Irish Flute Tunes

I'm not sure whether the title refers to a penny dropping in Castleblaney or to something sticky.  Which ever if the above (or adjacent) is true, the tune seems to have stuck the years OK.

Here's a slow tune for a change.  It's probably easier than a lot of slow tunes to pick up and, unlike a good book, I'm sure it will be even easier to put down.  If I get enough requests to so do, I'll remove it.

Here's another reel which I've no name for.  If anyone can ainmate it then please let me know.  It can be found in Ceol Rince na hÉireann 2, number 221 with most of the notes matching the ones in this version.

Here's a polka. My apologies to polka land people for my interpretation of it. A lot of them are good tunes for learning and are well suited to the flute.

Here's a Sligo Maidish type of reel.  There are different version's of this one around.  This one's more or less the same as the one in the book Alan's Irish Fiddler. I'm only after finding a link with all the tunes in that book:  http://www.oldmusicproject.com/allans.html They also seem to have O'Neill's Music of Ireland on the site.  Aren't people kind?

I saw this name for this tune in a book.  I can't remember which book at this stage.  My memory is like the result of a vagueness generator being put in a cheap food blender (both food and blender).  This reel sounded familiar to me when I recorded it but that was a couple of long days ago.  A lot of water has passed under the bridge since then.  Most of the water was mixed with other, more potentially confusion inducing liquids, and the bridge was the sort which lives in a mouth. I hope the tune is OK notwithstanding all this.

Here's a standard tune, albeit with a lot of non standard versions.  It is often played after "Down The Broom". I hope it really does go like this.

Here's a tune that's listed in Ceol Rince na hÉireann 3, No. 188, as "Gorman's Reel".  It sounds a bit like an A minor "Sporting Nell".  I don't know when a minor sporting Nell is like a sort of under 18 camogie player. Whatever about that, it's a nice reel and easy enough in this key.

Here's a fiddle tune which I hope is flutable.

I think this jig is associated with Jimmy Lyons, a fiddle player who came from Teelin in Co. Donegal.

Here's a requested reel. I'm told that when asked was it a piece of string it replied that it was afraid not. I learned this as "Bridie Morley's" (or was it "The Bride Morley"?) from Packie Duignan's playing. The version in Ceol Rince na hÉireann vol 2, number 229, is almost the same as this. It's a great tune and thanks Mary for suggesting it.

Here's another polka.  This one's from a wee bit further north.  It's a good tune for the flute.

Here's a popular polka.  I think I'm from a bit too far north to understand them but I can but try.

This is a tune with a great name. I'll tidy up this post tomorrow. I'm feeling too vague just now. Today is now tomorrow and I'm fit to add that I heard this one on Paddy Carty's LP. It's named after "The Balloon" which was a pub in Fulham, London owned by Con Curtin from Kerry.

Here's a reel which can be found on a record of Tommy Peoples and Matt Molloy - all quite quick and E flattish as far as I remember.

I can't write much about this tune due to my having an industrial strength hangover to wrestle with.  I recorded this tune yesterday, before I went out.  I recall feeling quite well then.

Here's a jig I was asked to put on.  I looked it up on the internet and got these particular "Google's Frolics".  I hope they are the correct frolics. I've known this tune for years but I never knew its name.  I've learned more tune names in the last 2 months than in the preceding 2 decades.

I'm not sure why it is.

Here's a nice plain reel.  It's on, among other places, "The Eagle's Whistle" LP of Michael Tubridy which is well worth a listen.

Here's a good reel.  I must try excavating my Matt Molloy record which has this tune living in its groove.

More potatoes (I was trying to remember this last night and then I saw it on the Chiff and Fipple site: http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=50746 - Fipple & Chips)

Here's a very common jig. The "Walsh" seems fairly interchangeable with "Welsh". The "Tatter Jack" bit refers to "An tAthair Jack", i.e. Father Jack.

Here's a popular tune which is handy on most instruments. Judging from this recording the flute mightn't be one of them but that's just my fault. It sounds grand on the flute when other people play it. I had a bit of bother at the end (more Fermoy Losses than Lasses) as I heard the potatoes boiling over in the kitchen when I was nearly done. There should be enough of the tune intact up to that point to be able to get the idea of it.

Here's today's carbohydrate ration in a reel.

I usually can't remember which order the parts go in this tune.  They sort of go round and round.  Hopefully they're OKish here.

Here's a reel which I think I remember being on an LP of Julia and Billy Clifford.  I just stole it from O'Neill's 1001.  Only about another 987 to go.

Here's a good reel.  That's the main thing.

Here's Gregg's / Craig's / Greig's pipes. Surely Greig's ones were on a church organ. It's a good noise making opportunity for flute players. I know there's more to music that raucous rackets. I approach subtlety as I mature. I feel a bit of ageing in my water. I'm not sure how I feel about that feeling.

I don't know whether this could refer to the young Tom Ennis. I'm starting to steal tunes from O'Neill tunes.  (158 / 1001 in this case).  I'm not nicking ones I don't know at all but I'm having to give my memory a kick in the backside the odd time.  Sometimes this can be a fairly risk-laden manoeuvre.

Here's a nice jig named after a by now fairly aged Tom Ennis.

Tunes like this used to be two-a-penny.  I think they're now 7.1096488 a Euro.

Here's a nice jig.  I can't tell you a whole pile else about it.

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 request.  I'm afraid I don't know it too well and I just nicked it from the notes on the net.

I'm just after finding this mp3 file in my list.  I can't remember anything about it.  Going by the law of averages I'll call it Ríl Gan Ainm although I'm not 100% sure whether it's a reel really.  When I have access to a way of listening back to it (ears and all that kind of stuff) I'll check that I have even identified its species properly or whether I'm specifying this species speciously.

Here's one I was asked to play. It sounds like Martin wins here but it sounds very unlikely that I will.  I'm a bit rusty on this tune so I looked it up.  I wouldn't swear by this version, or at it, I hope.

Here's a popular tune.  It might be called "Molloy's Favourite" but I know at least one other reel with that name but a different set of notes.  It's probably really got the same set of notes but in a different scatter pattern. I'm probably sounding as if I'm playing the flute with a mouthful of spiders (both in mine and the flute's mouth).  I hope the tune is discernible amongst all the effey hisses.  Is that in Turkey? Maybe someone can come up with a reliable name.

This is a good insistent sort of sounding reel.

Here's the commonest reel of them all. I managed to make a Mess McLeod's out of it towards the end but there are hopefully enough intact bits left to cobble a tune out of.

This is a nice tune for the flute without too many twiddly bits. There's a version if it in Ceol Rince na hÉireann 5, number 192.

Here's a very melodic jig. Mr. Jackson never let the midday pass him without his brush and his breeze.

Here's a good reel from the Donegal fiddle playing repertoire. P.S. I'm sorry I've nothing to write about this batch of tunes. I recorded them all early this afternoon and was full of inspiration and of comments. The site was down at my time of greatest need and now, on my and its return, I'm just full of pints of stout and without a word in me to get out of me.

Here's a great flute tune.  There's a version of it in Ceol Rince na hÉireann vol 5, No. (# - I hope I didn't make a hash of my attempt to be trans Atlantic) 197.

Here's a tune with a great name.

Here's a tune I was asked to record. I looked up its name on the internet and found on www.thesession.org. I don't know it and I'm sort of rubbish at reading music but here's an attempt. It's on a Kevin Crawford CD so maybe that's a good place to go to hear it if you don't trust this version (I wouldn't trust me at all). I'm fairly poorly stocked in the flute CD department but I'll maybe go out and get that one myself. I hope this effort is of some use.

I prefer mine in a sandwich. Here's a nice traditional sort of tune.

Here's a good standard reel which is kind to flute players.

Here's a jig which is found on a lot of old recordings. I doesn't seem just as common now. I've yet to hear it on anything more recent than the latest Iron Maiden CD. (They made a great job of it).

Here's a popular three part reel. I don't know much about it but believe it to be named after a city in the eastern part of Ireland. I'm meant to be doing something else at the moment and so had better go and attend to that thing.

I'll have to follow that instruction shortly.  In the meantime, here's a reel.

Here's a common reel with at least two names. I don't know what county the fisherman was from.

Here's a good tune. My favourite thing about it is that is has hardly any notes in it. I always think of "ABCD Goldfish" when I hear this reel. Google will know what I mean.

Here's another tune I found behind the sofa.  I think I hadn't put it on the site due to the mess I made of playing it.  At the moment I haven't a whole pile to choose from so here it is anyway.  As I said just now,  there'll be better efforts on soon.  Promises promises.  (Honest, Guv).

I don't think this really is Murphy's Reel.  It's a common enough reel but I've forgotten its name.  Can someone enlighten me? What with one thing and another I've not had a chance to put on tunes today.  I have just found this one lurking on my computer from when I put it there ages ago.  I'll hopefully get a chance to record a few more in the next couple of days.  After that I'll have more time. Thanks for your patience.

Here's a very popular reel. I'm trying to pick tunes than don't have names starting with "The". I'm sorry for messing up the index with all the thes. As for going over the moor; I think a few bog-holes got me an the way. I seem to have fallen foul of a hummock or two too. I can't settle today. Hopefully normal service will resume shortly.

Here's a real flute / fiddle tune. I'm not sure how I ended the last part first time round. I think there's maybe a better variation the next time. I can't bear to listen to it myself. I don't know what "Down The Broom" is meant to mean. Maybe it's a bit like sword-swallowing with bristles.

Here's a reel called Fergal / Farrel / Fearghal / Anyone You Want O'Gara. It's a popular tune in sessions under all of its guises.

I think one of its legs came off when I was playing it. Maybe I'll be able to get it made into a flute.

The Rafferty's seem to have had a flair for picking names.  Here's another Páidín.  There were a few more of them as well.

Here's the commonest Páidín from this family.

I usually associate this tune with Seán McGuire. For one of Seán's offerings, it's a bit tame but that's a great help to those of us with fingers only numbered in single figures unlike dodecadigital demons of the late, great Mr. McGuire's ilk.

Here's a reel which I heard on a Paddy Killoran record.  I'm not sure how well I learned it but here is an approximation of how it goes.

I've not played much clothing related material so far. Here's a good garment based reel. I've played it double here. I'm not sure whether that's the proper way but it seemed appropriate for stockings.

Here's a nice tune which shouldn't hut the fingers too much. I'm not so sure about the audial appendages.

Here's a popular reel.  It's so well known that I know absolutely nothing about it.

Here's another one from your man.

Here's another Paddy Taylor reel. I never know the difference in this tune between C naturals / C sharps, the first part / the last part or how it goes / doesn't go. It's a bit like the trouble I have with semi-colons / commas / -s and so on; I hope this version isn't too much of a Cat astrophe.

Sorry there's no picture with this one.  I did try.

Here's popular reel.  I've played it double here but it might really be single.  There was rain forecast today and I think I'm getting into Noah's Ark mode, not that two heifers would save the breed, or would they?  I'm not a vet.

Maybe this reel will be renamed "The Stiletto in the Ghetto" or "The Stiffey By the Liffey" in honour of the one in the picture.  It probably already has.  I'm usually a few years behind the times. I think the tune is also called John Brennan's Reel.

Here's a tune from the playing of the late Mickey and Francie Byrne from Kilcar in Donegal. I think the name comes from the Irish "Ríl na nGlórtha" meaning "The Reel of the Voices", rather than from its own, undeniably splendid qualities. It's great on the fiddle as the second part gives plenty of scope for growling - The Growly Reel. You can sort of hum while playing the flute to get a drone effect but that's really, or ought to be, a private activity. (This is as close as I remember it, Brendan)

I have a tape of the Donegal fiddle player, Vincent Campbell, playing this highland. On the tape e says he got it from Mickey Doherty and that Mickey Doherty called it "The Iron Man".  He did, however cast some doubt on the reliability of Mr' Doherty's tune names. I'm starting to have to rattle my way past my skeletons and hoik out tapes in order to remind myself of tunes.  I might be saved by running out of storage space on the server at some stage but in the meantime I keep on rattling.

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.

Here's a reel which is sometimes played in A. I always thought it sounded a bit scary in that key. Here's a slightly less disturbing version in G.

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

Here's a popular hornpipe named after a bay named after a popular city. It's usually in G minor but I've played it here in A minor which is a bit more flutish. There's a fairly new sewerage treatment plant in Galway Bay. I don't know whether hornpipes were used in its construction or not.

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

I think this reel was found under one.  I had a bit of a sour taste in my mouth when I was playing it; it mustn't have been ripe.  The fact that my mouth was curled up it the manner of a cow licking pee of a nettle might help explain why the playing is a bit more miss than hit.

I can't tell you much about this tune. This version is fairly close to the one Sonny McDonagh recorded for Brendán Breathnach's Ceol Rince na hÉireann Vol 2.

Here's a tune I heard on a Tommy Peoples record a good few years ago. The passage of time might explain how my memory of which note go where has gone who knows where. For a fiddle tune, I think it's OK for the flute.

Here's a tune I learned years ago from a transcription of John Egan's flute playing. It was in a journal called "Ceol" which Brandán Breathnach used to produce in the 1960s. I used to go to the Central Library in Belfast in the 1980s and photocopy tunes from it. There may well be another name for this tune but I don't know it. I think it's a lovely, straightforward sort of tune. The grammar in the title might be slightly amiss but the notes are OK.

Here's a reliable old reel. I'm not sure what kind of master it is whose return is being commemorated here but the outcome is fairly palatable in any case; not that I'm advocating that this tune should be eaten.

Here's a reel from the playing of Paddy Taylor, a flute player from Abbyfeale in Co. Limerick who played a wooden Bohm flute.

I can't tell you much about this.  I think of it as one of those common tunes which I never hear.  There a lot of tunes with that air of virtual commonness about their airs (not sure about their grace-notes). I'm having to jog my memory by flicking through a few books to see the start of tunes.  This particular aide memoir lives in Ceol Rince na hÉireann Vol1.  I'll very likely be looking through Vols 2, 3, 4 (not sure about this one; it has some very strange things in it) and 5 to be reminded of more tunes.

Here's a jig called "Let us be drinking and kissing the ladies". I haven't really much to say about that. It's a good jig and a popular one. I believe some things in the title are also popular in certain quarters.

Here's a popular reel called after a Banshee / Bean Sí / Bean Sidhe. I think it's in the key of heebee G bee.

Here's a reel in "C" named after the great, late fiddle player, A McG. When I play tunes on the flute in "C" there always seems to be a slightly bronchial drainpipe sound going on. Sometimes the flute sounds funny too. Being a bit parochial, I usually associate this tune with a different, fairly recently lost fiddle player, Seán McGuire. Maybe I'll just call it McG's reel.

Here's a highland. The playing is a bit more gormless than Gormond here but it is getting late and I find it hard to be otherwise.

This is a fairly common tune.  I hope you like it.

Here's a nice sparce reel Like lots of tunes that Micko Russell played, it is not cluttered by too many notes. So many tunes played these days sound like the putting to sound of a manuscript which just been sneezed on - by someone quite poorly at that. It's sometimes good to have simple things around too.

Here's a very very very popular jig. One reason it's very very very popular is that it's fairly easy to learn.

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.

Here's a popular tune.  My only doubt is that I might have leaned it at a concert of something far removed from Irish traditional music.  Now I come to think of it, I'm fairly sure I've never been to a concert so I probably got the tune from a record so it should be OK.   I did get taken to the zoo once when I was about seven.

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

I hadn't played this tune for a long time until I thought I had been asked to record it here. Once I'd finished the process I realised that "The Green Groves of" is not a synonym for "Farewell to". I'll maybe take a trip to the airport and get some inspiration for the tune I was supposed to play. (I think I had a mish-mash of farewell to green groves in Erin's Ireland earlier.  I hope this particular tangled hank of yarn has now been been unravelled )

Tá súil agam go bhfuil an leagan ceart agam an iarraidh seo. There are too many ways saying bye-bye to places.

Here's a good reel.  I tried playing "The Green Groves of Erin" and ended up with a mixture of that and "Farewell to Erin".  Thankyou Alex for pointing that out. Here's a tune as a compromise. "Éirinn " should have 2  "n"s in the dative case anyway (I nearly said "in any case" - I hate languages).  At least "Ireland" is less mutable. I'm away to check my grammar and my tune versions. Thanks, Michael.

Here's a very popular jig. It's a nice tune which is good on the flute. I think I heard a good recording once of the Leitrim flute player Packie Duignan playing it on a record which was made of him and Seamus Horan.

Here's reel from the Donegal fiddle player, John Doherty. I got it from an old tape where he was introducing the tunes.  This is the name he gave it.

Here's one I was asked to play. I'd never heard the name before so I looked it up and found this tune. I'd always wondered what it was called. The internet tells me it is also called "Coleman's Cross". It fails to mention what's annoyed him.