Annotation:Western Gem

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WESTERN GEM REEL. AKA and see "Chicoutimi Reel (2)." American, Reel or Hornpipe. A Major (‘A’ part) & E Major (‘B’ part) . Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The second strain was used by Prince Edward Island fiddler Sidney Baglole for his “Sidney Baglole's Reel.” Tjestrain appears often, under various names, in the nineteenth-century tunebook tradition. One such set, "Witch of the Wave Reel," is in One Thousand Fiddle Tunes, p. 3; for similar tunes, compare "New York Reel," One Thousand Fiddle Tunes, p. 38; "Western Gem Reel," One Thousand Fiddle Tunes, p. 49; "St. Botolph's Hornpipe," One Thousand Fiddle Tunes, p. 99; "Buckley's Fancy," O'Neill's Music of Ireland, #1211; "Comely Jane Downing," O'Neill's Music of Ireland, #1461; "The Lakeside Road," O'Neill's Music of Ireland, #1699.The Hollow Rock String Band, having learned this tune from Henry Reed, noticed its similarity to "Witch of the Wave Reel" and began calling it that.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Cole (1000 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; p. 49. Ryan’s Mammoth Collection, 1883; p. 77.

Recorded sources:

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