Podcast
Irish Flute Tunes
Hosted by Michael Clarkson · EN
Traditional Irish Tunes Played on the Flute (iflute@googlemail.com)
14episodes
Episodes
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Introduction
4d ago00:04:06Tap to summarizeIf you get any playback errors, please let me know (iflute@googlemail.com) and I'll fix them. Some of the older recordings seem to have gone a bit rusty. I know how they feel. Hello. This site contains recordings I have made as a source of tunes for people who play the flute, or other instruments for that matter. They are often just versions of tunes as I remember them but, as my memory isn’t the best, in some cases I cheat and find the dots online. As often as not, the online versions and the dots inside my head aren't quite the same so there may be a sort of 'average' appearing. I usually play the tunes once through slowly (ish) to make them easier to learn, then I have a bit of a run at them to give another view of them. I hope this approach is OK. If anyone has any comments, or tune suggestions, please get in touch (iflute@googlemail.com). Thanks, Michael Clarkson (Belfast). In the good old days, there used to be a tune index on the left hand side but Podbean "upgraded" the layout a few years ago and this index was lost. You can now list tunes by type, but this relies a bit on my having categorised them all properly; maybe not all that reliable. The search function at the top of the screen works fine though.
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The Maid of the House - reel
4d ago00:02:13Tap to summarizeHere's the first tune on a recording of the same name of Johnnie Maguire, the Co. Cavan, and then Belfast, whistle player, who was Seán Maguire's father. He decribes it as "an old traditional reel I used to hear my father play". So it's Seán's granda's tune, or maybe he inherited it from the extreme olden days in Co. Cavan. The ever excellent The Session site has details of the recording here, including links to tune info and arguments about John/Johnnie/Seán/McGuire/Maguire's name. Endless hours of fun to be had. The transcription below comes from the Traditional Tune Archive.
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Eddie Duffy's Hornpipe
Jul 900:02:47Tap to summarizeHere's a nice tune from a nice county (you can probably work out which county from the sentence below). It's named after the Fermanagh flute player on the right in the photo below (you can probably work out his name from the title above) and was popularised by Cathal McConnell, who is also in the photo (you can probably work out what side he's on from the side that's already been used up by the flute player whose name you hopefully worked out a minute ago). More info here.
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The Harlequin Hornpipe
Jun 2200:02:35Tap to summarizeThe way I'm playing this tune here is probabably about as reliable as the average Harlequin. Nice tune though. More info here And a more competent rendition here
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Jimmy O'Reilly's Reel
Jun 1000:03:00Tap to summarizeI don't know anything about this tune apart from how it goes, or sort of how it goes. I do know some Jimmies and have met an O'Reilly or two, but that probably doesn't give me much to base a tune blurb on here. So there'll be no blurb. Enough to say that I like this tune because it never quite goes how I'd expect it to. The session.org has some (occasionally strange) versions here.
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The Parcel of Land (reel)
May 2700:02:15Tap to summarizeHere's a reel composed by Charlie Lennon, who made up lots of great tunes. He had the ability to make a new tune sound like it had been there for years, thanks to his imagination combined with having heard thousands of traditional tunes thousands of times each over tens of years. Unlike Charlie Lennon, loads of people make up tunes all the time just relying on the imaginatioin bit. Leaving out the ex-perience factor rarely leads to anything useful. Thankfully this tune was made by someone who knew how. Sorry if the playing here lacks similar savvy. The "session.org" setting (Here's a picture of a beartán of land. A spleotán would have been too big.)
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The Drunraney Lass (jig)
May 2100:01:55Tap to summarizeHere's a tune written by the concertina player William Mullaly (1884 - ca.1955) from Mullingar. I was reminded of it by a recording of the recently departed fantastic musician Charlie Harris. That recording, along with a recording of William Mullaly himself playing it in the extreme olden days, is available here: The Drunraney Lass on "The Session". The tune reminds me of "The Lark on the Strand". I'm not sure whether that Lark's egg came before or after this particular Drunraney chicken.
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Jimmy Neary's Jig
May 1400:01:53Tap to summarizeHere's a tune I learned from a recording of the Chicago fiddle player Johnny McGreevy. The session.org call it "By Golly". I was surrprised to see "By Golly" written on the "session" site without an exclamation mark. So surprised that I nearly said "OMG!!!!!!!!!!". There's more information about the tune and the Jimmy Neary (and it's played properly!) at https://connollymusiccollection.bc.edu/document/457.
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The Wexford Lasses
Apr 700:02:57Tap to summarizeI might have posted this tune under a different name in the days before AI, but here it is anyway, along with computer generated triplets in the picture below, to go with the flute generated ones in the recording. Sorry if the notation is a bit truncated and twisted. That's all my free Chatgpt account would give me. The rest of the notes are here: Wexford Lasses notation.
Transcribe →John Egan's Reel
Mar 300:02:02Tap to summarizeHere's a second post for this Olympic-length posting period. A sensible reel without much musical tautology. Rare enough in our times. My new (cheap) phone can't seem to handle anything louder than a sigh so the recording is a bit distorted. No harm: I can hide my dodgy tone behind the buzzing. I've been keeping my flute and my mouth in a cupboard for over 9 years so rich resonances are rare in my reels. Or in anything else I do. John Egan's Reel (thesession.org)
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