Episodes
Sunday Sep 30, 2007
Jerry's Beaver Hat
Sunday Sep 30, 2007
Sunday Sep 30, 2007
Here's a very popular jig. Thanks Mary for reminding me of it. I seem to be struggling a bit with it in places. I think this might just be my blackwood flute getting jealous of its new sibling.
Saturday Sep 29, 2007
The Contradiction Reel
Saturday Sep 29, 2007
Saturday Sep 29, 2007
This is really a fiddle tune but apart from the differences with strings, shape, holes, method of playing, sound and a few other things, a flute is just like a fiddle. I'm not sure whether this is really like a tune but it'll pass a couple of minutes finding out.
Saturday Sep 29, 2007
The Sally Gardens
Saturday Sep 29, 2007
Saturday Sep 29, 2007
Here's a very common tune. Don't try singing Yeats to this version.
Friday Sep 28, 2007
The Stone in the Field (reel)
Friday Sep 28, 2007
Friday Sep 28, 2007
I think I'm getting used to this new flute now. I'm not quite so sure about being used to the recording levels to stop the Ps escaping from the MP3 files of it.
Thursday Sep 27, 2007
The Glencolmbcille Reel
Thursday Sep 27, 2007
Thursday Sep 27, 2007
Andy McGann called this as above. John Doherty called it "The Fantastic Reel". I think I should call it a day. I'll try again tomorrow. I'll call that Friday.
Wednesday Sep 26, 2007
The Whinny Hills of Leitrim
Wednesday Sep 26, 2007
Wednesday Sep 26, 2007
Here's a slip jig. There are a few with this name, maybe not one for every hill in lovely Leitrim but at least two or three. I'll try to remember them. In the meantime I'd better go off and feed my hungry new flute with almond oil.
Tuesday Sep 25, 2007
Brendan Tonra's Jig
Tuesday Sep 25, 2007
Tuesday Sep 25, 2007
Here's a nice jig from a fiddle player I met the only time I was ever in America. I'm playing it on a brand new flute here and I have also been eating chicken too recently. I'm not sure that that is a perfect set of circumstances for flute playing but I hope the tune is decipherable amidst the lathe whirring and the distressed clucking.
Tuesday Sep 25, 2007
Stay Another While
Tuesday Sep 25, 2007
Tuesday Sep 25, 2007
This tune has probably stayed too many whiles in its limbo place prior to my posting it now. As a result I can't remember how badly I played bits of it so I'll just apologise for it all.
Sunday Sep 23, 2007
The Humours of Tulla
Sunday Sep 23, 2007
Sunday Sep 23, 2007
Here are some humours. I hope you like them. Bye bye for now.
Saturday Sep 22, 2007
Last Night's Fun (2)
Saturday Sep 22, 2007
Saturday Sep 22, 2007
It was such a good night that it required two reels to do it justice.
Friday Sep 21, 2007
Last Night's Fun (1)
Friday Sep 21, 2007
Friday Sep 21, 2007
Here's a popular reel commemorating a recent evening's enjoyment.
Thursday Sep 20, 2007
Mrs. Creehan's Reel
Thursday Sep 20, 2007
Thursday Sep 20, 2007
Here's a flute-friendly tune. I'm sure Mrs. C was very genial too.
Tuesday Sep 18, 2007
The Sandmount
Tuesday Sep 18, 2007
Tuesday Sep 18, 2007
This is called "Mick Hand's Reel" on a Mary Bergin record. That's tantamount to a hand mount. Whatever all this amounts to it is a nice reel.
Monday Sep 17, 2007
The Liverpool Hornpipe
Monday Sep 17, 2007
Monday Sep 17, 2007
This one has just raised its head inside my head for some reason so here it is before I forget it again.
Sunday Sep 16, 2007
Pretty Maggie Morrissey
Sunday Sep 16, 2007
Sunday Sep 16, 2007
Here's a fairly inoffensive sort of tune. That in itself might be reason enough for playing it.
Saturday Sep 15, 2007
The Old Wheels of the World
Saturday Sep 15, 2007
Saturday Sep 15, 2007
I still haven't got round to playing the new ones. They appear to be in the process of falling off at the moment so I'm maybe best leaving them to it.
Thursday Sep 13, 2007
Mama's Pet (2)
Thursday Sep 13, 2007
Thursday Sep 13, 2007
Here's Mama's other pet. It think it is currently my pet Mama's Pet.
Thursday Sep 13, 2007
Mama's Pet (1)
Thursday Sep 13, 2007
Thursday Sep 13, 2007
Here's one of Mama's pets. I know of at least one other so Mama must never have been lonely.
Wednesday Sep 12, 2007
The Belfast Hornpipe
Wednesday Sep 12, 2007
Wednesday Sep 12, 2007
This is also known as the Sweep's hornpipe. Poor old Béal Feirste could do with a good brushing. Now that the whole town is a smokeless zone there are probably plenty of spare bristled implements with which to effect that very same cleanup.
Monday Sep 10, 2007
Tomeen O'Dea's Reel (Ríl Thomáisín Uí Dheaghdha)
Monday Sep 10, 2007
Monday Sep 10, 2007
For such a simple reel there seem to be a lot of ways of playing the second part. I've had a go at a few of them here. It's a great tune for the flute.
Sunday Sep 09, 2007
Dillon's Fancy (reel)
Sunday Sep 09, 2007
Sunday Sep 09, 2007
I don't know which Dillon liked this one - Bob, Thomas or the rabbit from the Magic Roundabout, but I admire his, her or its taste.
Saturday Sep 08, 2007
Ask My Father
Saturday Sep 08, 2007
Saturday Sep 08, 2007
Here's a 12/8 single jig. It's a sort of pipey thing but a flute can think that it is a pipe when necessary.
Friday Sep 07, 2007
The Humours of Whiskey (2)
Friday Sep 07, 2007
Friday Sep 07, 2007
There seem to be quite a few tunes with this name. Most of them are slip jigs. I think I know what causes them to slip. It took me about ten minutes to get anything even resembling a tune out of my flute this morning. I'm sorry if this tune sounds excessively reluctant.
Wednesday Sep 05, 2007
The Scowling Wife
Wednesday Sep 05, 2007
Wednesday Sep 05, 2007
Here's a reel I think I heard from James Byrne who is a great fiddle player from Donegal. I'm not sure what scowling looks like (I've led a charmed life) so apologies if the attached image is erroneously selected.
Wednesday Sep 05, 2007
Scatter The Mud (jig)
Wednesday Sep 05, 2007
Wednesday Sep 05, 2007
Here's a jig which doesn't seem to get just as much playing as it used to. Maybe scattering mud has been superseded by slinging it. This version is fairly close to the one on O'Neill's book although my copy is very old and grubby and it can be hard to tell whether some of the black marks are notes or just scattered bits of dirt.
Tuesday Sep 04, 2007
The Jolly Tinker
Tuesday Sep 04, 2007
Tuesday Sep 04, 2007
Here's a tune referring to a multi tasking person who can also be drunken, yellow and have daughters. I'm sure there there are more things to add to that list too.
Monday Sep 03, 2007
The Otter's Holt (reel)
Monday Sep 03, 2007
Monday Sep 03, 2007
Here's a popular reel. I've probably seen an otter as recently as I have played this reel until now and I hope the notes have more or less landed where they belong.
Sunday Sep 02, 2007
Tansey's Favourite
Sunday Sep 02, 2007
Sunday Sep 02, 2007
Here's a reel which shares part of its name with a well known flute player. I'll not say which part of the name applies. I might have played this one on my plastic flute but I'm not sure. I've been to Dublin and appear to have left most of my memory there.
Saturday Sep 01, 2007
Crowley's Reel (2)
Saturday Sep 01, 2007
Saturday Sep 01, 2007
This is probably cruelty to a Crowley but here's the second half of the pair anyway. I'm posting this in absentia (one of my favourite places) so it will probably be on the wrong side of the introduction for a day. I'm sure that all means nothing but I wanted to type it anyway. (This is another plastic flute experiment)