Celtic Standards?

[min7b5]

I've been thinking about learning some celtic tunes, maybe someday going to a jam.. Anyone feel like listing the top twenty or so most called tunes? Or should I break into down in sub groups like jigs, reels, hornpipes? Any guidance appreciated

[Eddie Sheehy]

Jigs: The Kesh, Merrily Kisssed the Quaker, The Swallowtail, Brian Boru's March
Slip Jigs: Kid on The Mountain, The Snowy Path, The Butterfly, Boys of Ballisodare
Hornpipes: Boys of Blue Hill, Harvest Home, Rights of Man, The Belfast
Reels: Master Crowley's, The Rakes of Mallow, The Musical Priest
Polkas: John Ryan's, Dennis Murphy's, The 42 pound cheque

Check out the Song-A-Week Social Group for samples of these and more...

[Jill McAuley]

If you go over to www.thesession.org and do a search for "dow's list" you'll get a lengthy list of tunes you'll potentially encounter at a session, you can also get ABC's/notation for the tunes there.

A few I'd add to Eddie's list:
Reels: The Silver Spear, Maid Behind the Bar, Cooleys, The Merry Blacksmith, The Congress, Rolling in the Ryegrass, Toss the Feathers, Maud Millar, Master McDermott's, The Earls Chair, Lucy Farr's, The Star of Munster, The Bag of Spuds

Jigs: Out on the Ocean, The Rambling Pitchfork, The Mist Covered Mountain, Cliffs of Moher, Humours of Ennistymon, Lark in the Morning, The Geese in the Bog, Banish Misfortune

Hornpipes: The Liverpool, The Galway, Stack of Barley, Plains of Boyle, The Kildare Fancy

If you check out the Song-A-Week social group here we've done quite a few trad tunes - you'll find the ABC's for them and a variety of video examples of folks playing them.

You can also check out www.mandolinsessions.com and click on the "irish/celtic" tab, where you'll find tunes, notation/tab for them, tips on technique and mp3's giving you both a slowed down and at speed version of the tune in question.

Cheers,
Jill

[Coffeecup]

The trouble with picking tunes like this is, what is in the top twenty list at one session may rarely appear at a different session. The usual recommendation at The Session is pay a few visits first with no intention of playing, just listen and pick up some of the tunes and the session etiquette.

[Eddie Sheehy]

It won't hurt to get a bunch of the tunes we've listed under your belt. Jump in at the deep end...

[min7b5]

thanks, this is great

[Jill McAuley]

I agree with Eddie - while the catalog of tunes played at individual sessions varies, it still can't hurt to start learning some tunes before attending a session as you'll get an idea of the feel/emphasis/timing of jigs, reels, hornpipes, polkas etc. Once you get to grips with that then learning new tunes tends to happen quite quickly. Coffeecup is right that it's always a good idea to drop into a session to listen a few times, without an instrument, to get an idea of the tunes they're playing, check in to find out what's the etiquette for joining in at that session etc. Even if they're playing tune sets you're unfamiliar with, you'll likely find that learning those new tunes occurs much faster if you've already got a good feel for trad music. Oh, and one other resource that's kinda fun is the BBC's "Virtual Session", no substitute for the real thing, but good craic nonetheless. Here's the link for it:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/r2music/folk/sessions/

Cheers,
Jill

[Pete Braccio]

If you like the Virtual Session, I've got them saved as PDFs and MP3s on my web site.

Pete

[Coffeecup]

OK, Eddie and Jill make good points about learning some tunes first. As a newcomer to Irish music my list is small, but these are what we've learned at a slow session here:
The Banshee, Bill Sullivans Polka, Black Rogue, Egans Polka, Hills of Tara, Kesh Jig, Kevin McHughs (slide), Rolling in the Ryegrass, Hardiman the Fiddler, Concertina Reel, Na Ceannabhain Bhana, Calliope House, Humours of Lisheen, Brenda Stubberts Reel, Dusty Windowsills, Peacocks Feather, The Ash Plant, Willie Colemans Jig, Star of Munster, Craigs Pipes, Ship in Full Sail, My Darlings Asleep (or A Sheep), St Annes Reel, The Wise Maid, Rakes of Mallow.

So, a few of those were previously mentioned but a number of different ones.

[Randi Gormley]

Kitty's Wedding, Rose in the Heather -- oh! and Fanny Power. Mustn't forget O'Carolan.