CelticMKE Milwaukee Irish Fest Irish Fest Scrapbook School of Music Summer School Ward Irish Music Archives
Each week we're releasing a tune of the week on the Milwaukee Irish Fest School of Music YouTube channel! Catch up on past weeks below, and subscribe to our channel to get updates when we release new videos.
This week's tune is the Irish Mazurka, which was recorded by fiddler Hugh Gillespie in 1937. It's also known as The Old Donegal Mazurka and Charlie Lennon's. You can download sheet music for the Irish Mazurka here.
Our latest tune of the week is a hornpipe in (mostly) D major called the Buck from the Mountain, also known as the Minstrel's Fancy and McElligott's Fancy. Notable recordings include flutist's John McKenna's 1925 recording. You can download sheet music for the Buck from the Mountain here.
We have another single reel for this week's tune, the Lady's Cup of Tea. It can be found in the Goodman manuscripts as published in Tunes of the Munster Pipes (found on the ITMA site here: https://www.itma.ie/digital-library/s...). There are some lovely recorded versions, including takes by Tim Collins and Brian McNamara, as well as Mary Mac Namara and Sorcha Costello. You can download sheet music for Lady's Cup of Tea here.
Our 20th tune of the week is another single reel in G major, Miss McGuinness. The tune appears twice in O'Neill's Music of Ireland - tune 1187 (under the name Take Your Choice) and tune 1412 (under the name Going to the Fair). Download sheet music for Miss McGuinness here.
This week's tune is a short reel in D major known by several different names (aren't they all?). It appears in O'Neill's Music of Ireland as The Sailor's Jacket (tune 1369), and was recorded by Chicago piper Barney Delaney with that title in the early twentieth century (https://soundcloud.com/ward-irish-music-archives/the-sailors-jacket-reel). More recent recordings under the Lilies in the Field include Frankie Gavin, Paul Brock, and Charlie Lennon's Ómós do Joe Cooley. Download sheet music for Lilies in the Field here.
This week's tune is a jig in G major. Mayo fiddler Kevin McHugh listed his father, John, as the source of tune in the notes of the Music at Matt Molloy's album. The Music of Mayo website notes that, per Grainne Hambly, that it was recorded as The Wind off the Lake by James Kelly and Tommy Cawley's by Johnny McGreevy and Joe Shannon (https://musicofmayo.ie/kevin-mchughs/). Download sheet music for John McHugh's Jig here.
This week's tune is a lovely jig in A mixolydian that's found in Francis O'Neill's Music of Ireland (tune 793) and the Dance Music of Ireland (tune 66). This version is similar to a setting picked up from a workshop with flutist Harry Bradley, which also shares similarities with a version found in Bernard Flaherty’s Trip to Sligo collection (especially the A part). Interestingly enough, no recorded versions of the Humours of Tralibane are listed in the usual Irish traditional tune databases. It does appear on the 1988 album, The Light of Other Days, by Baltimore-based band Celtic Thunder. Sheet music for this setting is available here.
This week's tune is a fun single reel in the key of G. The Edenderry appears in O'Neill's Dance Music of Ireland as tune 770 and has appeared in recordings by Matt Molloy and John Carty, Conal Ó Gráda, and Caitlín Nic Gabhann (among others). Download sheet music for the Edenderry here.
This week's tune is a slip jig in G. The Hawthorn appears in O'Neill's Music of Ireland as "A Bunch of Haws" (tune #1156) and is attributed to James Early. A couple recorded version exist, including a setting on Michael Tubridy's album The Eagle's Whistle.
Download sheet music for the Hawthorn here.
This week's tune is a lovely slip jig in D. The Whinny Hills of Leitrim has been recorded a number of times, among the earliest is flutist John McKenna's 1928 recording (where the tune is called Leitrim Town). Download sheet music for the Whinny Hills of Leitrim here.
Here's a nice reel in A Dorian that's apropos to today's weather in Milwaukee. The Rainy Day appears in O'Neill's Music of Ireland (tune 1196), and has been recorded a number of times, including versions by Seamus Ennis, the Bothy Band, and Paul Brady (again on the album by Matt Molloy and Tommy Peoples).
Download sheet music here.
This week's tune is also commonly known as Drag Her 'Round the Road, and has been recorded under a number of other titles. Like last week's tune, this one makes an appearance on the album recorded by Matt Molly, Tommy Peoples, and Paul Brady in 1977.
Download the sheet music here.
This jig's known by a number of other names, the Basket of Turf and Up Sligo! among them. This version is close to the setting that Matt Molloy and Tommy Peoples play on their 1978 album with Paul Brady. Michael Coleman recorded a version in the early 1920s.
In honor of St. Patrick's Day this week, here a jig mostly known as the Knights of St. Patrick. Leo Rowsome recorded the tune as the King of the Pipers. There's a lovley version by fiddler Paddy Killoran that was recorded in the 1950s that you can listen to online here, courtesy of the Ward Irish Music Archives.
Here's the barebones version of Hare in the Corn (aka Hair in the Corn or The Cat in the Corner) on tin whistle, recorded at 100bpm. Use the YouTube video settings to slow it down to help learn the tune. This slide has been recorded a number of times, this version being an approximation of Denis Murphy and Julia Clifford's version from their album, The Star Above the Garter.
This is another tuned sourced from the Ward Irish Music Archives, originally through this piece of sheet music: Paddy Carey: A Cotillion. A bit of digging revealed it was included in Francis O'Neill's Music of Ireland (tune 1820) as this three part jig. Originally composed as a song for the theatre, the melody was popular as a dance tune in England, Ireland, and the Americas.
You can download the sheetmusic here.
A bit of deja vu for the tune name this week! Here's the more common, G major tune know as Touch Me If You Dare. It also appears in O'Neill's Music of Ireland, tune no. 1387.
You can download the sheet music here.
This week's tune of the week comes from another manuscript in the Dunn Family Collection at the Ward Irish Music Archives. The more well-known version of Touch Me If You Dare is in G major; this setting is closer to a simplified version of the Old Torn Petticoat. The manuscript in the Dunn Collection notes the name as Smiling Susan or Touch Me If You Dare, and seems to attribute it to James Early (https://archives.irishfest.com/Dunn-Family-Collection/Manuscripts/Manuscript-03/DunnMS00-003-22.jpg). This manuscript differs slightly from the version in O'Neills Music of Ireland (tune #1388).
You can download a pdf of the sheet music here.
We sourced this tune from a manuscript found in the Dunn Family Collection at the Ward Irish Music Archives! Check out the manuscript here: https://archives.irishfest.com/Dunn-Family-Collection/Manuscripts/Manuscript-01/DUNNMS00-001-16.jpg
Download sheet music for Billy McCormack's Jig