I want to learn a new tune, an thee are 2 requirements. Recommend something to me. 
Long-ish. Everyting I know lasts under a minute and I’d like something longer or something I can easily make seem longer by doing different variations, etc…
Moderately easy to learn and doesn’t require a lot of ornamentation to sound good.
As far as type of song, jig, reel, air, etc., doesn’t matter. I’m just in the mood to learn something new and don’t know what…
May I suggest In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida?
Lark in the Morning (jig). 4 parts, not hard. I used to dislike this tune, but it grew on me.
Mason’s Apron (reel). 4 parts, not hard either if you have a steady rhythm, but it’s in A, so good practice for that G# note.
Try something by O’Carolan. I believe Contemplator has a bunch of his tunes online, as does the O’Neill’s site that someone posted a link to a few weeks back. Many of them have A and B parts, some verses and chorus, some several parts. They usually last a couple of minutes or more. They’re identifiably Irish, but don’t generally sound like your typical dance tune.
O’Carolan’s Farewell to Music. Listen to Jerry O’Sullivan’s version on whistle with harp backup. Very minimal ornamentation, but his phrasing makes it stunning. It’s a nice long tune, also.
Tony
That has some F naturals in it, doesn’t it? Beautiful piece.
Given a mastery of basic technique, none of these are particularly difficult imho:
Jigs:
Dr. O’Neill (5 parts)
Gold Ring (7 parts)
Atholl Highlanders (4 parts)
Humors of Ballyloughlin (4 parts, not too tricky except for lots of cranns)
Reels:
Kiss the Maid Behind the Barrel (4 parts)
Jolly Tinker (5 parts)
Colonel Fraser (5 parts – a bit harder than the others, but it’s a hell of a great tune)
That has some F naturals in it, doesn’t it? Beautiful piece. (Farewell to Music)
I was never sure which key Jerry O’S played it in. I could play along with a Bb but going too high into the upper register. I brought it down to the lower key (on the Bb whistle, which necessitated dropping a low note or two.) I’ve heard the tune by a couple of different harpists. Patrick Ball plays it way too fast. Derrick Bell (Chieftains) does a nice rendition. Jerry O’Sullivan’s version on whistle blows everyone else away. (He’s the uilleann piper guy.) I wonder how it would sound on pipes. (I do a pale immitation on the Clips slow airs page.)
Tony
Kid on the mountain.
Sonja
In O’Neill’s it’s written as A minor, and it has F natural and sharp, G natural and sharp (this is minor, not dorian…). It also has a c#. The only note that’s tricky on a normal D whistle is the Fnat, but since this is a slow piece, you can half-hole it, and the indefinite quality of the note adds to the ambiance.
From the Tune Finder:
X:800
T:O’Carolan’s Farewell to Music
C:O’Carolan
B:O’Neill’s 700
Z: 1997 by John Chambers <jc@trillian.mit.edu>
N:“With feeling.”
M:C
L:1/8
F:http://trillian.mit.edu/~jc/music/book/oneills/1850/X/0700_jc.abc
K:Am
(AB) | c2(BA G2)(AB) | c2(BA G2)(cd) | e2(de) c2(BA) | (A4G2) (de) |
| f2(fg) e2(ef) | (d^cde) (a3^g) | (a=g)(ed (c)A)(B^G) | A4 A2 
|| e2 | (gede) (g2(ga)) | (ge)(de) g2e2 | (a^gab) (a=geg) | b4 (ab)(ag) |
| ^f2(fg) e2(e=f) | (d^cde) (a3^g) | (a=g)(ed (c)A)(B^G) | A4 A2 |]
g
i suggest you drunker sailor, beatifull hornpipe, consist of 5 or 6 part. orginal setting have 2 flat ( g minor?), but i play it on c whistle with e minor fingering.( transpose everything half tone up!)
also try monaghan jig.
marin
Yes, The Drunken Sailor! A bit of a bear if you’re playing it in A as I do (I’m still working on this one, BTW), but it sounds great. My version has five parts.
Now…if I could only find recordings of these tunes lol.
Slow Barn Dance It is on the virtual session web site so you can listen to it.
Well, you can! and most of them in one place too: Geraldine Cotter’s 100 Tunes CD. It doesn’t have the Carolan stuff, only legit Irish tunes.
I thought this sounded odd, since I’ve been playing the tune for some time (plus O’Carolan played a lever harp and didn’t put too many accidentals in tunes – if you think half-holing is difficult, reconfiguring levers is even harder). I looked in O’Neill’s, and the two tunes in there, “Carolan’s Farewell” (no such tune in his complete works) and “Carolan’s farewell to music”, bear no resemblance to the tune in the Complete Works of O’Carolan (I have the Ossian version; it’s written in Dminor in that, with no accidentals), nor to any recording that I’ve heard of it. The farewell to music in O’Neill definitely sounds familiar, but I can’t quite place it. I don’t recognize the other at all.
The one in O’Neill is the one i O’knew. The more the merrier!
Quote @ glauber
Well, you can! and most of them in one place too: Geraldine Cotter’s 100 Tunes CD. It doesn’t have the Carolan stuff, only legit Irish tunes.
You know…I’ve been here a while and I should probably know this. But what/who is an O’Carolan tune?
I’ll put getting that book on my list of things to do (which is about 65 pages long as of now, LOL).
This is a nice one but you need a special program called Scorch to view the sheet music:
http://www.irishfiddle.com/scorch/germans.htm
“Two Germans” (Barndances) from Altan.
A 4 part tune I think (I’ve heard people play it with strange numbers of repeats).
-Brett
Another vote for the Kid on the Mountain! http://www.madfortrad.com/ztjkid.htm - great slip-jig.