Can someone recommend a few good, easy to learn, traditional irish tunes? Are there some standard songs that new players usually learn first? I’d appreciate if anyone could suggest a couple songs from each style. i.e Jigs, Reels, etc.
Thanks!
[ This Message was edited by: Laggard on 2001-07-24 23:28 ]
There are many, but some are:
Jigs: Kesh, Killiloe Boatman, Swallowtail,Saddle the Pony, My Darling Asleep, Brian Boru’s March
Reels: Are not easy but try Drowsy Maggie it is repetitive
Polkas: are usually good bets for beginners, try Stitches in my Britches, Peg Ryan’s, John Ryan’s
Hornpipes: Stack of Wheat, Boys of Bluehill
Slower: Planxy Fanny Power, If ever you were mine, Planxy Irwin
Others: The Dawning of the Day, After the Battle of Aughrim,
The easiest: Oro (a song)
Good luck…have fun!!!
Sue
Tunes that are easy to learn and play, and sound good:
Jigs: 10 penny bit, My darling asleep, Trip to Killavil
Reels: Cooley’s, Pidgeon on the gate,
(I think Drowsy Maggie is a hard one.)
Hornpipes: Off to California
Slow Airs: Blind Mary, Foggy Dew, Eamonn aCnoic, Carricfergus
I’ll think of dozens after I get offline.
Tony
another good jig is the the butterfly (not to be mistaken w/chris thiles ode to a butterfly) and if you’re just looking for some good easy songs try angeline the baker or over the waterfall.
Brent
I know this is an old thread, but im a new newbie. And with that I would like some info on what would be some good traditional aire’s that i could learn. So far i am currently working on The Munster Cloak, and The Hill’s Of Lorne. Any input on other good slow aires? (one’s with not too many grace’s or roll’s as im still trying to build structure and speed)
Thanks,
Brian
The first airs and tunes I learnt were
Planxty Irwin (not an air, but a great tune)
Inisheer
Valentia Harbour
Blind Mary
Actually, I think the main thing to look for is a tune that you can “get”… so that you can sing it to yourself. Having a catholic upbringing, I found that a number of hymns were excellent to play because I knew them so well… some you may know that are easy to play are:
Be thou my vision
When I survey the wondrous cross
To be a pilgrim
(In fact quite a few hymns are actually Irish airs that were stolen 
)
[quote=“pizak”]
Actually, I think the main thing to look for is a tune that you can “get”… so that you can sing it to yourself.quote]
Yup, any simple tunes that you can already sing to yourself are good to try on the whistle. TV theme songs, commercial ditties, etc Won’t do you much good at a session though.
Everyone knows the Irish Washerwoman-- give that a try
Here in England we have sessions devoted to TV commercial ditties. The “JiF Microliquid Players” meet regularly at the Crown Paint and Anchor Butter Inn here. We specialise in mainly SOAP and detergent ditties, but we do accept players who come from traditional food and drink genres as long as they respect the session.
Players who have the sheet music are particularly frowned upon, as the essence of any jingle is to have learnt it by ear.
As well as playing the jingles, we often recreate the scripts to certain favourite adverts and retell them in the oral tradition.
All are welcome!
Paul
Nil si ina La
Bheirmeo
Dark Island
Im Bo gus um Bo
The Poor Irish Boy
Eamonn a’ Chnoic
Brid Og Ni Mhaille
Also, Give Me Your Hand, Planxty Irwin and Rodney’s Glory are nice tunes that can be played slower.
For all the newbies out there looking for advice on airs and such.
Try this idea. Find the jig, slip jig, reel that you can play with some ease and comfort! Now, try to slow the tunes way way down to SLOW-AIR SPEED. You would be amazed how much different the music begins to sound! Now play it at regular speed. This would even sound great as a set!! The point here is to create the music FROM the music!
This way you can bring your own ideas to the music! Challenge yourself and your abilities!!!
Just because you are a beginner does not mean that you have to always rely on whats there. Learn to TWEAK with IDEAS! Celtic music is that type of music that easily lends itself to “CREATIVITY”. Good luck all.-Talbert
P.S. Check out my signature here at the bottom and it all begins to make sense. 
Thanks for the suggestion’s Talbert!!! I dont know why i never thought of that myself (to slow down jig’s and slip-jig’s). I’ll definatly check into that, though i still want to stay true to air’s for now as im learning so i can build up my speed and structure (espically with grace’s and roll’s) - then as i become comfortable in that area, ill check out the jig’s and slip jig’s.
Hi there,
Your welcome! You’ll find that as you experience with this there is an incredible amount of joy in creating as you go along! It’s a really fun journey!
Suggestion: Remember in order to play slow-airs well you must practice your LONG TONES to be an effective slow-air player! I love slow-airs the most and this is why my music is slower than most. It’s harder to capture the emotions behind something and do it effectively than to play reels in my personal opinion!
Suggestion: When you learn jigs, reels, slow them down to about half speed. Again, its really cool playing things with an emotional side to things.This is why the fiddler “Martin Hayes” is so very popular. His music
is slow and very moving! Have fun! -Talbert
P.S. Check out my samples pls for some tips on SLOW AIR playing. Check out track#12.Let me know what ya think! This will give you an idea of effective slow-air playing. go to:talbertstclaire.com Good luck.
The slow airs/songs I’ve had some success with so far are:
Eanach Dhuin (AKA Eanach Chuin)
Coinnleach Glas an Fhomhair
Amhran na Leabhar
The South Wind (An Ghaoth Aneas)
Sally Gardens
The Arran Boat
Star of the County Down
The Dear Irish Boy
I think you can find most of these at http://ecf-guest.mit.edu/~jc/music/abc/FindTune.html or at http://www.tinwhistler.com/music/
There are several that I really like, but can’t seem to get into my head, such as Róisín Dubh, Turas go Tír na nÓg, and Sliabh Geal gCua. Take a look at http://fingertrip.net/whistle/ for those and for some of the ones in my list.
One idea to learn some of the songs that the new Chicago session is doing. This has the advantage of sheet music with clean MP3 files to help you along. Audacity can be downloaded to slow down the tunes to a speed a beginner can keep up with. Some of these songs sound better in session than as a solo, so it may depend on your goals.
Thread
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=19059
Direct link to songs
http://www.murphyroche.com/Slow_Session/List_of_Tunes.htm
Audacity
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
I would also recommend playing a song–a tune with WORDS. Sometimes, it’s easier to get a handle on the tempo & phrasing with something you can sing.
I find Down by the Sally Gardens to be a good starter. Or, you know, the inevitable Danny Boy…
I know no-one thought my silly post about sessions playing advert music… but by a strange co-incidence the latest advert by ING Direct has got Bert Kaempfert’s - A Swingin’ Safari as the backing track - classic 60’s big band tinwhistle - stolen I guess from the Kwela scene.
Except that they imitated the sound of the Kwela tin whistles on piccolos. It evens says that it took them considerable rehearsal time until they had the the tin whistles right on the piccolos. Funny.