The High Drive reel

a composition of Gordon Duncan

great tune!!!!!

It is another great tune of Gordan Duncans but I never know which ending to play in each part.

I was taught it by ear playing AFGE in the first and EFGE in the second. Will this affect me when I am playing it with other musicians?

This tune is described as a reel but is it reely? (pardon the pun) I`ve also heard it described as a hornpipe
Alec

Submitted on November 3rd 2008 by pipingtool ~ & “Poof!”
https://thesession.org/members/38010/details

Sorry, all the details went before I could catch them… Basically pipingtool (cake decoration?) mentioned that later Gordon Duncan had added two more parts to his composition…

X: 1
T: High Drive, The
C: Gordon Duncan
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Dmaj
|: A | d3 e fedA | B/B/B gB BAGB | GA A/A/A fedf | eA A/A/A afge |
d/d/d de fedA | B/B/B gB BAGB | GA A/2A/2A fedf | edce d3 :|
|: A | aaag ad d/d/d | AB B/B/B gBdB | GA A/A/A fedf | eA A/A/A efge |
aaag ad d/d/d | AB B/B/B gBdB | GA A/A/A fedf | edce d3 :|
A |: dAeA fA A/A/A | gBBA Baag | fA A/A/A afdf | eA A/A/A afge |
dAeA fA A/A/A | gBBA Baag | fA A/A/A afdf |[1 edce d2 fe :|[2 edce defg |]
|: adda ddad | gddg ddgd | fddf ddfd | edde defg |
adda ddad | gBdg BdGB | GA A/A/A fedf |[1 edce defg :|[2 edce d4 |]

I had an interesting conversation with Calum MacCrimmon recently about this tune. It was his opinion that the third and fourth parts were taken down from a live performance and that Duncan, being a master improviser, was simply flexing his musical muscles. I’m not sure one way or another, but I don’t believe he ever wrote down any but the first two parts. (After that conversation we played ‘The High Drive’ on stage - just the two part version!)

On Circular Breath Gordon only recorded it as a two part tune but the music book produced later on has it in four parts. However, it is possible that the augmented version became so entrenched in sessions that it seemed churlish not to put it into the subsequent book of his tunes. I guess we’ll never know……… sadly. Two parts or four, it’s a cracking tune.

I quite agree, Crieftain.

Speaking of the book - “Gordon Duncan’s Tunes” (2007), I think it’s a terrible shame and a disservice to Gordon’s memory that there are so many mistakes, stupid obvious ones at that. The proof readers should be ashamed, in my humble opinion.

This is the Cape Breton influenced version of the tune played in some areas of the North Eastern United States.

Wonderful tune by a wonderful composer. I first heard this tune in a bag piping competition and it was love at first listing. Always great to learn a tune you like! 🙂

Tha mo iPad glè dona agus laggy. Not bag piping, bagpiping! And not listing, listen!

First heard this tune in Edmonton with a band called the McDades.
They just posted it to their instagram. I’m wondering if their version closely matches one of the versions above?

Thanks!

Regarding Gordon Duncan’s playing: on Just for Gordon, he plays all 4 parts, but not every time, in contrast to The Circular Breath, where he plays it as AABB. (2 A parts, 2 B parts, repeated several times).
On Just for Gordon, he plays it as AABB AABBCCDD AABB. Harmonically, the C and D parts are similar to the A and B parts, so he may just think of C as a variant of the A and D as a variant of the B.