How many tunes do you know?

Whistle
1

Enough fluff! Time for a real post.

One of the other topics (How many whistles do you own) got me to thinking about how many tunes people might know.

I have only been playing for almost a year and have the following memorized.
Amazing Grace
Spinning Wheel
Lord of the Dance (from our Methodist Hymnal)
Ladies Pleasure
Swallowtail Jig (almost memorized)

Amazing Graze was the first tune I memorized. I use it as a warmup tune, and one day I realized I no longer had to look at the music. After that I started working on actively memorizing tunes.

Lord of the Dance and Spinning Wheel are two of my wifes favorite tunes. Funny, since I started playing them on the whistle, she doesn’t tell me what other tunes she likes…hmm.

I have not yet tried learning by ear. My training started in the 6th grade reading music in the band, and I can sight read pretty quickly. I have thought about trying to learn one of the Airs off of Mary Bergin’s CD, such as Aisling Gheal.

At this rate in about 20 years, I will know enough tunes to join in a session! I can hardly wait.
:slight_smile:

edited to remove that nasty ‘s’ word and replace it with ‘tunes’

[ This Message was edited by: snoogie on 2002-09-03 20:18 ]

2

As luck would have it, every time I learn a tune, I put it on a list, so I can keep track. I used to pad the list out with the simple kiddy tunes (muffin man, london bridge, etc) so that I’d feel better about myself, but I recently went back and took them out and took out the christmas tunes, too. I’ve been playin about 7 years.

  1. All For Me Grog
  2. Amazing Grace
  3. Arran Boat
  4. Auld Lang Syne
  5. Ballydesmond Polka #2
  6. Battle of Aughrim, The
  7. Blarney Pilgrim, the
  8. Blow the Man Down
  9. Brian Boru’s March
  10. Boatman, The
  11. Bonaparte’s Grand March
  12. Bonny, Bonny Broom, The
  13. Boys of Bluehill, The
  14. Burning the Piper’s Hut
  15. Butterfly, The
  16. Casadh An tSugain
  17. Cat’s Jig, The
  18. Clay of Cill Creggan, The
  19. Cliffs of Moher, The
  20. Crested Hens
  21. Constant Billy
  22. Cup of Tea
  23. Dan O’Keefe’s Slide
  24. Dancing Master, The
  25. Don Oiche Ud I Mbethel
  26. Down by the Sally Gardens
  27. Drowsy Maggie
  28. Drummond Castle
  29. Drunken Landlady, The
  30. Duffy the Dancer (High Reel)
  31. Duke of Perth
  32. Dusty Windowsill, The
  33. Dunmore Lasses
  34. Eagle’s Whistle, The
  35. Eanach Dhuin
  36. Egan’s Polka (Peg Ryan’s Reel)
  37. Fairy Dance
  38. Flowers of Red Hill, The (Clogher Reel)
  39. Foggy Dew, The
  40. Fool’s Jig, The
  41. Four Mary’s, The
  42. Foxhunter’s Jig, The
  43. Fraher’s Jig
  44. Gay Gordons, The
  45. Ger the Rigger
  46. Gravel Walk
  47. Greensleeves
  48. Harvest Home
  49. Haste to the Wedding
  50. Hey Diddle Dis
  51. Holy Ground, The
  52. I Buried My Wife and Danced on her Grave
  53. Idbury Hill
  54. Immigrant, The
  55. Inisheer
  56. Kemp’s Jig
  57. Kerrigan’s Jig (Kesh Jig)
  58. Kitty’s Gone A’ Milkin’
  59. Ladies Pleasure, The
  60. Legacy Jig
  61. Little Fair Cannavans, The
  62. Loch Lomond
  63. Londonderry Air (Danny Boy)
  64. Long Long Ago
  65. Lyke Wake Dirge
  66. MacPherson’s Farewell
  67. Maggie Pickens
  68. Maid Behind the Bar, The
  69. Mairi’s Wedding
  70. Marcus Hernon’s Air
  71. Mermaid, The
  72. Milliner’s Daughter, The
  73. Minstrel Boy, The
  74. Mitty Matty
  75. Mooncoin Jig, The
  76. My Heart Will Go On
  77. New Rigged Ship, The
  78. Nora Criona (Wise Nora)
  79. Flower of Scotland
  80. Old Grey Cat, The
  81. Old Mother Oxford
  82. Paddy Clancy’s Jig
  83. Parting Glass, The
  84. Planxty Dale Wisely
  85. Planxty Hewlett
  86. Planxty Irwin
  87. Quaker’s Wife, The
  88. Rakes of Mallow, The
  89. Roisin Dubh
  90. River is Wide, The
  91. Road to Lisdoonvarna, The
  92. Rufty Tufty
  93. Ryan’s Slip Jig
  94. Scarborough Faire
  95. Shepherd’s Hey
  96. She Moves Through the Faire
  97. Si Beg Si Mor
  98. Silver Spear, The
  99. Siubhán Ní Dhuibhir
  100. Star of the County Down
  101. Skye Boat Song, The
  102. Sliabh na mBan
  103. Sliabh Mhachaire
  104. South Wind, The
  105. Spanish Lady, The
  106. Stairway to Heaven
  107. Star of Munster, The
  108. Streets of Cairo, The
  109. Tar Road to Sligo
  110. Tarmon’s Polka
  111. Tim Finnegan’s Wake
  112. Tralee Gaol
  113. Trip to Tunbridge, The
  114. Tripping Upstairs
  115. Wayfaring Stranger
  116. WSWDWa Drunken Sailor
  117. When Johnny Comes Marching Home
  118. Water is Wide, The
  119. When Saints Come Marching in
  120. Wild Rover, The
  121. Yankee Doodle
3

I’ve only been playing for a little over a year, also, but I hope to have a list like Wandering’s someday. Most of the songs I’ve memorized are from the “Play Pennywhistle” tutorial that I got from Song of the Sea while on vacation last year. My hubby started playing the hammered dulcimer at the same time, so I learned a couple of songs from his books to play along with him as well.
I’ve found that it is much easier to play with expession if I’ve memorized the song instead of trying to read music while I’m playing.

This is my list:
Fools Jig
Old Mother Oxford
Rondeau
My Lodging’s on the Cold Ground
Sheebeg Sheemore
Newcastle
Black Nag
Road to Lisdoonvarna

Working on:
Eigth of January
Fasten the Leg in Her (what does that mean, anyway!)
I often wonder about the names of some of these songs. But they are beautiful!

4

Hmm…looks like I’m averaging about 1 tune a month (I’ve been playing about a year). In reality, though, the longer I play the easier it is for me to memorize the tunes. I think 4 of the tunes listed were memorized in the last month.

  1. Off to California
  2. Amhr’an Leabhar
  3. Blind Mary
  4. Catching Rabbits
  5. The Belfast Hornpipe
  6. Road to Glountane
  7. The Coach Road to Sligo
    8 ) The Three Little Drummers (the TenPenny Bit)
  8. Mom’s Favorite
  9. Tam Lin
  10. Bruach na Carraige Baine
  11. The 5th Year

Edited to remove a smiley inadvertently created by my numbering system



[ This Message was edited by: vaporlock on 2002-09-02 22:26 ]

5

I’m working on about 6 months of the whistle. Before you look at my list and congratulate me on my progress, keep in mind that I’m also working on about 10 years as a guitarist! :smiley:

Amazing Grace
How Firm a Foundation
House of the Rising Sun
Londonderry Air
Sleepwalk
The Sound of Silence
The Boxer
Moondance
Mansion Over the Hilltop
Greensleeves / What Child is This?
Shout to the Lord
Rainy Day People (not Bob Dylan’s "Rainy Day Women! :smiley:)
Rocky Mountain High
Eleanor Plunkett
Waves of Kilkee (a CTL tune)
Blind Mary
Planxty Irwin
Mexican Hat Dance (still need to work on the fast part)
All I Want for Christmas is a Pennywhistle (Concertina)
The intro of Jethro Tull’s “Living in the Past”
The bridge section of “Nights in White Satin” (great on the Dixon Low G)

6

The band I am in does about 80 songs,
rotating them as slow ones for weddings and fast for Casinos, etc. I have the 33 fast
ones memorized, but the slow ones are really
hard arrangements and I have to follow the music carefully to know when to come in, etc.
I probably could play them by memory if I
really tried, tho, ha ha
I’ve been in the band 2 years now, and playing about 3 1/2.
Lolly

7

I know lots of songs on lots of instruments. To list all the songs is more than my brain could handle. To find all the instruments hidden around this house is another.

Cheers,
JP

[ This Message was edited by: JohnPalmer on 2002-09-03 00:03 ]

8

I’ve been playing for 2 years.

After the Battle of Aughrim
Aililiú Na Gamhna
Along With the Girls
Alta’s Reel
Breakout (from Lord of the Dance)
Caliope House
Carraroe Jig
Castle Reel
Congress Reel
Corona (air from ‘Reel Around The Sun’)
Crested Hens
Erin Shore
Haste to the Wedding (jig)
Haste to the Wedding (air)
Her Mantle So Green
High Germany
Lift the Wings
Joe Wilson’s
Minstrel Boy
Miss Maule’s
Níl 'na Lá
O’Dowd’s
Paddy McCarthy
Paddy something’s…
Pat Enright’s
Rebel Heart
Riverdance (first slip jig)
Rolling in the Barrel
Siamsa (from Lord of the Dance)
Song of the Kelpie
Star Above the Garter
The Anascaul Polka
The Banks of Lough Gowna
The Butterfly
The Countess Cathleen
The Waves of Kilkee
The Wind That Shakes the Barley
Toss the Feathers
Trout in the Bath
Women of the Sidhe

In addition to these tunes, I can also play all of The Corrs’ little whistle interludes.

9

If I may add some non-Celtic
and Celtic
tunes that I like:

Someone to watch over me–Gershwin
(first note G)
Just the Way You look tonight
(first note high D)

Turkey in the Straw (which is
Celtic, I think)
The Ash Grove (which is also Celtic)

Oh Shenendoah
My Funny Valentine

Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Have yourself a Merry Little XMass

Sometimes I feel like a motherless child
Oh Susannah

Hard Times Come Again No More

The Red Haired Boy (Little Beggar Man)

The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
Star of the County Down

When I am 64 (which is a trip
to play on the whistle)
Favorite Things

Here, There, And Everwhere
(half-holing)

I Will

Minuet in G (wonderful
on the whistle and improves
over the years)

Sheep May Safely Graze

Rodney’s Glory

Down by the Sally Gardens

Wouldn’t it be lovely? (half holing)

And on…

A neat story about ‘Someone to watch
over me’ is that it was a little ditty
played quickly as the dancers came
out on stage–then one day George
Gershwin happened to play it slowly
on the piano…

Also I find it moving that perhaps
the most beautiful love song
of the twentieth century (‘My Funny
Valentine’) is to a plain woman.

‘Your face is laughable, unphotographable,
Yet your my favorite work of art…’

Where did that craftsmanship go?

[ This Message was edited by: jim stone on 2002-09-03 12:02 ]

10

I could tell you, but then I would have to kill you. :slight_smile:

11

I’ve been playing for a year but most of the tunes I know have been since July.

  1. Autumn Child (Lunasa)
  2. Bag of Spuds
  3. Ballydesmond Polka 2
  4. Blackthorn Stick
  5. Boys of Bluehill
  6. Butterfly
  7. Crested Hens
    :sunglasses: Donnybrook Fair
  8. Down by the Sally Gardens
  9. Dusty Windowsill
  10. Egan’s Polka
  11. Far From Home
  12. Foggy Dew
  13. Gander in the Pratie Hole
  14. Give Me Your Hand
  15. Harvest Home
  16. Inion Ni Scannlain (Lunasa)
  17. John Ryans Polka
  18. Kesh Jig
  19. Lord Mayo
  20. Merrily Kiss the Quaker
  21. Off to California
  22. O’Keefe’s Slide
  23. Parting Glass (mostly…)
  24. Peat Fire Flame
  25. Planxty Dale Wisely
  26. Road to Lisdoonvarna
  27. Rolling in the Rye Grass
  28. Shebeg Shemore
  29. Star of the County Down
  30. Swallowtail Jig
  31. Tom’s Air (I don’t know the real name)

…and a few others that I don’t know the names of.

[ This Message was edited by: avanutria on 2002-09-03 09:41 ]

12

I’ve been at this for about 5 years and I too made a list. I just never bothered to count them up before. If my count is right it comes to 67. This is my list:

Blarney Pilgrim, Southwind, Endearing Young Charms, Strayaway Child, 1812 Quickstep, Rakes of Mallow, Road to Boston, Minstrel Boy, White Cockade, Fisher’s Hornpipe, Gary Owen, Lord Mayo, Water is Wide, Drummond Castle, Scarboro Fair, Sheebeg Sheemore, Wayfaring Stranger, Lord of the Dance, Planxty Dale Wisley, Kesh Jig, Sally Gardens,
Waves of Kilkee, Larry Grogan, Danny Boy, Loch Lomand, Star of the County Down, Followed a Lass, Come By the Hills, Scotland the Brave, Sea Shanty Medley, Wearing of the Green, Irish Washerwoman, Greensleeves, The Immigrant, The Bard of Armagh, Ashokan Farewell, The Girl I Left Behind Me, Going Home, Amazing Grace, Be Thou My Vision, Font of Every Blessing, Let All Things Now Living, Grace Devine, Come Christians Join to Sing, It Is Well With My Soul, My Shepherd Shall Supply My Need, Principle Within, Sweet Hour of Prayer, I Wander as I Wonder, It Came Upon a Midnight Clear, Oh Holy Night, Joy to the World, Oh Little Town of Bethlehem, Hark the Herald Angles Sing, Silent Night, First Noel, Jingle Bells, Oh Come All Ye Faithful, Twelve Days of Christmas, In the Bleak Midwinter, Angels We Have Heard on High, Jolly Old St. Nicholas, King Holly King Oak, We Wish You a Merry Christmas.
Steve

13

Been playing about 5 years, probably know about 300 session tunes.

14

Isn’t it more important how well you know them, at what speed and how well you play them, with acceptable ornamentation etc.
Could you play them in a group or just on your own in your living room. Could you play some of them in different keys. So many questions to add to the list of song you know.
cheers

15

Tunes, gosh darn it. Not songs.
:wink:
Chris

16

Sweetone, I think that would be another list. While the issue of having a tune memorized is black and white, the issue of how well it can be played is somewhat grey.

I have some tunes that I feel that I play very well (other may take issue with that), but I have yet to memorize them…and some on my list of memorized songs I have troubles with (The Fifth Year for example has a few pesky accidentals)

17

Well, I was shooting for learning a tune a week, but it’s more like one a month. In about six months, I’ve got:

Amazing Grace (who doesn’t know this one?)
Cecelia (yes, the Simon & Garfunkel)
Joy to the World
We Three Kings
Good King Wencenslas
Bach’s Minuet
Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes
Two or three medieval dance tunes
Two or three folk dance tunes
The beginning of Spring from the Four Seasons
Morning Has Broken

and I’m working on (half-way memorized):
Captain Picard’s Air
How Can I Keep From Singing
Simple Gifts

18

On 2002-09-03 12:50, sweetone wrote:
Isn’t it more important how well you know them, at what speed and how well you play them, with acceptable ornamentation etc.

That’s true for anyone who is trying to become a good whistle player.

19

Yeah, TUNES!!! Too many “songs” in this thread, gave me an headache!!! A “song” is when someone is “singing” !!! I also think that WanderingWhistler is lying, I’m sure he knows the Kesh Jig!!!

20

This is my list after 9 months of memorizing tunes (I play Desi Seery flute and no-name whistle hand-made by Dingle piper, both playing well the second octave, so I do not have to figth with any technical obstacles): The first 10 tunes were difficult to memorize, now I just write down the first note together with the tune name, then I memorize several difficult points of the tune, the rest I play “automaticaly”. One important point: I have to be able to “sing” the tune - if I am not able to sing the tune (when I do not know it well, or when I forget it), I am not able to play it. The letter before the tune name is the first note of the tune. I have found it surprisingly useful - I just start to play that first note, then next notes follow from somewhere…

Also I have found that after knowing well about 25 songs, my playing speed improved suddendly in one “giant” step. Now I am fast enough to play with some of my CDs. I use “piper’s” fingering (straight fingers).

Also I use 00x000 fingering for c# (to be frank, it is necessary with Seery, the 000000 fingering c# is out of tune). Because of it, at any moment, at least one hole is closed - therefore I hold the flute in a more stabile way - it improves speed mainly with Seery, which is quite heavy. I don’t have to figth with the balance of the flute, so my concentration (=speed) improves.

  1. B - Blacksmith
  2. B - Cucanandy
  3. E - Maids of Mitchellstown
  4. B - Butterfly
  5. D - She Moves Through the Fair
  6. G - Favourite March of Irish Volunteers
  7. B - Paddy be Aisy
  8. D - Give Me Your Hand
  9. A - Carrigfergus
  10. G - Out On The Ocean
  11. f - Egan’s Polka
  12. D - I Buried My Wife and Danced On Her Grave
  13. B - The Parting Glas
  14. D - Arthur Mc’Bride
  15. E - Orkney Anthem
  16. E - Morning On The Distant Shore
  17. A - Si Beag & Si Mor
  18. A - Shores of Lough Gowna
  19. G - The Leitrim Fancy
  20. G - Garrai na Bhfeiloig
  21. G - Christy Barry Set
  22. D - Inisheer
  23. G - Butler of Glen Avenue
  24. B - Cathal McConnels
  25. D - Merrily Kissed the Quaker’s Wife
  26. E - The Limerick Rake
  27. D - The Water Dog’s Hole
  28. B - Carolan’s Welcome
  29. D - Raglan Road