Annotation:Scutcher's Reel

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X:1 T:Scutcher's Reel M:C| L:1/8 R:Reel B:Rev. Luke Donnellan music manuscript collection (c. 1909, Oriel B:region, south Ulster K:G dG G/G/G AGGB|dG G/G/G ABce|dG....



SCUTCHER'S REEL. Irish, Reel (cut time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. "Scutcher's Reel" is contained in the music manuscript collection of curate and fiddler biography:Rev. Luke Donnellan (1878-1952), Oriel region, south Ulster[1]. The title was also included in the tune list of piper Philip Goodman (c. 1831-1908), Carrickmacross, Ireland, who is variously described as "the last professional and traditional piper in Farney, Louth", and also recorded as having been from Donaghmoyne, County Monaghan (all of which are places from the same area, and contiguous to the Donnellan's Oriel region).

Researcher Conor Ward compares "Scutcher's Reel" with the harmonically and melodically similar "Over the Moor to Peggy."


Additional notes
Source for notated version : - Rev. Luke Donnellan music manuscript collection [O'Connor].

Printed sources : - Gerry O'Connor (The Rose in the Gap), 2018; No. 121, p. 72.






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  1. Donnellan researcher Gerry O'Connor came to believe the ms. is not the work of the curate but rather was originally compiled by an unknown but able fiddler over the course of a playing lifetime, probably in the late 19th century. The ms. later came into the possession of Donnellan, who was also a fiddler.