Wednesday 29 August 2018
Tune of the Day: Rustic Reel
Traditional American tune
The earliest appearance of this tune in print is in the 4th volume of Edward Riley's Riley's Flute Melodies, published in New York in 1826. In spite of the word ‘reel’ in the title (which usually denotes a fast duple-time tune), this melody is in 6/8 or jig time. “Rustic Reel” is actually the name of a dance, but it is not uncommon for tunes to take on the name of the dance they're most frequently associated with. This particular dance requires lines of three to perform the figures, thus each dancer needs two partners and faces a set of three dancers.