Annotation:Blind Man's Reel (1)

Back to Blind Man's Reel (1)

BLIND MAN'S REEL [1] (Reel de l'Aveugle). AKA and see "Reel of the Blindmen." French-Canadian, Reel. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. Welling's version features irregular measure at ends of 'A' and 'B' parts as well as double-tonic tonality. The tune was recorded in 1930 on a 78 RPM disc by Québecois fiddler Joseph Allard [1] on the Victor label, and re-released in 1936 on the Bluebird label (B-4929-B), albeit under the pseudonym 'Maxime Toupin'.

Source for notated version: Gretchen Koehler [Phillips]; Winston Fitzgerald (1914-1987, Cape Breton) [Cranford]; fiddler Dawson Girdwood (Perth, Ottawa Valley, Ontario) [Bégin].

Printed sources: Bégin (Fiddle Music in the Ottawa Valley: Dawson Girdwood), 1985; No. 51, p. 60. Cranford (Winston Fitzgerald), 1997; No. 133, p. 54. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, Vol. 1), 1994; p. 29. Welling (Welling's Hartford Tunebook), 1976; p. 1.

Recorded sources: Philo 2001, "Jean Carignan." Victor 263723-B (78 RPM), Joseph Allard (1930).

See also listing at:
Hear Joseph Allard's 1930 recording on youtube.com [2], and at the Virtual Gramophone [3]
Read Glenn Patterson's analysis of Allard and Gaspé fiddler Erskine Morris's versions of the reel [4]