Irish Flute Tunes

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.

 

Peter Wyper’s Hornpipe

Here's a tune called Peter Wyper's hornpipe.  It is named after one of the Brothers Wyper who is pictured above.   I had intended posting a smaller brace of Wypers but couldn't find the shrink button to resize the photo.  You could look at the photo on a smartphone screen to make it small but I think the text would go all exiguous at the same time.

The Humours of Ballyconnell (hornpipe)

Here's a new post after a very long gap.  I couldn't remember where I left the internet.  I was sent an mp3 file of someone playing this tune far better that it is played here.  I know that Séan Keane recorded it at some stage and hear it from time to time in sessions but I can't remember exactly how it goes.  I found a transcription in the bit of the internet referred to below.  I'm afraid I've lost / mis-ordered a few notes during the eye to mouth process but here's an approximation - hopefully enough to get a more accurate and diciplined person started learning the tune. http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/2748

The Home Ruler (hornpipe)

Here's another request from long ago.  I don't think the tune's title refers to a domestic measuring tool.

Higgins’ Hornpipe

I've just been asked to play this tune so here it is.  I'm not too sure how reliable this version is but it is maybe a bit closer to the version common in Ireland than the version on another website near you.  I think it mightn't originally be an Irish tune so maybe the funny version is the normal version where the funny version comes from and the normal version is maybe ... etc. This is also known as "The Cliff Hornpipe".  Whether that's the Cliff of "Summer Holiday" fame, I don't know.

Mulqueeny’s Hornpipe

Here's one I wasn't asked to play.  I wasn't asked not to play it either so as it doesn't seem to be here already I thought I'd give it a go.  I think I was half the age I am now when I last played this tune and if I live to be twice the age I am now I'll either have too few teeth or too much sense to play it again. There's a touch of a farting in the bath sound about it.  Maybe it's more of a windpipe than a hornpipe.

Johnny Cope (hornpipe)

Here a very long hornpipe which I've been asked to play.  I maybe played it a bit too fast the second time around but as it has so many parts I had to rush to finish it before the shops shut. (This version is vaguely like the one in Ceol Rince na hÉireann Vol. 3 - No. 208)

The Little Stack of Wheat (hornpipe)

Here's a tune I've been asked to play.  I think there are various cereal crops piled up in hornpipe names.  In these straitened times maybe a little stack is the most appropriate choice for the days that are in it ... innit'?

The Mathematician (hornpipe)

1 + 1 = ????? Never could add up (or hit a high 'A' - worried about hiatus and all that stuff).

The Sunset (hornpipe-ish)

Here's a tune from a list of ones I was asked to play. I learned it years ago as the "Flying Rockets" / "Robert Emmett's Flying Spaceship". As is the case with sunsets (I think they require the sun to be in the sky at the start of the setting process), I haven't heared tell of this tune for a long time.  I hope I've remembered most of the notes.

The Stack of Barley (hornpipe)

Here's a very common hornpipe. I'm sorry about the sound. I listened back to it (I normally don't) and it sounds as if I recorded it in a particularly cavernous public lavatory. May it was the same one in which some 1970s record companies used to record their traditional music LPs.

The Stage Hornpipe

I've been asked to try this one.  Well, at least I tried.  I sort of learned it once off a Michael Coleman record but I don't have that record any more so I'm relying on memory; never a wise move in my case.

The Sailor's Hornpipe

I don't know that I've ever played this tune before but I've been asked for it so here is an attempt. I'm more of a terra firma person myself but I hope this maritime melody has survived my mal de mer. I've put the apostrophe before the last "s" thinking that this tune was the property of a single salt.

The High Level Hornpipe

Here's a tune which I think is named after a bridge.  Talking of bridges, I think I learned this on the fiddle in B flat.  My fingers seem unwilling to coax this tune out of a 2 keyed flute in that key so here it is in C.  I'm not sure whether C belongs to it but that's how it came out this time.

The Independent Hornpipe

This is one I was asked to play.  I don't know whether the version of the first part that goes up to a high 'C' is the normal one or whether the more land-based one rules the waves or waves at those who rule the land.  I think I heard this tune from a recording of Leo Rowsome who as Rí na bPíobairí ruled over something himself. If anyone listening is fussy about tune versions then this particular one will probably send them straight to www.vexed.com.  Hopefully most other people will either like or ignore as they prefer.

Smith's Favourite (hornpipe)

This is the name this hornpipe is given in Alan's Irish Fiddler. I think I've heard other names, and none, for it too. It's a good tune for exercising the G# key. I've included instances of both hitting and missing it throughout the tune.

Her Long Hair Flowing Down Her Back (hornpipe)

Here's a tune which it was suggested I play.  It was written by Junior Crehan.  The tune is maybe a bit too melodic for the likes of me to play so I hope I haven't mangled it too much. I've often had rain flowing down my back but that doesn't normally inspire anything other than cursing.

The Humours of Tuaimgreine (hornpipe)

Here's a nice hornpipe from County Clare.  Some nice things do come from that county, so I'm told.

The Factory Smoke (hornpipe)

I think this tune is also known as "The Brown Coffin". I thought of the first title, and hence the tune, when I went into the kitchen to check on my dinner and was greeted by acrid fumes which made my eyes feel like I was wearing contact lenses made from slithers of onion. Now that I have eaten the dinner the second title is starting to annoy me. I think this tune is much nicer than my cooking. I've moved it up one from the G minor key some people play it in.

The Showman's Fancy (hornpipe)

The first part of this tune seems to have about as many endings as prople who play it.  It's a cheerful sort of tune for all that.

The Greencastle Hornpipe

Here's a melodic sort of a tune.  It used to be the theme tune of the TG4 programme "Geantraí".  It may well still be but it's on past my bedtime these days so I haven't seen it or heard its intro. for a while.

The Liverpool Hornpipe

This one has just raised its head inside my head for some reason so here it is before I forget it again.

The Belfast Hornpipe

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.

The Broken Bridge Hornpipe

Here's a hornpipe from a new list of tunes I have.  I first heard it in 'A' but my fingers refused to acknowledge this and I've played it here in 'G'.

Walsh's Hornpipe

Here's a nice hornpipe from the South West.

Cronin's Hornpipe

Here's a Sliabh Luachra thing, I think.

The New Century Hornpipe

I have fairly vague memories of the lats time there was a new century.  I suspect the title of this tune refers to the one before that.  The absence of my having been born adds to my amnesia regarding that event.  I hope I've at least remembered the tune.  I think it is in O'Neill's and on the "Contentment is Wealth" record of Sean Keane and Matt Molloy.  You could check those sources for a bit of reassurance.

Joe Cooley's Hornpipe

I'm sure this one is actually le hAinm but I can't remember the name. It's on a very popular record - Noel Hill & Tony Linnane's LP. I've lost this record so I can't get the name of the tune. If someone can remember the name, please let me know and I'll update the title here. I've 2 suggestions now for the name. Is it now "Kitty's Wedding to Joe Cooley"? ... Joe Cooley seems to be in the lead at the moment.

Dunphy's Hornpipe

I'm still in hornpipe mode. The is a fairly common one and is also quite cheerful.

The Galway Hornpipe

Here's a popular hornpipe named after a popular city.

O'Mahoney's Hornpipe

This might not be the "O'Mahoney's" you were expecting (as if people sit around expecting hornpipes of whatever name) but I noticed it under this name in "Ceol Rince na hÉireann Vol 2. I always just called it "do you know this one?". Brendán Breathnach took it down from Denis Murphy's playing for CRÉ 2. I'll go with the present name as I always believe what other people have written.

Lawson's Hornpipe

Here's a very melodic and cheerful hornpipe which was recorded by, among others, Paddy Killoran. It's a great tune to change into from another, slightly less contented, hornpipe.  There are plenty of these about so I'll not suggest any ones in particular.

The Cuckoo Hornpipe

While I'm on an ornithological theme I might as well play this tune. It has high C naturals in the second part. They're probably easiest to get here by half covering the top finger hole. (16th May 2012 - the original cuckoo seems to have flown off so I've recorded another one).

Alex Kerr's Hornpipe

Hello, I'm not sure where I picked this tune up but I recently noticed that a version very like this one os in Ceol Rince na hÉireann Vol2,  number 313.  It's attributed to a musician called Alex Kerr.

Jimmy Lyons' Hornpipe

Here's a tune associated with the fiddle player Jimmy Lyons, who came from Teelin in Co. Donegal.