Irish Flute Tunes

Here's a slip jig which I was asked to post here.  It's been so long since I posted anything that the requestor has probably forgotten requesting it. I don't know whether you need a special type of fig for a kiss; "can I have a fig please; one of those ones you use for ... ?" and if so is it the same sort which helps with the digestive processes.  Maybe just typing this little 'f' word will ease the blockage in my tune posting pipeline. I must go now and post some Santa cards.

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'?

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 reel which is also called "Murphy's Hound".  I'm not sure how it got these two names or what the connection may be between them.  Something to do with the Isle of Dogs maybe, though as one island is in the Thames and the other in the Atlantic, I may well be barking up the wrong tree entirely.

The question mark is part of the title, not an indication of doubt about what the title is.  Having said (or typed) that, I'm not sure whether said question mark should be in the title.  Maybe I should have typed (or written) 'Anything for John-Joe??'.  I'm not too sure about the hyphen either. Hopefully the tune is more straightforward???

The recent weather which, according to the radio person, is the worst and snowiest since the last time we were told it was the worst since bad weather started to be bad and to be recorded as such, has reminded me that I was asked to post this tune. I didn't know it so here's just a rough guess as to what the dots at www.snowonthehills.org (http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display.php/8535) say it goes like.

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 dinny play this before 'cause I dinny know it right.  Chance I still donny but here's a try. (See CRÉ 3 uimh.145 for more reliable version.)

Here's a wee tune I stole out of Ceol Rince na hÉireann 3 (uimhir 57). I know it's meant to be bad luck stealing or interfering with thorn bushes in the wild.  Hopefully na daoine beaga don't take such a dim view of thorn thefts from tomes.

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

Here's a slip jig.  It's maybe more of a slip shod in this incarnation.   It's a good tune for anyone with a memory and a set of pipes.  I have neither but tried to make do all the same.

I was asked to play this one so long ago that I nearly forgot but here it is; caught just in time. I used to think the title of this tune has something to do with petrol stations.  I then learned a bit (a very little bit) about spelling.  Any quasi-judicial activitles that used to occur round here tended to be located at the back of petrol stations rather than in front of them in any case.

I think this is also called the "Forget-me-not".  Any notion of a sieve-for brains like playing a tune with a name like that doesn't seem right somehow so I'll just keep calling it Redican's.

There are lots of versions of this highland.  This is in danger of sounding like none of them but it is an attempt to at least resemble a version I heard on a recording of the fiddle player Jimmy Lyons from Teelin, Co. Donegal.  It's far less fiddly on the fiddle than the flute.  If playing it in A is too annoying, just drop it down to G.  The flute seems to like it there but as someone went to the trouble of making a G# key for my flute, I thought I should go to the trouble of pressing it the odd time.

I haven't had many chances to post tunes lately and this one was a bit of a rushed job.  Any sound of a screaming baby in the background is hopefully a reflection on his distaste for bedtime rather than for my playing.  Sorry;  who am I trying to kid?  I've stopped playing now and the baby is now dreaming sweet dreams (of daddies who don't play flutes perhaps).

This one used to be played by Con Cassidy. I should maybe let lazy dogs lie and not try to rush them. The tune bit me in a few places on this occasion for not following that advice but time constraints and all that these days ... (25/08/08 - apologies - this isn't the Lazy Dog Highland - Marin is right.  When I get time I will get this sorted out.  The dog looks sort of comfortable here though).

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.

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.

I think I have another version of this tune posted here.  In a moment of inspiration I called it "Barndance".  That moment of inspiration occurred at 2 o'clock on a Sunday morning after many, many hours in a pub. Hopefully this version is slightly less "inspired" (though it's still a bit shabby in parts).

Here's one I forgot about.  Maybe I forgot too much about.

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.

Here's a tune which has the same number of names as it has parts. It may also have other names I don't know about.

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.

Here's a reel composed by Edward V Reavy.  I hope I haven't decomposed it too much here.

Here's a version of a popular reel from South West Donegal.  There's at least one other version of this tune and once I've got over the trauma of trying to remember this one I'll try to remember it too. I've put 2 tunes on today as it being the twelfth of July, there are lots of other flute players and their friends clogging the streets of Belfast and causing businesses and places of entertainment to close. This gives me a lot of time to spend in the house this sunny Saturday.

I was asked to play this reel and here's my attempt to oblige. Séamus Ennis's father wrote the tune and there's a great rendition of Séamus playing available on a CD. I think youtube even has a video of the same performance. My attempt at picking through the tune is far from what the real thing is but at least it's in 'D'. (I had to find some good point to refer to).

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.

I've been asked to play this one so here it is.  There are lots of versions of it and I'm never sure which one is closest to a standard one.  I'll not guarantee than this effort will make people any the wiser as to the answer to that question.

As with a lot of apparently simple tunes, there are lots of variations of this reel.  This is in danger of not being any of them.

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.

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.

Maybe safer with the twig if time is an issue.

Here's yet another reel. It differs from the others which I've posted in that it is called "The Antrim Rose" while they are not. I am currently sitting in said county with a thorny, fragrant flower of the genus rosa within 8 feet of me. I don't think that has anything to do with this choice of tune though. There are plenty of other things even closer to hand than roses but I'm not about to play "The Dirty Mug".

I'm sorry about the clicky G# key in this one.  I think my fingers may need a drop oil too.

Here's a slightly dry-mouthed and dry-fluted go at "The Tempest".  My mouth is now so dry after playing it that I can't even type any more nonsense about it.

Here's one I was asked for.  For some reason (maybe because I almost never go out playing) I haven't heard this tune for a while so this version mightn't be very up to date.  It may have a chance of being recognised as at least a relative of the "Flowing Bowl" which does get played by people who do go out.

I've recently been reminded of this one.  I never knew its name until about ten minutes ago.  Maybe in another ten minutes' time I'll know the notes as well. I think Paddy O'Brien wrote it.  It was probably a lovely tune when it left his fingers first ... like they say in Belfast about the Titanic - "it was all right when it left here".

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.

I know there is a name out there somewhere for this reel so I'll not write a whole pile on nonsense just now about the lack of one as I'll probably only have to change it soon anyway.

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.

Here's one I've been asked to record.  I had to look it up and I'm a bit uncertain of ho it goes.  This version is probably sufficiently washed-up to at least have some shore connections anyway.

Here's one for flutes with flats.  It's a bit vague here as per usual but it's a nice wee tune.

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.

As usual the playing here is a bit vague.  The tune just occurred to me so I thought I'd play it while the sausages were cooking.  They're done now - probably about as half-baked as this recording.

Here's a reel which I was asked to play. I'm not writing a disclaimer with the "Iwas asked to play" bit. It's just that I'm so glad to have been asked that I can't help but mention the asking in the posting. I used to think this was a new fangled sort of a tune but the likes of Willie Clancy played it and Francis O'Neill has it in his collection from 1907 (I missed the centenary balloons anuraidh). Here's my Friday evening go at it anyway. (The name makes me think of taking leaves intravenously. I've (y) more chance of taking leave of my ....).

I've been asked to play this.  Having tried to play it I think I know why it I never did before now (I think it might be awkward on the flute).  I couldn't even work out what the first note ought to be.  I don't think I have enough of a bunker mentality. Anyway, here's a sort of run at it.  I hope there are only 3 parts in the tune.  That's certainly all there are here. Maybe this rendition will offend someone out there into learning the tune properly.  I'm away out now to get wet and educated.

Here's another tune I was asked to post. Posting ponies; is that like Pony Express are are they just post ponies? Anyway, I'm never too sure of the first part but that wasn't the focus of the query to which I'm trying to respond here. I hope I haven't forgotten about any parts either. It's a good job that the latter bits (another equine apparatus related term) hadn't too many low notes as on finishing the tune I noticed that my foot joint (hoof?) had fallen off. I hope that the tune is OK, though, and promise that no animals were hurt in the recording of it.

Here's a fiddle tune.  The flute's only really a fiddle with more holes and fewer strings so it's probably acceptable to play fiddle tunes on it.  It even starts with the same letter. I vaguely remember being in a group once, many years ago, and "Mooncoin" was the polite one of the two names it had.  That's my only connection with Mooncoins.

I've just been asked to play this tune so here is an attempt at it. I'm about to go and do the washing up now and am feeling a bit uneasy about what may be lurking under last night's saucepans. A few wriggling elvers may actually be quite an effective dish dirt dislodger though.

Here's a reel I was asked to play. My postings of late have been about as frequent as my blacksmith sightings, merry or otherwise, but being reminded of this tune at least stirred me into a brief flurry of activity. This particular tune is very suitable for the flute and provides ample opportunity for anvilesque hammering sounds on the D notes. On this occasion I seem to have let most of these opportunities slip by but at least it's nice to know that they will still be there the next time I try the tune.

Here's a common reel.  I thought I'd probably have played this one already but I didn't see it on the site.  Maybe I called it by another name ("don't kiss me Kate" perhaps). I hope this version is OK.  My recall facility for tunes has been a bit vague lately.

I'm not really the right person to be playing this great composer's tunes but as I'm the one who happens to be nearest this computer, I'll have to do.  I've just called this No.1 to mark it out from any subsequent PF reels which I might play in future.

This is yet another tardy response to a request to record a tune.  I'm delighted to be asked to play specific tunes as it saves me having to think them up for myself. I had to look this one up on the internet as I didn't know it.  I hope my dot to note transfer has allowed the tune to arrive without being too scathed. I think this tune is in B minor.  My bad spelling allows me to think of digging in the ground for stripy, stingy things (stingy as in needle-arsed rather than tight arsed) but that's neither here nor there in the context of this tune. (Sorry for using the 'a' word).

Here's a fairly popular one, as are many enchanted things and persons.

Here's another tune I was asked for.  I've tried to oblige but I haven't quite got my sea legs.  I might have been better scuttling this attempt.

Here's another request.  I'm afraid I didn't recognise the name of the tune so I looked it up in www land.  It sort of sounds familiar; mouth organs spring to mind (if that's a thing they can do) and by the end of the tune I thought I maybe knew the start.  The version is at the mercy of whoever put it on the internet and whether he or she has the use of a reliable set of ears.

Here's a tune I was asked to play.  I'm sorry it took me so long getting round to it.  There are a few other tune requests that I'm currently in the process of taking even longer over. I played a three part version at the end of this recording.  I've heard three parts from a few people, one being Paddy Canny.  My problem regerding part 3 may be that in fact Paddy can whereas I canny play it but I thought I'd try anyway.

I was asked to post this tune and am grateful to have been asked.  I don't know why I hadn't thought of it myself.  The setting here may be a bit dodgy but that may help to take the bad look off some of the other tunes I have played recently. I have another reel which I've been asked to play but I think I'll need to excavate a particular tape recording before I can chance the second half of it.  I'm off now to look for a shovel.

Here's another Martin Wynne thing. I'm not sure where I learned it but it seems to have been hovering about in quite a few places. If I can think of MW3 I'll have a got at it too.

I was asked ages ago to play this tune.  I'm sorry it took so long but I always got distracted any time I set about playing it. I think this is the number two variety of Martin Wynne reel.  I'll have to get round to recording at least one other so as to bring about a Wynne Wynne situation.

I can't think of anything to write about this reel so

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.

I was asked to play a reel of this name.  I know there are several boys, and more than one Ballynahinch for that matter, in this country so I hope I have correctly identified all parties involved.  If I have got the wrong tune please let me know and I'll try to mend my ways.

I've finally got around to playing this one which I was asked to play ages ago. The second part has always been a bit of a mystery to me. I hope I haven't made it even more of one with this effort. I think some of the notes are right and the order in which they appear is mroe or lses KO. (This tune had a helium fit earlier. If it is still all Pinky and Perky tomorrow I'll record it again. In the meantime I'd recommend slowdown software). (26/01/2008 - I've rerecorded the tune now.  The only problem may be that I've forgotten some of it in the meantime).

This is my recollection of a fairly common reel.  I was asked to record this one and I has taken me that long to do so that I can't even remember when I was asked.  Maybe I wasn't asked at all.  I think I have at least one other reel I'm meant to be putting on as well.  Once I improve the organisational state of my life even to the lower reaches of chaos I will do the other tune too.

Here's another Paddy Ryan's Dream.  Mr. Ryan must have been some sleeper. I think this one is close to the version that John Doherty used to call "Mooney's Reel".

Here's my attempt to play this tune as requested to do so.  I'm not too familiar with playing it on a flute and I fear that my playing may be straying in the direction of being the sort of dream Paddy Ryan, or anyone else for that matter, may get after consuming too much cheese at bedtime. I know a different version of this tune which I'll maybe try once this one I've woken up from this one

This is a very popular reel which I just remembered I hadn't played on this site yet.  I'm running out of popular tunes to play by this stage so when I do recall one I get a temporary happiness boost which is most welcome, especially on a dark Sunday evening like this one.  I try not to remember tunes on Friday afternoons as happiness boosts on those occasions would send me over.  I'm not sure about the two names this reel gets called by.  I suppose when someone wasn't able to remember one of them then the other sprang to their mind as an obvious alternative.

I think that daycaps, mornigcaps and other headgear have left me vexed and clueless regarding the name of this reel. It was recorded by Michael Coleman around 80 years ago. I don't think he had a name for it. I'm not sure where this name came out of but it conjures up some interesting images though I can't quite tell what they are of.

I was asked to record this which is a good thing as otherwise my memory wouldn't have stumbled upon it. Now my mental recall has been provoked, I hope this is the same Reel of Rio that got lost in it years ago. I don't know what the "Rio" in question is. Maybe its just that the name sounds better that "The Reel of Lagan".

Here's the one which comes after the one which I haven't posted yet.  This one and the one which isn't here are tunes from Fermanagh.

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.

This tune is also played as a reel with an extra bit thrown in. I'm sorry about the mess up at the end. I suddenly realised that I had seven minutes to finish the tune, upload it, write a comment, digest my dinner (I suspect that may actually take days) and catch the start of the film which appears to be the only thing on TV tonight. I'll try the reel version soon.

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.

I never knew much about customs, new, knew, known or none in particular but here's a tune relating to them which I hope isn't too taxing.

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 reel from my holidays.  I don't play this very often so I hope my version has survived the years of neglect I've so lovingly administered to it.

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.

I'm better at knowing what time it is than knowing what day or year may be around about me.  As it is cold and often dark quite early, I suspect this tune to be fairly seasonal about now.  My version of this tune becomes less reliable as the day approaches but people who really know the tune will hopefully still recognise this approximation. I'll try to think of something else to play between now and the Santa season's epicentre.

I can't really see what particular use could be made of a golden keyboard apart from for naming a tune after.  It's a while since I either heard or played this tune (apart from about 3 minutes ago) so I can't guarantee that some keys on this particular board may be a bit more pig ironish than golden.

Sorry it's been so long since I posted a tune.  The last thing I can remember is thinking that I was getting seasonal amnesia  (I don't rightly know whether Santa will be able to fit it down the chimney, though).  This tends to reduce the regularity of tune postings. Here's one anyway.  I'm not sure whether the title refers to the said mountain's hue or to its being made of recycled hills.  It certainly can seem on occasions to be a fairly recyclable reel.  It's a nice one all the same and helps flute players to believe that tunes aren't all that hard after all.

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.

(Thanks Bernie for telling me the name of this tune). Here's a reel which is as un-ainm-ated as I feel today having been at an over-crowded, over-priced and over-cooked Christmas (it's barely even December) dinner last night. At least now it's just an over dinner without a hyphen in pursuit. Whatever about the name, I know enough about this tune to be able to say that I'm playing it in the key above its normal one. The present key is much easier on the flute than its G minor neighbour. I have to go out into the rain now and listen to the shouts of the man who drinks beside the bus stop. He appears very placid in good weather but anticyclones seem to upset him. Hopefully the bus won't be too long in arriving.

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

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.

Here's a reel which I think has Fermanagh connections.  If I knew about FJMcG I'd be more sure of this. I played the tune in a big, empty room so each note probably repeats itself about ten times.  Just like my cooking.

Here's another tune I was asked to put on. One of my problems with playing this tune is that is seems to have far more notes than I do.  Another is trying to identify what these notes are and in which order they ought to come.  I tried looking at Reavy's book "Where The Shannon Rises" to see whether his version would shed any light on the matter but this just reinforced my view that none of his tunes are normally played the way he wrote them. Anyway, here's an attempt at an average of the myriad settings of this tune which tend to be lurking about the place.

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.

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.

The first part of this tune should really be played an octave lower on a fiddle,  complete with nice growly bits.  I'm afraid a flute is all I had to hand so this is the best I could do.  I'm never sure how to end this tune on any instrument.  Maybe not starting it would work.

This is a John Doherty tune which is also known as the Monaghan Switch.  There are a few versions on the go but this is the one which is stuck in my head at the moment.  It's more or less the same as the version in the book "The Northern Fiddler".

I was asked to play this tune and am very grateful to have been reminded of it.  I apologise if my evening's libatory recreations have blurred Barney's notes too much.  There's a flute player from my town who recorded this tune in a more sober manner.  If my version's vagueness is too vicissitudinal then verification could be found in the vicinity his CD. He is called Marcas. Oíche mhaith, Michael.

This is a version of Dr. Gilbert's Reel.  I could do with the services of the same Mr. Quack as my hearing, breathing and tuning are all away with it.  I Think it's just what's known as a cold but I intend moaning about it all the same.  Sorry if this sounds worse than normal.  It's hard to sneeze and maintain in-tune-producing breaths down a flute at the same time.  Maybe I should try dissolving the Lemsip rather than snorting it.

Comes from big cow's?

Here's a very popular reel. I don't know a wild pile about it.

I think I have one of these which helps me cook.

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