high, 4-4)
Compass: 10
Title change: The title appears on the transcription as "Betsy...."
Rendition: 1r-2r-1(pause)-1r-2r-1r-2
Phrase Structure: ABAC QRQC (abcd abef qrst qref)
Related Tune(s): Frosty Morning
Handwritten: Played in 2 batches, strains as follows: ABBA, ABBAAB. Or rather, that's all the tape caught. The first ABBA are re-arranged as AABB above. He said, "They used to play that for 'em to square dance." He couldn't recall the full title, but it was something
Henry Reed played this tune on three occasions, suggesting that it occupied an important place in his repertory, and his comments suggested that it was a good dance tune. But no variant of it has been identified. It is one of a number of tunes unique to Henry Reed's repertory that are in A and have melodies with a distinctly minor cast, using a scale with lowered third (C) and seventh (G) degrees. The high strain, oscillating between a phrase centered on A and another centered on G, has a flow and phrasing somewhat similar to the high strain of Henry Reed's "Frosty Morning." In this performance, he introduced a major alteration to the high strain, leaping to a high C-sharp instead of B on the E-string.