This tune and a number of others we’ll be releasing in the coming weeks and months, was recorded at the 150th Anniversary Battle of Gettysburg Reenactment in early July of 2013. It is late Saturday afternoon. We will soon be playing for the Camp Dance, which will last for 3 hours that evening. We have been ‘on site’ since the previous Wednesday morning, setting up our camp and performance area, and have been playing throughout each day - Thursday, Friday, and all day this day with the dance and another day to follow.
It is HOT. It has been hot since we arrived. We are bushed, but we decided it would be a good idea to run through some of the tunes that we would be playing at the dance. This is one of the favorites for the Virginia Reel - obligatory at all such affairs.
First referred to as “Miss MacLeod’s Reel” by a foreigner visiting Connacht, Ireland, in 1779, who wrote about hearing it while taking part in a dance where the prize was a cake, or possibly heard it as one of several pieces played by pipers during a visit to Galway. Often called the original Virginia Reel, it is commonly performed at Colonial and Civil War reenactment venues as well as in modern dance ensembles.
5 сен 2024
