Tunes request -- Two Irish Airs

Whistle
1

Does anybody have an ABC for two Irish Airs:

  1. Ni ar Chnoc na ar Isleacht, I found the tune on Brian McNamara’s piping site and have the sound file.

  2. Loch na gCaor / Dark Lochnagar, I have it on Sean Keane’s, Jig it in style CD.

But my ear listening skills aren’t that great yet.

A point in any direction would help.

MarkB

PS: also tried Google, JC’s, Ceolas and every CD and book I have here at home and at the public library.

\

“Everything flows and nothing abides; everything gives way and nothing stays fixed.” Heraclitus.

[ This Message was edited by: MarkB on 2002-04-13 11:02 ]

2

Mark, another good resource for ABC is the Fiddler’s Companion, a CD ROM index of tunes annotated with tune info and ABC’s, by Andrew Kuntz. You get them from Andrew at aikuntz@aol.com. I don’t know if “Stagerin’ Willie Music” is on the net, but you could search and see. (For the record, there is no affiliation here, just a satisfied customer) I think it was $25.

Cheers, Nancy

PS Mark, email me if you’d like more info.

3

You can find Loch na gCaor in Tomas O’Canainn’s book Traditional Slow Airs of Ireland, ISBN 0-946005-84-2.

4

MarkB, You’ll be demented if you try to imitate Sean Keane’s version. It’s impressive but over-ornamented.

I set out in January to learn LnagC in time for a Patrick’s Day event and spent hours listening to different recordings of it. I also had half the Mudcat Café community trying (in vain) to get me words to this air (there’s an entirely different tune with words by Lord Byron, but I hoped to get words for the one we know in Ireland).

The problem is that so many people have done increasingly intricate versions of it that it’s impossible to strip away the ornamentation and get back to the basic phrasing. Sean K adds his own idiosyncratic style to something which is already overloaded and distorted in most people’s versions (apologies to all my piping idols).

The one recording which will provide useful guidance for phrasing, and I suspect it is the one from which all the others learnt the tune, is Willie Clancy’s and it features on one of the two “The Pipering of Willie Clancy” records. If you want more details, let me know and I’ll chase up details

5

Thank you all.

Nancy thank you for your private email.

I went back in to JC’s and played with versions of Loch na Gar; Lochnagar or Loch Na Garr and found them there.

The other air escapes me but will look into Neil’s advice.

Again thanks to all for your help.

Mark