Annotation:Aald Reel o' Whalsay (Da)

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X:1 T:Aald Reel O Whalsay, Da M:2/4 L:1/8 K:D fa/f/ d>f|fa/f/ d>e|c<e B>B|c<e c<e|c<e A>A| {f}aa/f/ d>f|aa/f/ d>e|c<e B>B|c<e c>e|c<e A>A| AA f>e|dd d>f|AA f>e|dd d>f| AA f>e|dd d>B|AA f>e|dd d||

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AALD REEL O WHALSAY, DA. Shetland, Reel. D Major. ADae tuning (fiddle). One part. "During a symposium at the School of Scottish Studies in the mid‑1960's on Scottish, Shetland and Scandinavian music, the Norwegian Hardanger fiddler Magne Manheim pointed out that the Aald Reel o Whalsay closely resembled part of a Norwegian Halling, and it is likely that all the Muckle Reels were of Norwegian derivation" (Anderson & Georgeson, 1970). The "Aald Reels" or "Muckle Reels" were archaic forms whose musical phrasing is different then the Shetland or Scottish reels. The dance it accompanied employed walking steps, and nearly continuous reeling, and there was no need for a binary-structured tune (i.e. AABB) to delineate or mark place. As dancing styles evolved on the Shetlands, the "Aald Reels" were relegated to the more ritual parts of community celebrations (as in Brides Reel), on the way to extinguishment. See also note for "Annotation:Muckle Reel o' Finnigirt (Da)."

Peter Cooke, writing in his Fiddle Tradition of the Shetland Isles (1986), quotes fiddler John Irvine, born in 1882, who played "Aald Reel o' Whalsay" only when he had to, for weddings: "I just detested playing it, it were naethin' but a load o' trash. There were naethin' in it ava" (p. 54).