Hello,
I am fairly new to the site so apologies if this topic has been covered before. There seems to be session players from all over the world using this site. I was wondering what everyones' 'top 10 session tunes' would be that would enable a player to take part in a session pretty much anywhere s/he went? There are hundreds (thousands) of tunes but there seem to be certain 'standards' that crop up more often than not. If I had to know 10 tunes to take part in your session what would they be?
Thanks,
Ewan
Yer right, Yohan, we've tried to cover this before. Click on http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display.php/110 for a big list of common session tunes. That'll get you started. Other threads have tried to whittle it down to the "top ten," but nearly everyone ends up listing 20-50 tunes instead.
Do us a favor and list 10 (or more) of the tunes that are regulars at your local session. I'm always interested in hearing what everyone else is playing.
Here in Helena, Montana (Queen City of the Rockies and Hub of the Irish Trad Music Galaxy , we've recently added a few tunes to the mix:
Mike and Donogh's First August and Windbroke (off Lunasa's Merry Sisters of Fate cd, copied quite shamelessly and cheerily)
The Donegal setting of Dr. Gilbert's (Dispute at the Crossroads)
and
Sally Gardens (of all things to come late to our collective list of tunes! But better late than never....)
Ottery, ye maniac, ye. Whatever made you think of that one?
Ok I know this ones been done to death but the geezer is a newbie for Godzake.
Yes - the ConcertZina reel,
I reckon it depends what you play - why don't you write some stuff about yersell?
but my 10 are:
Reels:
The Maid behind the Bar
Sally Gardens
Over the Moor to Maggie
Reavey's
Shaskeen
Christmas Eve.
Jigs:
Kesh
My Darling's Asleep
Connachtman's Rambles
Tobin's favourite
H/Pipes and Polkas:
Forget them - if you play the harvest home/ boys of bluehill, or that Planxty polka set, you will see all eyes rolling skyward, and all countenances set with steely grimaces, as if to say, here we go again...and you'd might as well fly a hot air balloon above yourself, saying "I'm a Learner!"
I'd say stick to some good tuneful reels and also jigs. That'll keep the grumpy old geezers like me at bay.
Actually, Danny's got a good idea there--list the ten "must play" (whatever that means) tunes in your local session's current repertoire.
It depends on who shows for the weekly session, but as of June '03, ours might be:
Nine Points of Roguery
The Rogue's Reel (there's already a trend here, eh?)
Fermanagh Highland and Charlie O'Neill's
Sally Gardens
Mulqueen's
Dr. Gilbert's/Dispute at the Crossroads
The Morning Dew
Earl's Chair
and
Foxhunter's (slip jig and reel)
But then someone'd feel left out if we didn't also play:
The Banshee
Bantry Lasses
The Providence Reel
Lilting Banshee
Fig for a Kiss
Speed the Plough
Eileen Curran
Geese in the Bog
Toss the Feathers
Within a Mile of Dublin
Silver Spear
the Cameronian
The Kerfunten Jig
Kitty's Wedding
Johnny's Wedding (the trend after all that rogue-ish behavior)
and
My Love is in America
Jackie Coleman's
Brendan Tonra's
Stand Chapman's
Gravel Walks
Brenda Stubbert's
Farewell to Erin
Pigtown Fling
any of the reels known as Tommy Peoples'
at least three Paddy Fahy's
Beare Island Reel
Charlie Lennon's
Hunter's Purse
Peeler's Jacket
Dunmore Lasses
...see Ewan, the point is, any one of us could go on and on, and you'd still just get a slice of what *might* get played any given night at any given session. That said, I'll shut up now and hope to hear what everyone else is playing these days....
Jeepers, Mary and Joseph, don't give Will an opp to start listing tunes, we'll be here all night! ;)
Let's see, in Denver, you could launch into any of these and feel quite confident that most everyone will willingly play along with you:
Brenda Stubbert's
Wise Maid
Maid Behind the Bar
Banshee
Silver Spear
Earl's Chair
Sporting Paddy
Mason's Apron
Jackie Coleman's
(and, it being past midnight, I just ran out of reels off the top of my head that fall into this category)
and
Kesh
Connaughtman's Rambles
Morrison's
Rose in the Heather (or Rose and the Heather, whatever)
Rambling Pitchfork
Jig of Slurs/Atholl Highlanders (Will's favorite!)
My Darling a Sheep, er, asleep
Sliabh Russell
There's lots more, and not every session round here would include these on the non-eyerolling list.
It was Rutherford who said if it isn't physics it's stamp collecting. The Fates had the last laugh, he won the 1908 Nobel Prize for ... Chemistry! He's also on a Swedish stamp. Cruel! I suppose, as a New Zealander, he would have enjoyed one of the aforementioned tunes (I won't say which, I don't want Kiwis giving me a hard time).
The only way to cure snobs (and learners) is to get all the above tunes out early in the evening and only play them once through.
Anyone reverting back to any of these "top 10" tunes can then be reviled with cries of "repetition".
Life is too short to play the same tunes week after week - try to introduce a few new ones each session.
Thanks for all the responses. I liked the one about getting a balloon saying ‘I’m just a learner’ I’m not a learner but may have to get a balloon anyway! I’m familiar with most of the tunes that have been listed. Many feature at the sessions I have been to. I would probably add:
Mrs Monaghan
MacMahons
Cooleys
Sligo Maid
Star of Munster
St Annes Reel
Rip the Calico
High Road to Linton
Too many jigs that all sound very similar…
Ewan
I agree with Danny that it's all about sets. If you want one of the most well known and widely played, you can't go far wrong with the Tarbolton, Longford Collecter followed by the sailor's Bonnet. The Comhaltas Foinn Seisiun book is also a good source of common tunes arranged in sets for anyone starting out. However, my present favourite sets are the 3 Martin Wynne reels and a set of the Chicago reel followed by Castle Kelly and Humours of Ballyconnel.
My friend sent me this discussion because he thought I'd get a kick out of it. In response to: "H/Pipes and Polkas:
Forget them - if you play the harvest home/ boys of bluehill, or that Planxty polka set, you will see all eyes rolling skyward, and all countenances set with steely grimaces, as if to say, here we go again...and you'd might as well fly a hot air balloon above yourself, saying "I'm a Learner!" by Domhniaill Mac Aoidh
This had me rolling on the floor. I frequently sit and listen to Johnny B. Connolly and Kevin Burke who play here in Portland on a Monday night at a pub called The Moon and Sixpence. Kevin isn't there every week, he just often sits in at Johnny's gig, but when he is there, and I always see him if he goes because I go every week, he always plays at least 3 sets of hornpipes, and at least 2 sets of Polka's. Sometimes he's only there for an hour or so and yet they're always included. At other times, when bands pop through town, like Dervish, The Battlefield Band, they play in the Moon with Johnny too. Dervish played several hornpipes. The snobbery of some people and the self appointed expertice, it... has me rendered speechless at times. Who says it's shameful to be a beginner Mr. "Mac"? I beg to know when you decided it's something one should try to hide.
sorry I guess I should have directed this at Danny?
So Danny, when did it become something one should hide to be a beginner. I'm kind of curious about this because I guess rather than playing Hornpipes and Polka's well, with decent intonation and rhythm, and in tune, I take it one is better off if they try to race through reels and jigs for fear anyone might realize they're a beginner, or better yet they could play reels and jigs WITH all the ornamentation in them, really badly with their timing off, sounding rushed, etc. so that no one will know they're beginners. Isn't that part of the point of the music? To make it sound beautiful, and correct me if I'm wrong, but are hornpipes and polka's not beautiful? Every heard Tolka Polka? Hardly a beginner tune.
Well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I have a tolerance level of about six minutes for polkas, then I'm ready for something else. But then, I feel the same way about Tracy Chapman. So you can take that with a grain of salt. Hornpipes, now, I can listen to those for a while.
Anyway, PDX, if you knew Danny, you'd be taking what he said with a grain of salt too -- he'd be the last to put anyone down for being a beginner or a learner. Nor is he the sort to espouse racing through any tune for the sake of the speed. Just so's you know.
First of all, PDXfiddler, why don't you give us a description of yourself? I guess you're a fiddle player, which already puts you on a higher plane than a mere flute player. I see also that you've only submitted two comments on this site, and that's those above. I've only been an inmate here about six months, and I also started off on a shaky path....However....Welcome!!
So, let's deal with the comments.
I love the music of the lads you mentioned. Whether they play the Harvest Home or Tracy Chapman or Perry Como, or whether you're the session leader, just allowing them to sneak in and do a spot, or whether you just like name dropping, I have no idea, nor do I care, nor is it relevant to the core comment you made.
You were giving out to me because I said forget polkas and hornpipes, etc., etc....Hot air baloon... beginner...ad nauseam:
"H/Pipes and Polkas:
Forget them - if you play the harvest home/ boys of bluehill, or that Planxty polka set, you will see all eyes rolling skyward, and all countenances set with steely grimaces, as if to say, here we go again...and you'd might as well fly a hot air balloon above yourself, saying "I'm a Learner!""
The subtext reads, should it require spelling out (which it shouldn't to you, cos your a fiddle player, therefore a higher form of life, much brainier than dumb fluteplayers),
NO-ONE WANTS TO SOUND LIKE A LEARNER, EVEN IF THEY ARE!!
WRT eyes rolling skyward, if ye are a learner, my point is don't make it obvious and play learner tunes that the gathered sessioneers might have heard, and played possibly thousands of times, because eyes WILL roll skyward, that's not just my OPINION, that's what will HAPPEN.
As it turns out the person who started this thread is an experienced player anyway, but new to this site, thus just getting an idea what's the craic. So I'm not talking down to anyone, as it happens!
While I'm at it, I play with a bunch of people who describe themselves as learners, one night a week, because I like them as mates. And it's great to see my pals coming on. Besides that I've got a regular Sunday thing. Maybe we're not up to your Burke/Connolly standard, forgive me, but we play our guts out - we play out of our skins.....that's for sure.
"This is my personal opinion and I do not want to seem as if I am forcing it upon others. I am not a snob. I am not a beginner. I am also not an amazing player, but I try to play to the best of my ability. I give everyone and everything the benefit of the doubt. I am harmless - do not attack me".
Okay, now I'll say what I want to say about hornpipes and polkas. I think that there are cool hornpipes and polkas and uncool ones. Harvest Home, Boys Of Bluehill and Denis Murphy's/John Ryan's Polkas are *not* cool. As Danny says, unless you're in a beginner session, expect eye-rolling and dropping of instruments, and a people-crush as players rush to get to the bar. Then there's cool hornpipes and polkas - the aforementioned Tolka Polka being one of these.
Another thought that comes to mind is that a lot of people have an aversion to hornpipes and polkas in general not because of the genre itself but because people don't learn enough of them to be able to join in in a session environment. Some people don't bother learning any at all, and for them it's needless because their local session might be wall to wall jigs and reels. Other genres would be redundant because nobody would join in simply because they don't know them. I think that's the crux of it - if more people familiarised themselves with hornpipes and polkas, then they'd crop up in sessions more, and people would *have* to learn them, and as a result they'd feel less alien and they'd grow to love them as much as the jigs and reels.
As far as many of the tunes above are concerned (Kesh, St Anne's Reel etc), we in Australia have a special word for them: "DAG".
"Dag" has only one close equivalent in British English, and none in American. It doesn't necessarily have a bad meaning, but it is important to recognise and acknowledge something as "daggy" if that's what it is.
dag (1)-n (usu. in pl)
lump of matted wool and dung hanging from the hinder parts of a sheep.
dag (2)-n. colloq. 1. person who is eccentric but entertainingly so; a character. 2. person who is conservative, unfashionable, behind the times. 3. untidy or dirty-looking person. 4. socially awkward adolescent.
The problem with polkas and hornpipes has more to do with the recent posting about "clicking". Beginners learn them because they appear to be quite easy, they appear to have less notes in them than reels. But nothing could be further from the truth.
Polkas a really quite hard to play properly. The bowing on the fiddle, for example, requires an extreemly subtle mixture of smooth easy sounding long strokes interspersed with a descent back beat and delicate, multiple triplets. Reels, by comparison, can be played more than adequetly without this kind of variation in the bowing, and, more importantly, are slower.
If begginners used there ears more, they'd realise this. But, hey, it maybe that realising this makes you not a beginner any more.
I still don't think there's anything inherently wrong with polkas and hornpipes--just that since many have a limited repertoire in them, the same ones get played all the time. And then the eyes roll.
I think the polka thing is similar to the strathspey thing in Scotland-they appear to be easy, and are indeed easy to play badly. However, their are many strathspeys which are fiendishly difficult and many arguments among "top players" exist as to how they should be played.
Also, I used to hate them when I was younger but now I think they're magic.
Similar, yes, but the difference is that with Scottish music, you can have a discussion as to how a tune should be played. Try doing that with Irish music.
But, yes, strathspeys do appear to be easy, the're not, and, yes, the're magic
Getting back to yohan's original query: "If I had to know 10 tunes to take part in your session what would they be?"
In my observation, sometimes people ask this question if they're near the beginning of the arc of building a repertoire, out of the (very understandable) desire to establish the very-commonest tunes, and prioritize learning those. In my observation and experience, this sometimes backfires, because session repertoires tend to be region-specific and different in different places. Hence, the "top-10" list in any given area is likely to be different. Sure, there's overlap, but there's also a heck of a lot of differentiation.
In my observation, people who start trying to build a repertoire by garnering "top-10" lists sometimes get stuck, because the lists (as they did in the above thread) just mushroom and become longer and longer. The reality is that having 10 tunes, or 25, or 50, is no guarantee that you'll get to play more than 1 or 2 of them in any given pub session.
I'm not presuming this is Ewan's situation, but here's an alternative model for someone in the hypothetical situation I've described. Instead of spending a lot of time trying to establish an "ur-List", simply begin by learning those tunes which are played most commonly at the session nearest you. After all, the people in the nearest session are the ones you'll likely play with most frequently. Therefore, learn their tunes first, even if the "nearest session" is so distant you only get there once or twice a month.
This also has the added advantage of providing you with ready sources for appropriate versions: next time you're at your "local" session, bring along a recording device and ask if you can tape certain tunes. This gives you the appropriate keys, settings, etc.
If, as is often the case with someone who asks this question, you're in an isolated situation far from any sessions, I'd still suggest avoiding a lot of time spent building lists. Instead, start out with tunes *you* particularly like, from CD's if necessary. They need to be in your ear first, so learning tunes with which you're already very familiar facilitates progress.
When I began re-building my repertoire after a number of years away in other musics, I set up some fairly simple parameters for myself, having realized how much time it was going to take to build a "basic" session repertoire. They were:
(1) If I already had the tune in my ear from years of listening to a particular recording, I'd learn it under my fingers (because the job of getting it in my ear was already done);
(2) If I'd heard the tune before--that is, played 2x or more by 2 different players, I'd learn it (because that meant the tune was comparatively well-known);
(3) If it was a tune I'd never heard before but liked (because there's always more tunes to learn, and one might as well learn tunes one likes).
Obviously, these three parameters yield a helluva large body of material--maybe 1500-2000 tunes? Although this might seem intimidating, it was actually a relief: realizing that the scope of the necessary repertoire was so great meant that I had to let go of "in 6 months I'll have enough tunes" or "in 9 months I'll have enough tunes" or "in 2 hours/day x 6 days/week x 40 weeks I'll have enough tunes."
Instead, one just learns to concentrate on "what's the next couple of tunes to learn?" In turn, this lets you enjoy the journey and learn tunes in the intuitive or coincidental sequence in which you encounter them.
By the way, an addenda regarding a very useful online resource for checking out the relative incidence of tunes on recordings and in sessions: Alan Ng's http://www.irishtune.info
is a wonderful, streamlined, well-thought-out database that catalogs *where and how often* certain tunes appear on recordings (and, to tie into this thread, includes a list of "The 100 most-recorded tunes" and another of "Madison, Wisconsin Session Tunes). I won't say a lot about the philosophy behind the site, because Alan articulates it so clearly himself, but I will say that it's one I very much agree with, and that the "Links" section certainly suggests that the Irish scene in Madison is not to be missed. Alan is also a fine player and a gentleman.
"Never learn a tune if you don't like it, even if everyone you know plays it."
Well, I take your point, but unfortunately, if other people in your session have certain tunes they like to play on a regular basis, you wind up learning them whether you want to or not!
I always figure that if there's a tune I try and don't like, it probably means that I'm just playing it like crap, so it's really my own playing that I dislike.
This doesn't count the Concertina. *grin* 'Course, I love Bunker Hill and Will can't figure out why, so largely it's just a personal thing. Or all of Will's taste is in his mouth. Heh.
So, the thing is, if you refuse to learn tunes because you don't like them, it simply means that you don't get to play while everyone else is playing it. No troubles there. That of course is your right, but me, I go to a session to play with my friends, and if they want to play something, I'll play along with them.
Part of what we're all getting at here is that there's a difference between the "top 10" tunes at your local session, and the "most appreciated" tunes. Often, you've got 10 to 50 tunes that get played almost every week because everyone knows that everyone else knows them--hauling them out invites participation and that's one of the primary aims of many a session.
Then there are the "cool" tunes, typically less widely known, and it's up to a handful of core players to bring these up now and then. These might get played only when the three people who know them are all in the room at the same time, and that might happen only during blue moons.....
Eventually, if the larger circle of players are eager and skilled enough, they learn some of those "cool" tunes too and they get played more frequently, sometimes even joining the top 10 list.
In my experience, one of the reasons Boys of Bluehill and Harvest Home and the usual polkas get the eye rolling treatment is because they're very simple tunes. You can fancy them up, do all sorts of things to make them interesting, but that's likely to get lost in a noisy session, so the better players are reduced to not joining in, playing them plain and simple, which some people are bored by, or noodling around on variations and trying to have fun with the tune, even though no one else is likely to hear any of it. Whatever gets you through the night, eh? And then you can get the flow going again by rolling right into a more interesting tune, which you've had plenty of time to think of during your nap....
Zina's right, Bunker Hill has just never settled well on my tongue. Probably because I've never heard it played--just seen the dots and listened to a midi once (which was enough, thank you). You can convince me to learn it in August--I'll be all ears.
I'd agree with Michael except that I've often learned to enjoy tunes that I panned initially. Some tunes are physically fun to play even though they don't sound like much. Or once you learn them, you notice a tasty phrase or chop that wasn't so obvious before. And some tunes are worth learning on another instrument (whistle, say) because they just fit there.
Besides, playing with friends is more fun than not playing with them. It helps to reciprocate, so they'll play some of my favorites, even if they don't like 'em as much.
What, Will, so you can discover that you don't like tunes that I subject to my crappy playing as much as I don't? *grin* I learned Bunker Hill from Shannon Heaton, and don't play it nearly as well as she does. But I hope you'll learn to love it anyway. Then we can work on the Concertina. Heh.
Heh, no, where I live, each person has his or her own tastes and preferences, which is how we tell ourselves apart.
Sure, we share a common body of tunes we all like, but each of us also pulls out tunes that call to us but not to others. For example, there are at least two players in our circle who genuinely like the Concertina Reel. I would never play it if they didn't, but I'm perfectly happy to join in when it comes on deck. On the other hand, I could play the Greenfields of Rossbeigh or the Roscommon all day, but only a few of my mates have followed suit, at least one of whom says neither tune really speaks to her.
Maybe it should be added to the 'rules' of session etiquette that experienced players should grin and bear it to play some of the easier tunes, ie the aforementioned polkas and hornpipes + Concertina Reel + Kesh Jig and so on, just, at least to keep session participant numbers up!
I certainly don't mind doing so (as if I'm mega-experienced!), but mostly for exactly that - session etiquette - ie general politeness. But in balance alongside eg, the Flood in the Holm.
Mick O'Connor is a great man for coming down to a fairly low common denominator, but suddenly able to sprout wings and soar higher than the rest of us if the moment's right.
I have not shifted from my earlier position, that for a learner, (this top ten business can be misleading) get yourself a few tuneful jigs and reels under yer belt, then you'll get more out of the session.....as all the big guns come rumbling out to join in, then carry you along...I wish I'd known that 25 years ago!
I like to play the "easy" tunes along with beginners, and have even been known to start them up in a string. I like how they light up and you can tell that they feel as if they've accomplished something. I simply like making people happy, and if playing some so called "easy" tunes will do that, well, how often and how else can you make someone brilliantly happy in a mere ten or fifteen minutes of your time? (Wait, don't answer that unless it's family friendly! *snort*)
So I never mind playing along, not that I'm experienced either, Danny, in fact, I have lots less experience than you do, so there.
I have a tape somewhere of Shannon playing the thing, during a session, i think, but since I am really awful at remembering to label my tapes before throwing them onto the pile, I haven't the slightest where it is. If you REALLY want to hear it badly played, you can trot yourself over to our website -- it's the last tune in the Belles of Tipperary set. (And *please* remember that was over a year ago and we're better -- nominally -- than that now.)
Thanks Zina, it did help to hear your demo of the tune. I'll get it going by August so we can play it together. I think what I don't care for is how it basically stops at the end of each part. So I'll come up with my own spin--some way to keep it rolling back into the next part, and then we'll play it till my neighbors beg for mercy....
On further reflection on your initial query, Ewan, it's quite hard to answer, because there aren't 10 tunes that are so ubiquitous. the 10 that I mentioned earlier are good standards, but might not be too appreciated in some of the more arcane sessions around.
There's a phrase I've heard used by good players "Play some Big Tunes"... Big Tunes.. what are they?
- not necessarily tunes with 4 parts or more, like The Bucks of Oranmore, but the Bucks might qualify. So might Christmas Eve, for that matter. Reavey's reel (the well-known one) also will qualify - so might most Ed Reavey compositions. It's that indefinable quality of a cracking tune.
Dr. Gilbert's, Lad O'Beirne's, JD Reel, Gooseberry Bush, Monaghan Twig are other examples.
In my observation/experience, "big tunes" is a phrase most commonly used by pipers to refer to piping tunes which exploit certain attributes the instrument has in spades: tunes in D mixolydian (C=b7), A dorian (C=b3) and which are pitched so as to allow expressive use of the drones. Seamus Ennis used the phrase a lot in his onstage introductions, particularly in speaking about "The Bucks."
Hm. I've always thought of Big Tunes as being the definitive tunes, the ones that a player can really dig into and tear all the meat off the bones thereof -- which often means that a fiddler's Big Tunes may be a bit different from a piper's, and so on -- tunes that highlight what that instrument does best. Fiddling-wise, Bucks, yes -- Jenny's Welcome to Charlie, being another. I have been putting off the Big Tunes. I want to get myself a bit more grounded before trying either big tunes or airs, frankly...
Speaking of Jenny's Welcom to Charlie.... You made me pull out my Paddy Glacklin Dublin CD. I just love the way he plays it!! I tried it early on and it's definately something I will be working on for a while. But a couple of hard tunes help push yourself sometimes and make other tunes easier to grasp for me anyway.
To borrow a term from another thread, I though big tunes were those with a certain gravitas. The sort of thing that might be played at the launching of a Liner, or at the 49ths Return to Gibralter or something(??)
This post is for Will really since he's interested in what other people are playing. I made a recording of a session a couple of Saturdays ago and there were some unusual tunes. It went like this:
Silver Spear/Bank Of Ireland
The Rose In The Heather/Aaron's Key
The Flogging Reel
The Traveller/The Birmingham Reel
The Moving Pint/The Road To Cashel
The Cameronian Reel/Mary McMahon
Josephine Keegan's/The Dairy Maid/The Primrose Lass
The Lark On The Strand/The Battering Ram
Up Sligo/Terry Teehan's Slide (Edor)
Maud Millar (Dmix)/Larry Redican's Bow
The Fox On The Prowl/Fred Finn's (Berkshire Heights)/The Crib Of Perches
Wissahickon Drive/Leslie's Reel
Jimmy's Return/The Curlew
Brendan Tonra's/The Bride's Favourite
Paddy's Trip To Scotland/The Earl's Chair/The Spike Island Lasses
Martin Wynne's #3/Bob McQuillan's
The Boys Of The Lough/The Merry Blacksmith (Michael Coleman's version, not the daggy one)
The Connaughtman's Rambles/Brid Harper's #1/Brid Harper's #2
Love At The Endings/Father Kelly's/The Virginia Reel
The Road To Ballymac/The Flagstone Of Memories/Miss Drummond
The Doon/The Little Bag Of Spuds
bb's Reel in G that nobody knows the name of/Harvest Moon/Matt Peoples' #1
mardon me mwhile I mop ma drool offmy chin....that's a crack list of tunes Mark. Thanks for posting--exactly the sort of info I think is most helpful for anyone aspiring to play in sessions: which tunes get played, and what are some of the potential sets they're played in. I don't know why but it makes me happy to see that people are playing Fox on the Prowl, Love at the Endings, the Brid Harpur's tunes, and the Curlew. If you've got the abcs for the Curlew, I'd like to see your setting to compare it to how it's played on this side of the planet.
In thanks and to reciprocate, here are some of the sets we played at last Tuesday's session here in Helena, as best my pickled memory can recall:
(Fair warning--despite years of searching, I have not found names for the gan ainms listed here--they are not common, widely known tunes. At least one, a jig in the Monaghan Jig set, is posted on the archives here. Also, some of these sets are pre-arranged among the core players. We also do a fair amount by the seat of our pants--some if it worked really well, and some didn't, mark of a genuine session. You can also see the clear influence of recordings on how our tunes get strung together.)
Fermanagh Highland/Charlie O'Neill's
Mulqueen's/Pachabel's Frolics
Dick Gossip's/Mason's Apron/Pigeon on the Gate
Galway Hornpipe/Big John's Hornpipe/Gan Ainm
Tenpenny Bit/Scatter the Mud/Jimmy Ward's Favorite/Paddy Fahy's/Banish Misfortune/Morrison's/Castlebar Races/Up in the Air/Walls of Liscarroll/Geese in the Bog/My Darling Asleep/Stan Chapman's/Gallagher's Frolics/Wallop the Potlid/Swallowtail Jig/Blarney Pilgrim
Mike and Donogh's First August/Windbroke
Burning of the Piper's Hut/Annamaculeen Reel/My Love is in America//Nine Points of Roguery
Kerfunten Jig/Frost is All Over/Frost is All Over/Hare in the Corn/Monaghan Jig/Gan Ainm/and the one after Gan Ainm
Father Kelly's/Jackie Coleman's/Pigtown Fling/Silver Spear
Fox Hunter's (song to the slip jig in C)/Fox Hunter's (slip jig in D)/Fox Hunter's Reel (in A)
Rights of Man/Staten Island
Mullingar Races/Sally Gardens/Tommy Peoples' (in D)
top 10 session tunes
top 10 session tunes
Hello,
I am fairly new to the site so apologies if this topic has been covered before. There seems to be session players from all over the world using this site. I was wondering what everyones' 'top 10 session tunes' would be that would enable a player to take part in a session pretty much anywhere s/he went? There are hundreds (thousands) of tunes but there seem to be certain 'standards' that crop up more often than not. If I had to know 10 tunes to take part in your session what would they be?
Thanks,
Ewan
# Posted on June 16th 2003 by Yohan
Re: top 10 session tunes
Well, there's the Concertina Reel.
# Posted on June 16th 2003 by Ottery
Re: top 10 session tunes
Yer right, Yohan, we've tried to cover this before. Click on http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display.php/110 for a big list of common session tunes. That'll get you started. Other threads have tried to whittle it down to the "top ten," but nearly everyone ends up listing 20-50 tunes instead.
, we've recently added a few tunes to the mix:
Do us a favor and list 10 (or more) of the tunes that are regulars at your local session. I'm always interested in hearing what everyone else is playing.
Here in Helena, Montana (Queen City of the Rockies and Hub of the Irish Trad Music Galaxy
Mike and Donogh's First August and Windbroke (off Lunasa's Merry Sisters of Fate cd, copied quite shamelessly and cheerily)
The Donegal setting of Dr. Gilbert's (Dispute at the Crossroads)
and
Sally Gardens (of all things to come late to our collective list of tunes! But better late than never....)
# Posted on June 16th 2003 by Will Harmon
Re: top 10 session tunes
Ottery, ye maniac, ye. Whatever made you think of that one?
Ok I know this ones been done to death but the geezer is a newbie for Godzake.
Yes - the ConcertZina reel,
I reckon it depends what you play - why don't you write some stuff about yersell?
but my 10 are:
Reels:
The Maid behind the Bar
Sally Gardens
Over the Moor to Maggie
Reavey's
Shaskeen
Christmas Eve.
Jigs:
Kesh
My Darling's Asleep
Connachtman's Rambles
Tobin's favourite
H/Pipes and Polkas:
Forget them - if you play the harvest home/ boys of bluehill, or that Planxty polka set, you will see all eyes rolling skyward, and all countenances set with steely grimaces, as if to say, here we go again...and you'd might as well fly a hot air balloon above yourself, saying "I'm a Learner!"
I'd say stick to some good tuneful reels and also jigs. That'll keep the grumpy old geezers like me at bay.
Good luck!
Danny.
# Posted on June 16th 2003 by Rudall the time
Re: top 10 session tunes
Actually, Danny's got a good idea there--list the ten "must play" (whatever that means) tunes in your local session's current repertoire.
It depends on who shows for the weekly session, but as of June '03, ours might be:
Nine Points of Roguery
The Rogue's Reel (there's already a trend here, eh?)
Fermanagh Highland and Charlie O'Neill's
Sally Gardens
Mulqueen's
Dr. Gilbert's/Dispute at the Crossroads
The Morning Dew
Earl's Chair
and
Foxhunter's (slip jig and reel)
But then someone'd feel left out if we didn't also play:
The Banshee
Bantry Lasses
The Providence Reel
Lilting Banshee
Fig for a Kiss
Speed the Plough
Eileen Curran
Geese in the Bog
Toss the Feathers
Within a Mile of Dublin
Silver Spear
the Cameronian
The Kerfunten Jig
Kitty's Wedding
Johnny's Wedding (the trend after all that rogue-ish behavior)
and
My Love is in America
# Posted on June 16th 2003 by Will Harmon
Re: top 10 session tunes
Not to mention:
Jackie Coleman's
Brendan Tonra's
Stand Chapman's
Gravel Walks
Brenda Stubbert's
Farewell to Erin
Pigtown Fling
any of the reels known as Tommy Peoples'
at least three Paddy Fahy's
Beare Island Reel
Charlie Lennon's
Hunter's Purse
Peeler's Jacket
Dunmore Lasses
...see Ewan, the point is, any one of us could go on and on, and you'd still just get a slice of what *might* get played any given night at any given session. That said, I'll shut up now and hope to hear what everyone else is playing these days....
# Posted on June 16th 2003 by Will Harmon
Re: top 10 session tunes
But in my mind, it's all down to Sets.
Right.
Time for a new - and I think possibly interesting - thread.
Danny.
(No offence to you, yohan.)
# Posted on June 16th 2003 by Rudall the time
Re: top 10 session tunes
Jeepers, Mary and Joseph, don't give Will an opp to start listing tunes, we'll be here all night! ;)
Let's see, in Denver, you could launch into any of these and feel quite confident that most everyone will willingly play along with you:
Brenda Stubbert's
Wise Maid
Maid Behind the Bar
Banshee
Silver Spear
Earl's Chair
Sporting Paddy
Mason's Apron
Jackie Coleman's
(and, it being past midnight, I just ran out of reels off the top of my head that fall into this category)
and
Kesh
Connaughtman's Rambles
Morrison's
Rose in the Heather (or Rose and the Heather, whatever)
Rambling Pitchfork
Jig of Slurs/Atholl Highlanders (Will's favorite!)
My Darling a Sheep, er, asleep
Sliabh Russell
There's lots more, and not every session round here would include these on the non-eyerolling list.
Oh, and welcome to The Session, by the way.
Zina
# Posted on June 16th 2003 by Zina Lee
Oh, and Teetotaller's, and Bank of Ireland, and The Scholar, and Christmas Eve, and, gosh, lots more...
# Posted on June 16th 2003 by Zina Lee
Re: top 10 session tunes
Here you all are, moaning about making lists, but you all love it really. Philatelists, the lot of you.
# Posted on June 16th 2003 by ...
Re: top 10 session tunes
Michael, that reminds me of the saying that the only real science is physics - all the others are stamp-collecting (sorry, Danny!).
Trevor
# Posted on June 16th 2003 by Trevor Jennings
Re: top 10 session tunes
It was Rutherford who said if it isn't physics it's stamp collecting. The Fates had the last laugh, he won the 1908 Nobel Prize for ... Chemistry! He's also on a Swedish stamp. Cruel! I suppose, as a New Zealander, he would have enjoyed one of the aforementioned tunes (I won't say which, I don't want Kiwis giving me a hard time).
P.
# Posted on June 16th 2003 by PCL
Re: top 10 session tunes
Sorry about the Concertina Reel, here
# Posted on June 16th 2003 by Ottery
Re: top 10 session tunes
The only way to cure snobs (and learners) is to get all the above tunes out early in the evening and only play them once through.
Anyone reverting back to any of these "top 10" tunes can then be reviled with cries of "repetition".
Life is too short to play the same tunes week after week - try to introduce a few new ones each session.
# Posted on June 16th 2003 by geoffwright
Re: top 10 session tunes
Ha ha, I like that one, I join in and roll my eyes too.
# Posted on June 16th 2003 by ...
Re: top 10 session tunes
The only true science is Physics, everything else is emergent (but that doesn't mean that Physics is the only useful science).
FMF
# Posted on June 16th 2003 by folkmasterflex
Re: top 10 session tunes
Thanks for all the responses. I liked the one about getting a balloon saying ‘I’m just a learner’ I’m not a learner but may have to get a balloon anyway! I’m familiar with most of the tunes that have been listed. Many feature at the sessions I have been to. I would probably add:
Mrs Monaghan
MacMahons
Cooleys
Sligo Maid
Star of Munster
St Annes Reel
Rip the Calico
High Road to Linton
Too many jigs that all sound very similar…
Ewan
# Posted on June 17th 2003 by Yohan
Re: top 10 session tunes
I agree with Danny that it's all about sets. If you want one of the most well known and widely played, you can't go far wrong with the Tarbolton, Longford Collecter followed by the sailor's Bonnet. The Comhaltas Foinn Seisiun book is also a good source of common tunes arranged in sets for anyone starting out. However, my present favourite sets are the 3 Martin Wynne reels and a set of the Chicago reel followed by Castle Kelly and Humours of Ballyconnel.
# Posted on June 17th 2003 by Bannerman
Re: top 10 session tunes
Don't forget these tunes, either.
Drunken Landlady
Mountain Roads
Fermoy Lasses
Reel with the Birl
Rakish Paddy
Tommy Peoples' (Gmaj)
Bird in the Bush
Paddy Taylor's
Killavil Jig
Jim Ward's
Maid at the Well
Walls of Liscarroll
The Cock and the Hen
I heard "Reel with the Birl" quite often in Sligo and Galway areas last summer, but is it popular anywhere else?
# Posted on June 17th 2003 by slainte
Re: top 10 session tunes
My friend sent me this discussion because he thought I'd get a kick out of it. In response to: "H/Pipes and Polkas:
Forget them - if you play the harvest home/ boys of bluehill, or that Planxty polka set, you will see all eyes rolling skyward, and all countenances set with steely grimaces, as if to say, here we go again...and you'd might as well fly a hot air balloon above yourself, saying "I'm a Learner!" by Domhniaill Mac Aoidh
This had me rolling on the floor. I frequently sit and listen to Johnny B. Connolly and Kevin Burke who play here in Portland on a Monday night at a pub called The Moon and Sixpence. Kevin isn't there every week, he just often sits in at Johnny's gig, but when he is there, and I always see him if he goes because I go every week, he always plays at least 3 sets of hornpipes, and at least 2 sets of Polka's. Sometimes he's only there for an hour or so and yet they're always included. At other times, when bands pop through town, like Dervish, The Battlefield Band, they play in the Moon with Johnny too. Dervish played several hornpipes. The snobbery of some people and the self appointed expertice, it... has me rendered speechless at times. Who says it's shameful to be a beginner Mr. "Mac"? I beg to know when you decided it's something one should try to hide.
# Posted on June 17th 2003 by PDXfiddler
Re: top 10 session tunes
sorry I guess I should have directed this at Danny?
So Danny, when did it become something one should hide to be a beginner. I'm kind of curious about this because I guess rather than playing Hornpipes and Polka's well, with decent intonation and rhythm, and in tune, I take it one is better off if they try to race through reels and jigs for fear anyone might realize they're a beginner, or better yet they could play reels and jigs WITH all the ornamentation in them, really badly with their timing off, sounding rushed, etc. so that no one will know they're beginners. Isn't that part of the point of the music? To make it sound beautiful, and correct me if I'm wrong, but are hornpipes and polka's not beautiful? Every heard Tolka Polka? Hardly a beginner tune.
# Posted on June 17th 2003 by PDXfiddler
Re: top 10 session tunes
Well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I have a tolerance level of about six minutes for polkas, then I'm ready for something else. But then, I feel the same way about Tracy Chapman. So you can take that with a grain of salt. Hornpipes, now, I can listen to those for a while.
Anyway, PDX, if you knew Danny, you'd be taking what he said with a grain of salt too -- he'd be the last to put anyone down for being a beginner or a learner. Nor is he the sort to espouse racing through any tune for the sake of the speed. Just so's you know.
Zina
# Posted on June 17th 2003 by Zina Lee
Re: top 10 session tunes
Thanks, Zina, for your approbation.
First of all, PDXfiddler, why don't you give us a description of yourself? I guess you're a fiddle player, which already puts you on a higher plane than a mere flute player. I see also that you've only submitted two comments on this site, and that's those above. I've only been an inmate here about six months, and I also started off on a shaky path....However....Welcome!!
So, let's deal with the comments.
I love the music of the lads you mentioned. Whether they play the Harvest Home or Tracy Chapman or Perry Como, or whether you're the session leader, just allowing them to sneak in and do a spot, or whether you just like name dropping, I have no idea, nor do I care, nor is it relevant to the core comment you made.
You were giving out to me because I said forget polkas and hornpipes, etc., etc....Hot air baloon... beginner...ad nauseam:
"H/Pipes and Polkas:
Forget them - if you play the harvest home/ boys of bluehill, or that Planxty polka set, you will see all eyes rolling skyward, and all countenances set with steely grimaces, as if to say, here we go again...and you'd might as well fly a hot air balloon above yourself, saying "I'm a Learner!""
The subtext reads, should it require spelling out (which it shouldn't to you, cos your a fiddle player, therefore a higher form of life, much brainier than dumb fluteplayers),
NO-ONE WANTS TO SOUND LIKE A LEARNER, EVEN IF THEY ARE!!
WRT eyes rolling skyward, if ye are a learner, my point is don't make it obvious and play learner tunes that the gathered sessioneers might have heard, and played possibly thousands of times, because eyes WILL roll skyward, that's not just my OPINION, that's what will HAPPEN.
As it turns out the person who started this thread is an experienced player anyway, but new to this site, thus just getting an idea what's the craic. So I'm not talking down to anyone, as it happens!
While I'm at it, I play with a bunch of people who describe themselves as learners, one night a week, because I like them as mates. And it's great to see my pals coming on. Besides that I've got a regular Sunday thing. Maybe we're not up to your Burke/Connolly standard, forgive me, but we play our guts out - we play out of our skins.....that's for sure.
Kind Regards.
Danny.
# Posted on June 17th 2003 by Rudall the time
Re: top 10 session tunes
Before I speak I would like to say:
"This is my personal opinion and I do not want to seem as if I am forcing it upon others. I am not a snob. I am not a beginner. I am also not an amazing player, but I try to play to the best of my ability. I give everyone and everything the benefit of the doubt. I am harmless - do not attack me".
Okay, now I'll say what I want to say about hornpipes and polkas. I think that there are cool hornpipes and polkas and uncool ones. Harvest Home, Boys Of Bluehill and Denis Murphy's/John Ryan's Polkas are *not* cool. As Danny says, unless you're in a beginner session, expect eye-rolling and dropping of instruments, and a people-crush as players rush to get to the bar. Then there's cool hornpipes and polkas - the aforementioned Tolka Polka being one of these.
Another thought that comes to mind is that a lot of people have an aversion to hornpipes and polkas in general not because of the genre itself but because people don't learn enough of them to be able to join in in a session environment. Some people don't bother learning any at all, and for them it's needless because their local session might be wall to wall jigs and reels. Other genres would be redundant because nobody would join in simply because they don't know them. I think that's the crux of it - if more people familiarised themselves with hornpipes and polkas, then they'd crop up in sessions more, and people would *have* to learn them, and as a result they'd feel less alien and they'd grow to love them as much as the jigs and reels.
As far as many of the tunes above are concerned (Kesh, St Anne's Reel etc), we in Australia have a special word for them: "DAG".
"Dag" has only one close equivalent in British English, and none in American. It doesn't necessarily have a bad meaning, but it is important to recognise and acknowledge something as "daggy" if that's what it is.
# Posted on June 17th 2003 by Dr. Dow
Re: top 10 session tunes
Australian Oxford Dictionary:
dag (1)-n (usu. in pl)
lump of matted wool and dung hanging from the hinder parts of a sheep.
dag (2)-n. colloq. 1. person who is eccentric but entertainingly so; a character. 2. person who is conservative, unfashionable, behind the times. 3. untidy or dirty-looking person. 4. socially awkward adolescent.
That's what it is!
# Posted on June 17th 2003 by Greenwiggle
Re: top 10 session tunes
The problem with polkas and hornpipes has more to do with the recent posting about "clicking". Beginners learn them because they appear to be quite easy, they appear to have less notes in them than reels. But nothing could be further from the truth.
Polkas a really quite hard to play properly. The bowing on the fiddle, for example, requires an extreemly subtle mixture of smooth easy sounding long strokes interspersed with a descent back beat and delicate, multiple triplets. Reels, by comparison, can be played more than adequetly without this kind of variation in the bowing, and, more importantly, are slower.
If begginners used there ears more, they'd realise this. But, hey, it maybe that realising this makes you not a beginner any more.
# Posted on June 17th 2003 by ...
Re: top 10 session tunes
I still don't think there's anything inherently wrong with polkas and hornpipes--just that since many have a limited repertoire in them, the same ones get played all the time. And then the eyes roll.
# Posted on June 17th 2003 by Andee
Re: top 10 session tunes
I think the polka thing is similar to the strathspey thing in Scotland-they appear to be easy, and are indeed easy to play badly. However, their are many strathspeys which are fiendishly difficult and many arguments among "top players" exist as to how they should be played.
Also, I used to hate them when I was younger but now I think they're magic.
FMF
# Posted on June 17th 2003 by folkmasterflex
Re: top 10 session tunes
Similar, yes, but the difference is that with Scottish music, you can have a discussion as to how a tune should be played. Try doing that with Irish music.
But, yes, strathspeys do appear to be easy, the're not, and, yes, the're magic
# Posted on June 18th 2003 by ...
Re: top 10 session tunes
Getting back to yohan's original query: "If I had to know 10 tunes to take part in your session what would they be?"
In my observation, sometimes people ask this question if they're near the beginning of the arc of building a repertoire, out of the (very understandable) desire to establish the very-commonest tunes, and prioritize learning those. In my observation and experience, this sometimes backfires, because session repertoires tend to be region-specific and different in different places. Hence, the "top-10" list in any given area is likely to be different. Sure, there's overlap, but there's also a heck of a lot of differentiation.
In my observation, people who start trying to build a repertoire by garnering "top-10" lists sometimes get stuck, because the lists (as they did in the above thread) just mushroom and become longer and longer. The reality is that having 10 tunes, or 25, or 50, is no guarantee that you'll get to play more than 1 or 2 of them in any given pub session.
I'm not presuming this is Ewan's situation, but here's an alternative model for someone in the hypothetical situation I've described. Instead of spending a lot of time trying to establish an "ur-List", simply begin by learning those tunes which are played most commonly at the session nearest you. After all, the people in the nearest session are the ones you'll likely play with most frequently. Therefore, learn their tunes first, even if the "nearest session" is so distant you only get there once or twice a month.
This also has the added advantage of providing you with ready sources for appropriate versions: next time you're at your "local" session, bring along a recording device and ask if you can tape certain tunes. This gives you the appropriate keys, settings, etc.
If, as is often the case with someone who asks this question, you're in an isolated situation far from any sessions, I'd still suggest avoiding a lot of time spent building lists. Instead, start out with tunes *you* particularly like, from CD's if necessary. They need to be in your ear first, so learning tunes with which you're already very familiar facilitates progress.
When I began re-building my repertoire after a number of years away in other musics, I set up some fairly simple parameters for myself, having realized how much time it was going to take to build a "basic" session repertoire. They were:
(1) If I already had the tune in my ear from years of listening to a particular recording, I'd learn it under my fingers (because the job of getting it in my ear was already done);
(2) If I'd heard the tune before--that is, played 2x or more by 2 different players, I'd learn it (because that meant the tune was comparatively well-known);
(3) If it was a tune I'd never heard before but liked (because there's always more tunes to learn, and one might as well learn tunes one likes).
Obviously, these three parameters yield a helluva large body of material--maybe 1500-2000 tunes? Although this might seem intimidating, it was actually a relief: realizing that the scope of the necessary repertoire was so great meant that I had to let go of "in 6 months I'll have enough tunes" or "in 9 months I'll have enough tunes" or "in 2 hours/day x 6 days/week x 40 weeks I'll have enough tunes."
Instead, one just learns to concentrate on "what's the next couple of tunes to learn?" In turn, this lets you enjoy the journey and learn tunes in the intuitive or coincidental sequence in which you encounter them.
chris smith
# Posted on June 18th 2003 by coyotebanjo
Re: top 10 session tunes
Chris, remember that other important negative criteria:
Never learn a tune if you don't like it, even if everyone you know plays it.
# Posted on June 18th 2003 by ...
Re: top 10 session tunes
By the way, an addenda regarding a very useful online resource for checking out the relative incidence of tunes on recordings and in sessions: Alan Ng's
http://www.irishtune.info
is a wonderful, streamlined, well-thought-out database that catalogs *where and how often* certain tunes appear on recordings (and, to tie into this thread, includes a list of "The 100 most-recorded tunes" and another of "Madison, Wisconsin Session Tunes). I won't say a lot about the philosophy behind the site, because Alan articulates it so clearly himself, but I will say that it's one I very much agree with, and that the "Links" section certainly suggests that the Irish scene in Madison is not to be missed. Alan is also a fine player and a gentleman.
chris smith
# Posted on June 18th 2003 by coyotebanjo
Micheal commented
"Never learn a tune if you don't like it, even if everyone you know plays it."
Well, I take your point, but unfortunately, if other people in your session have certain tunes they like to play on a regular basis, you wind up learning them whether you want to or not!
chris smith
# Posted on June 18th 2003 by coyotebanjo
Re: top 10 session tunes
I always figure that if there's a tune I try and don't like, it probably means that I'm just playing it like crap, so it's really my own playing that I dislike.
This doesn't count the Concertina. *grin* 'Course, I love Bunker Hill and Will can't figure out why, so largely it's just a personal thing. Or all of Will's taste is in his mouth. Heh.
So, the thing is, if you refuse to learn tunes because you don't like them, it simply means that you don't get to play while everyone else is playing it. No troubles there. That of course is your right, but me, I go to a session to play with my friends, and if they want to play something, I'll play along with them.
zls
# Posted on June 18th 2003 by Zina Lee
Re: top 10 session tunes
Part of what we're all getting at here is that there's a difference between the "top 10" tunes at your local session, and the "most appreciated" tunes. Often, you've got 10 to 50 tunes that get played almost every week because everyone knows that everyone else knows them--hauling them out invites participation and that's one of the primary aims of many a session.
Then there are the "cool" tunes, typically less widely known, and it's up to a handful of core players to bring these up now and then. These might get played only when the three people who know them are all in the room at the same time, and that might happen only during blue moons.....
Eventually, if the larger circle of players are eager and skilled enough, they learn some of those "cool" tunes too and they get played more frequently, sometimes even joining the top 10 list.
In my experience, one of the reasons Boys of Bluehill and Harvest Home and the usual polkas get the eye rolling treatment is because they're very simple tunes. You can fancy them up, do all sorts of things to make them interesting, but that's likely to get lost in a noisy session, so the better players are reduced to not joining in, playing them plain and simple, which some people are bored by, or noodling around on variations and trying to have fun with the tune, even though no one else is likely to hear any of it. Whatever gets you through the night, eh? And then you can get the flow going again by rolling right into a more interesting tune, which you've had plenty of time to think of during your nap....
# Posted on June 18th 2003 by Will Harmon
Re: top 10 session tunes
Chris, maybe they don't like it much either but just play it 'cause they know it. Boycot it and they'll get the message. There's plenty of other tunes
# Posted on June 18th 2003 by ...
Zina's right, Bunker Hill has just never settled well on my tongue. Probably because I've never heard it played--just seen the dots and listened to a midi once (which was enough, thank you). You can convince me to learn it in August--I'll be all ears.
# Posted on June 18th 2003 by Will Harmon
I'd agree with Michael except that I've often learned to enjoy tunes that I panned initially. Some tunes are physically fun to play even though they don't sound like much. Or once you learn them, you notice a tasty phrase or chop that wasn't so obvious before. And some tunes are worth learning on another instrument (whistle, say) because they just fit there.
Besides, playing with friends is more fun than not playing with them. It helps to reciprocate, so they'll play some of my favorites, even if they don't like 'em as much.
# Posted on June 18th 2003 by Will Harmon
Re: top 10 session tunes
Yeah, but out of all the tunes there are, surely you should be able to find enough that that you all love.
# Posted on June 18th 2003 by ...
Re: top 10 session tunes
What, Will, so you can discover that you don't like tunes that I subject to my crappy playing as much as I don't? *grin* I learned Bunker Hill from Shannon Heaton, and don't play it nearly as well as she does. But I hope you'll learn to love it anyway.
Then we can work on the Concertina. Heh.
zls
# Posted on June 18th 2003 by Zina Lee
Re: top 10 session tunes
Heh, no, where I live, each person has his or her own tastes and preferences, which is how we tell ourselves apart.
Sure, we share a common body of tunes we all like, but each of us also pulls out tunes that call to us but not to others. For example, there are at least two players in our circle who genuinely like the Concertina Reel. I would never play it if they didn't, but I'm perfectly happy to join in when it comes on deck. On the other hand, I could play the Greenfields of Rossbeigh or the Roscommon all day, but only a few of my mates have followed suit, at least one of whom says neither tune really speaks to her.
# Posted on June 18th 2003 by Will Harmon
Zina, *you* can work on the Concertina...I am completely satisfied with how I bash through...er, play it. ;)
So do you have an mp3 of Shannon on Bunker Hill? 'Course I already have a zillion tunes to learn by August.... (well, what's one more).
# Posted on June 18th 2003 by Will Harmon
Re: top 10 session tunes
If you call a player of hornpipes and polkas a beginner - what do you call a player of mazurkas?
???
a mazurkist!
hee,heee
# Posted on June 18th 2003 by kuec
Re: top 10 session tunes
Maybe it should be added to the 'rules' of session etiquette that experienced players should grin and bear it to play some of the easier tunes, ie the aforementioned polkas and hornpipes + Concertina Reel + Kesh Jig and so on, just, at least to keep session participant numbers up!
I certainly don't mind doing so (as if I'm mega-experienced!), but mostly for exactly that - session etiquette - ie general politeness. But in balance alongside eg, the Flood in the Holm.
Mick O'Connor is a great man for coming down to a fairly low common denominator, but suddenly able to sprout wings and soar higher than the rest of us if the moment's right.
I have not shifted from my earlier position, that for a learner, (this top ten business can be misleading) get yourself a few tuneful jigs and reels under yer belt, then you'll get more out of the session.....as all the big guns come rumbling out to join in, then carry you along...I wish I'd known that 25 years ago!
Danny.
# Posted on June 18th 2003 by Rudall the time
Re: top 10 session tunes
I like to play the "easy" tunes along with beginners, and have even been known to start them up in a string. I like how they light up and you can tell that they feel as if they've accomplished something. I simply like making people happy, and if playing some so called "easy" tunes will do that, well, how often and how else can you make someone brilliantly happy in a mere ten or fifteen minutes of your time? (Wait, don't answer that unless it's family friendly! *snort*)
So I never mind playing along, not that I'm experienced either, Danny, in fact, I have lots less experience than you do, so there.
zls
# Posted on June 18th 2003 by Zina Lee
P.S. Will
I have a tape somewhere of Shannon playing the thing, during a session, i think, but since I am really awful at remembering to label my tapes before throwing them onto the pile, I haven't the slightest where it is.
If you REALLY want to hear it badly played, you can trot yourself over to our website -- it's the last tune in the Belles of Tipperary set. (And *please* remember that was over a year ago and we're better -- nominally -- than that now.)
# Posted on June 18th 2003 by Zina Lee
Re: top 10 session tunes
Danny said:
"Maybe it should be added to the 'rules' of session etiquette that experienced players should . . ."
I dunno--don't think the "experienced players" I know would respond very happily to a statement beginning with the above.
chris smith
# Posted on June 18th 2003 by coyotebanjo
Re: top 10 session tunes
Thanks Zina, it did help to hear your demo of the tune. I'll get it going by August so we can play it together. I think what I don't care for is how it basically stops at the end of each part. So I'll come up with my own spin--some way to keep it rolling back into the next part, and then we'll play it till my neighbors beg for mercy....
# Posted on June 18th 2003 by Will Harmon
Re: top 10 session tunes
I wasn't being totally serious, chris.
# Posted on June 18th 2003 by Rudall the time
Play some Big Tunes!
On further reflection on your initial query, Ewan, it's quite hard to answer, because there aren't 10 tunes that are so ubiquitous. the 10 that I mentioned earlier are good standards, but might not be too appreciated in some of the more arcane sessions around.
There's a phrase I've heard used by good players "Play some Big Tunes"... Big Tunes.. what are they?
- not necessarily tunes with 4 parts or more, like The Bucks of Oranmore, but the Bucks might qualify. So might Christmas Eve, for that matter. Reavey's reel (the well-known one) also will qualify - so might most Ed Reavey compositions. It's that indefinable quality of a cracking tune.
Dr. Gilbert's, Lad O'Beirne's, JD Reel, Gooseberry Bush, Monaghan Twig are other examples.
Danny.
# Posted on June 19th 2003 by Rudall the time
Re: top 10 session tunes
Sorry, that should be The JB Reel.
# Posted on June 19th 2003 by Rudall the time
Re: top 10 session tunes
In my observation/experience, "big tunes" is a phrase most commonly used by pipers to refer to piping tunes which exploit certain attributes the instrument has in spades: tunes in D mixolydian (C=b7), A dorian (C=b3) and which are pitched so as to allow expressive use of the drones. Seamus Ennis used the phrase a lot in his onstage introductions, particularly in speaking about "The Bucks."
chris smith
# Posted on June 19th 2003 by coyotebanjo
Re: top 10 session tunes
Hm. I've always thought of Big Tunes as being the definitive tunes, the ones that a player can really dig into and tear all the meat off the bones thereof -- which often means that a fiddler's Big Tunes may be a bit different from a piper's, and so on -- tunes that highlight what that instrument does best. Fiddling-wise, Bucks, yes -- Jenny's Welcome to Charlie, being another. I have been putting off the Big Tunes. I want to get myself a bit more grounded before trying either big tunes or airs, frankly...
zls
# Posted on June 19th 2003 by Zina Lee
Re: top 10 session tunes
Speaking of Jenny's Welcom to Charlie.... You made me pull out my Paddy Glacklin Dublin CD. I just love the way he plays it!! I tried it early on and it's definately something I will be working on for a while. But a couple of hard tunes help push yourself sometimes and make other tunes easier to grasp for me anyway.
# Posted on June 19th 2003 by deblittle
Re: top 10 session tunes
Don't be scared of big tunes, they're just small tunes that are a bit longer.
# Posted on June 19th 2003 by ...
Re: top 10 session tunes
No they're not, Michael. I'd say Zina has encapsulated the meaning of the phrase.
But yeah, don't be scared of them.
Danny.
# Posted on June 19th 2003 by Rudall the time
Re: top 10 session tunes
To borrow a term from another thread, I though big tunes were those with a certain gravitas. The sort of thing that might be played at the launching of a Liner, or at the 49ths Return to Gibralter or something(??)
# Posted on June 20th 2003 by Ottery
Re: top 10 session tunes
...or Charlie's Return to Jenny?
# Posted on June 20th 2003 by Rudall the time
Re: top 10 session tunes
Thanks for the encouragement, guys, but I'm not so much *scared* of Big Tunes, as I am wanting to make sure that I do them justice.
zls
# Posted on June 20th 2003 by Zina Lee
Re: top 10 session tunes
This post is for Will really since he's interested in what other people are playing. I made a recording of a session a couple of Saturdays ago and there were some unusual tunes. It went like this:
Silver Spear/Bank Of Ireland
The Rose In The Heather/Aaron's Key
The Flogging Reel
The Traveller/The Birmingham Reel
The Moving Pint/The Road To Cashel
The Cameronian Reel/Mary McMahon
Josephine Keegan's/The Dairy Maid/The Primrose Lass
The Lark On The Strand/The Battering Ram
Up Sligo/Terry Teehan's Slide (Edor)
Maud Millar (Dmix)/Larry Redican's Bow
The Fox On The Prowl/Fred Finn's (Berkshire Heights)/The Crib Of Perches
Wissahickon Drive/Leslie's Reel
Jimmy's Return/The Curlew
Brendan Tonra's/The Bride's Favourite
Paddy's Trip To Scotland/The Earl's Chair/The Spike Island Lasses
Martin Wynne's #3/Bob McQuillan's
The Boys Of The Lough/The Merry Blacksmith (Michael Coleman's version, not the daggy one)
The Connaughtman's Rambles/Brid Harper's #1/Brid Harper's #2
Love At The Endings/Father Kelly's/The Virginia Reel
The Road To Ballymac/The Flagstone Of Memories/Miss Drummond
The Doon/The Little Bag Of Spuds
bb's Reel in G that nobody knows the name of/Harvest Moon/Matt Peoples' #1
# Posted on June 20th 2003 by Dr. Dow
Re: top 10 session tunes
Dow - Class Sets!!
dan
# Posted on June 20th 2003 by Rudall the time
Re: top 10 session tunes
mardon me mwhile I mop ma drool offmy chin....that's a crack list of tunes Mark. Thanks for posting--exactly the sort of info I think is most helpful for anyone aspiring to play in sessions: which tunes get played, and what are some of the potential sets they're played in. I don't know why but it makes me happy to see that people are playing Fox on the Prowl, Love at the Endings, the Brid Harpur's tunes, and the Curlew. If you've got the abcs for the Curlew, I'd like to see your setting to compare it to how it's played on this side of the planet.
In thanks and to reciprocate, here are some of the sets we played at last Tuesday's session here in Helena, as best my pickled memory can recall:
(Fair warning--despite years of searching, I have not found names for the gan ainms listed here--they are not common, widely known tunes. At least one, a jig in the Monaghan Jig set, is posted on the archives here. Also, some of these sets are pre-arranged among the core players. We also do a fair amount by the seat of our pants--some if it worked really well, and some didn't, mark of a genuine session. You can also see the clear influence of recordings on how our tunes get strung together.)
Fermanagh Highland/Charlie O'Neill's
Mulqueen's/Pachabel's Frolics
Dick Gossip's/Mason's Apron/Pigeon on the Gate
Galway Hornpipe/Big John's Hornpipe/Gan Ainm
Tenpenny Bit/Scatter the Mud/Jimmy Ward's Favorite/Paddy Fahy's/Banish Misfortune/Morrison's/Castlebar Races/Up in the Air/Walls of Liscarroll/Geese in the Bog/My Darling Asleep/Stan Chapman's/Gallagher's Frolics/Wallop the Potlid/Swallowtail Jig/Blarney Pilgrim
Mike and Donogh's First August/Windbroke
Burning of the Piper's Hut/Annamaculeen Reel/My Love is in America//Nine Points of Roguery
Kerfunten Jig/Frost is All Over/Frost is All Over/Hare in the Corn/Monaghan Jig/Gan Ainm/and the one after Gan Ainm
Father Kelly's/Jackie Coleman's/Pigtown Fling/Silver Spear
Fox Hunter's (song to the slip jig in C)/Fox Hunter's (slip jig in D)/Fox Hunter's Reel (in A)
Rights of Man/Staten Island
Mullingar Races/Sally Gardens/Tommy Peoples' (in D)
Tam Lin/Julia Delaney
# Posted on June 20th 2003 by Will Harmon
Re: top 10 session tunes
A bunch that I can list off the top of my head that we play at our session are...
Sally Gardens
Misty Mountain
Silver Spear
The Frost is All Over
Beggarman or Redhaired Boy
Boys of Bluehill
Off to California
Trip to Pakistan
Drowsy Maggie
Spoot i Skerry
Far From Home
Blarney Pilgrim
Out on the Ocean
Tenpenny Bit
Athole Highlanders
Si Bheag, Si Mhor
Star of the County Down
Marie's Wedding
# Posted on May 5th 2009 by scordion