okay…I may have one of my once-a-year Gaeilge immersion weekend sessions coming up. here’s my problem:
I know some slow airs by heart, a few more with sheetmusic. I play mostly weddings and funerals where sheetmusic isn’t a problem and slow airs are what’s mostly called for.
I don’t know many faster tunes well at all…Donnybrook Fair, the Rights of Man, Fáinne Gael an Lae…maybe Saddle the Pony and Kesh jig if I get to practice them some.
It’s my understanding that, while not written in stone, there are tunes that are frequently combined with each other into sets because they lead relatively seamlessly from one to the next.
I would like to set about learning more session-worthy tunes. So here’s my question:
Name the top ten, three tune sets that you feel are an absolute must for sessions.
these books were actually what prompted my question
i ask, because with very few exceptions, i have never heard of any of those tunes (like i said…not many sessions…not many jigs, reels, etc) I’d like to have a little something of common tunes put together for this Gaeilge weekend next month if i’m going, so people’s 10 favorites/10 most common would be a good starting point.
the weekends? No, Daltaí na Gaeilge. they do a nov weekend in Jamison, PA, and Feb and May weekends in Esopus. now they’re doing a full week in august in espous, too.
I dunno, maybe they play different tunes out your way, but I just reviewed the tune lists for both book and most of those tunes look like pretty standard session fare to me.
anima, it’s not that they play different tunes, it’s that i have practically no session experience, and the sessions i have been part of, well…highly informal…mixes of instruments that would prolly prompt you guys to look for a different pub, and as far as tune selection, the tunes are played singly. basically the musicians sit in a circle and take turns suggesting a piece with the others joining, attempting to join, or just listening as they see fit.
I’ve always felt it more akin to the “drum circles” a friend of mine used to put together up at school (and yes, i was the only one there who brought a bodhrán, and none of them had ever seen one before - even in later circles…“waddya mean you don’t just hit it?”)
i have just never encountered 99% of the tunes in those books (as an irish musician, i don’t get out much…mostly play for my own enjoyment, or in performance settings (coffeehouses, weddings, funerals, etc), so i don’t know what they sound like or if some are more common than others.
I suppose then, i’ll start with the first, and simply try to learn as many sets well as i possibly can. i’m still waiting on my harpist friend to see if i’m even going…if not it will be may before i have another opportunity…pleny of time to learn new tunes. it’s just i’m the only piper who comes, the only uilleann piper anyway and a bunch of people look forward to me bringing them (esp. now that i have a full set) - i just hate to disappoint…
thanks for the suggestions…i’m open to as many more as anybody out there wants to throw at me.
