Hello Richard I have to bow to Matt's much greater academic knowledge on this one but I still offer a lesser mortal's thoughts: The old guys I played with were dance driven and would invariably resolve tunes in the manner you describe. As far as my own preference is concerned I find certain tunes cry out for resolution (Lads of Alnwick for example) whilst I like others 'left in the air' (such as The Keelman Ower Land, Sir John Fenwick's the Flower Amang Them All). On singing tunes through in my head to check this I think there might be a pattern emerging. Perhaps tunes ending in fast passages need resolution but slower ones sound quite grittily scrumptious with a long E, for example, against G&D drones. Again this is a personal feeling. After all that has been said about a living/evolving tradition I would not be comfortable giving a definitive answer but hope this helps a bit. As my nana would often say, "just please your Bessie"! Anthony
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