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
2 comments:
Thanks for organizing these. Feel free to post sheet music or do whatever is necessary to help make my teaching clearer. If I had more time, I'd do the same. Who knew that teaching full time would be so...well, time consuming!
Father Duns, thanks for your comment and thanks especially for making these videos available in the first place. I teach full time myself (thus the recent lag in my progress) and know exactly what you mean.
Lately, when I have had time to pick up a whistle, I've mostly been practicing two or three other tunes, but I'm about to start back up with your series. As I progress though the lessons and keep adding them to my blog, I will continue to label them as "Ryan Duns' Video Lessons." That way, anyone interested in following the series and my supplements can simply click on the label and work upward from the bottom of the results.
For your tunes especially, I'll continue to try and find YouTube videos in D with which I can play along. That Barley Bree video above works great with "The Star of the County Down."
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