when I took up the whistle last november I purchase ‘Irelands Best Tunes 1’…for the tin whistle. This book and disk contains reels, jigs, hornpipes, slides airs etc. I have since been told that true Irish Trad is really only reels , jigs…Is that really true or have I been mislead? I have enjoyed the book and learned a goodly number of skills but would like to know which direction I should go to be really into Irish Trad. Les.
Don’t believe everything you hear. What might have been meant is that at many pub sessions reels comprise 90% of the fare and jigs the remaining 10%. But that is not true of every pub session, and besides, while pub sessions may be the most visible face of Irish trad, they are certainly not the whole of it. Thank God.
The definition of “Irish Traditional” is a little bit “fluid,” (i.e. some people consider Enya to be ITM 
), but I think ITM does include tunes and songs other than jigs and reels.
Les,
Go where your heart takes you.
Mike
I don’t know who makes up these rules about what is and isn’t Traditional, but I’m pretty sure I didn’t vote for them.
If you do something the same way for a long enough period of time, doesn’t that make it traditional?
Doyle
Yes, so Les is asking what sorts of tunes have been played for a long time in Ireland. He wishes to avoid playing “Amazing Grace” and calling it a slow air.
Slow airs I do know are a part of traditional Irish music. They are very special though. These are some articles that I have found helpful with slow airs. I do not play slow airs, because I do not understand the singing style and to play them on an instrument you must understand how a person might sing it. But I have begun to appreciate the singing style by listening. It is a very different kind of singing to my ears.
http://www.folkmusic.net/htmfiles/inart378.htm
http://www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/sean-nos.htm
http://www.irishflutes.net/mef/interpre.htm[url]
Are you saying that Amazing Grace isn’t an air? 
Then what about Silent Night? Or Old MacDonald?!?! 
There are perhaps two definitions of what Traditional Irish Music is, as I understand it. One deals with the songs and music which have been handed down from generation to generation - the other is more an understanding of the “style” of playing or singing. In other words there are the brand new musical pieces and songs which bear the hallmarks of traditional forms and styles of singing and playing, and there are the historical pieces handed down. As my friend Tomás Ó Caninn says in his book on the subject, certain pieces of music are deemed traditional because “they sound right”
As to the question of what style of music represents the main body of Traditional Irish - some of the best early collections are very rich in songs and slow airs. There is also a rich heritage of “Sean Nós Singing” old style singing which is mainly slower tunes. Some of the dance tunes are also known is slower song form.
Much of what is now considered Traditional comes from the Blind Harpers Era, the music of O’Carolan, Ruari Dáll Ó Cathain and others. This music is very close to the Classical Italian music of the time Corelli etc. but has that unique Irishness all the same. The blind harpers were the nearest Ireland got at the time to classical music, and yet these are the very essence of traditional now.
So there is a broad sweep of what is considered Traditional Irish. My personal preference leans towards the songs and slow airs and O’Carolan etc. For me they contain more of the “spirit”. That is not to say I dont enjoy the dance music - I really do.
The important thing is what do you enjoy and relate to - go with that.
Hornpipes separate the Men from the Boys (..and Girls 
)..
Try the “Derry” in all its raging glory
Slan,
D.
I’m saying that Amazing Grace is not a slow air (please check my post) in the sean-nos traditional Irish singing tradition—the tradition Les was asking about.
When sung with words, it is a song—a hymn actually. When the tune is played without the words, I would call it an air. I would not call it a “slow air” because to many people that would imply that it had been sung in the old time traditional Irish way. It is not an Irish song.
The articles I cited can explain this much better than I can. That’s why I listed them.
There ain’t gonna be any agreement here. I prefer to stick with the terminology that the strict traditional types use because it seems clear to me.
Les, you might try posting this question in the ITM forum as well.
Hi Cynth
Amazing Grace is definately an air and is definately not ITM, it is an old Hebridean GHB tune.
David
Hi BigDavy—You know I asked Uilliam about this song in an email and he sent me an article that said Amazing Grace was written between 1760 and 1770 by a Protestant Englishman. If you want, I could email it to you.
Well, in addition to jigs & reels, there are
Airs
Waltzes
Polkas
Slides
Hornpipes
“Scottisches”
Slip jigs
and the occasional March.
Someone could soon make the argument that not all of these forms are “traditional,” to which I would reply, neither are guitars, banjos, boxes, bodhrans, or probably even fiddles if you go back far enough.
I personally find a session that is 100% jigs/reels to be duller than it could be.
If you go back as far as possible, the only style that is “traditional” is a cappella.
Indeed 
don’t forget the barndances/germans…
What is a German?
a “German” AFAIK is the name used in Donegal for a barndance… that’s why i made the edit above – they’re the same kind of tune just called by a different name.
Some of my favorite tunes to play are barndances (or Germans), many are quite lovely.
Oh. That makes sense…I don’t think I’ve ever heard them called that before.
the term “German” i think is short for “German schottische” so in some references the names barndance and the schottische seem interchangeable while in others they are distinct tune types… it gets complicated…
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