I was wondering if anybody else has a couple tunes which are kind of like your got to tunes. I mean if you are at a session and someone asks you to start a tune, are there tunes that you are always ready to start?
I have a couple of them. Such as: Jim Wards Jig, Last Nights Fun, etc...
Reel: Kiss the Maid Behind the Barrel
Jig: Banks of Lough Gowna
Hornpipe: McDermott's
Slip Jig: The Cock and the Hen
Slide: Star Above the Garter
Polka: one of 'em Ballydesmonds
Sligo Polka: Lakes of Sligo
Waltz: Sourgrass and Granite
Single: Coming From the Races
Double: Up the Southern Shore
Really Weird Double: Payne's Choice
One of the fun things I enjoy when I'm practicing at home is to experiment with tune medleys. I seem to have almost all of my tunes in combinations of 2 or 3. They change as time goes on, but some stick longer than others. This is also how I'm able to cover a lot of tunes when I just want to run them for practice and enjoyment. The byproduct is that besides having a lot of tunes ready to play, I always have a couple of favorite medleys of tunes I like to put together handy for starting at sessions. This also makes it possible to do the switch from one tune to another without crashing and burning.
While travelling around in Ireland or Britain, I often play old classic sets like:
The New Copperplate/ The Old Copperplate
Taim in Arrears/ Hardiman the Fiddler
Lady Ann Montgommery/ Maude Miller/ Molloy's
If people there play a lot of Sligo tunes, I would try these:
Down the Broom/ The Gatehouse Maid
Scotsman Over the Border/ The Tenpenny Bit (lesser-known one!)
It seems the last two sets aren't very popular in many places these days, but the first three are farily common.
Reels: Devanney's Goat, Galway Rambler, Last Night's Fun
Jigs: Bill Collins, Kilmovee, Dan the Cobbler
Hornpipes: Sonny Murray's, Home Ruler, Kitty's Wedding
Polkas: Sweeny's (Key of A), Dennis Murphy's
Slides: Kathleen Hehir's, Merrily Kiss the Quaker, Dan O'Keefe's
There's also a great combination of Kilfenora jigs played by the old band back in the fifties and included on Garry Shannon's latest CD "Punctured" - Old Kilfenora, Club Céilí and Jim Wards.
slainte, I regularly start SOtB/TTB at the local session -- far from Sligo, alas, though there are Sligo knick-knacks on the walls -- did it again Sunday night. It's my goto set of jigs.
Al, It's funny that your session put these tunes together as they seem to belong to a particular type/category of tune with a very traditional feel. Others like this that come to mind are The Pipe on the Hob, Trip to Athlone, The Hag's Purse (Michael Hynes's); similarily with reels like Jenny Picking Cockles, Jenny's Wedding, Bank of Ireland, etc. I don't know why but they're all great tunes!
If somebody asks me to play a tune out of the blue, I try and start with something I've picked up recently in the hopes that other folks know it. My current rotation includes Aggie White's, Richard Dwyers, the Scholar, and Kitty in the Lane, among others. But I always try to finish with an oldy-but-goody after testing out "new material"
Red-Haired boy, Silver Spear, and Sally Gardens are fairly idiot-proof goto reels around here.
Wormdiet, Kitty in the Lane is one I learn't many years ago but find that no one ever plays in a session. It's a great reel and, thanks to Al, I now recognise it as another "D modal/mixolidian key" tune. Must make an effort to get it back into circulation!
Go To Tunes
Go To Tunes
I was wondering if anybody else has a couple tunes which are kind of like your got to tunes. I mean if you are at a session and someone asks you to start a tune, are there tunes that you are always ready to start?
I have a couple of them. Such as: Jim Wards Jig, Last Nights Fun, etc...
# Posted on April 27th 2006 by Unseen122
Re: Go To Tunes
Reels, probably Green Mountain or Bird in the Bush
Jigs, probably Haunted House or Garrett Barry's
# Posted on April 27th 2006 by browndog
Re: Go To Tunes
Reel: Kiss the Maid Behind the Barrel
Jig: Banks of Lough Gowna
Hornpipe: McDermott's
Slip Jig: The Cock and the Hen
Slide: Star Above the Garter
Polka: one of 'em Ballydesmonds
Sligo Polka: Lakes of Sligo
Waltz: Sourgrass and Granite
Single: Coming From the Races
Double: Up the Southern Shore
Really Weird Double: Payne's Choice
# Posted on April 27th 2006 by Sol Foster
Re: Go To Tunes
One of the fun things I enjoy when I'm practicing at home is to experiment with tune medleys. I seem to have almost all of my tunes in combinations of 2 or 3. They change as time goes on, but some stick longer than others. This is also how I'm able to cover a lot of tunes when I just want to run them for practice and enjoyment. The byproduct is that besides having a lot of tunes ready to play, I always have a couple of favorite medleys of tunes I like to put together handy for starting at sessions. This also makes it possible to do the switch from one tune to another without crashing and burning.
# Posted on April 27th 2006 by Phantom Button
Re: Go To Tunes
While travelling around in Ireland or Britain, I often play old classic sets like:
The New Copperplate/ The Old Copperplate
Taim in Arrears/ Hardiman the Fiddler
Lady Ann Montgommery/ Maude Miller/ Molloy's
If people there play a lot of Sligo tunes, I would try these:
Down the Broom/ The Gatehouse Maid
Scotsman Over the Border/ The Tenpenny Bit (lesser-known one!)
It seems the last two sets aren't very popular in many places these days, but the first three are farily common.
# Posted on April 27th 2006 by slainte
Re: Go To Tunes
Reels: Devanney's Goat, Galway Rambler, Last Night's Fun
Jigs: Bill Collins, Kilmovee, Dan the Cobbler
Hornpipes: Sonny Murray's, Home Ruler, Kitty's Wedding
Polkas: Sweeny's (Key of A), Dennis Murphy's
Slides: Kathleen Hehir's, Merrily Kiss the Quaker, Dan O'Keefe's
There's also a great combination of Kilfenora jigs played by the old band back in the fifties and included on Garry Shannon's latest CD "Punctured" - Old Kilfenora, Club Céilí and Jim Wards.
# Posted on April 27th 2006 by Bannerman
Re: Go To Tunes
slainte, I regularly start SOtB/TTB at the local session -- far from Sligo, alas, though there are Sligo knick-knacks on the walls -- did it again Sunday night. It's my goto set of jigs.
# Posted on April 27th 2006 by Sol Foster
Re: Go To Tunes
Our sessions have been starting lately with Banish Misfortune and Garrett Barry's Jig.
# Posted on April 27th 2006 by AlBrown
Re: Go To Tunes
Al, It's funny that your session put these tunes together as they seem to belong to a particular type/category of tune with a very traditional feel. Others like this that come to mind are The Pipe on the Hob, Trip to Athlone, The Hag's Purse (Michael Hynes's); similarily with reels like Jenny Picking Cockles, Jenny's Wedding, Bank of Ireland, etc. I don't know why but they're all great tunes!
# Posted on April 27th 2006 by Bannerman
Re: Go To Tunes
The common element in most of these is that C natural that puts the tunes in a D modal/mixolidian key. I agree with you Bannerman--good tunes.
# Posted on April 27th 2006 by AlBrown
Re: Go To Tunes
If somebody asks me to play a tune out of the blue, I try and start with something I've picked up recently in the hopes that other folks know it. My current rotation includes Aggie White's, Richard Dwyers, the Scholar, and Kitty in the Lane, among others. But I always try to finish with an oldy-but-goody after testing out "new material"
Red-Haired boy, Silver Spear, and Sally Gardens are fairly idiot-proof goto reels around here.
Jigs:
Cliffs of Moher
Banish Misfortune
Nothing too exciting, really.
# Posted on April 27th 2006 by wormdiet
Re: Go To Tunes
Wormdiet, Kitty in the Lane is one I learn't many years ago but find that no one ever plays in a session. It's a great reel and, thanks to Al, I now recognise it as another "D modal/mixolidian key" tune. Must make an effort to get it back into circulation!
# Posted on April 27th 2006 by Bannerman
Re: Go To Tunes
Another good Dmix tune is "Within a Mile of Dublin," not many know it, but when they hear it they will want to know about it.
# Posted on April 28th 2006 by Unseen122