Irish Flute Tunes

Introduction

 

  

 

 **** Tune Index all Muddled up ****

 

I've just posted a tune here for the first time in months. While I was on the site I noticed that the tune names are no longer in alphabetical order. I think they are now in chronoligical order. If you just type Ctrl +F and then put in the tune name, or part of the name,  it will take you to the link for that tune if it is on the site.

 

*** Some recordings not playing ***

 

Some recordings go missing from this site from time to time; the internet seems to suffer from memory laspses jist like the rest of us. If you find that a recording doesn't play, please let me know. I have the recordings backed up somewhere (though I'm not sure where) and as a last resort I think I might be able to find some of the tunes in my head and somehow transfer them from there back onto the site.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello. This site contains recordings I have made as a source of tunes for people who play the flute, or other instruments for that matter. They are often just versions of tunes as I remember them. My memory isn’t the best so in some cases I cheat and find the dots online. In some cases the online versions and the dots inside my head aren't quite the same so there may be a sort of 'average' appearing. I usually play the tunes once through slowly to make them easier to learn, then I have a bit of a run at them to give another view of them. I hope this approach is OK. If anyone has any comments, or tune suggestions, please get in touch (iflute@googlemail.com).

Thanks, Michael Clarkson (Belfast, Luxembourg and on the Dublin-Belfast Aircoach). 

 

Slowing Down Tunes

 

Just in case the tunes on this site aren’t dull enough, you can slow them down using recent versions of Windows Media Player (I’m sure there are plenty of other ways of doing this too).

 

In Windows Media player click Now Playing at the top of the screen then pick Enhancements and then Play Speed Settings. There is a nice range of speeds displayed but I can only get the half speed one to work. That’s probably enough to be getting on with in any case.

Clarkson's reel

Tune number 748 from O'Neill's Dance Music of Ireland - 1001 gems 

There are 1000 tunes in this book with better names but only some of them are better tunes.

 

 

 

The Cat in the Corner (jig)

O'Neill's Dance Music of Ireland tune number 129

 

I probably would have been better getting the cat to play it.

 

The Day We Paid the Rent (reel)

I play this tune by direct debit.

 

The Wren Hornpipe

Here's another tune from O'Neill's Dance Music of Ireland. I hadn't noticed it before, despite its being there since 1907. I don't remember ever seeing a wren either. Maybe because they're so small.

 

The Tongs by the Fire (jig)

Here's another tune from Francis O'Neill's 'Dance Music of Ireland - 1001 Gems'.

My understanding of 'gem' in today's context is a tune without syncopation and notes keeping close company with other notes they don't get on with.

 

Molly What Ails You? (reel)

Here's tune number 652 in O'Neill's Dance Music of Ireland.

 

It's the best tune between tunes 651 and 653.

 

Jackson's censored Reel

As requested, here's an attempt at a flute version of a steadfastly fiddle tune.

 

 

X: 1
T:Jackson's Reel (sort of flute-friendly'ish)
R: reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Dmaj
|:F|D2FD EDFE| DEFD EAcE|GE ~E2 GABd| ceAc dBAF|
D2FD EDFE| DEFD EFGE| ABce dBAG| F/2G/2F EG FDD:|
|:g|fd d2 ~d3f| edef edcB|A2cA BAcB| ABcA Bcde|
fd d2 ~d3f| edef edcB|ABde faea|1fd d2 ~d3:|2fddc d/2d/2c dB||
A3A B2AG| FAAF G/2F/2E F/2E/2D| ~E3F GFEG| Agec dBAF|
D2FD EDFE| DEFD EG ~G2| ABce dBAG| FAEG FDAF||

 

Here's the uncut version: https://thesession.org/tunes/1665

 

 

Money in Every Pocket but My Own

Here's a tune high in vitamin C. Also called the 'Belfast March', named after a town low in every vitamin.

 

 https://thesession.org/tunes/5000

The Church Street polka

Here's a tune I was asked to post here. It's a great tune but I can't play polkas, so I never play them, so I can't play them, so I never play them, so ...

 

The associated polka dots are here: https://thesession.org/tunes/1560

 

The London Clog

Here's a tune which Tom Morrison recorded i 1928. London clogs are probably mainly fatbergs in the sewers these days.

 

Here it is played properly:

https://archive.org/details/TomMorrisonTheLondonClog

 

Here it is written out badly:

The Milky Way (reel)

This reel was made in space for the flute; sorry this effort isn't as out of this world as the title would suggest.

 

 

Peg McGrath's reel

Here's a tune written by Josie McDermott in honour of Peg McGrath who made one of the nicest flute noises I've ever heard.

 

The Whistling Postman - jig

A short tune to fill a spare minute. I don't know how much postmen/postwomen (or even postmodernists) whistle now under the burden of Amazon boxes.

 

Jack Rowe - reel

Here's a tune I first heard from a recording of John McGuire - Seán's father. The guy in the photo was Jack Rowe - looks like he could blow a flute with the back of his neck. Some feat. Some neck.

 

 

The Mount Collins Reel (The Girls of Farranfore)

Here's a reel which you can hear Denis Murphy playing at: Mount Collins Reel / Doon Reel. There are special wobbles in the second tune which, according to the info at archive.org, are due to a hole being 'punched slightly off-center'. I'd imagine that could cause a wobble or two right enough.

 

Here are some notes: https://thesession.org/tunes/4026

 

Black Pat's Reel

 

I've been living in a teeny weeny flat in Luxembourg for the last three weeks and have been afraid to play in case the people in the teeny weeny flats above and beside me objected. I finally got playing last night in a pub at a session with 4 flutes - just like home only the drink was a lot dearer. This tune was mentioned (not by me) but nobody knew it well enough to play it. I've given myself a crash course in playing the tune today in my teeny weeny apartment in this nice little country. I think the first half of the term 'crash course' might be the most relevant here. I'll blame that on my fear of annoying the residents near my little Luxembourgish lodging.

 

I think Tommy Peoples made this tune up. Best to find a recording of him playing it, or any other tune for that matter.

Sweet Biddy Daly (jig)

This jig is also known as 'Health to the Ladies'. It's a good tune for getting used to playing in A as it doesn't need any G sharps.

As for the identity of Sweet Biddy Daly: I think she was the alter ego of Sour Suzie Knightly.

https://thesession.org/tunes/327

The Gates of Mullagh (reel)

Here's a reel composed by Josephne Keegan. I can't tell you much about the title though I know that a gate is like a door with the outside on its inside and outside; a Mullagh (or mullach) is a hilltop and so lots of hilly places are named after this feature:http://www.teanglann.ie/en/fgb/mullach.

 

Here are some dots: https://thesession.org/tunes/2243

The One Horned Cow (reel)

Here's a reel which was included in O'Neill's Dance Music of Ireland in 1907 as 'An Bhó Mhaol / The Hornless Cow' but was recorded by Liam Walsh in 1933 as 'The One Horned Cow' 

https://archive.org/details/LiamWalshTheFairyReelTheOneHornedCowTheLimestoneRock.  The beast must have sprouted a bit in the intervening 26 years; unless 1930s Waterford had a population of bovine unicorns - possibly only visible to Uilleann Pipers.  Maybe it still does.

(There's a baby battering a table in the background of this recording - more in time than many percussionists). 

Here are the cow's dots.

https://thesession.org/tunes/2825

The Lonesome Jig

Here's a Lonesome Jig.  It only has 681 companions on this site so far - no wonder it feels a bit isolated.

The Blarney Pilgrim (jig)

Here's a tune I've managed to overlook during the years I've been putting tunes on this site.  It refers to the Blarney Stone the kissing of which is reputed to leave a great facility for fine talk on the lips which were in contact with said stone.  I was taken for my contact with the Blarney Stone when I was a child, though I think I was held the wrong way up and the incorrect bit of me made contact with the little rock of eloquence.

You can find the dots here:

https://thesession.org/tunes/5

Mama's Pet (3)

I've just got my nice old flute back from a period in a flute hospital so felt inspired to post a tune on it before I break it again.

This tune appears to be the third Mama's Pet I've posted here so she'll maybe able to open a small zoo.  I'm not sure what species this pet is or even how many limbs it has, if any, or whether it has fur or just skin or scales.  The details I could find are here:

http://tunepal.org/tunepal/show_tune.php?tunepalid=1290-12.abc-1-Mama~s~Pet

The Shamrock Barndance

Here's a tune popular among some fiddle players in Donegal.  I'm not sure whether it is unpopular among everyone else in that county but I'll maybe avoid playing it there just to be on the safe side.

There is a version of it here: http://thesession.org/tunes/11250 taken down from the fiddle playing of Vincent Campbell (presumably one of the Donegal fiddle players amongst whom this tune is popular).  I've also heard a recording of John Doherty playing it and I first learned it from another fiddle player, i.e. Paul O'Shaughnessy who has a keen awarness of the Donegal fiddle zeitgeist.

The Walls of Limerick (Reel)

Just grabbing a rare moment in the house when not being entertained / attacked (it's a fine line) by children.  The first 2 minutes of that moment have been used up by playing this reel.  www.tunepal.org told me it is called the Walls of Limerick.  I have it on a recording of John McKenna on the flute with Michael Gaffney (I think) on the banjo.  The notes at http://tunepal.org/tunepal/show_tune.php?tunepalid=266-hnr2.abc-2-Walls~of~Limerick%2C~The look very like it.  I'm sure all will be revealed and explained when 'Imminent' becomes 'Recent' in a while ... http://www.johnmckenna.ie/irish-time/.

Down The Meadow - Reel

Here's a tune which John McKenna recorded.  To hear it played properly in digitised ex-shiny-shellac format you'll soon be able to buy the CD referred to here:

http://www.johnmckenna.ie/irish-time/

The notation here isn't too far off the way McKenna had it (closer that I could manage in any case).

http://thesession.org/tunes/12577

Last Night's Joy (reel)

Here's a reel I just heard on a recording of the Donegal fiddle maestro John Doherty.

There are a few written versions here:  http://tunepal.org/tunepal/search_titles_new.php?q=last+night%27s+joy

As for the title - I think mine was finding half a packet of Kettle Chips and only being beaten 9:3 at Connect Four by my phone.

Roger's Jig

Here's an old, neglected Sligo jig.   There's a recording of Paddy Sweeney from Moylough in Sligo playing it on a fiddle in 1937: http://archive.org/details/PaddySweenyRogersJigVillageJig.  I like listening to recordings like that of tunes played at a quick pace and then hearing people who extol the virtues of Coleman, Sweeney, Killoran et al, giving off at people for playing too fast when they are playing much slower that their heroes every played.  I'm sorry if that was a very clumsily cobbled sentence - I'm not used to the heat - a bit of which has been visited upon us of late.  You'll be able to find the tune in squashed tadpole form at http://thesession.org/tunes/11483 and play it at whatever speed you like.

The Southwest Wind (An Ghaoth Aniar Aneas) - jig

Here's a jig from the South West - mar atá Co. Clare.  I associate it with Willie Clancy.  I'm not sure whether its title refers to the direction the air flowed through his pipes while he played it.  I think my flute was more Mecca-wards when I was playing it on this occasion - that would just be a west wind - with slight precipitation towards the end of the tune. For disciples of the dot there's always http://tunepal.org/tunepal/show_tune.php?tunepalid=8445-75.abc-1-Southwest~Wind%2C~The.

Michael Ryan's reel

Here's a Gan Ainm - one of a host of Gans Ainm in Breandán Breathnach's Ceol Rince na hÉireann 2.  At least the person BB got the tune from had an ainm - namely Michael Ryan, a flute player from Co. Sligo, so (that's 'so' the conjunction rather than the Sligo 'SO' that you may see on a numberplate in Ballymote) I'll call the tune after Mr. R.   Mr. B. gave the reel the rather appealing number 142 in his book.