By Michael Clarkson
Traditional Irish Tunes Played on the Flute ([email protected])
04 June 2023 - I've just noticed that the index has been upgraded from 'Muddled Up' to 'Deleted'. I am in the process of adding the tune types to a drop down list at the top of the page. This process...
Here's another tune from O'Neill's Dance Music of Ireland. I hadn't noticed it before, despite its being there since 1907. I don't remember ever seeing a wren either. Maybe because they're so small.
Tune number 748 from O'Neill's Dance Music of Ireland - 1001 gems There are 1000 tunes in this book with better names but only some of them are better tunes.
O'Neill's Dance Music of Ireland tune number 129 I probably would have been better getting the cat to play it.
I play this tune by direct debit.
Here's another tune from Francis O'Neill's 'Dance Music of Ireland - 1001 Gems'. My understanding of 'gem' in today's context is a tune without syncopation and notes keeping close company with other notes they don't get on with.
Here's tune number 652 in O'Neill's Dance Music of Ireland. It's the best tune between tunes 651 and 653.
As requested, here's an attempt at a flute version of a steadfastly fiddle tune. X: 1T:Jackson's Reel (sort of flute-friendly'ish)R: reelM: 4/4L: 1/8K: Dmaj|:F|D2FD EDFE| DEFD EAcE|GE ~E2 GABd| ceAc dBAF|D2FD EDFE| DEFD EFGE| ABce dBAG| F/2G/2F EG FDD:||:g|fd d2 ~d3f|...
Here's a tune high in vitamin C. Also called the 'Belfast March', named after a town low in every vitamin. https://thesession.org/tunes/5000
Here's a tune I was asked to post here. It's a great tune but I can't play polkas, so I never play them, so I can't play them, so I never play them, so ... The associated polka dots are here: https://thesession.org/tunes/1560
Here's a tune which Tom Morrison recorded i 1928. London clogs are probably mainly fatbergs in the sewers these days. Here it is played properly: https://archive.org/details/TomMorrisonTheLondonClog Here it is written out badly:
This reel was made in space for the flute; sorry this effort isn't as out of this world as the title would suggest.
Here's a tune written by Josie McDermott in honour of Peg McGrath who made one of the nicest flute noises I've ever heard.
A short tune to fill a spare minute. I don't know how much postmen/postwomen (or even postmodernists) whistle now under the burden of Amazon boxes.
Here's a tune I first heard from a recording of John McGuire - Seán's father. The guy in the photo was Jack Rowe - looks like he could blow a flute with the back of his neck. Some feat. Some...
Here's a reel which you can hear Denis Murphy playing at: Mount Collins Reel / Doon Reel. There are special wobbles in the second tune which, according to the info at archive.org, are due to a hole being 'punched slightly off-center'....
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...
**** Tune Index all Muddled up **** I've just posted a tune here for the first time in months. While I was on the site I noticed that the tune names are no longer in alphabetical order. I think they are...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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+joyAs for the title - I think mine was finding half a packet of Kettle Chips and only...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...