Annotation:Sir Allan McLean's Reel

Find traditional instrumental music

X:1 % T:Sir Allan McLean's Reel M:C| L:1/8 R:Strathspey B:Robert Ross – Choice Collection of Scots Reels or Country Dances B:& Strathspeys (Edinburgh, 1780, p. 37) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:G B|G<(GG>E) A2 A<B|G<G G>E G<G G>(E|G<G) G>E A2 A<B| G<G G>E {E}(G2G)::e|G<G B>d Te>d e<g|G<G B>G d>G B>G| d/g/g B/g/g A>GA<B|G<G G>E {E}(G2G)::b|g<(gg>e) a2 (a<b)| g<g g>e g<g g<(e|g<g) Tg>e a2 (a<b)|g<g Tg>e (g2g):||:e|G<G Bd Te>d e<g| G<G B>G d>G B>G|d/g/g B/g/g TA>G A<B|A<(G {A}G>E) G2G:|]



SIR ALLAN McLEAN'S REEL. Scottish, Strathspey (cut time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABBCCDD. John Glen (1891) finds the earliest printing of the tune in Robert Ross's 1780 collection (p. 37).

Sir Allan MacLean (1710-1783)

The title may refer to Sir Allan MacLean [1] of Inchkenneth, a small island in the district of Mull in the Hebrides. When Dr. Johnson and Boswell visited the island is 1773, Sir Allan, formerly a Colonel in the British army, was chief of the clan and played host to the pair. "This island," recorded Dr. Johnson, "is about a mile long, and perhaps half-a-mile broad, remarkable for pleasantness and fertility. Its only inhabitants were Sir Allan MacLean and two young ladies, his daughters, with their servants. Romance does not often exhibit a scene that strikes the imagination more than this little desert, in those depths of western obscurity, occupied not by a gentleman and two ladies, of high birth, polished mannerss, and elegant conversation, who, in a habitation raised not very far above the ground, bur furnished with unexpected neatness and convenience, practised all the kindness of hospitality and refinement of courtesy." Sir Allen died in 1783.

Additional notes

Source for notated version: -

Printed sources : - Robert Ross (Choice Collection of Scots Reels or Country Dances & Strathspeys), Edinburgh, 1780; p. 37.

Recorded sources: -



Back to Sir Allan McLean's Reel