The set I'm working on now is Scottish but what the hey! Checkered Stockings, Short-Coated Mary, The Old Grey Cat, Spirit of Pultney and a reprise of the first 2 tunes.
I used to play in a ceilidh band where we had to play reels for hours and we found a formulae that often works to creat effective sets that can cycle back around, and that is to use these keys:
D major > E minor > G major
You can plug in a lot of different reels and it often works like:
Green Mountain>Toss the Feathers>Sally Gardens
or:
Monaghan>Morning Dew>Banshee
You hear a lot of players create "lift" by going from tunes in D major into tunes in E minor, or tunes in G major into tunes in A minor. Or, playing the same tune first in G and then in A, like Foxhunter's Reel.
In Cape Breton music they often like to keep in the same key in the whole set but "remove sharps" as they go:
A major> A mixolydian > A minor
So I put together a set of Irish reels using that formula:
The Linen Cap>The High Reel> (an A minor reel I wrote but a lot of genuine tunes would work well)
Jean's Reel/Julia Delaney's is my favourite set of tunes. I usually play Jean's then Julia Delaney's and then the first two parts of Jean's again at the end.
P.S. It's not as complicated as it sounds.
Reel Sets
Reel Sets
I am looking for people's favorite and most lively reel sets so please submit som here!!!
# Posted on December 18th 2007 by keys05
Re: Reel Sets
My favourites are Wissahickon Drive/The Last Pint (which is a hornpipe but no matter...), Cooley's/Tam Lin/Julia Delaney's, and Peterman/The Banshee.
# Posted on December 18th 2007 by mehitabel23
Re: Reel Sets
This is a quite lively set..........
Franks Reel (John McCusker) / The Czar of Munster - without intro (Seamus Egan)
http://www.mckenna.dk/pdf-sheet6/franks-reel.pdf
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/7588
# Posted on December 18th 2007 by ceili
Re: Reel Sets
Colonel Rodger's / The Happy Days of Youth
# Posted on December 18th 2007 by slainte
Re: Reel Sets
I'll second ceili's!! EXTREMELY lively more like!!
The Five Reel Set of Shetland Tunes is brill...as is a tune known as Skjaerholtrilen followed by St. Anne's Reel
a link for one version of the skjaerholtrilen tune is THIS:
http://www.leeds.ac.uk/music/info/RRTuneBk/gettune/00000ca2.html....slightly different to what i play but still a cracker!
As i said...follow this with St Anne's and there's mt favourite set!
# Posted on December 18th 2007 by D.J.F.
Re: Reel Sets
Aah...obviously the word slightly doesn;t feature in the link...silly boy
http://www.leeds.ac.uk/music/info/RRTuneBk/gettune/00000ca2.html
# Posted on December 18th 2007 by D.J.F.
Re: Reel Sets
A good set from the Green Linnet Ceili Band is:
The Four Courts / Mary McMahon / The Ravelled Hank of Yarn
# Posted on December 18th 2007 by PaddyCmusic
Re: Reel Sets
Tommy Coen's (aka Christmas Eve) / Jolly Tinker / The Bucks
# Posted on December 18th 2007 by Ceolagusrince
Re: Reel Sets
The set I'm working on now is Scottish but what the hey! Checkered Stockings, Short-Coated Mary, The Old Grey Cat, Spirit of Pultney and a reprise of the first 2 tunes.
I love minor key reels!
# Posted on December 18th 2007 by Pirate-Fiddler
Re: Reel Sets
I used to play in a ceilidh band where we had to play reels for hours and we found a formulae that often works to creat effective sets that can cycle back around, and that is to use these keys:
D major > E minor > G major
You can plug in a lot of different reels and it often works like:
Green Mountain>Toss the Feathers>Sally Gardens
or:
Monaghan>Morning Dew>Banshee
You hear a lot of players create "lift" by going from tunes in D major into tunes in E minor, or tunes in G major into tunes in A minor. Or, playing the same tune first in G and then in A, like Foxhunter's Reel.
In Cape Breton music they often like to keep in the same key in the whole set but "remove sharps" as they go:
A major> A mixolydian > A minor
So I put together a set of Irish reels using that formula:
The Linen Cap>The High Reel> (an A minor reel I wrote but a lot of genuine tunes would work well)
# Posted on December 18th 2007 by Richard D Cook
Re: Reel Sets
The reel-set formula! I like it, I do the same, stick the minor in the middle, works for jigs too.
# Posted on December 18th 2007 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: Reel Sets
Devanney's Goat, Galway Rambler, Last Night's Fun - no theories or formulae, tey're just great tunes!
# Posted on December 19th 2007 by Bannerman
Re: Reel Sets
These sound great together.
Swinging on the Gate
then
Peeler`s Jacket
then
Torn Jacket
then
Coachman`s Whip
# Posted on December 19th 2007 by keyedup
Re: Reel Sets
From the NaConnery's CD:
Casey's/Ships are Sailing/Man of the House (x4)
# Posted on December 19th 2007 by Sugarfoot Jack
Re: Reel Sets
trim the velvet/love at the endings/bird in the bush/monaghan twig
# Posted on December 19th 2007 by Alf Tupper
Re: Reel Sets
Jean's Reel/Julia Delaney's is my favourite set of tunes. I usually play Jean's then Julia Delaney's and then the first two parts of Jean's again at the end.
P.S. It's not as complicated as it sounds.
# Posted on December 20th 2007 by dannym