Pls fill in the Blank. Almost every uilleann piper knows how to play this tune ______________________ .
I am just curious as to the most common tunes played these days.
Sláinte Bhreá Hewlett
Sean Bui
The Long Black Line
Johnny’s Haunted Poncho 
How to use search function to find the previous thousand instances of this question.
I used the search …but must not be using it correctly because I did not find anything
I think the question “what are the currently most-popular tunes” is impossible to answer because it varies from session to session.
As to “what tunes are the most widely-known amongst uilleann pipers” that is an entirely different question, because as somebody pointed out above Sean Bui is very commonly known, the reason being that it’s a common “first tune” taught to beginners. Such “beginner tunes” or “teaching tunes” are not necessesarily ones that one would often encounter in a session.
I guess what I am looking for is something like this… Lets say you are at an Irish pub. You go up to where there are a a few musicians. You have your pipes. There is another piper there, a fiddler, a bodran, a concertina, etc., you sit down. Someone says do you all know ??? Everyone nods there heads and starts playing.
I have seen that happen a bunch of times. The person suggesting the tunes usually dose not have to say more than about 3 tunes before they all agree on one.
I have about 200 Irish tunes playable for uilleann pipes. But rather than learn them all I would love to learn a few of the more common ones first.
Go to your local session and listen and watch. Bring a recording device and record each set of tunes. When you notice that just about everybody with an instrument is playing a particular set of tunes, leave the recorder running and ask someone for the tune names when the set is over. Then go home and practice the sets everyone knows, so you can join in, or perhaps even someday start and lead the set!
As a reference book, I like the John Walsh Pipe-Friendly Tunes book – it has pipers’ settings of some common piping and session tunes. But tunes that pipers commonly play are not necessarily tunes that other musicians commonly play. And session repertoires vary regionally, so there is no way in heck to know what tune everyone will know when you walk into an unfamiliar session.
So, seriously, start with the common tunes that are played locally. Don’t worry yet about being able to sit down anywhere, anytime, and play with anybody. When you visit an unfamiliar session, if you play well and have good session manners, the tunes you bring may actually be much more welcome than the tunes they already know and play every blasted week and are bored with. And their standard tunes, in turn, will be new and interesting to you.
Yes that’s the way it’s traditionally done! Because each local session has its own favourites, and these shift over time.
Of course the same session’s repertoire shifts according to what people happen to be there that day, but if you attend regularly you’ll be able to take that into account.
For somebody who has a statistical bent, you can go on thesession.org which lists thousands of Irish session tunes. Members have tune books there, and you can see which tunes are to be found in the most tune books.
Funny thing though about sessions: I don’t go often enough to my local one to have a good grasp of their tunes, and it’s happened where there was a tune that everybody was playing on, I went home an learned it, and then that tune wasn’t played again for the next several sessions I attended. There are tunes I learned which I’ve never heard played again.
Check out this:
http://www.irishtune.info/
I know more tunes on the most recorded list than on the session lists, but there’s a lot of commonly heard tunes on all of them.
Wow… this is exactly what I was looking for. I will also take the advice of other who have posted as well. Thanks.
KAD nailed it. I’ll add only something an outstanding flutist once told me: “don’t bother learning any tune you aren’t mad about.”
There are easily 1,000 tunes in common circulation. The down side is, it’s daunting when you’re starting out, trying to decide which hundred or so to prioritize learning. But the up side is, you’ll find plenty enough overlap between tunes people around you know & enjoy playing, and tunes you love personally.
You’ll practice more, if you love what you practice.
Regards,
Mick
Learn tunes that teach you how to play the pipes better.
You want to learn how to crann properly? Learn Fraher’s jig, Lucy Campbell, The Dusty Miller.
You want to learn how to relax your left hand while playing BdAdBd etc? Learn the Limerick Lasses.
You want to learn how to play an Ennis C natural? Learn the West Clare Railway.
You have some piping movement that you can’t do well yet, but that screws up your rhythm every time? Find a tune with that movement in it and play it obsessively until you have it.
Etc.
That he/she must have a masochistic streak to pick up such a crazy instrument.
RORY
Well I would modify it slightly and then the answer is easy.
Almost every uilleann piper [who has used the Clarke tutor] knows “Song of the Chanter.”
But what good is that other than if playing with other UP’ers? I would give nod to any response here that comments on getting know the favorites of the regulars at the local session and working tunes that are good UP practice.
“Almost every uilleann piper knows how to crack walnuts with the inside of their elbow.”
see if those 2 links come up. Might need a google account and join that slow session page. Two great tune books, no embelishment, so it’s up to you to brighten it. Hope that helps some. cheers.
This is great… thanks.