Annotation:Gellan's Reel
X:1 T:Gellan's Reel T:Gillian's Reel T:Gillan's Reel C:Peter Milne (1824-1908) M:4/4 L:1/8 R:Reel K:A |:A2 cA {d}B2 dB|c2 ec dBAG|A2 ce fgaf|edcB AGFE|AEAc BEBd| cdec dcBA |(3A/2A/2A/2 Ace fgaf|1 edcB A2 FG:|2 edcB A2 fg|| |:a2 fa g2 eg|f2 df ecBA|{b}a2 fa gaba|gfe^d e2 fg|agfa gfeg| fedf ecBA|(3A/2A/2A/2 Ace fgaf|1 edcB A2 gf:|2 edcB A2 (3GFE||
GILLAN'S REEL. AKA - "Gillan's Reel," "Gillian's Reel." Scottish (originally), Canadian; Reel. Canada, Cape Breton. 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. The title of the reel is "Gellan's Reel" and refers to the farm Muir of Gellan, in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. As a boy Milne lived nearby, and often worked as a herd on the farm. Thus the titles that reference a person, such as "Gillan's Reel" and "Gillian's Reel" are erroneous. See also Milne's strathspey "Muir o' Gellan (The)."
Clog en A: This piece could be a clog adaptation of Gillan’s Reel, a piece composed by Scottish fiddler Peter Milne (1824-1908) in the 19th century. A piece with a similar A section was collected by Marius Barbeau from fiddler Arsène Jarry in the late 1910s.
