10 Best Fiddle Tunes

Subject: RE: 10 Best Fiddle Tunes
From: Helen
Date: 09 Jun 22 - 05:41 AM

Typo: that should read Carolan: The Life Times and Music of an Irish Harper. The ) belonged at the end of the sentence.

Subject: RE: 10 Best Fiddle Tunes
From: Helen
Date: 09 Jun 22 - 05:39 AM

Darn-it, I thought I could escape from this thread without having to make suggestions, not being a fiddle player myself, but now someone has gone and mentioned Turlough O'Carolan.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, but:

(Note: the numbers are those used in Donal O'Sullivan's comprehensive book Carolan: ) The Life Times and Music of an Irish Harper

039 - Luke Dillon
068 - Mrs Judge
087 - Miss MacDermott- The Princess Royal
121 - Michael O'Connor - 2ndSet (one of my favourite O'Carolan tunes)
150 - Eleanor Plunkett
171 - O'Carolan's 1st Untitled aka O'Carolan's Welcome
182 - Blind Mary
188- O'Carolan's Farewell to Music
202 -Sibeg And Simohr (lots of spelling variations for this title, e.g. Si Bheag Si Mhor etc)

Some of those tunes are less well known.

There is an excellent resource at The Old Music Project The Complete O'Carolan Collection with MIDI files, ABC files, and GIF files of music notation.

Then the first fiddle tune which sprang to my mind was Hector the Hero
performed by Jenna Reid with Aly Bain in this video.

Subject: RE: 10 Best Fiddle Tunes
From: GUEST,Dom Gittings
Date: 09 Jun 22 - 05:08 AM

G-Force,

Right now, I'm just looking for suggestions. I can weed out any that I think are too difficult.

I certainly wouldn't ask any of them to play Mason's Apron although I have one student who I'm hoping will one day master it.

An inspirational short cut is what I'm looking for: simple tunes hidden away in tunebooks that rarely see the light of day but will keep me entertained as much as the kids.

The ubiquity of Ashokan Farewell has rendered it, to my ears, a little boring.

An example? On Sam Sweeney's album, Unearth Repeat, what he calls Winter 350 but William Winter called "A Country Dance"; so simple and yet (under Sweeney's bow) so beautiful.

Dom

Subject: RE: 10 Best Fiddle Tunes
From: Stanron
Date: 09 Jun 22 - 04:46 AM

Something by Turlough O'Carolan, Planxty Irwin perhaps?

Subject: RE: 10 Best Fiddle Tunes
From: G-Force
Date: 09 Jun 22 - 04:36 AM

It rather depends on what standard your children are at. Are we talking 'Ashokan Farewell' or 'Mason's Apron'?

Subject: 10 Best Fiddle Tunes
From: GUEST,Dom Gittings
Date: 09 Jun 22 - 03:51 AM

I'm trying to put together a learning pack for my kids to keep them practicing over the summer holidays.

We are off for 8 weeks this year but I'd like to offer them a choice so I'm looking for 10 tunes.

Would anyone care to suggest their favourites?

'Obscure' would be good but not-too-difficult and "beautiful".

Tune suggestions from all traditions (including English) would be very welcome.

All the best
Dom