Rusty Gulley & Whinham's Reel.

[Ptarmigan]

Rusty Gulley & Whinham's Reel.
.
An old English Triple Hornpipe ( 1770 ) which Robert Burns used for his song - 'Wee Willie Gray'.

The 2nd tune is a Northumbrian tune composed by Robert Whinham ( 1814 to 1893 )
Played on Hammered Dulcimer, English Concertina & Bodhran.
Lockdown Video #725

 

Cheers,

Dick

 

 

 

[David Barnert]

Thank you. I’ve been playing both of these tunes for decades without knowing as much about them as you summarize in two sentences.

 

I know Rusty Gulley as the tune for the Playford dance, “Knives and Forks.” I only ever knew it by that name.

 

Forty years ago, before I played concertina, I payed hammered dulcimer in a contradance band in New York City with an accordion player, a fiddler and a pianist. The accordionist went to a music workshop in Seattle and came back and taught us some of the tunes he had learned there. He couldn’t remember the name of one of them, but we liked it a lot and played it frequently for dances. We called it “Spots on a Page.” Many years later I found someone who recognized the tune and told me what it was really called, but I misheard him and thought he said “Whitham’s Reel.” Then, only a few years ago, I found it in a database that correctly identified it as “Whinham’s Reel.” The band broke up in 1985 and I haven’t seen any of them since 1988, so I haven’t been able to tell them the real name of the tune.

[Ptarmigan]

2 hours ago, David Barnert said:

Thank you. I’ve been playing both of these tunes for decades without knowing as much about them as you summarize in two sentences.

 

 

Hi, I've been playing the first one since the 70s too, but mostly as the Burns song tune. Like many tunes though, it has quite a few names which it is known by.

However, I only blundered across the 2nd tune tune yesterday, on YouTube, but liked it so much I just had to record it & felt that it sat rather nicely after this first one.

 

I always check the Traditional Tune Archive for info. when I find a new tune.

 

Rusty Gulley   &   Whinham's Reel

 

Cheers,

Dick 

[John Wild]

The Traditional tune archive version has one note at variance with the Northumbrian Pipers tune book, its stated source.

In ABC format, bar 3 is shown as E2G2 E2G2.

The notes in NPTB are E2G2 D2G2

[Ptarmigan]

23 minutes ago, John Wild said:

The Traditional tune archive version has one note at variance with the Northumbrian Pipers tune book, its stated source.

In ABC format, bar 3 is shown as E2G2 E2G2.

The notes in NPTB are E2G2 D2G2

To be honest John, as an ear player myself, I've always believed that the written notes were simply there as a skeletal guide, so just a reminder of how the composer constructed the original tune. I don't believe that in a living tradition the exact notes need to be slavishly copied every time. I love how fluid tunes in Ireland are & I've played in sessions in most counties in Ireland & know that there can be variations from county to county. Of course, when tunes cross the Atlantic they can end up being very different, too. As an example of the living tradition, it's interesting to examine the tunes in O'Neill's 1001, to see that very few tunes in that book are played the same way as they were 100 years ago. I think it's healthy for each of us to try & put our own stamp on a tune, but of course it's also great to be able to refer back to the original concept. 

 

Cheers,

Dick

[David Barnert]

3 hours ago, John Wild said:

The Traditional tune archive version has one note at variance with the Northumbrian Pipers tune book, its stated source.

In ABC format, bar 3 is shown as E2G2 E2G2.

The notes in NPTB are E2G2 D2G2

 

We always played it as in the NPTB, but also put an F# for the 3rd note in bar 7, where a low D is indicated.

 

2 hours ago, Ptarmigan said:

I don't believe that in a living tradition the exact notes need to be slavishly copied every time.

 

I agree.