Michael Clarkson
Irish Flute Tunes
Traditional Irish Flute Tunes (iflute@googlemail.com)
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Author
Michael Clarkson
Category
Podcast website
Latest episode
Sep 18, 2026
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Episodes
The Battering Ram (jig) 14.03.2009 2:32
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.
The Song of the Chanter (march) 27.02.2009 3:20
I was asked to record this tune so here it is. I don't know what key it should be in. Here's a go at it in D minor and then A minor. I heard something once about dropping a piano down a coal shaft and getting A flat minor.
The Iron Man (highland / strathspey) 22.02.2009 2:30
There's a character in The Magic Roundabout called Mr. Rusty. I fear that my Homme de Fer may have become a Fear Meirgeach himself.
The Jolly Seven (reel) 20.02.2009 1:47
Here's a Paddy O'Brien reel (I think). Instead of a jolly seven here I think I have a fairly happy seven and a mildly miffed number 8. The overall recording quality is a bit dodgy here and the sound of the sean nós shouting infant in the background maybe doesn't help things too much (no infants were harmed in the making of this post).
Cois Abhann na Séad (slow air) 31.01.2009 2:27
I can't think of any quick tunes at the moment so here's a slow one. I want to spell this "Cois Abhainn na Seod" but forces I don't understand take me to the spelling I used instead. This is a song air which comes from Cúil Aodha in Co. Cork. I probably have it all wrong but I never go to Cork so I should be safe from close quarter retribution at least. (The title in English is "Beside the Riv...
The Pigeon on the Gate (reel) 31.01.2009 2:43
I just got an email from a pigeon fancier, or at least someone who wanted me to post this tune. So here's my pigeon-post, or maybe pigeon on the gatepost. I'm surprised not to have recorded a pigeon on the gate to date, but better late than never at any rate.
The Small Hills of Offaly (reel) 23.01.2009 2:51
Here's a reel which I think Paddy O'Brien (from Smallhillsville) composed. The hills may be small but they seemed to take an age to upload onto this site. They must be the wrong shape for internet pipes. I know little of hills and tend not to go anywhere more topographically elevated than upstairs in a not too tall house in a low down town. I hope the tune's shape hasn't been too distorted, eit...
Aggie Whyte’s Reel 16.01.2009 2:46
I've finally got round to playing another tune. I stole my wife's flute to play it as I can't remember where I left my own. The fact that this recording sounds like it was made in a sewer is no reflection on the flute. The recording wasn't made in a sewer; I'd never bring someone else's instrument into such an environment. Now I come to think of it, the same flute was once found in a wheelie b...
The Game of Love (reel) 02.01.2009 2:05
Here's a tune I was asked to play. Some people associate this time of year with Yule logs. I appear just to have a backlog but this will hopefully have removed at least a sawtooth's fill from it. One reason I'm so slow about posting tunes these days is that I can't remember the names of any more of them. I got this one by asking Mr. Google about the name I was given. He seems to call it 'The...
Father Tom’s Wager (jig) 22.12.2008 2:02
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.
A Fig For a Kiss (slip jig) 19.12.2008 2:10
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 t...
The Little Stack of Wheat (hornpipe) 28.11.2008 2:27
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 Mist on the Mountain (jig) 20.11.2008 2:29
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.
Tory Island (reel) 17.11.2008 1:44
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.
Anything for John-Joe? (reel) 10.11.2008 1:45
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???
Snow on the Hills (reel) 30.10.2008 2:06
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 g...
The Eavesdropper (jig) 27.10.2008 1:39
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.
Dinny O’Brien’s Reel 17.10.2008 2:47
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.)
The Hawthorn (slip jig) 11.10.2008 1:41
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.
The Mathematician (hornpipe) 27.09.2008 2:11
1 + 1 = ????? Never could add up (or hit a high 'A' - worried about hiatus and all that stuff).
Top it Off (slip jig) 27.09.2008 2:00
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.
The Four Courts (reel) 19.09.2008 2:39
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.
Laddy Redican’s (reel) 07.09.2008 2:37
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.
The Moneymusk (highland) 06.09.2008 1:39
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 th...
Follow me Down (reel) 03.09.2008 2:18
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).
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