Maybe the search engine isn’t very good, but when I’m searching for Irish + Music + Books here, I’m getting ‘Baa baa black sheep’ links thrown up by the search engine!
I’ve not a great experience with the Mel Bay books. I know I should really fly to the west of Ireland and pick up some decent Irish music books there, but until then - what books are you using? Sheet music ones that is. I gather that a lot of the more vernacular Irish music is sounded, or played by ear, and then improvised, with permutations, maybe local variations, or variations due to the whistle/flute players skills mix.
Sadly, I’m not a great improviser - of jazz or classical. I find improvisation on any pentatonic folk scale more intuitive, rather than classical improvisation. Despite growing up in Ireland, Irish music was reduced to Johnny Logan winning the Eurovision Song Contest, or Sinead O’Connor getting a Grade -1 haircut, and Heidi Talbot breaking out of Dublin’s premier music school to go solo sublime.
So what Irish music books are out there? I really haven’t found anything that makes me bite. I could bin all the Mel Bay volumes I have and never miss them or a single ditty in them. Granted, that might sound extreme, but I’m not convinced that the Mel Bay versions are very authentic: the Irish Washerwoman is not my idea of Irish music! It is more Grade 1 stereotyping for primary school children trying to make out on the recorder!
I’d love to see your recommendations. If you aren’t deriving your ITM from books - I’d love to know where you’re getting yours from.
I’m not interested in reams of lists of books, with no indication as to why people buy them. I know that there is a lot of ‘Irish music’ books out there.
I’ve written a little about what I’m looking for in Irish music - it’s not that it doesn’t exist - I hear it being played in Ireland (live), but never thought to ask or record what it is that I’m hearing (my failing).
What do you like about all the books you’ve listed under the google search? Why pick one book over another?
That’s what I’d find really interesting. If I wanted a computer recommendation, I’d go to Amazon or a buyer’s site, and get duped into buying the loads of Mel Bay books I ended up with
Ironically, because The (Irish) Washerwoman is perceived as an overplayed warhorse, it’s probably one of the least-played tunes in the session repertoire. Which in turn makes it a great choice to learn and introduce at a session. And because of the repetitive structure, it actually takes quite a bit of skill to make it flow properly. So there you go … your first tune challenge.
Part of the problem is the framing of your question, with its underlying (classical?) assumption that books are primary, or even desirable at all*. The broader, more interesting question of how trad players go about acquiring their repertoire might lead you to a more interesting set of answers.
That said, it’s likely that O’Neill’s 1001 “bible” has a place in many ITMers’ reference libraries, and maybe the Ceol Rince volumes. But the role played by books and notated tunes for experienced players may not be what you think it is. When first starting out I used the Mallinson Essential/Enduring/Evergreen series to jump start my repertoire - chosen for their good selection of tunes and settings actually played in sessions - but only in connnection with intensive listening and learning from other players; the books were soon put aside.
As for the role of books in suggesting repertoire, other internet resources may now serve as well. Take a look at the tune listings and recordings for the Comhaltas Foinn Seisiún 1-3. Or the Most Popular Tunes listing at thesession.org, under the Members link. Or the tune selection at WhistleThis.com. One could do worse than any of those as a starting point.
A lot of what our group plays is in the “Smoke in Your Eyes” compilation, which you can purchase from the Sweets here. The phrasing of most of these tunes seems to match what most of us know as well. The O’Neills is, indeed, the “bible”. It is available for free download from a few places, including here.
Hope this helps…
Pat
[EDIT] Forgot to mention, the Foinn Sesiun books (mentioned above) are great, too. I bought them from Comhaltas directly on PDF and had my local UPS store print them.
I suspect it’s a Scottish tune. Only if the Washerwoman were outwith Ireland would it make sense to point out her origin.
Anyway… To the OP, if I was going to buy a book of Irish music it would probably be Liz Carroll’s book. Mainly because it has her (not trad) compositions, but apparently it has a lot of trad stuff too.
I don’t know if this helps but, here is a link to some good quality FREE Celtic sheet music. This is one of my favorite sites for sheet music. Of all the sites I’ve found for sheet music this has the BEST quality. They have tons of reels and other stuff like that.
Could be. But jigs tend not to be Scottish in origin. In this case, Fiddler’s Companion points to an English source, with a precursor in Playford. And you definitely can’t go by tune names, and this one’s got a dozen of them. The “Irish” gets attached to Irish tunes in England and the US, even among the Irish communities.
I also was influenced by the Bulmer Sharpley Collection, Vols 1-4. This is a paper bound series that comes from tunes taken from sessions, and written down by the authors.
They are difficult to find now, but some kindly soul may lend them to you. Many of the tunes in these volumes can be found at http://www.thesession.org/tunes/
Here’s a glimpse of what’s included in them: http://home.jps.net/~smbolton/music/Bulmer_and_Sharpley_index.pdf
According to Johnson there is evidence for jig playing in Scotland back to the 16th century; more than a few of them have been written there in that 400+ years.
Thanks for mentioning the FC entry for Irish Washerwoman – interesting reading. The earliest version they mention that I have is the G mix setting the Gows published – but it was published in the USA two years earlier. Far out. Perhaps the tune is English as one of the authors cited in the FC believes, but I bet the G mix setting is Scottish… I notice an error on the FC (not that it matters) but it says that the Gow setting is AABBCC but it’s really AA’BB’AA’.
I guess, getting back to my initial question, I’ll close by pointing out that most of the jigs I know are Scottish. Jig of Slurs, Donald, Willie and his Dog, Trip to Aveliz, Rory Gallagher, Donald Mckillop, the Whirlie Beat, and so forth, although I know a few Irish jigs too.
