Having come to playing English tunes after having played Irish tunes for quite a while, I find many aspects of them are bit confusing. In Irish music - probably because it has always been played by so many thousands of people - categorisation of tunes and the formats of tune-types is pretty clear-cut, with little ambiguity. Not so in English music, I find.

One thing I find a bit obscure is the playing of reels. I've read at least one very knowledgable source suggest that the reel in English music doesn't exactly exist as a tune-type as such, only as a dance. So you can play a polka or a hornpipe to accompany the dance known as a reel. Is this true? Often when I hear players of English traditional music playing what they call a reel, it doesn't sound much different to when they are playing a polka. Or even a hornpipe (though less so in that instance, depending on how dotted they play it).

So what are the main differences in terms of playing (and/or tempo?) between a reel and a polka in English music? Are there defining characteristics of the English reel? Does it even exist as a musical form distinct from its dance?