The Flower Of The Flock

reel

Key signature: Gmajor

Submitted on March 12th 2002 by Will CPT.

This tune has been added to 80 tunebooks.

Recordings of a tune by this name:

• 1975 The First by The Bothy Band
• 4 by Bohola
• A Few More Tunes by John Skelton
• Atlantic Breeze by Shaskeen
• Celtic Reign by Celtic Reign
• Ireland's Harvest : A Tribute To The Golden Years Of Music In Irish America by Joe Derrane, Frankie Gavin And Brian McGrath
• Irish Accordion by Joe Derrane
• Live In Concert by The Bothy Band
• Sunday After Mass by Denis O Connor And Con Moynihan
• The Ballydesmond Polka by Dan Herlihy And John Drew
• Wooden Flute Obsession: Volume 3, Disc 1 by Various Artists

X: 1
T: Flower Of The Flock, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Gmaj
|:DEGA BG (3GGG|cABG AGEG|DEGA B2 ge|1 dBAc BGGE:|2 dBAc BGGe||
|~g3 e dcBd|cABG AGEG|~g3 e d2 eg|a2 ab agef|
|~g3 e dcBd|cABG AGEG|DEGA Bdge|dBAc BGGE|

Flower of the Flock

I wish I could remember where I learned this tune. Might've been off a tape of Frankie Gavin. I've heard an Eileen Ivers' version and it went fast and driving: |DEGA B3 B|cABG A ~E3| etc. The way I first heard it, this was a swingy, not-too-fast Clare sort of tune, with lots of time for variations and rolls sprinkled around. That opening phrase can go a zillion ways:

|DEGA B (3BBB|cABG AGEG|
|DEGA BGGB|c2 Bc AGEG|
|DEGA BDGB|(3cdc BG A~E3
|DEGA BGBd|(3cBA BG ABGE|
you get the idea. The rest of the tune is almost as mutable. The first bars of the B Part could go:

|gdeg (3ded Bd| then add any second bar from above |
|g2 (3efg dcBd| ditto |
and so on.

This is a fairly common session tune, and it's an easy G major tune to fall into from all those D reels out there, starting on that open D.

# Posted on March 12th 2002 by Will CPT

Martin Mulvihill

Martin Mulvihill did it on his Humors of Glin tape, which is no longer available.

# Posted on June 26th 2006 by PurpleHayes007

I'd be surprised if most people here didn't learn this from the 1st "Bothy Band" album. I know I did.

# Posted on June 26th 2006 by Kenny