Must know Celtic tunes

[JeffD]

I am looking to see what people say should be the top 10 of the must know Celtic tunes for a beginner in the genre.

If I may, let me suggest an alternate approach. More natural and organic, and its the way I did it.

Find a local Irish session that you aspire to be one of the regulars in attendance. Sit in, without your instrument. Bring a recorder and some index cards and just listen. Record the tunes you like, right down names of tunes and tune sources, get to know the folks.

Do this a couple three times and by then you will have an idea what tunes are popular at that jam. Instead of ten, I would pick three that you could work on. Let the folks at the jam know you are working on them and more than likely they will be encouraging and perhaps ask you how you are doing on them.

Work at the tunes till you are comfortable playing them with the others, and then pick the next three on your list to work on. And so on.

No canonic lists, no must learn lists, no assignments or homework. Just listen and see whats what. You'll figure it out.

In things musical I find in myself a tendancy to over analyze and over regement. (I treat everything like its a work assignment.) Boiling it down to something simple - what tunes can you reasonably expect to hear and play at a jam? - Go to a jam and find out.

[allenhopkins]

Common tunes at Rochester sessions:
Off She Goes
Haste To the Wedding
Swallowtail Jig
Kesh Jig
Irish Washerwoman (really!)
Saddle the Pony
Rights of Man
Harvest Home
Stack of Barley
Boys of Blue Hill
Merry Blacksmith
Wind That Shakes the Barley
Whiskey Before Breakfast (really!)
All the Way to Galway
My Love Is But a Lassie
Far From Home
Farewell to Whiskey
Red-Haired Boy/Little Beggarman (really!)

And some waltzes:
South Wind
Gentle Maiden
Snowy-Breasted Pearl

And some O'Carolan tunes:
Sheebeg Sheemore (or you can spell it as you like)
Planxty Fanny Power
Planxty Irwin
Planxty George Brabizon

Not the most interesting tunes, but ones that will get almost everyone playing along, though some of the veterans may roll their eyes a bit as they contemplate playing a tune for the thousandth time. There's something nice about a basic tune repertoire, that's like a universal language all the musicians understand, a simple vocabulary -- many have transcended it, and gone on to much more complicated and esoteric material, but don't mind "regressing" to play along with the young and eager... Irish Washerwoman indeed!

[Caleb]

What's this? No Danny Boy?

(Ducks to avoid flying tomatoes)

[Mike Romkey]

You know ... well, never mind.

I followed up on Tosh's recommendation, and I think he's exactly right. Most of the tunes from the Session member tunebooks have been played at every session I've ever been to. The Top Ten list follows. If I were going to learn 10 tunes, I'd start with some of these.

Now, back to bluegrass, which is a whole lot less argumentative. (Not that I don't like a good argument.)

Drowsy Maggie 2313 times
The Kesh 1953 times
The Butterfly 1754 times
Cooley's 1497 times
Morrison's 1379 times
The Silver Spear 1350 times
The Banshee 1281 times
The Maid Behind The Bar 1239 times
Banish Misfortune 1206 times
The Wind That Shakes The Barley 1113 times

[John Bertotti]

Thanks everyone! A little debate is good but don't get to carried away a lot of what we read doesn't portray the tone on which it was given.

Anywho, the odds of me getting to a session are slim here in the SD area. If there is a session I have to hear of it. Sadly even if there was one I probably wouldn't be around when it happened. I cover four states and between travel and work put in an average of 60 hours a week now that I have a couple more states to watch till we hire and train a replacement I'm upwards 80 hours a week. These will be tunes mainly played for my own joy and my sons. So any and all recommendations will be written down and learned over time. Thanks to you all for your help!

[John Flynn]

Now, back to bluegrass, which is a whole lot less argumentative. (Not that I don't like a good argument.)

Mike: Just FYI, years ago, a similar question was asked here about the top bluegrass tunes that get called at jams. I found and posted the results of an internet poll that one of the state bluegrass associations (I think it was Florida, but it's been a while) had done on that same topic. The debate that ensued over that list was a lot more lively than this discussion!

[woodwizard]

I'm not that much of an Irish picker so I'm going with what I know... I'm sure some real Celtic session players will have a better handle of what needs to be learned if you're going in that direction.

Rose of Sharon
Jacky Tar
Irish Washerwoman
Temperance Reel
Coleman's March
Cold Frosty Morning
Whiskey Before Breakfast
Red Haired Boy
St Anne's Reel
Off to Calif.
Star of the County Down
Wise Maid
Wood Chopper's Reel
Cuck Coo's Nest
Old French
Uncle Hermans Hornpipe
Smith's Reel

[Bruce Evans]

Common at any bluegrass session, yes; never heard at Irish sessions...

John, you weren't in our Irish session at McFaddens pub just last night. We played them all. "Never" is a very long time, sir.

[whistler]

The famous Dow-Tunes Index http://www.thesession.org/sessions/d...#comment241459 might be of interest - although it's a top 60, not a top 10.

The http://www.thesession.org member known as Dow put this list together in response to the numerous threads requesting such information. Now, if anyone makes such a request, they will sooner or later be pointed in the direction of this list.

Whilst there can be no definitive list, I would say that this list is a well-chosen cross-section of the popular Irish* session repertoire. If you were to learn any ten tunes on this list and play them in an Irish session anywhere in the world, you would probably find that most players would know them. Many of them would also be known in Scottish and English traditional music circles, and even in more eclectic folk sessions.

*Irish music is what thesession.org primarily concerns itself with.

[John Bertotti]

I have it book marked not thanks. Out of curiosity how many of these top tunes are faster paced and fun. There are some tunes that are so slow and depressing to me I just can't bring myself to learn them, I don't even bother remembering the names. Maybe I am the odd guy out but I play to make me happy. I must not have that extra gene that makes artists very emotional. Funny but one song I love and I do not know the name is a tune played in an old Disney movie 'Darby O'Gill and the Littel People' The old guy is just going to town and the strad and the tune gets faster and faster and faster, just winds me up evry time. I will replay that part several times just to hear it again. Anyone know the name of that song? Is it within the scope of the mandolin?


Is it even a Celtic tune or was it a Disney composition? I just don't know.

[allenhopkins]

Funny but one song I love and I do not know the name is a tune played in an old Disney movie 'Darby O'Gill and the Little People' The old guy is just going to town and the strad and the tune gets faster and faster and faster, just winds me up evry time. I will replay that part several times just to hear it again. Anyone know the name of that song? Is it within the scope of the mandolin? Is it even a Celtic tune or was it a Disney composition? I just don't know.

This one? If there are actual trad tunes in there, medleyed together, I don't know them. The actor "playing" the fiddle calls it The Fox Chase, but I think it's a pastiche of jigs, old or composed, that Disney's people threw together.

Perhaps someone else will recognize one or more...

[Dagger Gordon]

Might as well pitch in with a few Scots ones. I see you've got 'Atholl Highlanders' already, but I'll repeat it as it's completely essential.

Atholl Highlanders
Jig of slurs
The Jig Run Rig (by Fergie MacDonald) - an instant classic at Scottish sessions
Mrs MacLeod of Raasay (in A), aka Mrs MacLeod's reel in G in Ireland
The Fairy Dance
Spoot o' Skerry (Shetland reel by Ian Burns)
John MacMillan of Barra (2/4 march)
Far from home
The Stool of Repentance
The De'il among the tailors
The Mason's Apron

etc etc

[Bernie Daniel]

John Flynn: Bernie: That's funny, but that would indeed be putting words in my mouth, words I would never say and would never intend. Research and statistics is almost never about anything like "a tally of all possible Celtic tune choices by all Celtic players collected over all of time." It is more about drawing reasonable inferences based on what facts can be systematically gathered. I do think it is possible to put together a better list than we have now and the benefit is that more people who want to break into playing at Irish sessions would have a better tool with which to do it.

John, I'm not certain what exactly you are trying to say here but I did not mean statistics as in formal numberical assessment of probablilities anyway -- I meant to use it as a synonym for "numbers".

How would you propose doing what you suggest? You can't infer anything without facts -- without facts you are essentially guessing. You can infer from observations which may not BE facts but once you have really observed something it is factual to you at least.

Now the sum total of all tune choices -- if it could be known -- would certainly be a set of facts. From that set of facts you know the ten most popular songs (or one hundred or one thousand etc.). I suggested that the most frequently picked would be the most popular. Reasonable?

But if the most called out (most popular) tunes in Celtic music are not the ones you ought best know that just means you have another method/criteria of selecting them in mind -- and that's fine with me.

However, I as noted I wasn't really proposing that approach anyway rather I was making a silly joke.

You propose this question can have a useful answer. Maybe you are right, maybe you are wrong. But for sure this must be the "gazillionth" time someone has tried to address this question and I will suggest that perhaps there are nearly as many different answers to it as there are respondants. What does that imply?

from one dictionary:

Statistics noun 1. (used with a sing. verb) The mathematics of the collection, organization, and interpretation of numerical data, especially the analysis of population characteristics by inference from sampling. (used with a pl. verb)
2. Numerical data.

I knew I should not have entered this one. I wish the delete option were still available on the message board!!!!!!!!

Looks like Tosh had a pretty reasonable approach -- and I need to get busy and learn some of those.

[Ravenwood]

For the OP, Dave Mallinson put out a nice series of tune books. One of those is "100 Essential Irish Session Tunes". It's a nice book to work from. Virtually every tune is commonly heard at sessions, so you really can't go wrong with that one. I think if I were to put together a top ten list, probably everything would be found there.

[Ravenwood]

Dagger, are you including any of those tunes in your book?

I've been working on Far From Home and a couple of Tom Anderson's tunes.

[John Bertotti]

I liked this link from the link above as well. If you like pipes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQU84...eature=related

[Avi Ziv]

When I started out in sessions, I found the John Walsh collection very useful. You can find links to it on this page in the Collections section

[Dagger Gordon]

Might do Stool of Repentance and Spoot O'Skerry

Dagger

[Daci]

Now I was told Whisky Before breakfast was of Irish origions and referred top fiddlers hired for weddings. And they really had no breakfast,so were offered whiskey instead. I have no idea how true this is,but it makes a good story. .
My list would be;

Whiskey before Breakfast
The Girl I left Behind Me
Kesh Jig
King Of The Faeries/Skully's Reel
Southwind
Star Of The County Down
Swallowtail Jig
Red Haired Boy
Gravel Walk
Banish Misfortune

[whistler]

I have it book marked now(sic) thanks. Out of curiosity how many of these top tunes are faster paced and fun. There are some tunes that are so slow and depressing to me I just can't bring myself to learn them, I don't even bother remembering the names.

If you're referring to Dow's list, well, they're all dance tunes. Hornpipes and set dances are generally played somewhat slower than reels, jigs, slides and polkas, but I wouldn't call any of them 'slow and depressing' - unless you choose to play them that way.

[John McGann]

John, you weren't in our Irish session at McFaddens pub just last night. We played them all. "Never" is a very long time, sir.

I don't know about McFadden's Pub, is that a session that you lead? So in that case, you can call anything anytime...I was referring to sessions you'd find in the "big gathering places" of Irish players such as Boston or NYC (Chicago, St Louis, San Franscisco etc.) or Ireland, those are the ones I'd know about- you don't hear American tunes played at them any more than you'd hear Irish tunes (other than the three you mentioned) played at bluegrass jams...you would not find most of the players (and there are some world class ones around Boston etc.) too appreciative FWIW. Personally, it wouldn't bother me at all, but I know some people who get very uptight if there's peanut butter in their chocolate...

It's not that I'm a snob, at a session at my house I'd be as likely to call Beatles or jazz standards as jigs, reels, hornpipes, or American fiddle tunes or bluegrass- but I should have said "you'd "never" hear those tunes played at Traditional Irish Sessions That Are Recognized As Playing Exclusively Irish Trad. Music Of Which Most Of Them Are And It's Good To Assume So Going To Sessions That Aren't Ones That You Lead

Many of those sessions can be wonderful, sometimes they feel very uptight and the vibe is really less than fun...if you were to bust out those tunes at a Comhaltas session, you'd get a pretty interesting reaction...

As I agree, never never comes anyway, it was meant as a friendly 'rule of thumb' for Irish sessions where the players expect (and insist) on playing Irish stuff (with maybe some Cape Breton or Scottish thrown in)... they can be as conservative as straightahead bluegrass players or straightahead jazz players or anyone with that mindset. Glad to hear McFadden's is more open, it sounds like fun!

[Eddie Sheehy]

The Darby O'Gill tune is "The Irish Washerwoman"... quite a jaunty tune that, unfortunately, tends to be frowned upon...

[Ravenwood]

Dagger: Those are nice choices! I'm looking forward to your book coming out.

I find it interesting how often some of the tunes Dagger mentioned (Spoot O' Skerry, Mason's Apron, Stool of Repentence, The Fairy Dance, and Jig of Slurs) come up in "Irish" sessions. There is so much shared historically between the Scots and Irish traditions, and more recently between the Canadian and American traditions that I wonder how separable they really are. Whiskey Before Breakfast, for example, is commonly attributed to a Canadian Metis fiddler, yet is not uncommon in sessions in Ireland. Can we realistically separate the traditions in the way that John and Bruce have been discussing?

[Dagger Gordon]

Hi Ravenwood,

I must admit I think of Whisky Before Breakfast as an American tune, although its origins may well be Scottish or Irish. I don't recall seeing it in any Scottish book, though.

The Mason's Apron is Scottish as far as I know, but of course has been made famous by such Irish musicians as Sean McGuire who had an amazing version.

For the most part the tunes I selected are session favourites, which I think is the purpose of this thread, so it's hardly surprising they turn up at sessions -Irish or otherwise.
Incidentally, just because a session takes place in Scotland doesn't mean it's all Scottish tunes - far from it. Indeed back in the 70s and early 80s it was mostly Irish stuff you tended to hear - very often learnt off Bothy Band records. However in the last few years I would say that Scottish music is more the norm, although a lot of it is recently composed tunes by the likes of Gordon Duncan, Charlie MacKerron etc.

[Bruce Evans]

I don't know about McFadden's Pub, is that a session that you lead?

No, I do not lead it. I participate.

So in that case, you can call anything anytime...

Indeed we can and do. I got there very early last Sunday and warmed up on Devil Woman. It got some raised eyebrows, but nobody asked me to leave.

I was referring to sessions you'd find in the "big gathering places" of Irish players such as Boston or NYC (Chicago, St Louis, San Franscisco etc.) or Ireland, ...

"We're not worthy! We're not worthy! "

Glad to hear McFadden's is more open, it sounds like fun!

It is. If someone remarked that some of our tunes were not directly from Sligo or wherever, s/he would probably be quietly reminded that we are in Michigan and not Ireland. And I'm not very Irish anyway. Evans is a Welch name, which is Celtic, but not Irish.

Oh, and lately a man with a very fine voice - but not much musical savvy - has been showing up asking to sing (wait for it)...

"Danny Boy". We humor him.

If you are in Grand Rapids on a Sunday evening please come by and join us. You will probably get the nod on WBB, so practice up.