The Microphones Rambles Book Three Traditional Irish Dance Tunes Gleaned from various recorded sources and Documented by Bernard Stocks *********************** These tunes have collected themselves over the years, in the sense that most of them come from tapes of various sessions and other gatherings. They are either tunes I regard as uncommon and thus worthy of recording, unusual settings of well known tunes, or settings of tunes (well known or otherwise) by musicians I regard as having a great way of playing. For personal reasons there is a bias towards the fiddle. It is inevitable that some tunes and sets of tunes here will be from commercial recordings I am unaware of. I have followed the splendid example of Brendan Breathnach in representing ornamentation (see 'Ceol Rince na h'Eireann'), except in cases were I have tried to represent a more unusual musical event. I had also intended to sort along the lines of tune type and key (again cf. Brendan Breathnach). However, it was easiest for me to just add tunes to the back of the list as I transcribed them, so the tunes are effectively sorted by session.. Note that key signatures do not denote the actual key of the tune, but the note spacings involved, e.g. a tune in 'A' with a modal feel will actually have a key signature of 'D' (2 sharps). Comments on the tunes follow the actual musical sections, together with some information on the players involved. If a tune is a transcription of an actual performance it is noted there, otherwise the notation is best seen as 'skeletal', or 'generic'. In the case of the latter I have not always indicated that a reel is played double, have often left out the 'lead' notes at the ends of parts, and have not usually credited the performer as most of the tunes were recorded at sessions. Names have been a real headache, particularly in the case of odd tunes gleaned from ancient tapes. Tracking them down would take far too much of my time, and an endless series of 'Gan Ainm' looks ridiculous, but I had had no option but to adopt the latter. The information in this book will inevitably contain errors, for which, apologies. The text was produced on Aldus Pagemaker (Macintosh), while the tunes were typeset using Chris Walshaws 'ABC' software, MusicTex, and Tex. I had originally tested the 'ABC' transcriptions with 'abcplay' running on a Iris Indigo, but this was a rather long winded process. Playing them back from the sheet music seems to catch a lot of the errors, but some could well be missed, especially those relating to tonality. A cheap Philips cassette player was used to slow down recordings to about threequarter speed when necessary. ****************************** Further Comments '*' indicates an attempt to transcribe an actual performance. Tunes 1-6 were taken from Josie Nugent, and illustrate the use of the delayed roll discussed in Book 2. It is impossible to transcribe exactly what happens - what is written as a graced triplet really has a different timing altogether. The effect can be heard in recordings of Tommy Peoples. 1.* First part only 2.* 3.* 4.* A version learned from Mick Mulkere (?) of Ennis, Clare. 5.* 6.* Tunes 7-11 were taped from Paul O'Shaughnessy, who was performing on the TV program 'The Pure Drop' 7.* A Charlie Lennon tune. 8.* 9.* From John Doherty 10.* Up a tone from its usual 'Dm' setting. 11.* From John Naughton, a concertina player from Clare. He plays up and down the 'C' row of his concertina, so he plays most of his tunes, including this one, a tone down from 'normal'. Tunes 12-15 are from Seamus Quinn, recorded at a seminar in Irvingstown, Fermanagh in 1993. 12.* 13.* 14.* Written by Mick Hoy, of Derrygonelly, Fermanagh. Magho is the area on the South shore of Lower Lough Erne. The story is that Mick worked on the roads for a while and that the 'Magho Snaps' is a stretch of undulating road. 15.* Short version. He played this and then the Coleman setting to show how tunes could develop. Tunes 16-17 are from Paddy Cronin, recorded in Listowel in '78. 16.* All the rolls in this tune, and 17, are 'lifted' or 'hammered' as discussed elsewhere. 17.* 18.* From Dierdre Shannon, recorded at Crossgar, Down, in 1978. I have been told the tune is a Jim McKillop composition. Tunes 19-21 are from Mairead Mooney, in a kitchen somewhere. 19.* 20.* 21.* Tunes 22-25 are from the same time and place as above, this time from Padraig McDonagh. They are all listed as reels, but could well be seen as barn dance type tunes. 22.* 23.* 24.* 25.* Tunes 26-30 are from a concert in Newtownards, Down, in 1983. I am guessing as to the personnel. 26. Ciaran Kelly, Gabriel McArdle, Seamus Quinn 27. As above, and played with it. This sounds to me like a Scottish pipe march which somehow got turned into a jig. Given the musicians these could be Fermanagh tunes. 28. Musicians as above. 29.* Played with 30. The two fiddle players were Seamus Quinn and James Kelly, and this isn't Seamus Quinn so it must be James Kelly, but it doesn't sound like him. 30.* Nice setting Tunes 31-38 are from Andy Dickson 31.* Supposedly composed by Feely Kearny, a fiddle player from Tyrone, but has a touch of Tommy Peoples. The AGA triplet in bar 4 of the second part *is* correct. 32.* From Charlie Harris 33.* As above. There is an American tune with exactly the same first part 34.* Another tune with shifting tonality, the first part in Dminor, the second in what I think of as D modal (1 sharp), the third in straight D (2 sharps). 35.* Composed by Cathal McConnel. 36.* Composed by James McMahon, a flute player from Belfast, c.1930. 37.* The last tune that John Doherty's father played. Unusual in having 2 extra bars in the second part. 38.* Charlie O'Neill is a fiddle player from Donegal, now living in The Moy, Tyrone. Tunes 39-41 are from Liam O'Flynn, taped at a concert in Belfast in 1987. These are purely 'skeletal' transcriptions and in no way represent what Liam O'Flynn actually plays. 40. Played after The Tailors Twist. 41. Transcribed as if played single, but doubled in performance. Tunes 42-48 were taped at a session at the All-Ireland in Buncrana in 1979. Musicians included Seamus Quinn, Feely Kearney and Francie Quinn. 44. A common enough tune, but not the 'usual' second part. 45. Follows The Donegal Reel, as is almost certainly a Donegal tune. 46. Sounds like Feely Kearney solo on this. A wild second part. 47. Version in 'C' of a Donegal tune noted elsewhere (Book1 - ??) 48. This version very much associated with Feely Kearney, especially the long 'Bb' in the first part. The second part contains a couple of bars from what sounds like The Steeplechase and is clearly intended as they all do it both times through. Tunes 49-60 were taped at Milltown Malbay in 1991, in session with Maire O'Keeffe and others. 49.* Played with 50. 50.* Sounds like a 'D' version of Miss McLeods 51. Follows The Black Rogue, and is itself followed by 52 and 53. 56-58. Notated here as its a nice set. The first is as old as the hills. The second appears in Book 1 somewhere. The third is the same tune as #34, but starts on a different part (perhaps because this is the defining part of the tune, the other parts sounding like bits of other tunes), and is more 'session-friendly'. 59. Played with 60. Hard to make these out as one of the fiddles is 'busking' and making things very 'muddy'. Tunes 61-81 are from a tape of Tommy Peoples made sometime in the 70's, by all accounts for Cathal McConnel. 'Standard' rolls are notated in shorthand, anything else is written with grace notes. 61.* 62.* Played with 61. The 'e2' in bar 5 of Part 2 is a unison. 63.* 64.* A three part version of a common tune. The second part is not the 'usual' session one. 65.* 66.* 67.* 68.* 69.* 70.* The 'A' at the start of the second part is a unison. 71.* 72.* 73.* Played with 74 74.* 75.* 76.* 77.* The 'A' at the start is a unison. Close listening to this makes it clear that the first bar is played on the D and A strings only, presumably keeping the little finger on 'A' on the 'D' string and bringing it down for the 'E'. Lesser mortals will have to use the open 'E'. The 'Bcd' is as notated, being staccato the third time only. 78.* 79.* Played with 80. 80.* 81.* A Tony Sullivan composition, I'm told. ********************************* The Players vi - fiddle, bj - banjo, acc - accordion, cn - concertina, fl - flute Where a tune has been taken from a single player, rather than session, the number of the tune follows the artist. Josie Nugent (vi) Clare 1-6 Paul O'Shaughnessy (vi) Donegal 7-11 Seamus Quinn (vi) Fermanagh 12-15, 42-48 Paddy Cronin (vi) Kerry 16-17 Diedre Shannon (vi) Belfast 18 Mairead Mooney (vi) Donegal 19-21 Padriag McDonagh (bj) Galway (?) 22-25 Ciaran Kelly (acc) Co Derry Gabriel McArdle (cn) Fermanagh James Kelly (vi) Dublin 29,30 Andy Dickson (vi) Belfast 31-38 Liam O'Flynn (pipes) 39-41 Feely Kearney(vi) Tyrone 42-48 Francie Quinn (vi) Tyrone 42-48 Maire O'Keeffe Cork 49-60 Tommy Peoples Donegal 61-81