The Roaring Barmaid

jig

Key signature: Gmajor

Submitted on May 25th 2001 by Jeremy.

This tune has been added to 310 tunebooks.

Also known as The Butlers Of Glen Avenue, The Roarin Barmaid, The Roaring Bar Maid, Roaring Barmaid, The Roaring Barmaid.

Recordings of a tune by this name:

Blueprint by Natalie MacMaster
Buzzin' by Bumblebees
Fiddle Fair: Declan McCarthy's Baltimore by Various Artists
Fused by Michael McGoldrick
Go For It by Deirin De
Grapevine by Elvie Miller And Naomi Morse
Halali by Halali
Janus by Mooncoin
Live: Rough Around The Edges by Syncopaths
Music In The Glen by Kennedy's Kitchen
Otherworld by Lunasa
Sarah'ndipity by Sarah Burnell
Think Before You Think by Danu

Details ABC Sheetmusic Comments

Details ABC Sheetmusic Comments

Details ABC Sheetmusic Comments

This tune has become very, very popular lately. That's partly because it has been recorded by groups like Dan� and L�nasa, but mostly because it is, quite simply, a fantastic tune.

The first part has that tricky phrase, common to many tunes in G, where you have to hop back and forth between B to G and D to G. On the fiddle and banjo, keep the G held down and move your hand so that the finger holding down the G also holds the D where necessary.

The second part takes a lot of getting used to, because of its strange rhythm. It really helps if you know how the tune is supposed to sound and you can hum it in your head. The long B note in the second part could be held even longer if you carry it over into the next bar. Or you could break the Bs up into two notes of equal length.

The real trick with this tune is trying to stop playing it. This is the kind of jig that's so addictive, it should come with a health warning.

# Posted on June 2nd 2001 by Jeremy

Fun with the dancers

We like to perform our barmaid for Scottish Country Dancers. It's always fun to watch them dancing, and see who's paying attention to the music. We usually get a few odd grins in the B part. For concerts, play with the articulation you place on the first bar of the A part--there's a lot of room for variation here.

# Posted on June 6th 2001 by Hammurabi

Sully's Barmaid

This tune was written by Manchaster (?) banjo player Anthony "Sully" Sullivan. Here is my transcription:

X: 88
T:Roaring Barmaid, The
L:1/8
M:6/8
C:Anthony Sullivan
R:jig
D:Lunasa "Otherworld"
D:Michael McGoldrick "Fused"
D:Danu "Think before you think"
Z:Hauke Steinberg
K:G
~G3 EGD|~G3 EGD|~G3 BGG|dGG ~B3|
~G3 EGD|~G3 EGD|G2B deg|deg edB|
~G3 EGD|~G3 EGD|~G3 ~B3|dBG ~B3|
~G3 EGD|~G3 EGD|GAB deg|deg edB||
deg bb2-|bab deg|bb3ag|age deg|
bb3ab|agg bgg|agg egg|deg edB:||

# Posted on July 9th 2001 by Ah, Surely!

the version I've been shown also has the "egg" in the second last bar (as opposed to a "deg", which makes sense structurally - mirrors the A section)... but I think I prefer to have eggs in this particular basket.

I guess it's all McGoldrick's fault.

# Posted on December 23rd 2003 by Q

Rhythm of B part

In answer to the question in the Discussion section about the Roaring Barmaid, the B part is structurally a normal jig as far as number of beats, but the structure of the melody makes it tempting to play the accents so that it just sounds like there are the wrong number of beats.

There are no pickup notes in the B part, but the first three eighth notes are often treated as pickups leading up to the ornamented dotted quarter that makes up the second half of the bar. So then you feel that dotted quarter as the downbeat and the rest of the B part in relation to that being a downbeat. For most people that means that you will feel the whole B part with a three pulse, meaning like a slip jig (9/8 is three groups of three eighth notes.) But if you interpreted it as a slip jig, you'd only have five bars, so it would still feel off.

Here it is by the way, so you can count it out for yourself:

http://thesession.org/tunes/display.php/91

If you accent the actual downbeat of the B part, which is a D, it'll feel more like a jig. It still might feel different to you than a usual jig because of the contour of the melody. For example, the ascending phrase d-e-g-b happens three times, and while the accent is on the D the first time, the next two times, the B is the downbeat. Basically it's one of those things where what the melody does influences your perception of the rhythm and kind of tricks you, which is part of what makes this tune so fun.

# Posted on May 23rd 2005 by ostrichfeathers

There is a nice mp3 from Tipsy House featuring 'The Roaring Barmaid'. Sounds very cool. Available freely at Tipsy House's wesite: http://www.tipsyhouse.com/listen.html

/Brian :-)

# Posted on December 5th 2005 by bayswater

first version of this i heard was kathryn tickell years ago before was ever into music and i can always rememebr it. only recently i went and learned it.

# Posted on February 23rd 2007 by Kevo32A

I thought I was crazy since I've known the light jig for two years and still haven't been able to dance to this for the life of me. Now I know why.

# Posted on March 17th 2007 by wathgwen

"The Butlers Of Glen Avenue" by "Tony" Anthony "Sully" Sullivan

THIS AIN'T! ~ Lunasa & Danu got the title wrong...
~ that jig is over here:

"The Butlers Of Glen Avenue"
Key signature: G Major
Submitted on June 30th 2002 by Jon Kiparsky.
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/820
& #7024 (if it survives the chop)

Here's the better transcripts:

Submitted on April 2nd 2007 by megachug, #7024:

& # Posted on June 28th 2005 by will harmon:

A transcription of Crawford's playing without all of the variations he tosses in goes as follows:

X: 1
T: Butler of Glen Avenue
C: Tony Sullivan
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
R: jig
K: Gmaj
|: DEG EDB | DEG ~B3 | DEG B2 e | dBe dBA |
DEG EDB | DEG ~B3 | dB/c/d gfe |1 dBA ~G3 :|2 dBa ~g3 ||
|: gab age | deg ~B3 | gab gab | dB/c/d e{f}e d |
gab age | deg ~B3 | dB/c/d gfe |1 dea ~g3 :|2 dBA ~G3 ||

Fiddlers and banjoists can play the Bs in the 1st and 5th bars of the A part as B, - an octave below what's posted here, to great effect (and probably closer to Mr. Sullivan's original).
~ Will Harmon

# Posted on April 2nd 2007 by ceolachan

Megachug's transcript above, I'd just cut-n-paste-n ran wit hit, the comma I didn't catch... Here is the correction, one over ~

|: DEG EDB, | ~ though a low D, might suit the situation? :-/

# Posted on April 2nd 2007 by ceolachan

|: DEG EDB, | ~ | DEG EDB, | ~ bars 1 & 5 of the A-part...

# Posted on April 2nd 2007 by ceolachan

The Mouse in The Mug

Kevin Crawford and James Cullinan play a jig by the name of The Mouse In The Mug (http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/362) on the album In Good Company which has a first part with a lot of resemblance with the first part of The Butler...
I wouldn't go so far as to say that its an alias for the same tune, but I would bet on an unconscious inspiration, as it so often happens in compositions.
Crawford mentions the resemblance in the CD sleeve.

# Posted on January 11th 2008 by f.pellerin

sliding the high b from a b flat sounds good too =] i dunno...give it a try =]

# Posted on January 21st 2008 by music chicken