Reel order

I decided they worked best in this order:
1. Spootiskerry
2. Brumley Brae
3. Barrowburn Reel
4. The De'il Among The Tailors

Jig order

I decided they worked best in this order:
1. Swallowtail
2. Jamie Rae
3. Tripping up the Stairs
4. Lady Elizabeth Cole

Day 8 - Jamie Rae

ABOUT THE PIECE
Jig
Traditional - Internet unsure if Irish or Scottish

COMMENTS
Quite familiar from playing with the band. I was looking through some bits of music and it jumped out because of the minor key and the octave jumps. Not sure these 4 jigs all go together but they weren't intended to particularly and you do seem to be able to get from more or less any one of them into any other one... the lady Elizabeth cole one seems to fit less well because of the less busy start

Day 7 - The Swallowtail

ABOUT THE PIECE

Jig
Irish 19C
Has other names eg The Dancing Master

COMMENTS

This tune was also in the set Gillian shared but was already familiar and not difficult so was quick to remember. However once I'd memorised it and tried to play it with Tripping Up The Stairs, I started adding octave jumps to that like the one in the Swallowtail. Maybe there is another similar piece like a missing link.
Apparently it was written during the Irish immigration to the United States in the nineteenth century.

Day 6 - Tripping Up The Stairs

ABOUT THE PIECE

Jig
Traditional
Irish I think

COMMENTS

This is from a set that Gillian Stephenson shared with us but I've seen it elsewhere too. I picked it because I don't really know it and although I like it, I don't find it particularly catchy. It did take longer to learn than the others and I keep doing it fine and then the next time forgetting where to go next or how it changes from a previous similar bit eg at bar 7, 10, 14, 15 and the change from A to B sections.

Day 5 - Lady Elizabeth Cole's Reel (jig)

ABOUT THE PIECE

Jig (although it's called reel in the title)
by Robert Mackintosh c.1745-1807

COMMENTS

I heard this for the first time in St Andrews when Susan MacFadyen shared one of her sets with us.
I really like this tune, the second half is really cheery and funky and sounds a bit like something that could be used as a theme tune on TV. It seems odd that it appears to have been written at the end of the 18th Century, it sounds more modern than that, but I can't find any other Robert Mackintoshes.
I'm not really that familiar with the tune but it's quite catchy, and generally sequential which makes it easier to learn.

Learning tunes

We've been away for a couple of weeks but going over the tunes in my head has stopped me forgetting them. The challenging part seems to be remembering the first few notes of each tune.
I've decided to learn tunes in clumps of 4 of the same style (reel, jig etc) so that they can be mixed and matched to practise recalling the first part. A few jigs next.

Day 4 - The De'il Among The Tailors

ABOUT THE PIECE
Reel
Traditional
Scottish

COMMENTS
Online there is a lot of discussion about whether it should be a hornpipe.
This is a piece which we play at the end of every dance as a polka, but shamefully I always have a backup version to hand because it goes so fast, if I go wrong I can't get back in the right place and have a mic on so you can hear any scratching around. So this had to be an early on one to include. I do already know it, it's just a speed thing.

Day 3 - Brumley Brae

ABOUT THE PIECE

Reel 

by William McPherson of Elgin. (1919-1974). 

According to the internet Brumley Brae is an area for gathering blackberries, or for courting couples (!). It is also known in Donegal as 'Charlie Fleming's'

COMMENTS
I haven't played this much until the last week but have heard it a lot on a CD of the band that I have in the car so I didn't have much trouble learning the tune. I found it trickier to remember to do the bowing over the barlines without taking myself by surprise, but I like that about the tune. It's also unusual in that the first 8 bars don't repeat, it just goes straight on through to the end. 
Again, swapping between this and the other two reels was tricky, and I haven't got this one consistently up to the same speed as the others.

Day 2 - Spootiskerry

ABOUT THE PIECE

Reel

by Ian Burns, written 1980

from Shetland  

This is what he said about it, apparently (nicked from a forum):  Spootiskerry - the croft belonging to my late great aunts Bella and Joan Nicholson, situated between the village of Sullom and the new town of Brae. Originally spelt Spootskerry, but as the years have passed, an "i" or an "a", and sometimes an "o" have been added. The croft took its name from the skerry (rocky outcrop I think) that lies offshore. Usually the house on a croft has the same name, but in this case the house is named Southness. 

COMMENTS

I picked another reel so I could try to play them together. Spootiskerry is another tune I have already played quite a lot, including in combination with the Barrowburn Reel, and it was again pretty painless to learn, but swapping from it to the Barrowburn Reel and back was harder than expected and I always end up with a gap while I try to remember what the first few notes are.