I was hoping we could all share our best repertoir here on this thread.
I’m new here, and not well accustomed to strict Irish tradition. It would be most helpful for me to learn from you experts, which tunes , in which keys, I should learn to be most versatile in Irish jams.
Certainly also, which instrument you play as well. Thanks a million!
~jayjay
As for keys, the ones you’re most likely to run into in sessions are D, G and their relative majors.
Redwolf
…and minors, and modes. 
Cruise on over to www.thesession.org and steep yourself in ITM repertoire!
I didn’t realize this was such a personal question. I do appreciate the links, thanks…
Okay, let me list my fiddle tunes I’e learned over the years (mostly some years back), which sort of meander in and out of “practiced”, and maybe someone could point out which ones are, or aren’t, most likely played in Irish Jams. The purpose of this question is that I realize there are bunches more that I need to learn, and will drop the ones I won’t likely use. I have never really concentrated on Irish Jams… have been into other styles, but have decided to come here to this forum and get the tips from the experts. 
Okay, here goes, my top ten:
Monoghan’s jig
Swallowtail Jig
Road to Lizdoonvarna
St.Anne’s Reel
Liberty
Temperence Reel
Wind that Shakes the Barley
Mist Covered Mtn
Rakes of Kildare
Cooleys’ Reel
The rest :
Cuckoo’s Nest
Woodchoppers Reel
Sailor’s hornpipe
IrishWasherWoman
Swinging on a Gate
Fisher’s Hornpipe
WhiskeyBefore Breakfast
Devil’s Dream
Soldier’s Joy
Over the Waterfal
Gal I left behind
Redhaired Boy
Arkansas Traveler
Star of the County Down
The Newland
Planxty Irwin
Far Away
Margarets Waltz
Morgan Megan
ShibegShimore
I’ve been trying to build up a repertoire for a few years now. To keep track of it I have one ABC file with all the tunes that once upon a time I was able to play by ear. There are ninety tunes in this file now. Some of the tunes have varied a little from the tune that I originally stored, and some have atrophied. When I get up to a hundred, I’ll start weeding out the ones I don’t know. Every now and then I practice something I haven’t played in a while, and recently I’ve been pleasantly surprised to find I know them better than I feared.
My “abcfiles” directory has tunebook.abc from the session - 200 tunes in it lately - repertoire.abc with 90, laboratory.abc with twenty, oddments.abc with thirty, and a few more.
You don’t REALLY want me to list you all ninety tunes, do you? And I bet most of the people on this board would have a much larger repertoire than that.
No two sessions will have the same repertoire. There are lots of threads here with lists and lists of tune names. The longer the threads get, the more pointless they become. Get in with a local session and find out what they play.
If they’re amenable, introduce them to some new tunes, or new versions. Be prepared to learn what they play first, however. Them’s manners.
djm
I see that was an outlandish request. I have since changed the title thread. I was hoping everyone who cared to, might be so nice as to suggest their personal top 5 or 10 , maybe, or the ones in their area played most – then whatever overlap, I could better gauge priority tunes, just to build a little confidence before hitting the jam sessions.
Either that, or at least point out the one’s on my list which are generally popular Irish tunes played.
Thank you so much !
I hear what you’re saying. I guess I just don’t want to show up looking like a dork and so I wanted to just get a few tunes ready.
I hope it’s not bad manners for me to ask here ? I didn’t realize it was such a convoluted situation, I wouldn’t , of course, know that I was coming across dorkish, because I’ve never been to a real Irish jam.
It just occurred to me that many of you might actually be from Ireland, or in areas otherwise, where there would indeed be a bounty of sessions to play at. I did check out TheSession, and found a handful within two hours drive. Oddd, but the one an hour away isn’t listed there.
If we list our favorite 5 or 10 tunes, you’ll probably end up with lots of tunes that few people play. Me, my favorite tunes keep changing. Players tend to like tunes that they don’t hear as often of others, and tend to not mention the old standards that we all know. I agree with Dave – learn whatever is typical at your local session, if there is one, and if not, learn whatever you want to learn; it won’t matter so much in any case whether anyone else knows the tunes or not. But I’ll bet others will know them, if the CDs you listen to are at all popular.
Gordon
There’s nothing “dorkish” about your questions. There’s no two sessions alike. Each one is made up of totally different people with totally different experiences and likes or dislikes. Your tunes are fine for starters, but no-one here can guarantee what you’ll run into at any session. Just go and listen, wait till you are invited to join in, play on the tunes you know and don’t play on the tunes you don’t know. Ask what that tune was you didn’t know and learn it for next time.
djm
I keep missing on the right wording. How about then, the ‘top ten standards you know’ ? I just want to know which tunes to start on, as I’ve never been to a real Irish setting, and the ones I know, I don’t think are the standards. (I learned them as many mandolin players learn, fiddle tunes from Appalachia, or New England, etc.)
I agree with Dave – learn whatever is typical at your local session, if there is one, and if not, learn whatever you want to learn; it won’t matter so much in any case whether anyone else knows the tunes or not. But I’ll bet others will know them, if the CDs you listen to are at all popular.)
Okay, thank you Gordon
I think I get the picture, there’s no way of really becoming prepared. I’ll just show up, and sit around for whatever I don’t know… which will probably be all but one. 
That’s what I do at sessions, if it makes you feel any better 
And hey, here’s something I’ve been meanign to do, but- get some kinda portable recorder, and ask if you can record some tunes at the session, and then take the time to learn them at home. Or bring a notebook and catch names or quick passages, and look around on teh net for them.
Top ten tho, uh… no particular order, but i’ll say, on whistle and mandolin, my top are
The Silver Spear
Cooley’s
Morrison’s/Whelan’s Fancy (latter is a variant of the former; I hear Morrisson’s more but very much prefer Whelan’s)
The Sally Gardens (the reel, not the air song thing, tho that can be pretty)
Give Me Your hand
The Pigeon on the Gate
The Maids of Mt Kisco
The Harvest Home
The Hag at the Kiln
The Merry Blacksmith
My “Top Ten” then:
Queen of the Fair - I’m learning this. It still doesn’t “flow” to my satisfaction.
Cooley’s Reel
The Blarney Pilgrim
Brosna
Merrily Kissed the Quaker
Spoot O’Skerry (Thanks, Marmil!)
WillaFjord (Thanks again, Marmil!)
Happy to Meet & Sorry to Part
The Winding Road (AKA The Cordial Jig)
The Home Ruler
I’d like to fit in “The Butterfly” and “Old Hag you have Killed me” but I don’t want to replace any of the ones I’ve mentioned.
THANK YOU SPOONMAN & BYSTANDER !!!
That’s precisely what I was askin’ !
So far, we all overlap on Cooley’s. Oh, and you don’t have to stop at 10, keep writing as many as you feel like. It’s all so very helpful!
My current faves …
The Whistler of Rosslea
The Diplodocus/Humors of Ballyloughlin (thanks, Kelly & crew!)
Tommy Peoples’ Reel/The Green Pigeon (thanks, Arbo!)
East Clare Reel/Sporting Nell (Joe Bane settings from Kevin C’s class)
St. Michael’s Jig/The Rossclogher Jig (ditto)
The Bunch of Green Rushes/The Cloon Reel
The Morning Thrush (the perennial love; still trying to get it nice after a year!)
The Jolly Tinker/Murtagh Molloy/Coffey’s
The Reel of Bogie/The Tramps
The Green Fields of Woodford (jig)
Finnbar Dwyer’s Jig (thanks again, Arbo!)
The Thrush in the Storm/Bear Island/Whatever Happens to Come Next
Here’s a list of some of the sets we play on a local session. They’re quite old, some of them have been recombined.
Slip Jigs
A Fig for a Kiss
The Butterfly
Reels
Ash Plant
Green Fields of Rossbeigh
O’Brians Reel
3.Jigs
Banks of Newfoundland
Rose in the Heather
Hornpipes
Boys of Blue Hill
Cronin’s Hornpipe
Reels
Crowley’s Reel
Craig’s Pipes
Reels
Cruel Father
New Policeman
Georg White’s Favorite
Slip Jig + Jig
Cucanandy
The Jug of Brown Ale
Barndance + Slow Reel
Cuz Teehan’s Barndance
Johnny’s Wedding
Reels
Dunmore Lasses
Over the Moor(e) to Maggie
Bird in the Bush
Jigs
Eavesdropper
Old Joe’s
Willie Coleman’s
Setdance
Flowers of Edinburg
Reel
Foxhunters
Hornpipes
Homeruler
Kitty’s Wedding
Reels
Humors of Castlefin
Lafferty’s
Kilarney Boys of Pleasure
Jigs + Slip Jig
Kerfunten
Eddie Kelly’s
Give us a drink of water
Reels
Lad O’Beirne’s Reel
Mountain Road
Jig
Lark in the Morning
Reels
Lord McDonald’s Reel
Mrs. Monaghan
Polkas
Maggie in the Woods
The Lakes of Sligo
Kerry Polka
Reels
Martin Rochford’s Reel
Roll out the Barrel
Earl’s Chair
Reels
Master’s Daughter
Coachman’s Whip
Far from Home
Reels
Merry Blacksmith
Silver Spear
Jigs
Mist on the Mountain
Clare Jig
Jigs
Mrs. O’Sullivan’s Jig
Caliope House
Slip Jigs
My Mind will never be easy
Cock and the Hen
O’Carolan Tunes
Planxty Irvine
Princess Royal
Planxty Fanny Power
Hornpipes
Pride of Petravore
Humors of Tuamgreine
Jigs
Shores of Gowna
Jimmy Ward’s Jig
Out on the Ocean
Reels
Star of Munster
Bucks of Oranmore
Reels
Tarbolton Reel
Longford Collector Reel
Sailor’s Bonnet
Reels
Teatotaller’s Reel
Maid behind the bar
Slow Reels + Reel
Terry Teehan’s
Her long black hair
Otter’s Holt
Jigs
Thrush on the St(r)and
Rolling Waves
Larrissey’s Favorite
Reels
Virginia Reel
Abb(e)y Reel
Banshee Reel
Reels
Walter Sammon’s Grandmother
Concertina Reel
Brandan McMahahon’s
Jigs
White Petticoat
Stan Chapman’s
Miller’s Maggot
My current favourites:
Kerry fling (love that one!)
Kerfunten in D, starting on F# and going down to C#.
Tom Ward’s Downfall
Kilmovee Jig
London Lasses
Say Good Morning to Your Nightcap
Wedding Reel
Jackson’s Favourite (I’m still learning that one though…second part is tricky)
The Five Pound Flute (jig in Dmix, going down to C and lots of crans on D, it’s fun with eight keys on the flute)
Turtle’s Dream (an original tune composed by my teacher, it’s the first one here)
But do you see how much these lists differ? I know a large sample from all these lists (either by rote, or once someone gets me started), but you can see how each of our “standard lists” are slightly different, only including a tune or two between them.
Again, Dave is right – Guinness is the preferred beer at sessions because you can sip and listen for a long time, absorbing a tune or two, or five, that you haven’t heard before, and learn it for next week.
But another quagmire is that they play a tune you think you know, but their setting is different enough that you can’t play along. Learning how others play the same tune is often as important and as learning 100 ‘standard’ tunes you think you know.
Of course, this is what keeps this stuff interesting. 
Gordon