The Reel With The Burl

reel

Key signature: Edorian

Submitted on July 10th 2001 by Miss Lonelyhearts.

This tune has been added to 134 tunebooks.

Also known as Ladies Bonnet, The Reel With A Birl, The Reel With Beryl, The Reel With The Berril, The Reel With The Beryle, Reel With The Birl, The Reel With The Birl In It, The Reel With The Birl, Reel With The Burl, Tom Clair's Maggie.

Recordings of a tune by this name:

Concertina Music From West Clare by Elizabeth Crotty
Dawn In The Hills Of Ireland by Marty O'Keefe
In Full Flight by Gavin Whelan
John Williams by John Williams
Patrick Kelly From Cree : Fiddle Music by Patrick Kelly
Pont Gwenn Ha Pont Stang by Jean-Michel Veillon And Yvon Riou
Return To Droim by Colm Gannon
The Best Of The Chieftains by The Chieftains
The Chieftains 8 by The Chieftains
The Lonesome Touch by Martin Hayes
The Man From Clare by Micho Russell
Traditional Music From East Clare by Mary MacNamara
Wooden Flute Obsession Disk 2 by Various Artists

Details ABC Sheetmusic Comments

Reel With the Burl

This version comes off of Martin Hayes's The Lonseome Touch. The abcs and dots won't do it justice--you've got to hear it to pick up the heavy swing Martin gives it, and to make sense of all those long notes in Part B. Similarly, the fnatural to fsharp in measure 2 of Part B is just a chromatic slide into the g--listening to the recording will help with timing.

# Posted on July 10th 2001 by Miss Lonelyhearts

Corrected notes for Reel With the Burl

Apologies...the 2nd measure of Part B should read: |f~d3 d^def|. I had a brain hiccup when transcribing this one.
Will

# Posted on July 11th 2001 by Miss Lonelyhearts

Corrected notes

Will, you can edit the ABC notation. Just log on and click on "edit the ABC notation" under "ABC".

# Posted on July 11th 2001 by Jeremy

Corrected notes

Jeremy, thanks for the wake up call. I did go in and correct the abc notation. Can you then fix the sheet music and midi file? Thanks, Will

# Posted on July 13th 2001 by Miss Lonelyhearts

Corrected notes

'Tis done. Lovely tune, by the way - especially the way Martin Hayes plays it.

# Posted on July 13th 2001 by Jeremy

Here is my version, which is based on Mary MacNamara's playing.

E2 BE dEBE|E2 BE AGFD|E2 BE dE B2|1 d2 dB AGFD:|2 d2 dB A4||
B3 d e3 g|fd d2 d2 ef|g4 g3 e|fa a2 afed|
f3 b bafe|fa a2 afed|B3 B BAFA|d2 dB AGFD||

This is currently one of the most trendy tunes in Ireland, but I don't remember which setting was commonly played while I was in Ireland. Micho Russel's one on John Williams' album is also nice.

# Posted on May 13th 2003 by slainte

Does anybody else think...

that this is the same tune as Drowsie Maggie?

# Posted on June 8th 2003 by Edgar Bolton

No

I don't.

# Posted on June 8th 2003 by Dow

No, emphatically!

No, in spite of the very similar first part, the B part is completely different from Drowsey Maggie. But these are merely superficial observations. There is something about this tune which makes me play it very differently -- much less drive, more swing. There is much more to the tunes than the notes. Even changing the key of a tune may make for a totally different approach to it and making it, at least to my ears, a different tune entirely.

# Posted on June 8th 2003 by LongNote

The Reel With The Birl

I find that those long notes in the 2nd part of Martin Hayes' version don't work for me so I play a different setting a little bit like Slainte's:

K:Edor
~E2BE dEBE|~E2BE AGFD|~E2BE dEBc|1 ~d3B AGFD:|2 ~d3B A2FA||
B3d e3g|fddc d2ef|g2gf gfeg|fa~a2 afed|
fb~b2 bafe|fa~a2 afed|B2BA BAFA|~d3B AGFD||

By the way, I assume that the "birl" refers to the type of ornamentation. I know what a pipes birl is but I don't see what it has to do with this tune, unless the writer was referring to bowed triplets on the low E or something. Anyone shed light?

# Posted on October 5th 2003 by Dow

This tune is actually a west coast version of the reel "Drowsy Maggie."

# Posted on February 5th 2004 by Paddy

The Reel with the Birl

You can listen to Mary MacNamara and Martin Hayes playing this tune together: http://www.www.marymacnamara.com/audio/cd1-5.rm (2nd one in the set)

# Posted on January 26th 2005 by slainte

"The Reel With The Birl" by Micho Russel & John Williams

T:Reel With The Birl, The
M:4/4
L:1/8
S:Jonh Williams ( with Miko Russel ) : "John Williams"
R:reel
Z:gmp
K:EDor
E2BE DEBE|E2BE AFDF|E2BE dEBE|eBdB AFDF|
E2BE DEBE|E2BE AFDF|GBAF G3B|1dedB AFDF:|2d3B A4||
BA(3Bcd e4|fdd2 ed(3Bcd |g2gf g2eg|faab afef|
g2bg faaf|edfe edBA|GBAF GABc|1dedB A3B:|2d3B AFDF||

# Posted on January 26th 2005 by gian marco

Reel with the Beryle Chieftains 8

T: The Reel with the Beryle
S: The Chieftains 8
Z: transcribed by Hetty 28/02/08
M: 4/4
L:1/8
K: D
E2BE dEBE | E3B AFDF | E2BE dEBE |1 dcdB AFDF :|2 dcdB A4 ||
BABd e2de | fddc d2ef | g4 g4 | faab afed |
dbb2 bafe | faab afed | B3B BAFA | dcdB AFDF ||

Another west coast version of "Drowsy Maggie"

The Chieftains play this version as the second tune with "The Wind That Shakes the Barley"
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/116/comments

# Posted on February 28th 2008 by hetty

"The Reel With The Birl" ~ Micho Russell, flute ~ MP3, transcript, analysis

http://www.rogermillington.com/
http://www.rogermillington.com/tunetoc/birl.html

# Posted on August 2nd 2008 by ceolachan