A classic dance tune The Red House Reel – I know this from a Jimmy Shand album (as per the video below), but it’s earliest collection appears to be in the 9th edition of the Playford Collection 1695. It was used in a range of theatrical productions in the 1700s, with more info available here on the invaluable tunearch.org website. It has various titles in English, Scots and Welsh and there are both major and minor versions, showing it to be a very popular tune that was absorbed into various different traditions.
The tune is often played in G minor, with F#s rather than F naturals, but E minor is also common, either with D#s or D naturals.
We are using the tune to accompany a 40-bar dance and so are playing AABBC – this is also a useful tune for the Eightsome Reel, the beginning and end sections of which are 40 bars long. The tune may be also be played as a 48 bar tune, as AABBCC.
Deborah is a violinist and violist specialising in English folk music. She trained in viola and Baroque viola at Birmingham Conservatoire, before returning to her first love of traditional music, song and dance.
Deborah has developed a passion for playing for dancing since joining her first ceilidh band at age 13. She is a member of Stepling, a band performing English music, step-dance, song and percussion, and also plays with Folk Dance Remixed, a dance company combining traditional dance with hip hop and street dance styles, with whom she has performed as such events as Car Fest, the Southbank's Festival of Love and Glasgow's Commonwealth Games Festival.
Deborah records on a regular basis for a number of people, including The Mystery Fax Machine Orchestra, and for Laurel Swift's 'Travelling with Thomas' musical.
She teaches music, song and dance regularly for The English Folk Dance and Song Society, as well as on a freelance basis for various workshop series, festivals and music services. Deborah recently completed The Teaching Musician MA degree course at Trinity Laban, graduating with Distinction.
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New Ealing Sessions 