Irish Flute Tunes

Here's a tune written by the concertina player William Mullaly (1884 - ca.1955) from Mullingar.

I was reminded of it by a recording of the recently departed fantastic musician Charlie Harris. That recording, along with a recording of William Mullaly himself playing it in the extreme olden days, is available here: The Drunraney Lass on "The Session".

 

The tune reminds me of "The Lark on the Strand". I'm not sure whether that Lark's egg came before or after this particular Drunraney chicken.

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a tune I learned from a recording of the Chicago fiddle player Johnny McGreevy. The session.org call it "By Golly". I was  surrprised to see "By Golly" written on the "session" site without an exclamation mark. So surprised that I nearly said "OMG!!!!!!!!!!". 

 

 

There's more information about the tune and the Jimmy Neary (and it's played properly!) at https://connollymusiccollection.bc.edu/document/457.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

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

 

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.

 

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.

 

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

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

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

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.

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.

Here's a close relative of the 'Lark in the Morning'.  This one has fewer parts - from my playing it sounds as though it may be missing a wing and part of its voice. http://tunepal.org/tunepal/show_tune.php?tunepalid=87-cces-tunes2.abc-20-Morning%7ELark

Here's an old jig played on an old flute. This poor flute is falling apart, maybe due to modern nasties like central heating which weren't about when it was young.  It seems not to like being 'My Warmer Fife'.

Here's a tune I've played for years.  I never knew a name for it so I played it into the magic tunepal.org machine and that is where this title came out of.  My first part for the tune is a bit different from the versions on the computer but I suppose there's no harm in that.  It's worth taking note of the advice on the photo even if the tune is of no interest.

Here's an approximation of O'Neill's version of a popular jig.  The dots can be found at: http://www.oldmusicproject.com/AA3Sheet/0701-1200/Sheet-0801-0900/0812-GirlsBanbridge.gif If you want to hear it played properly you could do worse than click on this link: http://archive.org/details/MichaelColemanGirlsofBainbridgeCherishtheLadies . The name  in Coleman's version is 'Bainbridge' - maybe a reference to characters in Beryl's very early work  (she'd have been 8 at the time).

Here's a tune I was asked a while ago to play. I've always been a bit allergic to this tune - I'm not sure why - I think something bad like the house falling down happened the last time I played it and that left a bit of an impression which didn't please me too much. It's a good tune all the same. I think it's really 2 jigs joined together. I'm away to stand outside for a while in case this house isn't up to the Knocknagow test.

I think this is also called The Collier's Jig.  There's a collier's reel too which has the same general selection if notes in it.  I'll post it on the site if it's not already here. I've been reminded a couple of times lately that some people are finding some use for some of the tunes on this site so I thought I'd try to add one or two more.  It remains to be seen whether they'll fall into the useful category or otherwise.  I have a couple of requested tunes still to post as well.  I'm just being delayed by not knowing them and almost never having a flute closer that about 20 feet away.  If I attended to the latter matter then my chance of sorting the former should increase accordingly.

I've been laptopless for a while so have hadn't been able to post any tunes.   I now have a new laptop and it and an old flute have combined to record this not so new jig.  I'm not used to the recording level on the new computer so this post may only be audible to canine creatures.   Maybe they can be persuaded to bark a louder version out if necessary.

Here's a nice jig.  I can't type any more as I can hear a baby stirrng; a baby who cares little about this site and the words and notes thereon.

Here's a jig I heard on a recording of Michael Gorman.  It's called Guiry's favourite in O'Neill's. I was a bit distracted by an infant with a new set of noisy birthday presents but hopefully the tune recovers sufficiently frequently to make it possible to pick up.

I found a 'please play the battering ram' email so here's said man-ewe (not Man U which I believe is a soccer team). This rendition is more sheepish than extraordinary but most of the notes are there.

Here's a jig about a betting Priest, or a Priestly bet.  I don't know how he fared in the gamble but the jig flutters on to this day. There are a few versions of this knocking about.  This is more or less like the one in O'Neill's Dance Music of Ireland.

I've been asked to play this one so here it is.  There's a tune call "snow on the hills" a few posts down.  This one is continuing the theme but maybe has more to do with Kagools than with skis.

Here's a tune I overheard someone asking for. I've a couple more to do too and I'll get around to them as soon as I find where I tied the knot in my hankerchief.

I was asked to play this a while ago but haven't had much of a chance to play anything lately. The request referred to the "lovely flowing style" of a certain well known flute player.  I'm afraid I can only do stumbling but the tune can still hopefully be learned from here.

I'm sure nobody was wondering what it sounds like when a person plays a jig they don't know while looking out at a pissing wet August afternoon.  Just on the off chance that anyone was ...

I've seen this tune with a "Hinch" and also with a "Hench". I was never a good henchman so I'll stick with i before e

Here's a tune which I found lurking amongst the ones which I must have uploaded at some stage.  I don't know why I never posted this one and I'm too much of a coward to listen back to it to find out.  I'll leave the mal de mer to others. There is a lovely tune called "The Rolling Wave".  I hope this is like it but I'll not bet on it.

There's a jig called "Kitty's Rambles" / "The Rambles of Kitty" (depending on which form of the genitive case is to the fore) but this one is nothing like it, apart from having the same time signature, structure and almost the same name.  I've never seen this one referred to as "The Rambles of Cat" but I have seen "Whelan's Old Sow" (but not "The Old Sow of Whelan") pinned to it. Neither tunes' names nor names of tunes ever made much sense to me.  Hopefully this cat's / Kit's / whatever you please sir's, apostrophised journey won't lead to an 'astrophe.

This is a fairly common tune. I'm sorry if it appears hurried in places but I was getting withering looks from a baby while I played it and that put me off a bit.

Here's a very popular jig which I was asked to play.  It's especially popular among people who are learning to play the flute or the tin whistle.  Stair carpets have a lesser regard for it.

Maybe safer with the twig if time is an issue.

I can't promise that this tune will provoke as enthusiastic a reaction in other people as it did in Bess. Maybe she didn't get out much. I think it's a decent tune all the same which maybe doesn't get out enough either.

Here's another port gan ainm. Níl port le hainm fágtha agam faoin am seo. I seem to have run out of names of tunes to post so I'm going to have to start ganning ainms for the next while. I learned this jig from a piper who has an ainm - Robbie Hannan - but whose ainm for this jig escapes me just now. I was never sure just how the two parts of the tune got on with each other but sometimes I can sense an uneasy peace between them.

Here's my attempted response to a request for this tune.  Like most old and popular tunes it has lots of versions.  I hope that this is at least in some way related to some of them.  The Christmas to New Year period is left my memory more muddled than usual.  I hope to be more organised in 2008.

Here's a nameless wonder.  I don't suppose it would be very sociable of me to spend time posting tunes on the internet tomorrow, even ones with names,  so here's my Happy Christmas effort.  I hope Santa is kind to everyone and the tunes make it down the chimney without too much incident.

Here's a jig which I think is actually a single jig.  I don't really understand all these different jig types so I'll just play the notes and leave the counting to those better qualified than I am.  I think I first learned this tune from a book of the same name by Francie McPeake.  This version is probably a bit different but as I can't find the book I can't be sure.

Here's a jig I nicked off a record of Johnny Cronin and Joe Burke (that's Burke with a beard and banjo rather than a beard and box).  The name is sometimes given to Father O'Flynn's jig as well.

Here's my very belated response to a request to post this tune.  I hope late turns out to be better than never.

I was told this name for this tune by someone I sometimes trust.  I'm not sure whether this is one of those occasions. I hope it's a nice jig whatever its name is.

Here's a nice plain tune which shouldn't do anyone too much harm.

A popular jig. I can't tell you much about it now as I have to rush off now.

Here's a song turned into a jig. Sorry for the higgledy-pigglediness of the posts over the next few days. I'll tidy them up next week.

Here's one I was asked for.  I'm not too sure of the second part so I looked it up.  I hope I didn't mess it up too.  The tune itself should be nice enough and strong enough to survive the slight mangling I gave it.

Brendán Breathnach got this jig from James Byrne's father John and included it in Ceol Rince na hÉireann vol. 2.  That was very considerate of him.

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.

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.

There are world wheels of the reel variety but here are the ones in jig time.  This jig can be found on one of Mary Bergin's records, among other places.

Here's a jig which had this name put on it when it was put on "Kerry's Own" Paddy Cronin's LP.  It was made into dots in Ceol Rince na hÉireann Vol. 3 (number 7). I don't think it's played all that often but it is a comfortable tune for playing on a flute.

Here's a nice jig (I have yet to admit to playing any horrible ones but I'm sure there are plenty of emetic melodies on this site) which comes from the tin whistle playing of Paddy Breen from Co. Clare.  Michael Tubridy put it on his LP "The Eagle's Whistle".  There's a recording of Paddy Breen to be got too, in case anyone is really keen. http://www.folktrax.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/menus/cassprogs/078.htm (26/09/2008  The link above doesn't work any more.  This one does: http://web.archive.org/web/20020605035813/www.folktrax.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/menus/main.html A search on the page for 078 will then find the recording. It a fine recording of a great musician.  I hope it is still available.  The contact details on the site will hopefully lead you to it.)

Here's another one from my new list.  I hope it's the right one. I've already played it as "Amhrán an Tae" (The Tea Song) but as I used a different key and a different name, I'm claiming that it is a different tune. It's a good tune to exercise the G sharp key although the wee finger on my left hand seemed fairly reluctant to be party to procedure.  I think I'm going to play tunes with no notes in them at all for the next while - sort of John Cage on the flute.

Here's a nice jig which I stole from the same place as the previous two tunes.

Here's the first of today's "sure he's just nicking tunes of Bothy Band records now" tunes.  I stole it from a Bothy Band record.  Ir's a sort of slide / jig but I'll keep it in the jig section as I'm too far north for sliding.

Here's a jig Mary Bergin recorded.  It's not a long way to Old Tipperary from this tune on the same record.

Here's a popular jig.  I'm sure I heard it on a well known record of a very recognizable musician but my memory seems to have fled my head.

Here's another one from your man.

There might be something Scottish, maybe even Scott Skinnerish about this jig. I heard it from Sean McGuire but I'm OK.

I learned this from James Byrne who is a great fiddle player from Meenacross, near Glencolmbkille in Donegal.  I'm not sure whether it has another name.  It sounds a bit like a slide to me.  There are quite a few of these tunes which have ended up in Donegal.  They must have taken a wrong turn in Killarney one day.

A very popular tune - you can probably blame the Bothy Band for that. As with most popular tunes, it has a good melody and rhythm.  That's probably why it's popular.  If that's a load of rubbish then it must just be popular courtesy of the Bothy Band.  I don't know whether any of them liked it or were just asked to play it. I think it's quite nice.

I was asked for this tune and recorded the hornpipe.  I never knew it was also a jig but here's the jig.  Lovely Leitrim's full of fancies.

A very popular piping jig which suits the flute too.

Here's a jig with a few B flats and F naturals.  Can a flute be a can of worms?  I do the B flats with half-covering.  The F naturals are with a short key.  I was always a bit vague about the exactitude of the accidentals.  Anyway, it'll be one source of the tune for whoever wants it.

Here's a melodic jig which is I don't hear played all that much (I wonder if that could be because I almost never go to sessions these days).  I think it deserves a bit of an airing from time to time.

Here's a great tune for the flute.  It's melodic, easy to play, easy to remember and other people know it (and it's in 'G', which always helps).

More Geese

I think this jig is on a record of Bobby Casey, a fiddle player from County Clare.

Here's a very popular tune.  It's always a good standard one to learn but doesn't get recorded all that often.  It's worth digging out a recording of James Morrison playing it to show that it really does have a life. I've played it slow at first and then quickened up a little. There's nothing wrong with common tunes.  There probably only so common because people like them.

The first one is Amhrán an Tae (The Tea Song) and I've called the second one "Denis Murphy's".  Considering the number of tunes the last Mr. Murphy knew, this title is usually a safe bet when you don't know the actual name.

Here are 2 jigs - Contentment is wealth and Tom Billy's. The second part of the first one often varies. I've taken a sort of average.