John McEvoy’s reel

This was recorded by John McEvoy himself, along with his sister Catherine on their excellent CD “The Kilmore Fancy” which I got at the Willie Clancy week last year. This is the first of 2 of John’s compositions, and I’ll post the other tomorrow. I have actually had the music for both of them for years, because the 2 reels were recorded by the Dublin women’s group “Macalla” on their 2nd LP which came out in 1987. I have never heard either of them played until “Kilmore Fancy” came out last year, so I reckon it’s about time both of these fine reels were played more.

Thanks for this one, Kenny, a gem. I thoroughly enjoy your store of good tunes, many not widely played though they deserve to be. Thanks for sharing ’em.

Is the lower F in the second measure of the second part meant to be natural or sharp? I read notation, not ABC, and the convention there is that any accidental for any voice applies to all subsequent notes of the same letter name for the duration of the measure. As a practical matter, though, notes in different octaves are usually marked accordingly to avoid confusion. Playing it both ways, I think I prefer the F there to be sharp, but that may be just my personal insanity.

muspc - I had thought the low F you mention remained natural, but listening to them playing it more closely, I reckon that 2nd, low F note is indeed played sharp, which was your preference.
No insanity involved - a fair question.

Thanks, Kenny, for going to the trouble of checking the recording. It certainly could work either way, and it’s a great tune to boot!