Pipe friendly versions of tunes

Uilleann Pipes
1

I’m looking for pipe-friendly versions of the following tunes:

Mug of Brown Ale
Boys of the town

2

I don’t know any site that purports to keep pipe-friendly versions of stuff. There is a book called The Cumann na bPíobairí Collection of Pipe-Friendly Tunes by John Walsh available from the Seattle Pipers club. It has two versions of Mug of Brown Ale.

There are of course, many tunes that use this name. Here’s one from Ceolas:

T:Jug of Brown Ale, The
S:Clannad, Dúlamán
N:O’Neill’s has it in major.
Z:Jerome Colburn
M:6/8
K:Ador
G | EAA Acd | edB c2 A | BGG ~GFG | BdB BAG |
EAA Acd | ede ~gfg | edc Bcd | eAA A2 ::
g | gef g2 b | gef gdc | BGG ~GFG | BdB BAG |1
gef g2 b | gef g2 d | edc Bcd | eAA A2 g :|2
EAA Acd | ede ~g3 | edc Bcd | eAA A2 |]**

Boys of the Town (Buacailli An Baile Moir) has several other names. Here’s one version of it from Ceolas:

T:Boys of the Town, The [1]
L:1/8
M:6/8
K:G
D|G3 GBd|edB dBA|G3 GBd|edB AFD|G3 GBd|edB gfg|edB AGA|BGF G2:|
|:B|def gfg|afd edB|def gfg|afd e2B|def gfg|afd efg|edB AGA|BGF G2B|
def gfg|afd edB|def gfg|afd e2B|def gbb|faa efg|edB AGA|BGF G2||

3

Chris Langan added two more parts to the tune, which add nicely to a nice tune. You’ll find it in the book Move Your Fingers

(see: http://www.cranfordpub.com/books/chris_langan_book.htm).

Paul Cranford also has ABCs of the tune with all four parts at

http://www.cranfordpub.com/tunes/abcs/langan.abc

4

Thanks guys. When I first started playing trad music on the tin whistle I bought O’Neills on the recommendation of fellow musicians (fiddlers without exception). When I started playing UPs, I used O’Neills but found that the tunes didn’t sound as nice on pipes. Only later did someone tell me that it was because O’Neills was written by a fiddler for fiddlers. I should have guessed from the big picture of the fiddle on the front of the book.

I must get my hands on John Walsh’s book.

5

That is not the tune usually played under the name the Boys of the Town.

I’d think both tunes are piping friendly enough as they are but there you have it :roll:

6

I would love a version of Tam Lin that’s pipe friendly. I was told that if you play it in Bm, it will work, but I am as awful at music theory as I am at math in general and wouldn’t know how to convert the tune from whatever it’s usually written in (A major, I think) to something else.

But I really want to learn that reel.

7

This is not particularly pipe-friendly, but it works against D drones. Sorry if the Key is wrong. I am notation-challenged.

X:1
T:Tam Lin
N:usually attributed to Davey Arthur
R:reel
M:4/4
L:1/8
K:Am
A,2DA, FA,DA,|_B,2DB, FB,DB,|C2EC GCEC|FEDC A,DDC|
A,2DA, FA,DA,|_B,2DB, FB,DB,|C2EC GCEC|FEDC A,DD2:|
|:dA~A2 FADA|dA~A2 FADA|cG~G2 EG~G2|cG~G2 cdec|
dA~A2 FADA|dA~A2 FADA,|~_B,3A, B,CDE|FDEC A,DD2:|

djm