Glass Island

reel

Key signature: Eminor

Submitted on September 2nd 2008 by beardflute.

This tune has been added to 36 tunebooks.

Recordings of a tune by this name:

Compilation by Blowzabella
Three Bean Salad by Three Bean Salad

Details ABC Sheetmusic Comments

Details ABC Sheetmusic Comments

Searched for this tune but did not find it here; please forgive me if the tune appears under another name.

A great fun tune for flute, whistle, or fiddle.

# Posted on September 2nd 2008 by beardflute

nice tune!

# Posted on September 3rd 2008 by Amckay

Hope I will never hear it played in the future.

# Posted on September 3rd 2008 by slainte

Origins...

So where did it come from ?

# Posted on September 3rd 2008 by Kenny

I learned this from a couple of the musicians in our session, Cory and Alec. I don't know where they originally learned the tune, though I have seen a photocopied page out of an unidentified tune book that had the tune pretty much as given here.

# Posted on September 3rd 2008 by beardflute

The tamlin's influence is everywhere. Unfortunately, it always gives the same tune at the end. :-(

# Posted on September 3rd 2008 by protz

Arpeggio practice

# Posted on September 3rd 2008 by Dr. Dow

Sorry about the vomit on the floor guys, I'll clean it up.

# Posted on September 3rd 2008 by 52Paddy

Looks like the cleaner is away on holiday. Pity.

# Posted on September 4th 2008 by Dr. Dow

Well, *I* like it.

mind, beardflute's transcription is accurate enough, but I think that this is a textbook example why for this music, the dots give a very, very small part of the picture. Midis of tunes on this site tend to be godawful, but the midi for this one is especially so.

There's a recording of this Glass Island here - http://themovingviolations.com/images/stories/samples/wild_one_medley.mp3 - it's the third and last tune in the set. It's a relentless, driving thing, and no transcription can come close to capturing that rhythm. Still might not be everyone's cuppa, I realize - de gustibus, yadda - and I'm not sure how well this tune fit in at a session, where the backing on the recording I linked would be absent, but I rather like the one version I've heard of this tune played by real instruments.

# Posted on September 4th 2008 by Tall, Dark, and Mysterious

Y're dead right - NOT everyone's cup of tea!

Well, I listened to that link you posted, T,D & M. Eeeee-u-u-u-u-u-uch!!! Horrible, horrible, horrible. All of it was fairly horrible. But this wretched tune was the worst. It IS basically Tam Lin ... with added horrible bits.

# Posted on September 5th 2008 by ethical blend

No need to hold back, benhall.1, do tell us what you really think. ;-)

I will say that if there's a tune more polarizing than Tam Lin, I can't imagine what it would be. Me, I love it and its kin.

# Posted on September 5th 2008 by Tall, Dark, and Mysterious

I know, T,D & M - equivocating is a weakness of mine. If only I could be more direct.

You don't really like Tam Lin, do you?

# Posted on September 5th 2008 by ethical blend

Well, I don't much care for the way it sounds when *I* play it...

# Posted on September 6th 2008 by Tall, Dark, and Mysterious

Glass Island Reel is by...

Ethan Hazzard-Watkins at age 17. The first tune he ever wrote.

# Posted on January 12th 2009 by AlexKG

I admit, I wrote this tune

Well I'm sort of hesitant to admit it given the discussion above, but I composed this tune in 1997. It was the first tune I wrote, at age 17 (as Alex mentioned). I play most of the quarter notes as bowed triplets. This tune was first published in a tune book called "Along the River" (http://www.alongtheriver.com/) which is a collection of compositions by contra dance musicians in western Massachusetts and Southern Vermont. It is also published in my tune book "A is for Avocado" (www.ethanhw.com). This tune was never intended to be an Irish session tune; it is more accurately a contemporary contra dance tune. It has been recorded five or six times in addition to the Moving Violations version linked above.
- Ethan Hazzard-Watkins

# Posted on January 12th 2009 by ethanhw