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10 standards for Irish/Celtic jams
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10 standards for Irish/Celtic jams |
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Subject: 10 standards for Irish/Celtic jams From: Marion Date: 05 May 00 - 05:53 PM Hello. I am a relative beginner on the fiddle and am wondering what tunes I should be trying to get into my repertoire first. In your experience, what tunes are the most important to know for someone into Celtic music (to be honest, I'm not really differentiating between Irish, Scottish, and Canadian Maritime at this point)? I am not asking so much what your favourites are - what I want to know is what tunes you hear the most, or play with other people the most. In another thread (how fast to play at Irish sessions) Jon Freeman and I attempted top ten lists. Jon said: " Some of the favourites that I guess get played everywhere are: The Merry Blacksmith, St Annes Reel, Harvest Home, The Boys of Bluehill, Morrisons Jig, The Kesh Jig, Lark in the Morning, The Silver Spear (not to be confused with the Silver Spire which is also poular), Banish Misfortune, pick on a slow one for the last of this 10 - Planxty Irwin. The list may vary from day to day but I think this selection will be pretty well known by most musicians who play in Irish type sessions. " I said: "Peter, here's another attempt at a "10 obvious favourites" list from my experience: Ste. Anne's Reel, The Butterfly, Devil's Dream, Drowsy Maggie, Mason's Apron, Maple Sugar, Wind That Shakes the Barley, Soldier's Joy, Irish Washerwoman, High Road to Linton, and the token slow tune at the end of the list... Planxty Fanny Power." If anyone else would care to make a list, I'd be grateful, so if there are tunes that get onto a few lists that I don't know of I can look them up. Thanks, Marion
Marion
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Subject: RE: 10 standards for Irish/Celtic jams From: GUEST,Dodge (guest from Bristol, UK) Date: 05 May 00 - 06:26 PM You might consider including "Sally Gardens"(a reel)in your list. |
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Subject: RE: 10 standards for Irish/Celtic jams From: Sorcha Date: 05 May 00 - 06:37 PM RedHaired Boy/Gilderoy/Little Beggarman Road to Lisdoonvarna Swallowtail Jig Kid on the Mountain Whiskey Before Breakfast Down By the Salley Gardens, the slow air Southwind Star of the County Down The Foggy Dew SiBheag,SiMhor More than one slow one in there............ |
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Subject: RE: 10 standards for Irish/Celtic jams From: Jon Freeman Date: 05 May 00 - 06:53 PM Anybody care to personal message or email me with their 10? Might be intersting to see what crops up and I will place in order of no of "votes" and post back here. To date, there have been a couple I don't know (at least by name) such as Maple Sugar and plenty of others that I have always thought of as being universaly known. Wind that Shakes the Barley and the reel, Sally Gardens for example could easily have been in my 10. Jon |
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Subject: RE: 10 standards for Irish/Celtic jams From: GUEST,Paula Date: 05 May 00 - 10:01 PM Try some Rabbie Burn's songs on the fiddle. My favourite is 'Lassie gie me your braw hemp heckle'played very fast. |
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Subject: RE: 10 standards for Irish/Celtic jams From: Mbo Date: 05 May 00 - 10:36 PM Check out 2 Burns tunes I like to play as a medley, "Wha Will I Do Gin Me Hoggie Die," and "Oh Leave Novels, etc". I have a midi of it at Alan's MIDI site. I also like: The Banjo Breakdown Kirrie Kebbuck Holms O' Ire Kiss Me Quick My Mother's Coming Mouths of the Tobique --Mbo |
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Subject: RE: 10 standards for Irish/Celtic jams From: Sorcha Date: 05 May 00 - 11:43 PM Really, there are just too many "popular" Irish tunes to limit to 10, can we add a zero and make it 100? I would have put Wind that Shakes the Barley, St. Annes Reel, Kesh Jig, King of the Faires, Morpeth Rant, and several others if not for the "10" limit....... jon, you may be asking for trouble here..... |
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Subject: RE: 10 standards for Irish/Celtic jams From: Jeremiah McCaw Date: 06 May 00 - 08:22 AM I believe there's a book called "100 Essential Session Tunes" for Celtic music. Such books tend to become "bibles". I may have to seek it out if I'm lucky enough to be able to attend the Celtic College in Goderich this year - could be right handy! |
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Subject: RE: 10 standards for Irish/Celtic jams From: Alice Date: 06 May 00 - 09:37 AM There is a previous thread on this subject. If you do a forum search you will find it. |
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Subject: RE: 10 standards for Irish/Celtic jams From: Alice Date: 06 May 00 - 09:44 AM Marion, I refreshed the thread for you. It's called Essential Irish Session Tunes. Alice |
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Subject: RE: 10 standards for Irish/Celtic jams From: Jon Freeman Date: 06 May 00 - 09:47 AM Jerimiah, it is one of Dave Mallinson's. He has an excellent range of books. Another popular series of books in the UK has been Sully's Session Books. Jon |
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Subject: RE: 10 standards for Irish/Celtic jams From: GUEST,Peter T. Date: 06 May 00 - 12:20 PM Belated thanks to all from an ignoramus. yours, Peter T. |
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Subject: RE: 10 standards for Irish/Celtic jams From: Willie-O Date: 06 May 00 - 02:29 PM Jon, Maple Sugar is like the quintessential fiddle tune in the Ottawa Valley, closely followed by St Anne's Reel. (analagous to "Fox on the Run" at a bluegrass festival) It's not that old, its the best-known tune written by Ward Allen, a well-known Ontario fiddle player/composer/bandleader of the fifties. It's in Aly Bain's book/tape of "50 fiddle tunes". Usually played in A then up to E. In 1977 I hitchhiked out to the Winnipeg Folk Fest with my newly-acquired fiddle. Late at night I got dropped off in Blind River Ontario near the local bar and it was half an hour to closing so I went for a couple of pints. Old guy saw my fiddle, asked to play it. He played Maple Sugar, of course, sounding a little rusty but with stylish double stops and vibrato--clearly he had been a very good player indeed. "I used to play with Ward Allen," he said. "But I haven't picked up a fiddle for fifteen years." It was one of those spooky late-night unreal occurrences...always remember that old guy when I hear that tune. W-O
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Subject: RE: 10 standards for Irish/Celtic jams From: Mooh Date: 06 May 00 - 03:22 PM Willie O, I love that story about the Old Guy. Song material, that. Mooh. |
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Subject: RE: 10 standards for Irish/Celtic jams From: Jon Freeman Date: 06 May 00 - 05:27 PM Thanks for the info WillieO. I have just listened to a D/A version of it at John Chamber's. I had not heard this one before but it sounds a great tune - I will learn it. Jon |
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Subject: RE: 10 standards for Irish/Celtic jams From: Gypsy Date: 06 May 00 - 10:48 PM Easy...buy a copy of the local "bible" in your area, in ours it's the Fiddlers Fake Book, highlight all the irish tunes, and learn them. You'll find that there are going to be 1-3 books that EVERYBODY has, so shop in those. |
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Subject: RE: 10 standards for Irish/Celtic jams From: Marion Date: 06 Aug 01 - 03:13 PM Now I have a Maple Sugar story to go with Willie-O's above: When I was busking the other day, there was an old man who found a place to sit some distance away, and he listened to half my set. As I was starting to pack up to take a break, he called out, "Can you give us a little Maple Sugar?" So I played the tune, and then talked with the old man. It turned out that he was Ward Allen's cousin, and had grown up with him. He was with Ward the day at the sugar shack when he composed Maple Sugar. I asked him to play me something; he said that he hadn't played fiddle for years, but with a little persuasion he played some licks to get the rust out then played a few tunes. Coolest thing that's happened to me while busking so far... Marion |
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Subject: RE: 10 standards for Irish/Celtic jams From: smallpiper Date: 07 Aug 01 - 12:04 PM The Lowland and Border Pipers' Society (LBPS) have just released a book of session tunes. Oddly enough its called Lowland and Border Pipers' Society 'suggested' Session Tunes and is available from (yes you guessed it) the LBPS at www.netreal.co.uk/lbps/ Its inexpense and its got lots of favourites in it such as Drops of Brandy, Calliope House, Itchy Fingers and Roxburgh Castle (to name four) did that sound like an advert? opps! John |
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Subject: RE: 10 standards for Irish/Celtic jams From: GUEST,Den Date: 07 Aug 01 - 12:38 PM As Marian said she is a relative beginner on the fiddle. Although some of the tunes mentioned in various top tens, I know are very popular at sessions and are excellent tunes to play and listen too, they can be a little tricky for a beginner. You might want to have a look at some that are a little easier to play. You can be sure also that the easy tunes are known by most people in a session and therefore it makes life a little easier for the beginner to join in. I would try to learn "the Rakes of Kildare, Saddle the Pony, Miss MacLeod's, The Boys of Blue Hill, The Cliff of Mohir, An Bhfaca Tu Mo Sheamuisin and The Half Door. Den |
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Subject: RE: 10 standards for Irish/Celtic jams From: GUEST,leeneia Date: 07 Aug 01 - 12:47 PM How about the Maid behind the bar? |
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Subject: RE: 10 standards for Irish/Celtic jams From: Desert Dancer Date: 07 Aug 01 - 12:52 PM From looking at this list and from my experience at different sessions in Tucson and Arizona (as well as elsewhere), I'd strongly recommend that Marion talk to the folks at the session she wants to attend. There's a LOT of regional variation in the "standards" (I don't recognize many of the names listed above), and also variation among sessions in any one region. Some sessions are more focused on a particular style than others which are more eclectic. There's a Tucson tunebook, which includes some of what I'd call a local core of standards, but as a whole the repertoire has drifted in the 10 years or more since it was put together, so you'd have to start by talking to people, rather than just looking at a book to learn what the standards are. Whether the players often play for dances or not will also affect not only their repertoire, but their style and speed of playing. Also, ask around to see if there is a "slow jam", a session specifically directed toward learning tunes (although locally it seems that people don't necessarily "graduate" to play those tunes elsewhere... a topic for a whole 'nother thread, I guess). ~ Becky in Tucson (Arizona) |
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Subject: RE: 10 standards for Irish/Celtic jams From: Noreen Date: 07 Aug 01 - 05:24 PM BBC Radio 2 folk site's Virtual Session, posted earlier by the Shambles, has a good selection of mostly Irish tunes as played in seesions here (UK) in various formats, including played slowly for learning purposes. Very useful. Shamble's thread, The Virtual Session. (with 25 posts) |
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Subject: RE: 10 standards for Irish/Celtic jams From: Noreen Date: 07 Aug 01 - 05:27 PM Some of the sets from the Virtual Session site linked to above: The Rambling Pitchfork Noreen |
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Subject: RE: 10 standards for Irish/Celtic jams From: Peter Kasin Date: 07 Aug 01 - 11:12 PM A few tunes that have spread like wildfire in the last 10 years or so and have become session standards are the reels Brenda Stubberts (composed by Cape Breton fiddler Jerry Holland), and two Irish reels that go well together, Paddy's Trip To Scotland, and Dinkie's, sometimes known as Dinkie Dorian's. Great tunes, and if you play them you'll have little problem finding others to join in. -chanteyranger |
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Subject: RE: 10 standards for Irish/Celtic jams From: Sorcha Date: 07 Aug 01 - 11:37 PM What about a Rakes of Mallow/Flowers of Edingburgh/White Cockade set? (Rakes is the theme song from the John Wayne film "Silent Man").The whole set can be played at a relatively sedate pace, or at the speed of light. For new tunes what about Ashoken Farewell and Margaret's Waltz for slow ones? |
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Subject: RE: 10 standards for Irish/Celtic jams From: GUEST,leeneia Date: 08 Aug 01 - 01:03 PM I used to think that there were just a few session tunes that get played everywhere, but this makes it obvious that the tunes vary around and world and in time. I know this is anathema to some, but I have found that it works best just to make a few copies of the tunes and get on with the playing. When people are working from memory, they spend 10 minutes thinking of a tune to play and 2 minutes playing it. A compromise would be for each person to make up a "lifelist" of tunes they have by heart and bring it to the session. Tunes are like brilliant rejoinders - they usually come to mind too late to be of any use. |
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