Tag Archives: Learning Irish Music
Far From Home (G)
There is some confusion about the reel “Far From Home” (G). Some say it was written in 1998, some say it is much older. The latter are correct. I know because the tune is #1261 in O’Neill’s 1850 (1903). Some say the tune is from Shetland, while others deny it. It does seem odd that […]
Da Rodd ta Houll (D)
“Da Rodd ta Houll” is a Shetland reel in D, also called “Da Road to Hull.” It was written by Shetland fiddler Tom Anderson (1910-1991) who once stated (in dialect): “Dis tun was written in 1936 whin I came up to Unst to visit a schoolmaister friend o’ mine. It happened ‘t dat moarnin wis […]
The Bonnie Isle O’ Whalsay (A)
The reel “The Bonnie Isle O’ Whalsay” has sundry variations. This is (arguably) a Shetland reel, as Whalsay is a small island in the Shetlands. Of course, a tune and its name can have very different origins, so tune names alone are a poor basis for determining tune ontogeny. However, this tune does also have a certain Shetlandishness about it, […]
Drowsy Maggie (Edor)
“Drowsy Maggie” is a very popular reel at sessions all over the world. It’s #1425 in O’Neill’s 1850 – i.e., O’Neill’s Music of Ireland (1903) – and so probably dates back to the mid-nineteenth century. However, there’s not much clear information about the tune’s origin or subsequent history. It should not be confused with a set […]
The Wise Maid (D)
The reel known as “The Wise Maid” seems to date only from the 1970s, but is now in the top twenty most widely-known Irish reels in the world. The well-known whistle player Larry McCullough, in his The Complete Irish Tinwhistle Tutor (1987), attributes the tune to the Ardara, Co. Donegal, fiddler John Doherty (1900-1980), as does accordionist […]
Mountain Road (D)
“The Mountain Road” is a reel composed by Michael Gorman (1895-1970), an Irish fiddler from County Sligo. When he was young, his foster parents sent him for fiddle lessons to James Gannon (who taught Michael Coleman). Willie Clancy used to tell a story about a nine year old Gorman: “Gannon wrote out the tunes in his […]
Silver Spear (D)
The reel “The Silver Spear” is a popular session tune, more so at one time, but still surely in the top ten worldwide session repertoire. It is followed almost ineluctable by “Humours of Tulla” around Kansas City, and is common also at slow sessions everywhere, such as the Musique Irlandaise slow session at the Quiet Man pub in […]
Willafjord (D)
Willafjord is the Shetland reel often played in Scottish sessions with Spootiskerry. This tune is in Tom Anderson’s Haand me doon da fiddle (1981) tune book, where he writes (in dialect): If du imagines some een gaen wij wan fit ida stank an de idder een on a broo an gaein a lunk as dey go alang, […]