Ryan's Slip Jig

Tune Notes

• From thesession.org: "Also known as Cathal McConnell's, Cock And Hen, Cock And The Hen, The Cock And The Hen, Dennis Ryan's, Doodley Doodley Dank, Doodly Doodly Dank, F#m Slip, Grandad's Delight, Keane's Favourite, The Northern Jig, Over The Hill, Ryan’s."

Relevant Links

• The Session link for "Ryan's Slip Jig."

Related YouTube Videos

The Boys of Ballycastle

Tune Notes

• From Whistle and Squeak sheet music (regarding Hornpipes): "A Hornpipe is played as if written in dotted 8th and 16th notes, giving a lilt."
  

Relevant Links

• Sheet music from Whistle and Squeak.
  
• The Session link for "The Boys of Ballycastle."

Personal Recordings

• Recorded with Tipple Low D flute - (July 28, 2010)
• Recorded with Parks Every Whistle in D - (July 29, 2010)
  

Related YouTube Videos

The Clare Jig

Tune Notes

• Also known commonly as "Mug of Brown Ale."
  

Relevant Links

• Sheet music from Whistle and Squeak.
  
• The Session link for "Mug of Brown Ale."

Personal Recordings

• Recorded with Dixon Traditional in D - (August 1, 2010)
  

Related YouTube Videos

The South Wind

Tune Notes

• From The Session comments: "South Wind was written in the 1700s by Freckled Donal Macnamara in homesickness for his homeland in County Mayo, as described in Donal O'Sullivan's wonderful book, Songs of the Irish."
  

Relevant Links

• Sheet music from Whistle and Squeak.
  
• The Session link for "The South Wind."

Personal Recordings

• Recorded with Dixon Tradition in D - (July 10, 2010)
  

Related YouTube Videos

The Rocky Road to Dublin

Tune Notes

• From the Wikipedia entry for "Rocky Road to Dublin": "'Rocky Road to Dublin' is a fast-paced 19th century Irish song about a man's experiences as he travels to Liverpool, England from his home in Tuam. The tune has a typical Irish rhythm, classified as a slip jig and is often performed instrumentally. The song is partially recited several times by Mr. Deasy in James Joyce's Ulysses. The words were written by D.K. Gavan, 'The Galway Poet', for the English music hall performer Harry Clifton (1824-1872), who popularised the song."
  

Relevant Links

• The Session link for "The Rocky Road to Dublin."
• Sheet Music for "The Rocky Road to Dublin."

Related YouTube Videos

Tralee Gaol

Tune Notes

• From The Sessions: Also known as As I Went Out Upon The Ice, Glen Cottage, Glen Cottage Polka #2, Glen Cottage Polka 2, Glen Cottage Polka No.2, The Green Cockade, The Haughs O' Cromdale, The Haughs Of Cromdale, O'Donnell's Return, O'Neill's March.

Relevant Links

• The Session link for "Tralee Gaol."
• Sheet Music for "Tralee Gaol."
  

Personal Recordings

• Recorded with Parks Every Whistle in D - (July 29, 2010)

Related YouTube Videos

Over the Waterfall

Tune Notes

• From The Clarke Tin Whistle by Bill Ochs: "I have yet to come across evidence of tin whistles being played in the Southern Appalachians. Some of the fiddle tunes from the area do adapt nicely to the whistle." (p. 52)

Relevant Links

• The Session link for "Over the Waterfall."

Personal Recordings

• Recorded on Parks Every Whistle in D -(June 5, 2010)
  

Related YouTube Videos

The Parting Glass

Tune Notes

• From Wikipedia entry on "The Parting Glass": "'The Parting Glass' is an Irish traditional song, often sung at the end of a gathering of friends. It was allegedly the most popular song sung in both Scotland and Ireland before Robert Burns wrote 'Auld Lang Syne.'"

Relevant Links

• The Session link for "The Parting Glass."

Personal Recordings

• Recorded with Parks EveryWhistle in C - (June 5, 2010)
  

Related YouTube Videos

The Star of the County Down

Tune Notes

• From Wikipedia entry on "Star of the County Down": "'Star of the County Down' is an old Irish ballad set near Banbridge in County Down, in Northern Ireland. The words are by Cathal McGarvey, 1866-1927, from Ramelton, County Donegal.[1] The tune of the song, a pentatonic melody, is similar to that of several other works, including the almost identical English tune 'Kingsfold', well known from several popular hymns, such as "Led By the Spirit." The folk tune was the basis for Ralph Vaughan Williams' Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus. The song is notable for its tight rhyme scheme. Each stanza is a double quatrain, and the first and third lines of each quatrain have an internal rhyme on the second and fourth feet: [aa]b[cc]b. The refrain is a single quatrain with the same rhyming pattern. The song is sung from the point of view of a young man who chances to meet a charming lady by the name of Rose (or Rosie) McCann, referred to as the 'star of the County Down'. From a brief encounter the writer's infatuation grows until, by the end of the ballad, he imagines wedding the girl."

Relevant Links

• The Session link for "Star of the County Down." (1)
• The Session link for "Star of the County Down." (2)
  
• Sheet music from A Jesuit's Introduction to the Irish Tin Whistle. (Note: This sheet music does not match the version that Ryan Duns plays in the videos below.)
• Lesson 4 at A Jesuit's Introduction to the Irish Tin Whistle.
• Lesson 5 at A Jesuit's Introduction to the Irish Tin Whistle. (Cuts)
• Lesson 6 at A Jesuit's Introduction to the Irish Tin Whistle. (Hits/Strikes)
  

Related YouTube Videos

Uir-Chill A' Chreagain (The Clay of Cill Creggan)

Related YouTube Videos

Egan's Polka

Tune Notes

• Also known as Peg Ryan's Polka.

Relevant Links

• The Session link for "Egan's Polka."
• Sheet music from A Jesuit's Introduction to the Irish Tin Whistle.
• Lesson at A Jesuit's Introduction to the Irish Tin Whistle.

Related YouTube Videos

Four Track for iPhone - A Pocket Sound Studio

Today, I received two new whistles in the post--a Tony Dixon Traditional D and a Tony Dixon polymer D.

The Trad D sounded so nice out of the box that I began to wonder if I could record some guitar strums on the computer and play along with them. Curious, I checked my iPhone for recording apps, and lo' and behold, I discovered the Sonoma Wireworks' Four Track app. It had 3.5 out of 5 stars with over 900+ reviews, and after I looked at some of its features, I figured it was worth a shot for $10.

I spent a couple of hours this evening laying down this test track. It may not seem like much, but I was on the backside of a steep learning curve most of the time. I had to figure out how to operate the app on the iPhone and produce the tracks. Then, I had to sync my iPhone with my secured wireless network to get the tracks over to my desktop (not easy). I could not find any way to do so with a corded connection. Finally, I had work out the basics of the associated (free) software offered via Sonoma Wireworks, a program called Riffworks. Riffworks saves the mix as a .wav file, so I used iTunes to convert the file to an .mp3. I also registered for a box account and uploaded the clip.

Exhausted, I had a beer before making this post.

I did learn a lot, and I think I'm going to have a lot of fun playing with this app and mixing some songs. Four Track comes with a built-in metronome that you can use as a practice tool and as an aid to get your tracks in time as you're recording them. The beats-per-minute as well as the pitch options are readily adjustable. My only real complaint with the app is that you cannot delete a track once you start laying down tracks for a song, a deficiency that I hope is remedied in a future update. You can record over a track though. I had to record the guitar track a couple of times until it was acceptable before turning to the whistle track, which I also recorded twice. On a side note, I recorded both tracks with just the microphone in my iPhone. I'm betting I could get even better results with a plug-in mic.

Amazing Grace

Tune Notes

• From Wikipedia entry on "Amazing Grace": "'Amazing Grace' is a Christian hymn written by English poet and clergyman John Newton (1725–1807) published in 1779. With a message that forgiveness and redemption is possible regardless of the sins people commit and that the soul can be delivered from despair through the mercy of God, 'Amazing Grace' is one of the most recognizable songs in the English-speaking world. ... With folk music origins vague and documentation incomplete, scholars can only speculate where the melody originated. These guesses include a Scottish folk ballad as many of the new residents of Kentucky and Tennessee were immigrants from Scotland, or folk songs developed in Virginia, or South Carolina, William Walker's home state."
  

Relevant Links

• The Session link for "Amazing Grace."

Related YouTube Videos

Shenandoah

Tune Notes

• From Wikipedia entry on "Oh Shenandoah": "'Oh Shenandoah' (also called simply 'Shenandoah', or 'Across the Wide Missouri') is a traditional American folk song of uncertain origin, dating at least to the early 19th century. The song is number 324 in the Roud Folk Song Index, but is not listed amongst the Child Ballads."

Relevant Links

• Fingerstyle arrangement on guitar by Doug Young (YouTube embedding disabled).

Personal Recordings

• Recorded on Clarke Sweetone D (Jerry Freeman tweaked) - (May 19, 2010)
  

Related YouTube Videos

The Dawning of the Day

Tune Notes

• From Wikipedia entry on "The Dawning of the Day": "'The Dawning of the Day' (Irish: Fáinne Geal an Lae) is an old Irish air composed by the blind harpist Thomas Connellan in the 17th Century."
• Commentaries at The Session, however, claim that the song is often considered a march, and as the YouTube clips below make clear, this tune fits that bill.
  

Relevant Links

• The Session link for "The Dawning of the Day."
• Sheet music from A Jesuit's Introduction to the Irish Tin Whistle.
• Lesson at A Jesuit's Introduction to the Irish Tin Whistle.

Related YouTube Videos

Thanks Where Thanks Are Due

I should start with Stuart Duncan, I suppose. He's at least indirectly responsible for my renewed interest in Celtic music. It was through Stuart's YouTube clips that I discovered the TransAtlantic Sessions, a series of cross-Atlantic, collaborative performances in the folk/traditional vein.

If you don't consider Duncan the preeminent fiddle player in the world, then you ought to, and in this bluegrass-flavored TA4 clip, he wryly notes, "I've listened to Celtic music since I was a little kid, and my two favorite instruments are bagpipes and pedal steel. Fiddle comes in a distant fourth, I think." Ooookay Stuart... I wonder what you'd sound like on pipes.

Like Stuart Duncan, I grew up listening to Celtic music. The Chieftains were one of my favorite bands as a child, and I was weened on Sir James Galway, whose flute and penny whistle playing influenced me to study the Boehm flute in school. Little surprise then that my ears perked up as I tracked the TransAtlantic Sessions on YouTube and heard the melodic strains of Julie Fowlis who excels as both a singer and a whistle player. In the BBC clip below, she sings in her native Scottish Gaelic along with Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh, a renown Irish singer and whistle player who sings in her native Irish.




Julie Fowlis made me consider tin whistles in general, and she effectively led me to the next step of wondering about playing one. It wasn't all that long before I discovered that the fingering isn't too different from a concert flute, and to boot, you can get a very nice instrument for $20 to $50. So, just over two weeks ago on the last day of April, I ordered my first tin whistle—a Clarke Sweetone D that has been "tweaked" (adjusted) by Jerry Freeman, a fellow who is well known for making inexpensive whistles into world-class instruments.

I began to search the web for instructional material and soon found the final person on my thank-you list, Ryan Duns, a Jesuit priest who has established an online presence with his tin whistle tutorials on YouTube. In the clip below, he plays a reel that is appropriately titled "The Musical Priest." As subsequent posts here will show, my first real lessons and tunes owe much to the efforts of Father Duns.

The Mission, Should I Choose To Accept It

So... I'm learning to play the tin whistle, and the online resources are scattered near and far on the Interweb. It made sense to start a blog where I can archive and organize the various sites that I use for information, instruction, and practice.

My plans for this site involve three types of additions.

• First, as I come across useful, informative sites about the tin whistle, I plan to add them to the link categories in the right column.
  
• Second, if I find a link or other online material worthy of a post, I'll write about it and add relevant audio/video files.
  
• Finally, as I work on tunes and slowly add them to my repertoire, I plan to centralize links and materials for each song. In this latter case, I'll use the song title in the post title and tag the post as "tune" or some such keyword so that I can easily search the site and get a complete listing of tunes on which I've worked.

The latter sort of posts will likely be the most extensive, as I can add materials such as: historical information about the tunes, relevant links, sheet music, video and audio files for reference and practice, and insights about playing that derive from learning or practicing a tune.