Cutty Sark reel

I couldn’t resist submitting this tune today. It was composed by John Cumming and I believe it is also popular in Cape Breton music.
It sounds as if it could also be played as a strathspey but I’m not sure if it was originally areel or not.

Why Dmix when it’s in G, John?

Oops, it’s in Dmix because it was written that way elsewhere. I admit to cheating a wee bit with this one but you just caught me out.
You’re right though. G is more like it.

You didn’t think you’d get a cut & paste job from JC’s (albeit minus the trills and grace notes) past the tune section police did you, John? 🙂

It’s a nice tune, actually. A reel with Scotch snaps - hmm…

It’d make a nice highland too.

You spotted that too. 🙂

Actually, the abc was different from the written copy and I don’t think they had the triplets correct. So, I simplified it a wee bit.

Yeah. I see O’Neill’s has the last bar as caBg ADFA, which I think fits the falling 6th sequence better. A lot of Scottish & Northumbrian hornpipes have that feature. It’s less common in reels, but certainly not unheard of.

By the way, if you want to change it to G, only you can do so by going to “edit details”.

Done.

Ok your papers seem to be in order. Be on your way 🙂

Most UK readers will be aware that the “Cutty Sark” ship, an icon of Britain’s maritime history and a major tourist attraction, in dry dock at Greenwich, went up in flames early this morning. Little is left. Arson is a possibility.
The only good news is that a large proportion of fittings, including the masts, had been removed for refurbishment.
For further details see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6675381.stm

I’m deeply saddened.

As a kid I made a model of the clipper-ship Thermopylae from a kit. Fascinated by all things maritime, especially from the age of sail. Yeah, maybe I’m a bit of an uber-anorak. Anyway, I’m familiar with Thermopylae/Cutty Sark rivalry and famous 1872 race from Shanghai to London. For years I drank the scotch out of some weird sense of loyalty. I glanced at the new tune titles this morning, noted it, and moved on. Then later went to CNN.com and saw the news. I didn’t even know the ship was still afloat. Would have loved to visit it one of the times I’ve been in London. The news seems grimly hopeful that the ship can be restored. I hope that’s so.

I have faith… I always wanted to visit it but everytime I found myself in London I had to chase up other things… I was so relieved to hear much of it was away elsewhere being restored.

The worst pain is to think someone torched it… Why? As if for some there ever really could be a reasonable answer to that.

So fidkid, you are not alone in the Anorak department. I don’t have a model, though I had always longed to build something like that out of wood, but I have a print bigger than this desk I’m typing at… But as we’re confessing, I have ‘two’ “SETS” of prints of ‘tall ships’, but no walls to put them up on, not yet anyway… Now that is anorakee… It must be the privateer (legal pirate 😎 ) in me?!

http://www.cuttysark.org.uk/index.cfm

http://www.cuttysark.org.uk/index.cfm?fa=contentGeneric.wpdtwvowobgzrrrg

http://www.justgiving.com/cuttysarkfire

Shocked to hear of its demise. Like fidkid, I built the model,
drank the Scotch and even named my female setter Cutty.
Very sad about this.

Hey, stop it with the post mortem… It will arise again… 🙂

This tune is not Irish, it’s Scottish if I’m not mistaken. It was written by John “Jockie” Cumming of Inverness.

I hope that doesn’t mean we have to stop playing it? 😏 😉

It has a a recognizably very Scottish feel about it…

Found this setting in Kerr’s First Collection of Merry Melodies! Very similar!