Irish Flute Tunes

  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...

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 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

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 v...

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 cont...

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: ht...

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)...

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.p...

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

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.

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...

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...

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...

Here's another Lad O'Beirne's reel.  I don't know much about it. The notes in dotty form can be found here: http://tunepal.org/tunepal/show_tune.php?tunepalid=1209-misc-tunes2_A-M.abc-30-Lad~O~Beirne~s~Reel~%28a%29~%28key~D%29~%25~misc%3CBB

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 a reel I was reminded of today by listening to a recording of Brendan McGlinchey, the great fiddle player from Armagh.  He plays it in C on the recording but I'm all at sea without a paddle in that key for this tune so I'll wear my hat with a 'D' on it for now.

Here's another effort on my Rudall and Lazarus flute.  The version of the tune here is decidedly dodgy.  I half learned it lots of moons ago before I ever heard a recording of it.  A more reliable version can be got here: http://tinyurl.com/auc5x3n .  I was reminded of the tune today about 10 minutes after the postman kindly delivered a copy of this lovely recording: http://claddaghrecords.com/WWW...

Here's my latest attempt to play my old Rudall flute.  I've been using a combination of insulating tape, knives, scissors, super glue, our child's skin moisturiser and kettle steam as tools of resuscitation; maybe I should be trying them on the flute. http://tunepal.org/tunepal/show_tune.php?tunepalid=2708-25.abc-1-John~Dwyer~s

Here's a jig which comes from up Sligo.  Dots can be found up here: http://tunepal.org/tunepal/show_tune.php?tunepalid=2272-21.abc-1-Up~Sligo

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.

This also goes under the name of 'Lavan's Favorite' in 'Ryan's Mammoth Collection'.   I've tried to play it fairly close to the dotty version here:  http://www.oldmusicproject.com/AA3Sheet/1201-1800/Sheet-1501-1600/1551-LarryChoice.gif (Larry Lavin's Choice). A combination of warm weather and a bit of recent, regular playing has allowed me to get through this tune on my boxwood flute without it fa...

Here's a fairly straightforward version of a popular reel in A.  I avoided any G sharps in the slow version lest I may sustain a cut finger.  There may be one or two (sharps and / or damaged digits) lurking around the quicker version.

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 r...