Has anyone here sat down and composed a tune? This interests me.
yes
Yes, and sitting down helps.
I mean actually sitting and writing like you would write a letter to someone.
Beginning, (the A part melody) middle, (resolving to the end of the part) end (the B part twist).
There are many ways to approach it. I know one person who would take O’Neills 1001, place it upside down on a music stand and play random sections of tunes for inspiration.
I’m sure many here would like to hear your results!
Tommy
Tomas O Canainn wrote a lot of tunes in his day. I don’t know if any of them have become part of the general trad music repertoire.
If you wanted to write Irish tunes it would be a good idea to buy a copy of his book “Traditional music in Ireland” . It goes into some detail of the form and structure of Irish tunes.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Traditional-Music-Ireland-Tomas-Canainn/dp/0946005737/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1404050410&sr=8-8&keywords=tomas+O+canainn
Mark
Tomas O Canainn wrote a lot of tunes in his day.
He composed all the tunes and songs on this recording:
Knowing the structures and how the rhythms of tunes move does help a lot.
I like the idea of putting a tune together and just ‘letting it out’ without laying a claim. Much like for example Breandan McGlinchey used to do.
yes lots . some are feckin brilliant but most are shite 
heres one I wrote and play http://www.turboimagehost.com/p/3994776/10th_piperb.jpg.html
I was falling asleep and the rhythmic idea came to me, Id been studying a lot of these weird eastern rhythms as a backer .
I have several up on my page at the Session.org. Though none of them written exclusively for the pipes!
Arbo
Interestingly, this idea came to me when I was listening to J.S. Bach’s organ works, while it was displaying sheet music scrolling through. I thought, Hey! That looks cool!
Usually when I am about to fall asleep. I’ve got these made up tunes playing in my head, and it drives me crazy! Sometimes I have trouble falling asleep because of it! 
I hear it’s because when you are about to fall asleep, your brainwave patterns change or something.
What I think I should do is look at lots of manuscripts for irish tunes like jigs, hornpipes, and reels to name a few, and closely study all the notation techniques so I know what I am doing. Otherwise it’ll just look like nonsense! 
Anybody got any good places to look?
I saw the book mentioned, I’ll save that for later!
Yes, I’ve written a bunch. Don’t really know if any will catch on, but it’s a lot of fun, and it’s a great exercise in figuring out what makes a great tune. I usually sit down and work out a tune first on the whistle or pipes, then record it, then when I’ve got something I like, I write it down. It’s loads of fun! Sometimes you don’t know how it’ll turn out when you start, but it’s a great adventure.
K
Yes…kinda.
I have spent the past couple of years working on new settings of common tunes. Most of these are clearly built on the bones and sinew of the original, others diverge enough that they might be considered “composed”. It’s been fun, and as Kathleen pointed out, it gives you a much greater appreciation for the original source. There have been some brilliant composers over the history of Irish traditional music. Most of them gan ainm-mous.
Only one:
X:1
T: Seven Years Ago
K:D
L:1/8
M:4/4
R:reel
Bc | dGG2 d2fe | dFF2 AFEF | D2FD FGAB | dfed cABc |
dGG2 d2fe | dFF2 AFEF | D2FD FGAB | dfec d2 :|]
A | dff2 g2ge | f2fd edFA | D2FD FGAB | dfed cABc |
dff2 g2ge | f2fd edFA | D2FD FGAB | dfec d3A|
dff2 g2ge | f2fd edFA | D2FD FGAB | dfed cABc |
dff2 dgg2 | dff2 dBAF | D2FD FGAB | dfec d3 |]
The title refers to the fact that it was seven years between composing it and writing it down.
Now, if I could come up with something like Spórt … .
Cheers, P.
Fiddler Sandy MacIntyre, of Cape Breton, spoke of, “making a tune,” rather than, “composing a tune.”
Darach de Brún loosed some excellent tunes into the wild. . .
Bob
Glad to hear it’s not just me, my brain comes alive again around 11pm some evenings, I’ve written new tunes, marches and have even painted a canvas or two because of some mad wave of inspiration. I often look at it the next day and don’t give the work a second thought, but in the small hours it feels like it’s the best work i’ve ever created.
I’ve never composed a trad irish tune as we know them but this was a Jig I wrote after being contacted by a piper from Wicklow , researching his 'Ulster Scots 'roots and had decided to learn to play the high pitch Bb flute. I usually ask a few friends if they’ve heard it before to make sure I have actually written it and not just remembered it, lol.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5b3EQufrtvg
This is a tune I composed many years ago for a stage production about Branwen (at least I think it was Branwen, IMMSMR). It sounded much better with all the instrumentation - pipes, flute, guitar etc.
Cool!
These are all nice tunes guys! I’ll have to try some of them one of these days.