The Belles Of Tipperary

reel

Key signature: Dmajor

Submitted on June 16th 2002 by Mad Baloney.

This tune has been added to 136 tunebooks.

Also known as An Garda Nua, Belles Of Tipperary, Bells Of Tipperary, The Bells Of Tipperary, Michael Dwyer's Favorite, The New Policeman.

Recordings of a tune by this name:

15 Times Around by Tim O'Shea And Friends
A Rival Heart by Mark Evans
A Sound Skin by Junior Davey And Friends
Atlantic Roar by Paul Bradley
California Celt by Jesse Autumn And Friends
Champions Of Ireland Concertina by Denise Shiel
Cuisle by Angela Deane
D Flute Album by Kevin Crawford
Fiddle Duets by Andy McGann And Paddy Reynolds
Foinn Seisiun 2 by Ceoltóirí Cultúrlainne
Happy To Meet And Sorry To Part by Joe Burke, Michael Cooney And Terry Coleman
Into The Night by Tulca Mor
Irish Whistles by Various Artists
Live In Concert by Brid Harper And Dermot Byrne
Lucky In Love by Charlie Lennon And Mick O'Connor
Man Of Achievement by Sean Maguire
Master Irish Fiddle Player by Tommy Peoples
Matt Molloy by Matt Molloy
Miles From Dublin by Dan Carollo
Musical Journey by Cormac Breatnach And Martin Dunlea
One's Own Place by Kevin Henry
Piping Hot by Various Artists
Pluckin' Good by Christy Dunne
Sporting Nell by Tommy McCarthy
Standing Room Only by Eliot Grasso
Take A Bow by Matt Cranitch
Take The Air by Sean Ryan
The Best Of Seamus Tansey by Seamus Tansey
The Bridge Céilí Band by The Bridge Céilí Band
The Gypsy Princess. by Amergin
The Irish Concertina by Noel Hill
The Mountain Road by Comhaltas Tour Group 1997
The Mulcahy Family by The Mulcahy Family
The Phantom Shadows Of A Connaught Fire (2 Of 3) by Seamus Tansey
The Road To Riley by Riley School Of Irish Music
The Seventh Veil by Theresa Kavanagh
The Slopes Of Benbulben by John Regan
Three Shouts From A Hill by Cian
Traditional Irish Dance Music by Various Artists
Traditional Irish Music by William Sullivan
Up At The Crack Of Noon by Ciúnas
Up In The Air by Danu
Wallop The Spot by Four Men And A Dog
Wooden Flute Obsession: Volume 2, Disc 2 by Various Artists

Details ABC Sheetmusic Comments

Ask My Father

Got his one from the demo mp3's posted on the Ask My Father site, It's got a different chord structure than most other tunes & lot's of tricky turns. Nice tune

# Posted on June 16th 2002 by Mad Baloney

Good god, Brad. What the HELL were you doing there and how the hell did you find out about the website already? I was hoping to hide those mp3s from you and everyone else...eek!

This tune is also known as The New Policeman. The setting is Shannon Heaton's.

Zina

# Posted on June 16th 2002 by Zina Lee

The girl so nice, they named her twice. sorry about that.

zls

# Posted on June 16th 2002 by Zina Lee

Ask My Father

Well you posted the URL, I found a tune - I never heard & liked it. So I grabbed my fiddle & learned it. Figured I'd share it with everyone. I liked the AMF mp3's, it wasn't too over-produced - which is good for a demo. It is impressive that Dirk has only been at the UP's for two or so years. I've heard Colorado's dry climate & altitude make the pipes difficult to play there. Surely he played whistle or something before hand, right? Good job yourself zina, it seems like you already have a lot of tunes in your arsenal. Good luck with the band & have fun w/ it.

Toodles

# Posted on June 17th 2002 by Mad Baloney

ps Is this how you play it or did I flub some notes?

# Posted on June 17th 2002 by Mad Baloney

Well, if you'll all pardon me for a moment, I'm going to go kill Glauber for posting the site in the link section. *grin*

Thanks for being kind about the mp3s, Brad. I suppose it was only a matter of time before people found out exactly how poor a player I really am! Anyway, we figure that at this point we're good enough for weddings and parties and such (since people are booking us, anyway, which surprised the heck out of us) -- none of us ever want to tour or do full-fledged shows.

Dirk IS quite impressive, isn't he? His version of O'Farrell's Welcome is my favorite track of the six, frankly, but maybe that's because I don't play on that track at all. Colorado is a horrible place to be a piper; when Scoiltrad came to town, we warned Eoin, and he smiled and seemed to think it would be all right, but he was amazed at the end of three days at exactly how bad it was. I expect to hear some truly mighty stuff come from Dirk's pipes in the next years. (No pressure or anything, Dirk. *snicker) He played jazz saxophone before this -- insofar as I know, nothing Irish until he decided that the pipes were for him...he played the whistle while waiting for his pipes to arrive and I think that was it.

That's more or less how we play it, Brad, close enough -- there's an almost exact transcription on the SCTLS site if you want to be fussy about it.

Anyway, thanks for the good wishes.

Zina

# Posted on June 17th 2002 by Zina Lee

Different version of Belles of Tipperary

Here's a different version of this tune that I found in an old public domain collection of New England fiddle music (circa 1970 I think). The B-b leaps are quite distinctive in this version.

D3E FA A2|defe dBBd|BdAd Bb b2|afde fe e2|
DCDE FA A2|defe dBBd|BdAd Bb b2|afde fd d2:|
|:a3b afed|gfed fd d2|BdAd Bb b2|afde fe e2|
a3b afed|gfed fd d2|BdAd Bb b2|afde fd d2:||

trevor macsheoinin

# Posted on November 23rd 2002 by lazyhound

First notes played an octave down

The first notes of bars 1 and 5 are normally played an octave lower than what you have here, i.e.: DB, ~B,2

# Posted on February 12th 2003 by pchaffee

Oops

Sorry, I meant DA, ~A,2

# Posted on February 12th 2003 by pchaffee

Belles of Tip

On andy McGann & Paddy Reynold's album they did do the dA~A2 an octave lower. Here's where the funny thing about tunes comes in... If I'm not mistaken Zina & Co. learned this tune from Shannon Heaton who is a great flute player, the flute would play those notes an octave higher. I first learned the tune from Zina & that's the setting I ended up with. It's normal for the flute, weaker for the fiddle but neithers right or wrong.

# Posted on February 25th 2003 by Mad Baloney

Brad's right on all counts -- yes, we did learn it from a fluter, Shannon Heaton, who I believe learned it from John Williams (the alive box player), but could be wrong about that. I've heard it the other way as well, but like the way it sounds as Shannon taught it to us, especially as I normally play with a piper (Dirk) who would also play it that way naturally.

# Posted on February 26th 2003 by Zina Lee

Seemed fairly plain to me that a flute, whistle or piper was the source of this version. They, of course, have to bend the tune back above D. On the other hand, it's not necessarily the case that "neithers right or wrong." If a tune really does start out going below D, and especially if bending it back above sounds weird, then I'd say the tune actually goes below D. So, if one's instrument allows, one should learn/play it the way it "actually goes." Since I don't have any insight on which way this tune "actually goes," I can't say here. But that doesn't mean there isn't a right way to play it. 8^)

# Posted on February 28th 2003 by pchaffee

Here is another version I have found, under the name New Policeman. It is a transcription of an old recording (early 1970-ish)by the Sligo flautist Seamus Tansey.

M:C|
L:1/8
K:D
DA,~A,2 DEFA|defe dB (3BBB|BAFA AB{Bc}BA|FEDE FEE2|
DA,~A,2 DEFA|defe dB (3BBB|~d3B ABdB|AFEG FED2:|
|:~a3b afdf|(3gfe fd cde2|(3gbg ef gbag|(3fff gf e4|
dB~B2 AF~F2|DF~F2 ABde|(3fff ec dBAF|GFEG FED2:||

Trevor

# Posted on April 11th 2003 by lazyhound

This tune is absolutely gorgeous. I love it because it goes exactly where I want to hear it going, without being too predictable, if you know what I mean. I didn't even have to even sit down and learn it because I'd heard it played so many times in sessions that it was in my head just ready to play, every note of it.

# Posted on October 30th 2004 by Dow

I suppose I should post my setting while I'm here.

# Posted on October 30th 2004 by Dow

Isn't this tune just another setting of Miss Monaghan?

# Posted on October 30th 2004 by slainte

No.

# Posted on October 30th 2004 by Dow

Re: the new policeman

The New Policeman is the name of another tune as well that is also called Michael Dwyers Favorite. And it is this New Policeman that is on Take a Bow

# Posted on June 7th 2006 by Acacia

For a separate posting of the setting in Trevor's 1st comment, go here http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/5998. It's in Cmaj rather than D, but with the distinctive octave leaps Trevor mentioned, it's recognisably the same tune.

# Posted on July 21st 2006 by Dow

Another version

Picked this up from a recording by a piper (Michael Cooney)

X: 1
T: Belles Of Tipperary, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: Reel
K: Dmaj
|:D ~A3 DEFA | defe dBBA | B2 AF ABde | fede fe e2 |
D ~A3 DEFA | defe dBBA | B2 AF ABdB |1 AFEG FDDA :|2 AFEG FDD f |
|:~a3b afdf | gfed (3Bcd ef | g2 gf gbag | faaf egfe |
dB~B2 AF~F2 | D ~F3 ABdf |1 afec dBAF |ABde fdd f :|2 afec dBAF | EFGE FDDA ||
"Variation in B part 3rd measure for second time thru"
|:~a3b afdf | gfed (3Bcd ef | gdBd gbag | faaf egfe |
dB~B2 AF~F2 | D ~F3 ABdf | afec dBAF | EFGE FDDA||

# Posted on December 9th 2007 by tin_whistler