Browse Content (196 total)

  • Subject is exactly "Fiddle tunes--Ireland"

Grover Jones' Waltz

09-25_Grover_Jones_Waltz.pdf
The great Appalachian fiddle player Alan Jabbour recorded this tune for me with Ken Perlman on banjo and Pete Sutherland at the piano. Alan told me that Grover Jones loved to play this tune on his fiddle, and even when in the company of other…

Part of:

Just Because It's You

08-08_Just_Because_Its_You-Waltz.pdf
My dear friend Cindy Polo wrote this lovely tune in memory of her Dad. In her own words she tells us how it came to be: 'My first attempt at Irish fiddle playing was at a music camp in 2008, a violin novice, where I had the opportunity to learn from…

Part of:

O'Carolan's (Number 174)

05-16_OCarolans_Number_174-Waltz.pdf
Turlough O'Carolan's eighteenth-century compositions have attracted the attention of musicians all over the world. His music occupies a unique and permanent place in the repertoire of Irish traditional music. I learned this tune from the guitar…

Part of:

Summer's Waltz

03-21_Summers_Waltz.pdf
A beautiful waltz played by its composer, Eliza Mette, from Cape Elizabeth, Maine, with Kimberley Fraser at the piano. Eliza made up this tune for her friend Summer, another young and talented musician. Eliza generously took the time (from doing her…

Part of:

Come to the Fair

01-19_Come_to_the_Fair-Waltz.pdf
'Come to the Fair' was a very popular waltz/song played by The Kilfenora Céilí Band in the 1960s. I have always enjoyed listening to the band's singer Mary Higgins performing the song on a recording made at a céilí in…

Part of:

Dogwalker, The

10-13_The_Dogwalker-Strathspey-March.pdf
Cindy Polo, my good friend, phoned me one night and lilted part of this melody to me. I loved the sound of it and suggested to Cindy that it might fit naturally on the fiddle in a minor key. We talked about 'doing something with it', and so we began…

Part of:

Drumnagarry Strathspey

08-35_Drumnagarry_Strathspey.pdf
Tommy Peoples played this tune for me at a recording session at Boston College. The tune may also be found on Tommy's fine albums Traditional Irish Music Played on the Fiddle and Waiting for a Call.

Part of:

Fiddlemaster, The

06-28_The_Fiddlemaster-Strathspey.pdf
During one of his short visits to Boston from his native County Donegal, the great gentleman Tommy Peoples took time out of his busy schedule to record this tune for me at The Center for Irish Programs at Boston College. It was a thrill and an honour…

Part of:

Follies of Youth, The

06-11_The_Follies_of_Youth-Strathspey.pdf
Another young player who contributed to this project is Sean Gavin from Detroit, son of fiddle player and teacher Mick Gavin from Meelick, County Clare. Here Sean plays the flute on one of his own compositions, a strathspey that somehow must have…

Part of:

Trip to Moultonborough

03-31_Trip_to_Moultonborough-Strathspey.pdf
Meghan Mette was one of the musicians featured on 'A Polka for Matt'. She is the younger sister to Eliza Mette, who can be heard on 'Summer's Waltz'. Here Meghan plays one of her own compositions and, below, she tells us in her own words how the…

Part of:

Ballykinler Reel

02-33_and_02-34_Ballykinler_Reel.pdf
Here, Larry Redican introduces and then plays a reel he composed to memorialise his friend, the Dublin fiddle player Frank O'Higgins. Ballykinler, in County Down in the North of Ireland, was an army base used as an internment camp during the War of…

Part of:

Sitting in the Window

10-22_Sitting_in_the_Window-Slide.pdf
When my wife Chrysandra worked in Washington, DC, we lived across the Potomac in Alexandria, Virginia. During the summer months while she was working I would play my fiddle all day. I wish I had that same energy now! The tune that I play on this…

Part of:

Ned and Dan O'Connor

02-20_Ned_and_Dan_OConnor-Slide.pdf
Another tune from the playing of Máire O'Keeffe. Ned and Dan O'Connor, two musicians from the Scartaglen area of Sliabh Luachra, were often heard playing this slide.

Part of:

Maurice O'Keeffe's

02-19_Maurice_OKeeffes-Slide.pdf
I will be forever grateful to Máire O'Keeffe, the County Kerry-style fiddle player, for her enthusiastic response when I told her about the project I was about to undertake. Máire's reaction was loud and clear: she said to me, 'Come on…

Part of:

Blue-Eyed Rascal, The

05-32_The_Blue-Eyed_Rascal-Set_Dance.pdf
A tune not often heard is this set dance. I am grateful to Mr. Larry Redican Jr. for giving me permission to present his father's performance of it in this collection. I have fond memories of Larry Sr. playing it for me in my home when I lived in…

Part of:

For Denis Moynihan

10-03_For_Denis_Moynihan-Set_Dance.pdf
Dancing master Denis Moynihan, as he was known before he officially changed his name to its Irish version, Donncha Ó Muineacháin, was a popular teacher of Irish dance. He was known throughout Ireland for his choreography and repertoire…

Part of:

Queen of the Faeries

08-07_Queen_of_the_Faeries-Set_Dance.pdf
I learned this set dance from the playing of Larry Redican. Its first few measures seem to be related to the melody of an old tune – also a set dance – called 'The King of the Fairies'. And so, 'here's me' (an old Irish expression)…

Part of:

Old Times

10-16_Old_Times-Schottische.pdf
I found an old brown manuscript page and remembered that my former sister-in-law Maureen Glynn had given it to me. Maureen grew up in Brooklyn, New York. She was a talented lady and widely respected in the Irish music and dance world. Maureen was a…

Part of:

Crystal Schottische

03-12_Crystal_Schottische.pdf
Here is another tune from the playing of Leizime Brusoe. Paul Wells provided the name 'Crystal Schottische'. I sent the tape over to Séamus and Manus McGuire, two wonderful fiddle players, who gave graciously of their time to learn and perform…

Part of:

Memories of East Clare

10-26_Memories_of_East_Clare-Reel.pdf
The tune on this track was composed by my nephew Damien Connolly. When I asked Damien what memories this tune's title referred to, he immediately said, 'Well, I grew up listening to a blend of Clare, Sligo, and Kerry fiddling. This is a tune that…

Part of:

Output Formats

atom, csv, dc-rdf, dcmes-xml, json, omeka-xml, rss2