The Story of "Greg's Pipes"

Joe Burke loves to say how the old tunes are the best, but that it is hard to get parts for them. One wonders does he know where the parts of his favourite reel, “The Bucks of Oranmore”, come from. When parts are scarce, what better than to borrow a part or two from another tune, or even borrow a whole tune.

James Greg (alias Gregg or Greig) (1718-1817), a dancing master from Ayrshire, seems to have taken the first part of a popular country dance tune, “Willy Wilkey” , which closely resembles the first part of “The Reel of Tulloch” , composed a new matching second part modelled on the second part of “The Reel of Tulloch”, added two more parts based on “Donalbane”, modifying the endings to parallel those of the first two parts, and from the amalgam created the four part “Greg’s Pipes”. In the original setting and for most of its history the “Donalbane” section was played an octave lower than the “Reel of Tulloch” section.