Details ABC Sheetmusic Comments

Calliope House

jig

Key signature: Dmajor

Submitted on May 18th 2001 by Jeremy.

This tune has been added to 815 tunebooks.

Also known as Calico House, Caliope House, Calliope Horse, Kaliope House.

Recordings of a tune by this name:

Alesia by Rapalje
Barking Mad by Four Men And A Dog
Bruach An TSuláin by The Abbey Céilí Band
Calliope House by Modesty Forbids
Celtic Dance by Various Artists
Celtic Odyssey by Various Artists
Elftones by The Elftones
Fire And Grace by Alistair Fraser With Natalie Haas
For The Sake Of Old Decency by Cathal McConnel And Len Graham
Green Energy by The Irish Experience
Kennedy's Kitchen by Kennedy's Kitchen
Live In Alaska by Surreel
Lonesome Blues And Dancing Shoes by Boys Of The Lough
Looking For A Rock by Juniper
On A Meadowlark Night: Dance Music From New England, Ireland, Scotland, Québec, And Cape Breton by Eric Eid-Reiner And Friends
One by 422
Open Road by Boys Of The Lough
Paddy And Bridget And Their Great Friends 2 by Various Artists
Patrick Street by Patrick Street
Sessions From..... by An Teach Beag
Seven Years After by Sirkus
Tampa Session Sets, Vol. 1 by Clan Tampa
The Best Of Patrick Street by Patrick Street
The Clan MacColl by Angus MacColl
The Great Bear Trio by The Great Bear Trio
The High Notes by The High Notes
The Journey Home by Banish Misfortune
The Journey Home by Paul Anderson
The Maid At The Well by Tony O'Rourke
The Road North by Alasdair Fraser And Paul Machlis
The Traditional Album by The Barra MacNeils
The Wansbeck Piper by Pauline Cato
Trad Celtique by Le Chene Vert
Traditional Music In Support Of Doolin Coast And Cliff Rescue Service by Various Artists
True...Never Been Known To Lie by Knot Fibb'n
Turas by Turas
Until Now by The Barra MacNeils

Details ABC Sheetmusic Comments

Details ABC Sheetmusic Comments

Details ABC Sheetmusic Comments

It's a sprightly, lively tune with a lovely melody and I always enjoy playing this one. At some sessions, I've heard this tune started with the second part so don't get caught off-guard if you find you have to reverse the order of the two parts.

Here's some additional info from Charles Anderson:

"This tune was written by Dave Richardson of 'The Boys of the Lough' and recorded and popularized by that group. The tune is dedicated to a long time friend of Cathal McConnell and The Boys of the Lough who owns a Victorian mansion in Pittsburgh where many concerts, parties and sessions have been held featuring traditional music of many styles. The house was dubbed 'Calliope House' when it became the home of a non-profit folk arts organization using the same name. This organization continues sponsoring folk music concerts and a folk music school in Pittsburgh under the name 'Calliope: the Pittsburgh Folk Music Society'"

# Posted on June 1st 2001 by Jeremy

Calliope House

This tune was written in the key of E and to me sounds better when played in this key.

# Posted on June 8th 2001 by Alanmmcgregor

Key

Unfortunatelly it will be impossible for us whistlers, flautists and pipers to play it in the key it is supposed to be played in. For that reason Dmaj seems acceptable for session puposes.
I sometimes wonder which part is the first though.

# Posted on July 9th 2001 by Ah, Surely!

The Calliope House

I just wanted to note that the owner of the Calliope House was and is George Balderose. He is a master bagpiper and folk musician. I took bagpipe lessons with him at that house for 2 years.

# Posted on October 13th 2001 by canuck2222

D-whistle/Flute

You can play Calliope House on a D-whistle (or flute) without too much difficulty. There is no d# in the tune, so the only difficult note is the g#. Most g#'s in the tune are in the upper octave where they can be fingered xxoxoo on most whistles (also try xxoxxo) with good effect. That leaves only the lower octave G# toward the end of the second part to half-hole or to work around (by playing b instead).

# Posted on April 5th 2002 by Bloomfield

D-whistle/Flute con't

Forgot to say that you can play it in E-major on a D-whistle without too much difficulty. The notes given in the previous post refer to the tune in E-maj, so that you have to move every not one note up from the version written above.

# Posted on April 5th 2002 by Bloomfield

Dave says this about the tune:

"...I named the tune by way of a thank you for his(George Balderose's) support and his work with the organization 'Calliope.' Calliope was the muse of poets and musicians. I wrote this on a sunny summer day in Edinburgh while sitting on a stone bench in my south-facing front garden which fronts onto the street. People were going to and fro to pick up their kids at the school opposite. I sat there to watch for my own daughter and see her over the street safely. To fill in the time, I played the mandolin. Happy days!"

# Posted on January 12th 2003 by Odin

Modulating

Several of my friends who play fiddle for our rapper/morris team (we're a teenage team in New England) play this tune, but what they often do, apparently, is start in D Major, and after a coupla times through, they modulate up to E Major by playing the second part and playing an e at the end instead of another d, and starting at the beginning in E Major (4 sharps). It sounds quite nice this way, and if you want to, you can modulate up and down whenever you feel like it .

# Posted on January 27th 2003 by Gick

I agree with Alan, This tune sounds better in the key of E.
( my flute has the G# key :-) )

# Posted on September 22nd 2003 by gian marco

Calliope House

It does sound better in E and,if memory serves,The Boys Of The Lough played the high part first.

# Posted on March 1st 2003 by dafydd

He wrote this tune on the Cittern, this tune is his claim to fame.

# Posted on January 16th 2006 by ecidralla

And a brilliant tune indeed.

# Posted on January 16th 2006 by ecidralla

Cittern...

So much for playing it on a "cittern" haha

# Posted on April 4th 2006 by lowellirish

Aye Dafydd, I learned it from the playing of the BoTL & they did indeed play the high part first!

# Posted on May 29th 2006 by Ptarmigan

i always find the "2nd part" played as the first part.......

without exception.

i really dont see how this tune sounds right the way it is written here....

but play it how you like.......
lol

# Posted on November 1st 2006 by saxwhistle

Me too!!!

& you could always play in on an E whistle too (or E flute if you could find one)... That said, and whatever 'original' key it might have been in, and having played it in a lot of different venues and situations, it was only ever played it in 'D'... I've tried it in 'E' too, on several instruments, but can't say I notice any appreciable difference. Here's another take on it, as I'd been taught it, quite some time ago, and as I've known it for at least a good while. But, as I don't have the ol' Boys of the Lough recording on hand I can't really tell you who has it ass backwards... ;-) I haven't gone to the notes, wanting to strum this up just raw from memory, however failing or confused that may be ~

T: Calliope House
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
R: jig
K: D Major
|: ee/f/g |
aa/a/a faa | eaa dd/e/f | gag fgf | efe edB | A>BA A2 F |
A2 B d2 e|1 fgf fed | e3 :|2 fgf efe | d3- dAB ||
dAA fAA | eAA fed | Bee e2 d | efd BdB | ABA A2 F |
A2 B d2 e |1 f3 fed | e3- edc :|2 fgf efe | d3 ||

The least you could have done SaxWhistle is give you take on the thing... Be brave, give it a shot...

# Posted on November 2nd 2006 by ceolachan

I haven't notated rolls above, long or short, whish is usual for me, but most will know that any beat with two of the same note, such as eaa or fgf or efe or Bee, or a note followed by a 2 or a 3, such as A2 or e3, can be rolled ~ any number of ways, or as in that first beat, measure 1 ~ aa/a/a, aside from the other option to roll it you can use that same way with it in a number of places too, here it is multiplied for the B-part:, measure 4 through to that d3 of the second ending:

~ | AA/A/A A2 F | A2 B dd/d/e | ff/f/f ee/e/e | d3 ||

# Posted on November 2nd 2006 by ceolachan

does anyone have the sheet music to this song in the key of E?

# Posted on December 12th 2006 by reaghan

Here it is in E

There are some slight differences apart from the transposition; just a matter of personal taste/style. By the way, you can download Barfly to interpret .abc files, and even transpose them for you. I use a Mac version. I'm not sure what the PC version is like. Here's the link:
http://www.barfly.dial.pipex.com/

# Posted on February 8th 2007 by DuncanCameron

One of our local ceilidh bands plays a jig set including Calliope House and has taken to lowering their instruments for a whole AABB in order to sing: "Diddley diddley diddley diddley, diddley di de di de di dum..." and so on. They even have all the words written down. At ceilidhs they don't warn the caller, which can lead to amusement...

# Posted on March 14th 2007 by robharper

Calliope House

Great tune, and like no other. Nice to go into The Cowboy or Out on the Ocean afterwards.

I still think it sounds a bit odd if the B part is played first, though this is not uncommon (eg BoTL and Patrick Street #1)

# Posted on June 29th 2007 by domnull

Great tune

I taught myself the tune in D, but when I found out it was in E, then I taught it to myself in E. And now I like it better in E; I find I can ornament it differently. But I have never heard it played with the second part first, I can't imagine that sounding better. I really like this tune a lot. Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas do an amazing set with this tune into MacArthur Road, another great tune in E.

# Posted on June 24th 2008 by isafiddle

Calliope house

I learnt this tune from the BotL album Open Road, where it may have been first published. It's definitely in E - what a great key on the fiddle, too - and definitely has the high part second.
People round here play it in D and back to front, it drives me nuts! Thought I'd get that off me chest...

# Posted on March 30th 2009 by Maggie Duncan

Calliope House Duet?

I've heard this played as a duet with two fiddles or fiddle and cello. Beautiful. Does anyone have the music for the second (non-melody) part?

(New to this so may be using the wrong terminology ... apologies.)

# Posted on October 17th 2009 by SunnySoCal

Guitar Accompaniment

Does anyone have any clues to a guitar accompaniment to this tune?

We are playing it in D

Thanks

# Posted on January 12th 2010 by Chris Pink