Si Bheag Si Mhor

waltz

Key signature: Dmajor

Submitted on December 20th 2001 by dirk.

This tune has been added to 607 tunebooks.

Also known as An TSidh Bheag Agus An TSidh Mhor, Sí Beag Sí Mór, She Begs For More, Shee Beg & Shee Mor, Sheebag Sheemore, Sheebeg & Shemore, Sheebeg And Sheemore, Sheebeg Sheemore, Si Beag Is Si Mhor, Si Beag Si Mhor, Si Beag Si Mor, Si Beag, Si Mor, Si Beag,Si Mor, Si Begh Si Mohr, Si Bheag's Si Mhor, Si Bheag, Si Mhor, Sidhe Beag Agus Sidhe Mor, Sidhe Beag, Sidhe Mor, Sighe Beag Sighe Mor.

Recordings of a tune by this name:

A River Of Sound by Various Artists
Banish Misfortune by Mithril
Beauty In Tears by The O'Carolan Quartet
Boys Of The Lough by Boys Of The Lough
Carolan's Gift: The Music Of Turlough O'Carolan by Maggie's Music Artists:Sue Richards,et.al
Castles In The Sky (Celtic Music) by Allan Alexander And Michael Carlito
Celtic Harp/O'Carolan's Dream/The Music Of O'Carolan by Aryeh Frankfurter
Celtic Heart by Marcille Wallis
Celtic Legacy by Various Artists
Celtic Treasure-the Legacy Of Turlough O'Carolan by Various Artists
Close To The White Bear by Dave Swarbrick And Simon Nicol
Crossing The Line by Sandy Stanage
Dance Album by The Bushwhackers Band
Easy And Slow by Claddagh
Festival Of Traditional Irish Music by Various Artists
Fibb'nacci Sequence by Knot Fibb'n
Foinn Seisiun 3 by Ennis/Dublin Session Group
Gallain2 by Barry Mcgandy
Gerry MacFadden by Gerry McFadden
Grianan by Grianan MTC
Jefferson And Liberty by The Itinerant Band
Mapless Journey by Kathy Buys
Musical Delights From Ireland by Comhaltas Tour Group 1998
New Irish Harmonica by Brendan Power
Paddy On The Railway by Ten Penny Bit
Planxty by Planxty
Rock And More Roses by Pat Kilbride
Slaintemhath by Slaintemhath
Sligo Ceili by Seamus Tansey
Southwind by Glenn Morgan
Spirit Of The Isles: A Concert For Beltane by Various Artists
Swarbrick 2 by Dave Swarbrick
The Art Of Turlough O'Carolan - Piano Arrangements Of The Famous Airs And Laments by J.J. Sheridan
The Belfast Harp Festival by Grainne Yeats
The Carolan's Album by Maire Ni Chathasaigh And Chris Newman
The Chieftains 5 by The Chieftains
The Complete Works Of Turlough O'Carolan (1670-1738) - Disc 8 by J.J. Sheridan
The Devils Of Dublin by Celtic Music Society (East Rochester HS)
The Journey Home by Banish Misfortune
The Kells by The Kells
The Long Long Note by Deiseal
The Music Of Turlough O'Carolan by Patrick Ball
They Called Her Babylon by Steeleye Span
Three Forks Of Cheat by Trapezoid
Traditions by Maggie Sansone

Details ABC Sheetmusic Comments

Internet recordings of "Si Bheag Si Mhor."

I first encountered this tune in Heather Clarke's uilleann pipe tutor, and though this tune is supposedly a common one, I had to seek it out on the internet to find any recordings. I have lots of Irish CD's but no recordings of this tune so far.
I think the best way to learn this tune is to hear some recordings. Here are two internet links:
http://www.whistleworkshop.co.uk/sheebeg.htm
http://www.hatii.arts.gla.ac.uk/MultimediaStudentProjects/97-98/9402212m/project/html/shebeg.htm
Also, mp3.com has a couple.

# Posted on December 28th 2001 by dirk

Si Bheag Si Mhor

Great tune - I think! Stumled across the "recordings" section of this site and disappointed - a lot! I was hoping it would include posts of members' recordings / interpretations, and instead it's just links to commercial sites.

Be great if people could put their own recordings on this site, wouldn't it!

Mark

# Posted on February 20th 2002 by Mark Harmer

"She Begs For More"--I know this tune well, but I've never heard of this title! I'm sorry, but it makes me laugh a little. Si Bheag Si Mhor means something about a little hill and a bog hill, I think. It's often attributed to Carolan.

# Posted on June 16th 2002 by The Whistler

Wrong Note in measure 12

I believe measure 12 of the "a" part should go from the half note
D to the F on the top line of the staff (instead of the E). It makes
sense musically with the same phrase in the "B" part. I also
checked a few other sources and they all go the to high "E".

# Posted on July 6th 2002 by tony neria

Here's a little harmony part. I'm no Chopin, but I think it works.

FG|A4G2|F3G AF|G4GF|D2A,2D2|G4B2|A2B2c2|d2A3G|F2D2F2|
G2E4|F2D4|A,4^A,2|B,4F2|G2F2E2|A2A,4|D6-|-D4:|:
A2|d2A4|A2d2c2|d2 GA Bc|d2A4|ABc2AB|c2F2A2|B2D2GF|G2F2E2|
A,4^A,2|B,4F2|G2E4|F2D4|GAB2G2|A2A,4|D6-|-D4:||

# Posted on December 30th 2002 by granama

Mark,
Just seen your plea for members' recordings to be on the site rather than links to commercial stuff. Great idea, but I suspect Jeremy would agree that there are severe practical difficulties in implementing this idea. I don't know how much server space and bandwidth Jeremy has available but it is not limitless. If a music file is submitted in in the standard 128kbps mp3 format (a reasonable approximation to the original) it will take up server space at the rate of about 940kbpm (nearly a megabyte). A single tune can be anything from 1 to 2 minutes in length (1 - 2 MB), and the space requirements for a large number of mp3s will eventually become overwhelming. On top of that, uploading or downloading a single mp3 file will take an appreciable time, nearly 3 minutes for a 1 minute tune at a theoretical connection speed of 44kbps - and theoretical speeds are almost never attained, or anything like it. Broadband will be up to 9 times quicker, but not everybody has broadband. All this would eat dramatically into Jeremy's available bandwidth and uploading and downloading the mp3 files may become impossible.
trevor

# Posted on December 30th 2002 by lazyhound

Here is a slightly different version of the tune together with a counterpoint tune to it which we played some months ago at a workshop. The counterpoint tune is a little more than straightforward harmony, it is almost a tune in its own right.

�the tune�
de|f2 fe d2|d2 de d2|B4 A2|F4 A2|BABc d2|e4 de|f4 e2|d4 f2|
B4 e2|A4 d2|F4 E2|D4 f2|B4 e2|A4 dc|d6|d4:|
|:de|f2 fe d2|ed ef a2|b4 a2|f4 ed|e4 a2|f4 ed|d4 B2|B4 A2|
F4 E2|D4 f2|B4 e2|A4 a2|bagfed|e4 dc|d6|d4:||
"counterpoint to the tune"
A2|D2 dc B2|A4 F2|GFED C2|D2 d2 F2|G4 F2|dc A4|D2 d2 c2| B2 F2 D2|
GF G4|FE F4|D2 d2 c2|B2 F2 D2|GF G4|CD E4|D4 AG|F4:|
|:A2|D2 dc B2|A4 F2|GABd c2|d2 D2 F2|dc A4|d2 D2 A2|BAGF G2|GFED C2|
D2 d2 c2|B2 F2 D2|GF G4|FE F4|GA B4|cBAGFE|D4 AG|F4:||

trevor

# Posted on January 20th 2003 by lazyhound

Si bheag si mhor

i have known this tune for many years. The title means the big fairy hill and the little fairy hill. there is an uilleann recording on Planxty's first album.

# Posted on October 11th 2003 by billabbey

Yep Liam O'Flynn, that's where I first heard it.
Call me Mr Pedantic, but that should read -
'The little fairy hill and the big fairy hill'. If my schoolboy Irish is up to scratch. I think the Chieftains went into some detail about a mythical battle between the fairy inhabitants of two neighbouring hills. It is generaly attributed to O'Carolan I believe and someone has put words to it.

# Posted on April 10th 2004 by djimbo

correct. Little and then big

-P�draig

# Posted on April 10th 2004 by Pádraig

The sheet music and an audio version of this tune can be found in L.E. Mc Cullough's 'Irish Tinwhistle Tutor'.

According to McCullough, 'This piece was inspired by the folklore that surrounds two hills in Co. Leitrim said to be inhabited by the spirits of ancient warriors whose mortal bodies lie entombed within the hills. From time to time these spirits revive their quarrel...'

I love the tunes that involve the supernatural!

# Posted on February 6th 2005 by Pete D

Si beag si mor

does anyone know some words for it?

# Posted on April 11th 2005 by scottsikon

Well, Carolan's tune was adapted from The Bonny Cuckoo, but I don't know the words. If you listen to the tune, you can hear the cuckoo's call in it.

# Posted on April 12th 2005 by Bob himself

Set

This makes a really nice set for cello if it's followed by Sour Grass and Granite, but it sounds great on any instrument

# Posted on August 21st 2005 by irishimp

"Sheebeg Sheemore" ~ waltz/air

# Posted on June 26th 2006 by nipdigler
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/5899 ~ Alas, no more...

For posterity, here is 'nipdigler's contributions, the 'repeats' have been put there by me, but 'nipdigler' comments "We play without repeats and as arranged by John Peekstok:

K: D Major
|: de |
f3 e d2 | d2 e2 d2 |B4 A2 | F4 A2 | BA Bc d2 | e4 de | f2 f2 e2 | d4 f2 |
B4 e2 | A4 d2 | F2 F2 E2 | D4 f2 | B4 e2 | A4 dc | d6- | d4 :|
|: de |
f3 e d2 | ed ef a2 | b4 a2 | f4 ed | e2 e2 a2 | f4 e2 | d4 B2 | B4 A2 |
F4 E2 | D4 f2|B4 e2 | A4 a2| ba gf ed | e3 fe | d10 | de :|\

nipdigler:
Rythym as follows:
A) || D D Bm D G A D D G F#m Bm D G A D D ||
B) || D A G D A D D Bm D D G F#m G A D D ||

http://www.thesession.org/members/display/22412

John & Anna Peekstok (arranger mentioned above) ~ TELYNOR, Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.:

http://www.telynor.com/

# Posted on June 26th 2006 by ceolachan

PUB session playlist

See above for PVB session info.

# Posted on June 27th 2006 by Rune Stone

PVB Session - Portneuf Valley Brewing Company

Pocatello, Idaho, U.S.A.
Submitted on December 28th 2005 by nipdigler.
http://www.thesession.org/sessions/display/1197

# Posted on June 27th 2006 by ceolachan

Here's another take on a melody line that goes up into second position for fiddles:

X:1
T:Si Bheag Si Mhor (harmony)
N:Harmony arrangement by Stacey Phillips
S: Mel Bay's "Twin Fiddling" by Stacey Phillips
L:1/8
M:3/4
K:D
fg|:a3 g f2|f3 gf2|d3 e dc|A4 c2|
dcde f2|g4 fg|a bag|f3 g a2|
d4 g2|c4 f2|A3 BAG|F4 a2|
d4 g2|c4 fe|f4 e2|f4 fg:|
|:a2 ag f2|gfga c'2|d'4 (3c'd'c'|a4 gf|
g4 c'2|a4 g2|g4 d2|d4 c2|
A3 B AG|F4 a2| d4 g2|c4 c'2|
d'c'bagf| g4 fe| f6|f4 :|

# Posted on March 24th 2007 by fidkid

"...another take on a HARMONY line"

# Posted on March 24th 2007 by fidkid

Speed

Planxty do what seems a fairly upbeat version, as do the Pascal Bournet Consort on their 'Spirit of Ireland' O'Carolan recording, so...
Maybe I have just got used to playing this too slowly, but this brings out a plaintive quality you don't get in the jauntier versions (plaintive versions of tunes are my speciality
What are your views on how fast it should go? Do we know what O'Carolan intended?

# Posted on July 26th 2007 by P-K

Lmao... "Sheebag"

# Posted on October 6th 2007 by Twilight_falls

A Somewhat Modern Arrangement of O'Carolans "Si Bheag, Si Mhor"

I wrote this as one of my five penance pieces. I then read the FAQs, found out the five penance rule is actually written, and that submitting versions of existing tunes would result in, well, non-submission. The FAQs say to tack it on at the end of the comments, so here goes. I wrote this in 4/4 time, not 3/4, per a waltz, so I hope my posting the ABC here doesn't upset anyone.

T:Si Bheag, Si Mhor (modern)
M:4/4
L:1/8
C:Turlough O'Carolan
S:Arthur Nordstrom
K:G
|:B E2 G4 B|E2 G4 B E-|E G4 c3|B4 G4|\
E4 G A3|e2 G2 B4|1 F8:|2 c4 G A3|\
G4 B E2 G-|G3 A G2 A2-|A d2 c2 B3|\
A4 G3 E-|E3 D3 E F-|\
F2 E2 F2 G2-|G2 A6|B E2 G4 A|\
G2 A4 d2|c2 B4 A2-|A2 G3 E3-|\
E D3 E F3| E2 F2 G4|A4 G A3|G8|]

# Posted on June 21st 2008 by Arthur Nordstrom