Irish Flute Tunes

Here’s a jig I was asked to play.  I seem to remember there being a nice version of it on a Josie McDermott record.

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A piping reel which suite the flute.

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Here’s a jig I was asked to record here. It’s a great tune for learning. I hadn’t played it for a long time and am glad to have been reminded of it.

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A good reel which deserves to be played more often than it is.

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Here’s a good reel.  I’m not sure how standard my version is as I haven’t played or heard it for a long time.  I hope it’s OK.

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A very popular piping jig which suits the flute too.

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Here’s a very popular jig - another suggestion from a flute player in internet land.

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Here’s a nice hornpipe.  A flute player called Alexandre suggested this tune, along with a few other ones.  If anyone requests a particular tune, I’ll gladly record it as long as I know it.  My memory isn’t what it was so tunes are exiting my head quicker than they are being replaced.

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There are lots of versions of this tune.  Hopefully this is fairly close to the commonest one.

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Here’s a good piping reel.  As is ofter the case with good piping reels, especially ones in G, it’s good on the flute too.

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Here’s a popular piping jig.  Some people called this “The Piper of the Hearth (or embers)”.  One Irish translation for a cricket is “Píobare an teallaigh” which = the piper of the hearth.  Who knows?

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There were a lot of reels names after this chap.  This one is normally associated with Michael Coleman.

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Here’s a very popular jig.  It works well on the flute.

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Here’s a piping reel.  It has a few F naturals in it.  I tend to play the low octaves with a key and use half-fingering for the high octave ones.  I’m a bit rusty with this tune but hopefully it almost makes sense.

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Here’s a reel with is good for learning and is also a great tune in the standard repertoire of Irish traditional musicians everywhere.

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Here’s a jig which is good on the flute.  I can’t comment on the name.

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Here’s a nice piping reel which suits the flute very well.

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Here’s a very common reel.  It’s a great standard tune for sessions.

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Here’s a reel named after the South Sligo fiddle player , Mr. Finn - Peter Horan’s friend.

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I put these on separately, slowish then quicker, but I thought that as these tunes have been almost conjoined for the last 80 years, it would be inhumane to split them up now.

You’d be much better getting a recording of John McKenna playing these but, in case you can’t get hold of one just yet, here’s a version which is hopefully fairly close to the standard one.

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Here’s the one after the one before.

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This is the first of 2 reels which are usually just known as “McKenna’s”, after the Leitrim flute maestro John McKenna.

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I always think of “The Times There are a Changing” but I think the spelling would need to be a changing too (to two?)

Sorry.  This is a popular jig although I haven’t heard it played for a while.

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Here’s a popular piping reel which suits the flute.  It’s often associated with Willie Clancy.

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Here’s a tune from the fife & Lambeg drum tradition.  Some of these have crept into the repertoires of Irish traditional flute players too.  I can’t remember a name for this one.

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Here are 2 reels which were popularised my Michael Coleman. Here’s my iffy effort.

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Here’s a fifing tune. There are some people in my part of the world who play it on big flutes too.

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Here’s a reel that’s popular on the fiddle too.

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Here are two polkas. The first one is called the “Shelf” polka. I never heard a name for the second one. Charlie O’Neill originally came from Mount Charles in Donegal and then moved to “the Moy” in Tyrone.

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I posted this tune before but it I had the name totally wrong, or the tune, maybe both.  I think this one really is called “The Reel of Mullinavat”.

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