Annotation:Prince Edward Island Wedding Reel

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PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND WEDDING REEL, THE. Canadian, Reel. Canada, Prince Edward Island. A Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AA’BCAA’B. Banjoist and folklorist Ken Perlman (1996) notes that a few generations ago the bride and groom in districts with a strong Scottish heritage step-danced to this tune at the beginning of Prince Edward Island wedding festivities, preforming a dance called a wedding reel. Perlman thinks the tune originated in the eastern part of PEI. According to PEI informant George MacPhee, records Perlman, the dance was always performed to a set that included "Christy/Christie Campbell," "Christy/Christie Miller" and "The Prince Edward Island Wedding Reel." The wedding reel was always followed, maintained MacPhee, by a similar dance called 'The Friends Reel' or 'The Reel of Honor' [Perlman, Couldn't Have a Wedding without the Fiddler, 2015, p. 34].

Source for notated version: Peter Chaisson, Sr. (B. 1929, Bear River, North-East Prince Edward Island) [Perlman].

Printed sources: Perlman (The Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island), 1996; p. 83.

Recorded sources:




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