Eagle's Whistle

slip jig

Key signature: Gmajor

Submitted on August 29th 2009 by The David Dude.

This tune has been added to 33 tunebooks.

Also known as The Crying Of The Women At The Slaughter, The Eagle's Whistle March, The Eagle's Whistle, Eagles Whistle, Gol Na MBan 'san Ar, Gol Na MBan San Ar, Gol Na Mban San Ar (The Women's Lament In Battle), The O'Donovan Clan March.

Recordings of a tune by this name:

40th Anniversary Album by Armagh Pipers Club
Boil The Breakfast Early by The Chieftains
Celtic Celebration by Dirk Freymuth
Dual by Dual
Far From Home by Boys Of The Lough
Jiggin' The Blues by Frankie Gavin, Rick Epping And Tim Edey
Little Woolly, Lullabyes by Kelly Hood
Live by Blazin' Fiddles
Magnificent Seven by Blazin' Fiddles
Music Of Dreams by Noel Hill And Tony MacMahon With Iarla O Lionaird
Open Road by Boys Of The Lough
Paddy On The Railway by Ten Penny Bit
Pipes, Rods 'n' Reels by Ray Sloan
Shatter The Calm by Dan Beimborn
The Best Of Joe And Antoinette Mckenna by Joe And Antoinette McKenna
The Bonny Bunch Of Roses by Seamus Ennis
The Eagle's Whistle by Michael Tubridy
The First Measure by Pipedown
The Little Country by Charles De Lint
The Music Makers: Celebrating 35 Years Of Comhaltas In Leeds by Leeds CCE
Traditional Music Of Ireland by Joe And Antoinette McKenna
Uilleann Pipes by Pat Mitchell
We'll Seek No More Engagements by Aidan Crossey

Details ABC Sheetmusic Comments

Details ABC Sheetmusic Comments

Details ABC Sheetmusic Comments

This is a really nice slip jig - perhaps a little repetitive, but pleasant nonetheless. Eagle's Whistle is commonly played as a waltz (or a 3/4 march, whatever that is!) - take a look at http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/4192 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36J57x_OZj0 - but I heard this slip jig version on the Lifescapes album "Celtic Celebration." (http://www.thesession.org/recordings/display/2649) As a slip jig, the tune is much more bouncy than the graceful waltz version.

# Posted on August 29th 2009 by The David Dude

A 3/4 march is a retreat march.

# Posted on August 30th 2009 by No Cause For Alarm

Chords

# Posted on September 18th 2009 by The David Dude

Correction

# Posted on September 18th 2009 by The David Dude

Eagle's Whistle

I learned this lovely tune over 30 years ago while at Uni from a Derry piper called Brian Stafford. I have always played it very slowly and it sounds wonderful that way. Please don't treat it like a standard slip-jig!

# Posted on September 18th 2009 by mike the box

Yep, a Retreat, and a Clan March

At least, in highland pipering 3/4s are called retreats. Makes it essential to play the repeats properly, otherwise you end on the wrong foot!

The tune in question was notated for highland pipes in the "Brigade Book of Irish Pipe Music" in September 1949 in Armagh (it looks like it was all hand notated and calligraphed). The book was meant to standardize settings used by the Irish regiments that marched to highland pipes. In this book, The O'Donovan's March is subtitled/alternately titled The Eagle's Whistle. It is, decidedly, one of my favorites, on any type of pipes (if I can get the uilleann ornaments worked out...)

# Posted on October 10th 2009 by JLC

This is how I have it...Slow.

X: 1
T:?
M: 3/4
L: 1/8
R: Air
K: Dmix
~F3 AFE | ~F3 AFD |~ E3 FED | ~E3 FED | ~F3 AFE | ~F3 AFD |~E3FEF |~D6 |
|~F3 AFE | ~F3 AFD | ~E3 FED | ~E3 FED |~ F3 AFE | ~F3 AFD |E3FEF D3EFA ||
||:~ B2 ABdA | ~B2AFED |~ F3 AFE |~F3 AFD |~B2 ABdA | B2 AFEF | ~D3 FEF |~D6 :||

# Posted on October 10th 2009 by piobagusfidil

Origin of Slip Jig Version?

Well, if most recordings and other sources have it in 3/4, then does anyone know where the slip jig version came from? It certainly sounds wonderful in either meter, and like others have mentioned, playing it slow sounds gorgeous - just take a look at the YouTube video I listed previously.

# Posted on October 11th 2009 by The David Dude

Another posting

This tune has also been posted (as a polka) at http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/1837

Truly a many-sided piece of music...

# Posted on January 23rd 2010 by rwwt

Just to be clear...

the version posted under the category of "Polka" was intended as a march (which doesn't have it's own category since marches come in a variety of time signatures). Not that one couldn't try it as a polka...

# Posted on January 24th 2010 by muspc

Putting it in 9/8 does not a slip jig make, sorry... It's still a march... Someone has just taken the swung 3/4 melody and put it in 9/8 time, but it does not work as a slip jig, whatever the time signature. Something similar sometimes happens to other tune forms, such as 4/4 swung being notated as 12/8, etc...

# Posted on April 18th 2010 by ceolachan

Marches

As the 'march' that it is it should have a certain amount of 'bounce' to it, it is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a 'graceful waltz'. There are other marches filed in the 'waltz' category because there is no category for marches, so 3/4 ones go there and 2/4 go under polkas, 6/8 under jigs, etc...

If you do a general search, just enter 'march' for the title and choose nothing else, you'll get a large list of the already tagged marches on site here, including those in 3/4 time...

# Posted on April 18th 2010 by ceolachan

"The Eagle's Whistle March" ~ this transcription in 3/4 time

# Posted on April 18th 2010 by ceolachan

NB: I added the title <Gol Na Mban San Ar (The Women's Lament In Battle)> so that the Seamus Ennis link would appear; there is an interesting sleeve note in the Bonny Bunch of Roses wherby S E tells us he got this tune from his father who was the only person he ever heard play it. With bits of the gory desolation story he'd tell with it.

Personaly, i never found this particular tune or any rendition I've heard of it very mournful.

# Posted on May 25th 2010 by birlibirdie

9/8 vs 3/4

ceolachan,

Thanks for the comments regarding the time signature for this tune! I only saw them recently, as this website doesn't notify you when a comment has been added to one of your tune submissions.

In the first place, sorry about my comment describing a 3/4 march as a "graceful waltz." At the time I posted that, I was not aware of a 3/4 march, and thus assumed it was a waltz, hence my ignorant comment.

However, my transcription of this tune as a slip jig in 9/8 was not an error - on the recording I transcribed this from, it was played distinctly as a slip jig, complete with guitar accompaniment in 9/8. They also followed it with another slip jig (The Whinney Hills of Leitrim, I believe). So I guess if you're of the opinion that this tune "doesn't work as a slip jig," that's an issue to take up with the musicians who originally recorded it that way.

Notwithstanding, I don't exactly understand your point about it not working as a slip jig. Certainly it has a different feel than how it's usually played in 3/4, but that alone doesn't completely discount it, does it? I originally heard it as a slip jig, and liked it that way, and since then my band has played it many times to great effect. So for it to not work in 9/8, I must really be missing something.

Anyway, I'd be curious to hear more of your opinion/perspective on this matter.

Thanks!

-- David

# Posted on August 12th 2010 by The David Dude

David, there is no 'ignorance' even imagined, as this music is a constant search, as should any passion a person has, hopefully. In a sense we are all ignorant and striving to overcome that. When we stop realizing that need then there's something to worry about. And as to experimentation and taking things different ways, that too is part of the fun...

A 'slip jig' is more than a sequence of notes, and also true of a march in 3/4 time. The accompaniment for swung 3/4 and 9/8, well, it wouldn't be any different. There's nothing stopping someone calling it what they please. Personally, I could probably turn any 3/4 tune into a 9/8 slip jig, so there's nothing stopping anyone else from taking things that way and quickly. But, there are so many lovely slip jigs why go that route. But each to their own inclinations. Having just said that, I've fiddled around with my share of melodies, trying them in different ways, including farting around with time signatures.

For me this sucks if whipped through as a slip jig, and it has a lovely lopping along marchy feeling built into the basic melody that is a bit static and insane as a slip jig. I happen to prefer it as the march it was and has been and remains for most. Some airs, the actual melody, work better one way or the other, in my sense of it all. Yeah, you can roast this air as a slip jig, but I, personally, think it sucks that way, but we all have our own inclinations there.

# Posted on August 12th 2010 by ceolachan

Why not seek another opinion, as from a step dancer? Seeing someone dance to this in comparison with a more established slip jig, and getting their impressions, opinion, that would at least be interesting, whether or not it changes your own perspective on this...

# Posted on August 12th 2010 by ceolachan

Another dance it would drag down, in my opinion, that uses slip jigs ~ any of the several versions of 'Strip the Willow'... That's one for couples, a country dance. You could use it, but there are so many interesting and better slip jigs for driving that madness along, in my sense of things...

# Posted on August 12th 2010 by ceolachan

Try it with this one ~ ;-)
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display.php/1714

# Posted on August 12th 2010 by ceolachan