The reel is thought
to be the oldest dance associated with Scotland and the term
is used not only for a tune type, but also a dance step or a
dance figure. The earliest mention of reels is in the report
of the famous witch trial in North Berwick in 1590, where Agnes
Thompson was said to have “daunced this reill or short
dance” playing “upon a small trumpe called a Jewes
trumpe” (i.e., a jaws or Jews harp). The reel has been
a very popular dance tune in Shetland; the Shetland reel was
the main kind of dance there until around 1900. Many reels were
published in 18th and 19th century collections of Scottish music,
and new reels are still being composed today.
Reels may be performed
on any instrument, or sung to a text. As songs, these pieces
are called mouth music or, in Gaelic puirt a beul (pronounced
poorsht a beeyul, literally, “tunes of the mouth”).
Reels can accompany dancing, where several reels may be played
as a set of tunes, each tune usually being played twice.
