Some great resources for Irish trad players...

Just flagging a website which I came across recently which I've found really useful.

Jon Antonsson, a flute player from Sweden, has some terrific resources at his website https://jonantonsson.wixsite.com/tunes

In particular I find the cello drones which he's provided to be helpful when playing tunes. I'm a big fan of the drone as the purest, most minimal, least intrusive form of accompaniment...

And I love his bodhrán metronome. I've never got on with metronomes to be honest, but after years of playing in sessions my ear locks into the simple (but not "too" simple) bodhrán patterns).

Oh - and his recordings of his playing, both the slow versions and the "session-speed" versions - are excellent play-along aids to help practise new tunes.

Feel free to chime in with other web resources that we trad players might find useful...

Aidan

Thanks Aidan,

I have used Piper's Metronome from brawsound.com https://www.brawsound.com/pipersmetronome.html but am retreating back to just a single pulse per bar or none at all.

My general problem with metronomes is that they don't keep up with me. ��

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Originally Posted by Bren

My general problem with metronomes is that they don't keep up with me. ��

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You too? I get it. Either they race ahead or they fall behind or sometimes they just introduce a random beat to throw me off-track.

Aidan

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Originally Posted by Bren

Thanks Aidan,

I have used Piper's Metronome from brawsound.com https://www.brawsound.com/pipersmetronome.html but am retreating back to just a single pulse per bar or none at all.

My general problem with metronomes is that they don't keep up with me. 😑

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The website hosts a 'bagpipe tuner'. Isn't that an oxymoron?

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Originally Posted by DougC

The website hosts a 'bagpipe tuner'. Isn't that an oxymoron?

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I assume it's adjustable to any microtone known to humankind, and a few unknown to any kind.

Here's some favorites I have discovered over the years:

Irish Traditional Music Tune Index

Traditional Music of Clare

Séamus Connelly Collection of Irish Music

Harp of Tara - Great free tune book download with lots of info as well

Thanks to Jon for allowing me to play mandolin alongside his excellent flute playing to add a little interest to one of my recent tune learning videos in my YouTube channel. (I deliberately added my mandolin track in the mix way below the flute and guitar so as not to overshadow Jon's work.) See https://youtu.be/9MHlmBnFnbo

Thanks to Jim for the links above. I've been aware of all of these - and agree that they are excellent resources - except for the Harp Of Tara link, which was new to me. Some very thoughtful words in the tunebook at the Harp Of Tara site. Well worth a read by those new to the Irish music tradition!

Aidan

Just to mention a few other resources which I've found particularly useful over the years.

Bill Black's Cape Irish website ... fantastic resource for browsing for tunes, both very well-known and little-played http://www.capeirish.com/

Baron Collins-Hill's MandoLessons site ... really well-presented site and I enjoy playing along with the sound files. Baron plays at a nice steady pace. The "fast" videos don't rush headlong towards the finish line. If I have to make any effort to stay in time with Baron's playing, it's generally because I'm getting ahead of him and it's really useful to get into his laidback groove. www.mandolessons.com

Some uilleann pipe drones which I find useful to practice alongside https://youtu.be/IhdTpG4KNfQ

Organ drones in a variety of keys which I find useful to practice alongside https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OL...uhvuIu_P5zLCTI

Bagpipe drones in a variety of keys https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OL...B7f5Cpzzc6igcY

Jim, thanks especially for mentioning Séamus Connelly's Collection! That happens to include 2 tunes I wrote and 3 by my son Eric. Just search on "Reiner" to see them. I'm honored that Liz Carroll did the recordings of these in the collection :-).

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Originally Posted by Jim Garber

Here's some favorites I have discovered over the years:

Irish Traditional Music Tune Index

Traditional Music of Clare

Séamus Connelly Collection of Irish Music

Harp of Tara - Great free tune book download with lots of info as well

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