Has anyone actually transcribed the beautiful air written by piper Liam O’Flynn called An Droichead?
I think I’d call it a slow march, at least the way it was recorded. Without ornament:
X:1
T:An Droichead
S:Liam O’Flynn - The Piper’s Call - Track 03
Z:MTGuru for C&F, 2012-05-06
N:Last time, D.C. to 2nd ending
M:4/4
K:G
B<d-d2 A3G/F/|G3F G4|e<g-g2 d3e|c3B c2BG|
A2d2 d2d/e/f|g2G2 e3d|c3A d2BA|1 G2-G/A/B/G/ A4:|2 [M:6/4]G3F G4-:G4|]
A2d2 d2ed|c2BG A3G|A2d2 d2d/e/f|g3f g4|
A2d2 d2f/g/a|b2af g2Bd|c2BG A2Bd|[M:6/4]c2BG A4-:A4|]
You should really at least try to work it out by ear. It’s very straightforward - a major key, basic harmony, fairly slow, well within whistle range. Good luck!
Thanks MTGuru. I had started to work it out but I struggle with having the time.
Thanks for posting the ABC, I appreciate it. I really want to learn how to do this by ear, but it’s such a daunting task. I think once I try one and succeed, the others will be easy but the first one is so hard. I’ve tried on several tunes and given up in frustration. I can see how sheet music becomes a handicap.
Hi cunparis
Have you tried the following? It’s the way I always get people to start picking things up by ear, and it generally works. (In fact, I can’t remember when it hasn’t worked.) Play the tune (on CD, or tape or whatever your source is) over and over until you can sing it to yourself at will. Don’t try and play it on your instrument until you can sing it (or hum it or whistle it [sans instrument 
] or whatever). Then try and play it on your instrument, with the tune running in your head.
That’s it, really. Some tunes are easier than others, but if you try it with a few, you’ll get it, and it’s a very useful skill to have.
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I am totally ignorant of ABC notation, other than capital letters are lower octave, and lower case letters are upper octave. Would it be possible for someone, maybe MTguru, to post sheet music for Liam O’Flynn’s “An Droichead” on a regular staff? I love this tune, but also have a bad ear for picking up music from listening; but once I learn a tune from the music I commit it to memory and then dispense with the sheet music. Thanks. I know this is an older thread.
I have it, but don’t find a way to post a pdf and trying a jpeg from my dropbox didn’t work either. Surely there is one???
You can get it here for a week.
Given up on learning it by ear then? 
Oh, and a disclaimer - this is not my transcription and I don’t know the piece. I’ve just tried it on whistle and it sounds OK, but don’t ask me anything abut the transcription itself - I’ve just posted the image, is all.
I am totally ignorant of ABC notation,
It is probably good to remember this type of ABC notation was originally developed as a means of stashing large amounts of staffnotation into lightweight files. Thee is an ample amount of (free) software available (ABC Navigator, Easy ABC, just to name two) that will easily trasnlate ABC into Staff. Several sites on the web have on-line ABC-staff converters as well.
Everything you will ever need to know at : ABC notation.com
Awesome!!! Thank you guys so much for your help and posting of the sheet music. I did get the Drop Box file, and it printed out just fine. It is definitely the tune because I was able to scrap together the first few notes from ABC, and it does indeed start with B-d-d-A, etc. I will work on learning ABC, and get some software to convert the files. If you don’t know An Droichead it is a beautiful tune; O’Flynn wrote it in commemoration of the inauguration of past Irish president Mary McAllese. I will learn it on the whistles first, then hope to learn it on the pipes. Thanks again!!! 