Finchale reel

This is not a reel but a 4/4 slow air I wrote in the 80s, with the Northumbrian pipes in mind (which I don’t play). Tempo, similar to the Scottish song "Will Ye No’ Come Back Again?", or maybe the Irish one "Mo Ghille Mear".

Finchale (pronounced "Finkle") is a secluded riverside spot near Durham (UK) that hosts a ruined abbey and a caravan site. It’s not my favourite place but when I wrote the tune the name came into my head and stuck there. Both the place and the tune are somewhat solemn and sepulchral. Maybe the tune doesn’t have to be…

really there should be a section for airs on this site.
and for set dances too….

myself, i don’t even really understand what on earth a barn dance is?
mabye its more of an american thing? cos i ve never seen one in any of the books or heard them played anywhere in Ireland?

anyway i’m just rambling on here…

You must lead a secluded life Sax…

There are a number of discussions on the subject, and even dance notations, in the ‘Comments’ for a number of the barndances on site here, as well as in ‘Discussions’, if you do a search. You can also link to my ‘Details’ for a few of these… And, there are numerous recordings of such on a hell of a lot of Irish recordings stretching back into the dark ages of 78 rpm… Other names for the form include ‘German’ and ‘Schottische’…

Nearer to home, yours Sax, Armagh ~ the McCuskers and the Savages all had barndances in their repertoire… The dances (plural intended) were popular in the ceilis around your area as well…

Nice tune but rIMHO rather more Scottish than Northumbrian in style. The snapped ending and internal rhythms are defintely Scottish influenced and the modality is more North than South of the border.
Still we’ve been stealing Scottish tunes for centuries, so that shouldn’t be a barrier to playing it.
Noel

As you seem to be a Planxty man, nicholas, my hearing echoes of Pat Reilly in the first part and of The Jolly Beggar Man in the second part probably isn’t just an illusion.
A nice ballady tune you have here.