Right now, I seem to be finding Green Sleeves [ Jig from O’Neill’s ] to be pretty damn fun to play, especially when it’s preceded by Green Sleeves [The not-so-jig-ful-tune].
Anywho, what are some ideal starting jigs/reels/hornpipes/marches/polkas/slides/etc that you started to learn back way when?
Thanks in advance!
Cheers,
Armand
Do you have Heather Clarke’s tutor? Or the Mad4Trad UP CD-ROM? Both have lots of good tunes to start from.
djm
The first polka I learned to play (imagine my Polish wife’s glee when learning Irish pipe tunes included polkas!) was “Maggie In The Woods”.
It’s a fun tune, and easy to learn, too.
Maggie in the Woods is a good one, also Britches full of Stitches, Ward’s Jig, and Garrett Barry’s Jig.
Merrily Kissed the Quaker - good for learning to lift the chanter, good for rolled Cnats (2nd bar)using cut on thumb D then down to A, good for staccatto triplets (4th bar), good for cuts on G (B part, 1st bar), good for getting to 2nd Octave (C part) - all techniques that you learn pretty early on in the piece, esp if you follow H.CLarkes tutor.
Cheers,
DavidG
Rolls on c?! Brilliant!!!
Anywho, that’s good, I already know Britches and my teacher is actually having me practice that with graces with the B. Garrett Barry’s is all good since I recent learned it on the whistle. W00t! As well as Maggie in the Woods, bwahahahaha~!
cheers,
Armand
Merrily Kiss the quaker is good but the third part is not easy for new players. It goes up to B’ and most new players have difficulty with the second octave (or have you forgotten).
The Master’s Touch is probably the best of all the tutors I’ve come across, followed closely by Heather Clarke’s New Approach. Don’t touch Davy Spillane’s tutor Volume I - by the way, what ever happened to volume II.
Regarding specific tunes, try “Dunmore Lasses” - the Chieftains play a slow version of it on the Long Black Veil. Also, try some hornpipes, Kiss the maid behind the bar, Harvest Home, Boys of Bluehill - some of them can be speeded up and played like reels (check out what Bothy Band does with the Blackbird - slow air, hornpipe and reel).
Sean Bui may be a good tune for beginners to learn their cranning skills with.
Agreed - that’s a great tune for that … if you’ve got the hard D going, it’s even better!
Ward’s Jig in G is the one i started with, good for rolls and stays in the first ocatve.
Depends on how ‘new’ or ‘beginner’ we’re talking. All tunes are difficult for beginners, especially if they’re only a day into it. Don’t shy away from trying to play high B just because you’re a ‘beginner’. You might surprise yourself. Only a couple of days ago I was chatting to a piper in the chat room who had his pipes only a day and already was able to play up into the 2nd octave as far as G, so no reason why he wouldn’t be able to extend that to high B on the 2nd day. So no, I haven’t forgotten.
Or should the advice be - ‘Hey beginners, whatever you do, don’t try tunes that play into the 2nd octave, especially up to B!’
Or should the advice be - ‘Hey beginners, whatever you do, don’t try tunes that play into the 2nd octave, especially up to B!’
No but a good grounding of fingering in the first octave will aid the 2nd octave, plus you have a lot to think about anyways, keep the octave down low until you have the bellows/bag thing worked out. Trying to use the 2nd octave too early could lead to a bellows driven octave jumping type thing. Which isnt good, trust me. 
Edited for lack of concentration
All valid points and don’t think I don’t remember my frustrations with it all, but we’re after good ‘beginner’ tunes, and even after 6 months of learning, which is still ‘beginner’ stage, one should have a good grasp of 2nd octave, bellows technique and should be able to get up to high B.
Merrily Kissed is a good ‘beginner/starter’ tune because it’s not complicated, has a range of notes - if you’re have trouble with 2nd 8ve, play A and B parts only for a while, and provides a bit of extension. And Liam O’Flynn plays a very nice, uncluttered version of it on the black ‘Planxty’ album.
Cheers,
DavidG
True, but as we are answering a question by a specific person, fiddlinviolinin, who if i gather correctly, has only recently started, then he may be better at the moment to stay in the first octave. Thats all i was meaning.
An excellent tune for learning bag, bellows and finger control without the need to worry about gaining and holding the second octave ('cos it doesn’t require it) is “Fraher’s jig”. Cuts & crans feature strongly though.
Another one and simpler tune which again stays in the first octave but doesn’t require a cran but does use hard ‘D’ is “The chanters song”.
I think that both can be found in the Armagh Uillean pipe tutor.
If you are relatively new to the pipes, learning bag and bellows technique on the first octave is paramount as well as good finger covering of the note holes. Next concentrate on good tone and steady pitch. It will be hard work initially 
but this early ground work is essential.
I learned too many bad habits when I started out and these can be difficult to eradicate later on 
so put in the hard work to begin with and make life easier for yourself later on. However, once you have the technique less effort will be required to achieve the same results 
Good luck
Joseph.
Hmmm, Fraher’s and Ward’s Jig. Lovely, I am familiar with Ward’s and didn’t know it stays in the first octave! Ooooh, come to think of it, I composed a tune staying within the 1st octave, it’s pretty nice and simple. I’ll post it on the Session sometime.
Yes, Ward’s is a great tune for beginners, as it is mostly in low octave, but particularly because it offers the player ample opportunity to learn and use the roll on G.
Thorpe said -
“True, but as we are answering a question by a specific person, fiddlinviolinin, who if i gather correctly, has only recently started, then he may be better at the moment to stay in the first octave. Thats all i was meaning.”
I say - Well, from what I gathered from Fiddlin’s initial post and how he’s into Greensleeves and all, it seems he’s well on his way to conquering second octave.
Having said that,
Just some thoughts on piping ‘Pedagogy’ (the art of teaching/learning the pipes) - whilst I acknowledge that 2nd octave is tricky for the ‘absolute, complete, two-day-old beginner’, I’m not sure it is necessarily good wisdom to suggest that 2nd octave tunes be avoided in favour of 1st octave-only or 1st octave dominant tunes.
What concerns me, and forgive me for getting pedantic here, is this talk of beginner tunes which need to somehow avoid the 2nd octave as if it’s something a complete beginner should avoid until the 1st octave is tackled.
Okay, some may feel comfortable doing that, but there are some who may delay their learning process because they’ve been ill-advised to practice 1st octave before attempting 2nd octave (chanter before drones and regs, leggatto rolls before stacatto rolls) and frankly, without guidance, not know when to move on. Feeling comfortable with your playing is one thing, and is important. But so is making the effort to set challenges. I took up the UPs and not other pipes for one thing, because they play two octaves and I wanted to be able to play two octaves there and then. Sure, I had to face my limitations, but my tutor book certainly didn’t hold back too long on getting me into 2nd octave (Leo Rowsomes ‘tipping’ exercises.)
I say, just get in and do it. If it falls back to low octave, fine, even O’Flynn and Moloney do that from time-to-time. Learn to keep going even if it does fall back to earth. Forget tunes for a while if need be and just fiddle with the notes (who knows, you may end up composing your first reel in the process )
If you’re thinking about playing tunes, it’s probable that you’ve tackled playing up and down the octaves first, and is something I would advise to do anyway.
Don’t let people put you off attempting a tune simply because, shock horror, it goes into 2nd octave. And if you’re like I was, the first week was learning how NOT to play 2nd octave If that’s you, tap into that experience. What are you doing unwittingly that sends your chanter into 2nd octave spin when you want to play low octave? Identify those factors and utilise them for the greater good when you DO want to play 2nd octave.
Cheers for now,
DavidG
If you haven’t already done so, get Heather Clarke’s tutor. You should be able to get through one lesson a week if you practice half and hour each night - they’re not terribly demanding units. I think there’s 12 lessons and a bunch of good ‘old favourites’ in the back, so within 6 months you’ll be ripping through them. Then spend the rest of your life improving on each of those tunes plus adding to your repertoir.
I was out busking in the Queen Street mall after 18 or so months making at least A$40 and hour on a decent morning. I wasn’t that fantastic a player by any stretch but it was a great way to overcome nerves, and a great way to practice - I only played a handful of tunes - each one repeated about 10 times before changing and no one cared!! Plus you can play them as sloow as you like. Beats trying to learn at sessions and you get a bit of financial return from people who wouldn’t know that you were a beginner.
But be warned, if using Clarkes tutor, Si Bheag Si Mhor appears after about lesson 5 and goes to high B 
Good luck,
DavidG
Gander at the Pratie Hole - has it all, triplets, crans, rolls, popping - add to taste.