Annotation:Gellan's Reel

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 GILLAN'S REEL. AKA - 'Gillian's Reel." Scottish, Reel. A Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Hunter): AABB (Brody). Composed by Peter Milne (1824-1908), the Tarland Minstrel, a self-taught fiddler and one of J. Scott Skinner's teachers as well as his friend. Milne earned a living playing in theaters until his career deteriorated from opium addiction, reducing him to eking a livelihood from busking on ferry-boats crossing the Firth of Forth. He died in 1908, destitute, in an insane asylum. "Gillan's Reel" is sometimes nowadays called "Gillian's Reel."   Source for notated version: Jerry Holland (Cape Breton, Nova Scotia) [Brody].   Printed sources: Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; p. 119 (Appears as "Gillian's Reel"). Henderson (Flowers of Scottish Melody), 1935. Hunter (Fiddle Music of Scotland), 1988; No. 230.  Recorded sources: Green Linnet GLCD 3105, Aly Bain - "Lonely Bird" (1996). Rounder 7004, Joseph Cormier- "The Dances Down Home" (1977). Rounder 7008, "Jerry Holland."  See also listing at: Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources Alan Snyder's Cape Breton Fiddle Recording Index

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