RE: [Harp-L] St. Anne's Reel and a pragmatic tuning for same

["Steve Shaw" <moorcot@xxxxxxx>]

http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/trad_irish_harmonica
HEAR my CD clips: http://www.gjk2.com/steveshaw/cd.htm


> Hello folk harpers--
> In my attempts to create tunings for the instrumentals I perform with a
> local folk music ensemble, I have been retuning diatonic harmonicas of 
> late.
> St. Anne's Reel gets played a lot, and I wasn't happy with any of the
> tunings, so I got busy and now I have a variation of Paddy Richter (oops,
> retuned the one I made two days ago) that I am not finding referenced
> anywhere.
> It goes as follows:
> 1 4 6 1 3 5 1 3 5 8
> 3 5 7 2 4 6 7 2 4 6
> Those being the major scale degrees.
> And so I have two questions for those who are interesting in replying:
> Is this an existing tuning, and
> What do most folks use to play this tune? Do they just play it in standard
> tuning in the higher octave?
> Thanks,
> Gary


We start every session with the medley "Wise Maid/St Anne's Reel"  which the 
other fellers regard as a warm-up but which I regard as d*mned hard!  You 
don't need Paddy Richter if you play at the upper end, just the standard 
tuning, and the best harp to use is a low D played in first position.  
Regular D harps are way too high for me in tunes played up there.  I don't 
quite follow your tuning pattern - Paddy Richter has just one retuned reed, 
usually 3-blow up a whole tone, though 2-draw up a whole tone is also 
possible.  Like a lot of traditional tunes, St Anne's has some variants.  My 
version avoids accidentals!