Key signature: Dmajor
Submitted on May 25th 2001 by Jeremy.
This tune has been added to 1073 tunebooks.
Also known as Mountain Road, Rocky Mountain Road.
Recordings of a tune by this name:
X: 1
T: Mountain Road, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Dmaj
F2 AF BFAF| F2 AF EFDE| F2 AF BFAF| G2 FG EFDE|
F2 AF BFAF|F2 AF EFD2| FAA2 BAFA|BABd eddA|
d2dA BAFA| d2 de fgfe| d2 dA BAFA| G2 FG EDFA|
d2 dA BAFA| d2 de fgfe| d2 dA BAFA| G2 FG EFDE|
This is the "whistle-friendly" version of the tune, in that it never goes below D. For fiddles and other instruments with a wider octave range, the second part of the fourth bar can be played EDBD, the B being low (on the G string of the fiddle).
The long F# which keeps coming up in the first part can be rolled, but what's even nicer is to slide up to it from E. If you don't like the sliding sound, try it as a triplet; EFF#.
I always play this tune as written here, but I've also heard it played with both parts being played twice.
There are also longer versions of this tune (with 3 or even 6 parts) but I'm not familiar with them.
# Posted on June 2nd 2001 by Jeremy
An aptly named tune.
# Posted on October 26th 2002 by Paddy
I'm just learning this tune now (12/03). Thanks for your comments on the F#s, especially the slide up idea.
The hard part for me as fiddle player is getting the drone nice and smooth.
You can also vary the ending lick on lines 1, 3, 4 so each one feels slightly different. For example start the bar with a triple (gf#3) sometimes.
# Posted on December 4th 2003 by Rayzore
opps, that triplet would be g-f#-e.
# Posted on December 4th 2003 by Rayzore
Heard Harry Bradley and Tara Diamond playing the third part to this tune recently. They got it from a Glenties fiddler.
# Posted on January 14th 2004 by cluaintarbh
The Mountain Road
According to Peter Cooper, this tune was composed by Michael Gorman.
# Posted on April 4th 2004 by danfran
Michael Gorman
It was written by Michael Gorman, and it is his best known composition. Here is a recording of him playing all six parts: http://www.cranfordpub.com/mp3s/michaelgorman2.mp3
I think it would be fun to learn them all. Kevin Burke plays three parts on his In Concert album.
-Max
# Posted on June 18th 2004 by Max Becher
1st part
the first partreminds me of the killavil reel....
# Posted on September 25th 2005 by flamin fiddler
I'm just now learning this on flute after playing it off and on for 20 years on fiddle. So the two-part setting I'm working up on flute comes out like this:
X: 1
T: Mountain Road, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
C: Michael Gorman
R: reel
K: D
F2 AF BFAF| F/A/F AF EFDE| F2 AF BFAF| G2 FG EFGE|
F2 AF BFAF|F/A/F AF EFDE| FA~A2 BAFB|ABde fgfe||
d2 dA BAFA| dcde fgfe| ~d3A BAFA| G2 FG EFGA|
d2 dA BAFA| dcde fgfe| dcdA BAFA| G2 FG EFGE||
# Posted on October 14th 2005 by Will Harmon
Listen to Michael Gorman himself and Willie Clancy play the standard 2 part version of the tune: http://www.irishfiddle.com/sound/gorman.mp3
# Posted on October 27th 2005 by slainte
Mountain Road
Usually follows "Drowsy Maggie", so everybody seems to think it a come-down, but it isn't.
I've heard it played three dfferent ways - namely AB AB etc, AABB AABB etc and ABC ABC (usually all at the same time!)
It always pays to have the loudest instrument to play this tune - maybe that's why you have to be up a mountain to play it!
# Posted on September 19th 2006 by Sithiwenasithi
Mountain Road
The Mountain Road is often played metronomically in sessions, some fiddlers being able to bring out the intricate rhythmic structure of the tune because they aren't using a bowing that would enable them to do so.
Here is a suitable bowing, as taught by Mossie Martin in a fiddle workshop class at Keadue in August 2009. This bowing isn't necessarily easy to acquire, and many will find it needs slow and careful practice with complete attention to detail until it becomes automatic and embedded in the brain and fingers (I haven't quite got it yet!).
U indicates a down bow, and V indicates an up bow.
The notes inside a pair of closed brackets (...) are slurred on one bow. The slurring is often across the beat and sometimes across a bar line.
Note the triples which start with (3 - the bowing is UVU, and the last note of the triple is sometimes (but not always) slurred into the next note.
U(F2A) V(F BF)A VF | (3FF U(FA) V(F EF) DE |
U(F2A) V(F BF)A V(F | G2) UF V(G ED) B,D |
U(F2A) V(F BF)A VF | (3FF U(FA) V(F EF) DE |
UF VA U(3AAA V(BA) FB | U(ABd)e fd d2 ||
U(dcd) V(B AD) FA | U(dcd) V(e fg) fe |
U(dcd) V(B AD) FA | UG2 FG EDB,D |
U(dcd) V(B AD) FA | U(dcd) V(e fg) fe |
defd AFD V(F | G2) UF V(G ED) B,D ||
Some players may find the above bowing notation easier to understand if they transcribe it into dots and use the regular beams for the slurs and the usual fiddle notation for down and up bows.
We were told that the title of the tune refers to an actual mountain road in Sligo (Michael Gorman's home county).
# Posted on August 6th 2009 by Trevor Jennings
Mountain Road
oops! should be "... some fiddlers being unable to bring out the intricate rhythmic structure ..."
# Posted on August 6th 2009 by Trevor Jennings
I sometimes play the first part one octave higher. I've heard other people do this. Not every time around, but as a variation. I've also heard the first and third bar played |F2 dF cFBF|.
# Posted on August 13th 2009 by Pontus Adefjord
Cool Tune
This tune seems to release a different tone from my banjo
# Posted on August 31st 2009 by dlunney
There's a nice pairing of Pottinger's into Mountain Road on this CD - I love the transition
http://www.thesession.org/recordings/display/2738
# Posted on March 11th 2010 by domhnall.
This sounds great in Bmin.
# Posted on June 9th 2010 by pipersgrip
of course that transcription is an eyesore
# Posted on March 3rd 2012 by Earl Cameron
I made your submission with bow markings easier to read, and also made the bow markings lowercase so that abc readers could understand them.
X: 1
T: Mountain Road, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
C: Michael Gorman
R: reel
K: D
u(F2 A)v(F BF)AvF | (3FFu(F A)v(F EF)DE | u(F2A)v(F BF)Av(F | G2) uFv(G ED)B,D |
u(F2A)v(F BF)AvF | (3FFu(F A)v(F EF)DE | uFvA u(3AAA v(BA)FB | u(ABd)e fd d2 ||
u(dcd)v(B AD)FA | u(dcd)v(e fg)fe | u(dcd)v(B AD)FA | uG2 FG EDB,D |
u(dcd)v(B AD)FA | u(dcd)v(e fg)fe | defd AFDv(F | G2) uFv(G ED)B,D ||
# Posted on March 3rd 2012 by Earl Cameron
Pairing
I can see this going well with Jim Donaghue's.
# Posted on April 23rd 2012 by an fidleir