Annotation:Hale-Wheel (The)
X:1 % T:Hale-Wheel, The M:C| L:1/8 R:Pipe Reel or Strathspey N:"To James Blair, Balmoral." C:J. Scott Skinner B:Skinner - The Logie Collection (1888, p. 82) Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:A (ed)|.c.B.A.B .c.d.e.d|.c.B.A.a .g.f.e.d|.c.B.A.B .c.d.e.c|dB=G=g {de}d2:| (cd)|.e.a.g.f .e.d.c.B|.A.a.g.f .e.d.c.d|.e.a.g.f .e.c.A.c|dB=G=g d2 {ed}.c.d| .e.a.g.f .e.d.c.B|.A.a.g.f .e.d.c.d|eAfA gAaA|dB=G=g {de}d2!D.C.!||"Last"[C4A4]||
HALE-WHEEL, THE. Scottish, Pipe Reel or Strathspey (cut time). A Major/Mixolydian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. Composed by fiddler-composer and dancing master biography:J. Scott Skinner (1843-1927), who dedicated the tune to James Blair of Blamoral, who was an attendant to Prince Albert and the Royal Family. Skinner would probably have had contact with him in his capacity of sometime dancing instructor to members of the Royal Household at Balmoral. The composer directed the piece could be played as a strathspey or reel.
The meaning of 'hale-wheel' can be gleaned from the Scots saying Gan intae'd hale wheel, meaning to do it without reservation or without holding back (as the wheel of a vessel must sometimes be turned).