This is by far the most trivial post I’ve ever sent to any list, but can someone please tell me, phonetically, how to pronounce:
“Ger” as in Ger the Rigger
“Hehir” as in Kathleen Hehir.
I really am having difficulty having serious conversations about these tunes because none of us know how to pronounce these words. Thank you.
Cheers!
Steve
Ger is short for Gerry and is pronounced the same,apart from the ry bit of course.
Hehir is very close to Hare but more like hayIR.
Presuming a strong Dublin accent helps.. 
Slan,
D.
For us Americans, that would be like “Jer” as in “Jerry.” 
Justine
Hmmm…
I’d learned “Ger the Rigger” as pronounced with a hard G, like the G you’d use in the word “golf”.
And oddly, I first saw that tune in my old ‘wool skirt band’, and it was written as “Gar the Rigger”. (which makes absolutely NO sense, when you think about it, but I digress).
As for “Hehir”, if you simply pronounce it as “hair”, you’ll be just fine with that.
As for “Hehir”, if you simply pronounce it as “hair”, you’ll be just fine with that.
That’s been “the tune that dare not speak its name” for me for more than a decade.
No more "hey, here"s for us from now on, Simon! 
What about the G in Gillian’s Apples - hard or soft? Is that the correct name for this tune anyway?
Cheers
Steve
“Gillians Apples” was one of the first tunes I ever learnt on the whistle and I have always pronounced it with a soft G but I have heard many others pronounce it hard.
Take your choice…
Slan,
D.
Ger - for Gerry, (Jerry) - soft G
Gar - for Garry or Gareth - hard G
Gillian’s Apples - Gillan’s apples (no i) - hard G
I’ve often imagined that Gillian was a petite lady proportionately endowed, and therefore did not warrant Acorns or Melons in the tune’s title. Which is perfectly fine by me.
But my interpretation of the title probably says far too much about me and my hanging around with the likes of Amar for too long.
Here’s a serious question though, p’raps worthy of a new thread, dunno:
I read somewhere (and I can’t for the life of me remember where) that “The Hag at The Churn” was allegedly played when milk was being churned into butter, for the tune would drive away any witches (hags) the presence of which would otherwise ruin the churning. And that if any lady left the house while the tune was being played, she was therefore a witch (an accusation likely to result in a spot of bother for the poor woman).
Whether this is romantic bollox or not I thought it was jolly interesting. The tune does seem to go 'round and 'round ceaselessly, probably a good accompaniment to the act of churning.
Are there any more such stories associated with the tunes? Is there a single publication ‘out there’ somewhere which associates folklore with the origin of tune names, or is that all lost?
http://www.ucd.ie/irishfolklore/english_html/folkmusic.htm
This site may turn up something, Gary!
Too busy today to hang out more, nuts, stupid work!
Gillan’s Apples comes from the O’Neill collection. O’Neill had already collected a tune called Apples in Winter, when he came across a piper named Gillan, who had a different tune with the name Apples in Winter, so that became “Gillan’s Apples”.
djm
Gillan’s Apples comes from the O’Neill collection. O’Neill had already collected a tune called Apples in Winter, when he came across a piper named Gillan, who had a different tune with the name Apples in Winter, so that became “Gillan’s Apples”.
That is the story I’ve heard as well, but I couldn’t say where.