The Silver Spire

reel

Key signature: Dmajor

Submitted on August 20th 2001 by Jeremy.

This tune has been added to 280 tunebooks.

Also known as Bennett's Favorite, Great Eastern, The Great Eastern, John Brennan's, O'Byrne's Fancy, Silver Spire.

Recordings of a tune by this name:

• A Dark Horse by Martin Murray
• A Man Apart by Sean Maguire
• Ah, Surely! by Eddie Cahill
• Alesia by Rapalje
• Are You The Concertina Player? by Kate McNamara
• Aris by Le Cheile
• Around The World For Sport by The Doon Céilí Band
• At It Again by John Carty
• At The Feis by John Doonan
• Bean Chairdin by Dympna O'Sullivan
• Before Dawn by Harmony Glen
• Best Of Irish Fiddle by Florie Brown
• Between The Sets by Barefield Ceili Band
• Brothers Together by Sean And Jim McGuire
• By Heck by David Munnelly
• California Celt by Jesse Autumn And Friends
• Celtic Reign by Celtic Reign
• Cornerstone by Celtic Spring
• Corvus by Colcannon
• Cuts From The Turf by Hooley
• Draw The Bow by Malachy Bourke
• Edel Fox And Ronan O'Flaherty by Edel Fox And Ronan O'Flaherty
• Farewell To Ireland CD 4 (Of A Box Set Of 4) by Lynn Saoirse
• Fiddle Sticks, Irish Traditional Music From Donegal by Lynn Saoirse
• Fiddlers Five by Fiddlers Five
• First Through The Gate by Brian Conway
• Fit As A Fiddle by Natalie MacMaster
• Foinn Seisiun 3 by Ennis/Dublin Session Group
• From Ballymote To Brooklyn by Paddy Killoran and James Morrison
• From Both Sides by Niamh Ni Charra
• Give Us Another by Joe Derrane
• Herding Cats by Gaelic Storm
• High Rock And Low Glen by Dab Hand
• Highly Strung by Alistair McCulloch
• Irish Traditional Music by Jim McKillop
• Just Me And A Fiddle by The Flyin' Fiddler Wayne Cantwell
• Last Night's Fun by Last Night's Fun
• Live At Trinity Hall by Trinity Hall Session Players
• Marie And Martin Reilly by Marie And Martin Reilly
• Matt Molloy, Paul Brady, Tommy Peoples by Matt Molloy, Paul Brady, Tommy Peoples
• Milestone At The Garden by Irish Fiddle Masters From The 78 RPM Era
• New Irish Harmonica by Brendan Power
• One by Murphy Roche Irish Music Club
• Portraid by Sean Maguire
• Riverdance And Other Famous Irish Songs And Dances by Lynn Saoirse
• Sharon Shannon by Sharon Shannon
• Temple House 2 by Temple House Ceili Band
• The Blue Lamp by Jonny Hardie And Gavin Marwick
• The Bridge Céilí Band by The Bridge Céilí Band
• The Godfather by Brian Rooney
• The Great Bear Trio by The Great Bear Trio
• The Joys Of Life by Shaskeen
• The Living Tradition Vol II by All Ireland Champions Tara And Garrai Eion Ceili Bands
• The Maid At The Well by Tony O'Rourke
• The Road From Erin—Ireland's Musical Legacy by Dorian Recordings
• The Sharon Shannon Collection 1990 - 2005 Disc 1 by Sharon Shannon
• The Silver Spire by Karen Tweed
• The Tap Session by Andrea Beaton
• The Wheels Of The World, Early Irish American Music, Vol 2 by Lynn Saoirse
• Torch And Fire by Dan Beimborn
• Track Across The Deep by London Lasses And Pete Quinn
• Traditional Irish Music From Boston by The Magic Square
• Traditional Irish Sessions by Lynn Saoirse
• Tuned In by Johnny Murphy
• Unleashed by The Border Collies
• Walking Stones by Ken Kolodner, Laura Risk, Robin Bullock
• Yeh, That's All It Is by John Carty

X: 1
T: Silver Spire, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Dmaj
|:FE|D2FE DFAc|dcdf edAF|GABG FGAF|GFED CEA,C|
D2FE DFAc|d2df edAF|G2BG F2AF|EA,CE D2:|
|:CB,|A,B,CD EFGE|GFEF GABc|dcBA Bcde|f2gf e2 (3ABc|
d2fd c2ec|dcdA BAFD|G2BG F2AF|EA,CE D2:|

I love the second part of this tune. You'll need to be fairly nimble-fingered to play it at speed but the effect is lovely - a cascade of notes going from low to high.

# Posted on August 20th 2001 by Jeremy

Is this a Donegal tune?

# Posted on March 20th 2003 by lazyhound

Silver spire

As far as I know, it's not particularly associated with Donegal more than anywhere else in Ireland.

# Posted on March 20th 2003 by Kenny

Brian Conway setting

Here's how Brian plays it, swingy and full of lift, on First Through the Gate (a great cd!):

K:D
FE|:D2 FE DFAc|dcde fdAF|GABG FADF|GFED CEA,C|
|D2 FE DFAc|dcde fdAF|GABG FADF|1 EA,CE D2 (3A,B,C:|2 EA,CE D2 CB,||
|:A,B,CD EFGF|~E3F GABc|dcdB ABde|fdgf eA (3BBc|
|defd ceAc|dcdB AFDF|GABG FADF|1EA,CE D2 CB,:|2EA,CE D2 (3A,B,C||

I like this setting's simplicity--staying with the scale run in the 4th bar of Part A (instead of the more common |GEFD CEA,C|), and the first two bars of Part B, where the ~E3 is featured instead of the usual |A,B,CD EFGE|(3FED EF GABc|.

# Posted on August 26th 2004 by Will CPT

First tune has wrong name- not alternate- just wrong

The name of the first tune is really The Silver SPEAR. The Silver Spire is a different tune entirely.

# Posted on August 16th 2007 by cocus

I *believe* "spire" here is pronounced "spear", and I've always seen this tune titled The Silver Spire, apparently I'm not the only one, as someone posted this with that title.

# Posted on November 5th 2007 by MartySmith

You can't play this tune on some instruments.

# Posted on June 29th 2008 by Whiddler

The Silver Spear

Even now I get confused between those two names - Silver Spear and Silver Spire. If someone at a session asks what the tune is I usually end up mumbling something like "Silver Spuh..." (voice trailing off into silence).

# Posted on June 29th 2008 by lazyhound