The moderators here have graciously agreed to let me post this note. Thanks!
Another whistle player and I have collaborated on a collection of slow tunes intended for whistle players and for use in the classes we teach from time to time. The collection may be of interest to some of you folks. Most of the tunes have chords, though some seem best without. The collection is spiral bound, printed on heavy paper, and generally nice to use. The titles included are listed below (apologies for the space). If anyone is interested the cost will be $18.50 post paid to anywhere in the US. I’d probably have to charge $21.00 for orders from outside the US. Postage is a real bear.
I hope some of you will be interested. PM me or contact me off list at cboody @ mchsi.com (without the spaces) if you are.
Thanks for reading.
Chuck Boody
Amhran na Leabhair (Lament for the lost books)
Arran Boat, The
Auld Lang Syne
Auld Resting Chair, The
Banks Of The Devon
Battle of the Somme
Birks of Invermay
Blind Mary
Bonaparte’s Retreat
Bonny At Morn
Boulavogue
Boys of Wexford, The
Bruach na Carraige Baine (The Brink of the White Rocks)
Cape Clear
Captain John Sudley
Carrickfergus
Coleman’s March
Cradle Song
Da Slockit Light
Dark Island
Eagle’s Whistle
Eleanor Plunkett
Erev shel shoshanim
Eye of the Storm
Fairhaired Child, The
Farewell
For Ireland I Won’t Say Her Name
Green Glens of Antrim, The
Green Hills of Gweedore
Heart of the Heartland
Hector the Hero
Her Mantle So Green
Hills of Lorne, The
If Ever You Were Mine
Inisheer
Jimmy Mo Mhile Stor
John O’Dwyer Of The Glen
King of the Fairies
Kitty Tyrrell
Kitty Tyrrell
Lliw Lili Ymysg Y Drain (The Color of the Lily Amongst the Thorns)
Loch Tay Boat Song
Lochaber No More
Logan Water
Lord Ullin’s Daughter
Love Of The Isles, The
Maids of Arrochar
May Morning Dew
Merch Megan
Mist-Covered Mountains Of Home, The
Molly St. George
Morgan Magan
Mountains of Mourne, The
Mrs. Jamieson’s Favorite
Music o’ Spey
My Hame
Ned Of The Hill
Niel Gow’s Lament For The Death Of His Second Wife
Parting Glass, The
Roisin Bheag Dubh (Little Dark Rose)
Roisin Bheag Dubh
Roslin Castle
Seamus O’Brien
She Moved Through The Fair
Siuil A Ghra
Song of the Kelpie
Spailpin Fanach (The Whistling Gypsy)
Sunset Over Ayr
Taímse Im’ Chodhladh (I am Asleep)
Thatched Cabin, The
Though I Go To Bed, Little Does Sleep Come To Me
Westmorland, The
Ye Banks and Braes of Bonnie Doon
Yellow Hair’d Laddie, The
The few I am familiar with are all great tunes. Are they in ‘D whistle friendly’ keys ? For example Roslin Castle, Hector the Hero and Neil Gow’s Lament don’t fit a D whistle well as usually notated for the fiddle.
Some have been moved to whistle friendly keys. Hector actually fits in D with recommendations to use a G whistle if folks are doing it in G.. Roslin Castle comes from a Scottish collection for flutes so is fine. The Gow Lament has been moved to G with the note to use an A whistle to play in D. Most of the other tunes have indications for what to do when the tune falls off the whistle, or have similar key indications if they’ve been moved from “the usual key.” The intention is to be able to play them on a D whistle. The one piece, included for didactic reasons, where nothing has been done is “The Auld Resting Chair.” That one, as the math books used to say, is “left for proof to the reader.”
I’d love to get this but unfortunately, the Italian mail either loses everything coming from the US, or levies totally absurd customs charges. It sounds like a lovely book.
It was first mentioned as “The Arran Boat Song” in Kerr’s Merry Melodies in 1879.
The connection is not to an island at all. The tune had been used for a song about Mary Queen of Scots’ escape from Lochleven Castle. The guy who probably organized the escape was the Earl of Arran, and she went to his castle after getting out. Not a boat to Arran, but Arran’s boat.
