Must know Celtic tunes

[John Bertotti]

I am looking to see what people say shoul dbe the top 10 of the must know Celtic tunes for a beginner in the genre. Anyone what to give me there thoughts? Thanks FWIW I will be using the list to work off of for my own learning.

[Jill McAuley]

Some of the first tunes I learnt were:

-The Kesh (jig)
-Tobin's Favourite (jig)
-Saddle the Pony (jig)
-The Connaughtman's Rambles (jig)
-The Lilting Banshee (jig)
-The Hag's Purse (jig)
-The Rambling Pitchfork (jig)
-The Ten Penny Bit (jig)
-The Boys of Bluehill (hornpipe)
-Off to California (hornpipe)
-Harvest Home (hornpipe)
-The Humours of Tulla (reel)
-The Mountain Road (reel)
-Eddie Kelly's Reel

I don't know if I'd call them "must know" tunes because if/when you venture out into the world of sessions you'll likely find that those ones don't get played alot generally speaking, but they're all great tunes to be getting started with nonetheless.

Cheers,
Jill

[John Bertotti]

Thanks Jill! geting the ABC now!

[raulb]

In no particular order:

1. John Ryan Polka
2. Staten Island
3. Eighth of January (aka Battle of New Orleans)
4. Red Wing
5. Star of the County Down
6. Shebeg and Shemor
7. Planxty Irwin
8. Corn Rigs
9. Southwind
10. Archibald MacDonald

11. Flowers of Edinburgh
12. Planxty George Brabazon
13. Duck Jig
14. Athol Highlanders
15. Geese in the Bog

[Tosh Marshall]

John,
If you got to the session.org, click on members, then select Tunebook, it gives you the Top Twenty tunes as selected by members for their tunebooks. Our self help group works from this list.....

[John Flynn]

Another great basic list of tunes is on the BBC Irish Sessions site. The site allows you to play the tunes at a moderate pace and play along with them.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/r2music/.../folkmenu.html

BTW, I am surprised to see Staten Island, Eighth of January (aka Battle of New Orleans) and Red Wing on a list of Celtic tunes. They are fine tunes and they may have Celtic origins way back, but in no way do I think of them as Celtic tunes. There are also tunes on both lists posted above that I think are pretty esoteric and would not go on a "must know" list. I think using some combination of the top tunes from thesession.org and the BBC list would be more to the point.

[John Bertotti]

Thanks everyone! Tosh and John I have made it to a huge abc library mentioned here before. I will checkout these places sounds exactly what I was hoping for. I was a little surprised by Staten Island and Red Wing but the 8th of January didn't surprise me. I have seen reference to it a few times lately by folks doing some Irish traveling and sharing a tune they know and thought would be liked.

Again you all come through with great help. thanks for the help!

[whistler]

I am surprised to see Staten Island, Eighth of January (aka Battle of New Orleans) and Red Wing on a list of Celtic tunes.

It is endlessly debatable what is truly Celtic music, who are the real celts etc. (The only things which can be categorically designated Celtic are the Celitic language family and Glasgow Celtic football team - albeit pronounced differently.) But tunes such as these come up not infrequently in sessions with a predominantly Irish and/or Scottish repertoire - Staten Island is particularly popular in sessions in England and Scotland - so they might as well be included in a list of tunes to learn.

[Steve L]

I don't think there's anything on Jill's list that's esoteric. Those are all really nuts and bolts beginners tunes.

John, it's best to determine what you want to do with the music. If you just want something new to play on your own, that's one thing. If you want to play at sessions in pubs, it's best to go there, listen and get to know the people and the tunes they play. It's a time consuming process, but there aren't really shortcuts. If you spend a lot of time learning O'Carrolan stuff expecting that to come round in a session, you might be disappointed. It's lovely music and sounds great on the mandolin but it's not what most players I know want to sink their teeth into at the pub. Reels and jigs are the meat and potatoes of the music in these circumstances (in that order of importance).

I think the Foinn session CDs with the fairly "standard" tunes arranged in sets is a good way to go. You can actually see and hear them on the Comhaltas.ie web site. I think you'd be better off buying the cds and using them with some kind of slow downer software that allows you to loop phrases.

The BBC site and the Working Party lessons (with Simon Mayer on mandolin) available online are good too.

[David Casal]

It is endlessly debatable what is truly Celtic music, who are the real celts etc. (The only things which can be categorically designated Celtic are the Celitic language family and Glasgow Celtic football team - albeit pronounced differently.) But tunes such as these come up not infrequently in sessions with a predominantly Irish and/or Scottish repertoire - Staten Island is particularly popular in sessions in England and Scotland - so they might as well be included in a list of tunes to learn.

the Celta F.C. of Vigo

[David Casal]

another celtic tunes

jiga-Pandeirada - Milladoiro (Galicia)
Muñeira de Coia - Nordes (Galicia)
Tri Martolod - Alan Stivell (Breizh)
andro nevez - Gwendal (France)
Muñeira de Chantada - (Galician Trad)
Muñeira de Beariz - Fuxan os ventos (Galicia)
Muñeires de bual - Brenga Astur (Asturies)

not so famous as the irish ones but they are interesting too

[Bruce Evans]

How could you possibly leave out:

1. Whiskey Before Breakfast
2. Soldiers Joy
3. Liberty

As Yogi would say, "They get played so much nobody plays them anymore," but you gotta know them.

[Steve L]

Despite their origins, those have really become Americanized. I've never heard them played in any Irish session I've been to.

[Jill McAuley]

. There are also tunes on both lists posted above that I think are pretty esoteric and would not go on a "must know" list. I think using some combination of the top tunes from thesession.org and the BBC list would be more to the point.

John Flynn,
I made a point of mentioning that I didn't consider the list of tunes I posted for John B. as being anywhere near "must know" tunes - they are beginner's tunes, plain and simple, that are easy enough to get to grips with and good for starting out.

I nearly didn't respond to the OP's post because I knew what a subjective thing "must know" tunes are and was fairly certain that someone else would chime in, just as you have, to say..."those aren't must know tunes..." And then someone else will come along and say "no, these are the must know tunes..." But really and truly, what denotes a "must know" tune? One person's "must know" tune is another's tired old standard. Alot of the tunes I know from sessions back home aren't played in sessions here in the Bay Area and vice versa.

I merely posted a list of some of the tunes I first learnt, ones that are fairly accessible as it's easy enough to get ahold of ABC's/tab/notation for them, and easy enough to come across recorded versions of them (via youtube for example).

I think the keyword in the original post was "for a beginner in the genre...". If John had instead posted that he'd been working on some easy trad/celtic tunes for awhile and now wanted to move onto some "must have" tunes, then my list would've looked alot different. I'm sure it still wouldn't be a reflection of what your "must have" tunes are, and I would put that down to a) regional tastes and b) personal taste.

Cheers,
Jill

[John McGann]

How could you possibly leave out:

1. Whiskey Before Breakfast
2. Soldiers Joy
3. Liberty

As Yogi would say, "They get played so much nobody plays them anymore," but you gotta know them.

Common at any bluegrass session, yes; never heard at Irish sessions...

[Gerry Cassidy]

Common at any bluegrass session, yes; never heard at Irish sessions...

Ditto, never heard them at an ITM session, but they are also played at Old Time jams. That's where I learned them...

[John Flynn]

Well, irrelevant caveats aside, the OP asked about "must know" tunes. What are "must know" tunes? I think they are tunes that you are going to hear played in sessions pretty much wherever you go. Yes, there are regional, session-specific and personal-preference tunes. But there are tunes that no matter where you attend an Irish/Celtic sessions, everyone is going to know them and they will get called at least occasionally. I have collected a bunch of common session tune lists from websites and found them to all have variations, but there is a lot of overlap, tunes common to all the lists.

My concern in my replys was not to put down anyone or anyone's list, but to help the OP with what was asked for. I think Tosh's answer was the best, because it has some data to back it up. If you go to thesession.org>members>tunes, you have got the most popular session tunes from members all over the world, in order of popularity. If someone else has a solution that actually has some facts, versus opinions and anecdotal personal experience to back it up, I would be as interested as anyone to hear it, because I've been searching for the same thing.

[Gerry Cassidy]

John Flynn,
I made a point of mentioning that I didn't consider the list of tunes I posted for John B. as being anywhere near "must know" tunes - they are beginner's tunes, plain and simple, that are easy enough to get to grips with and good for starting out.

I nearly didn't respond to the OP's post because I knew what a subjective thing "must know" tunes are and was fairly certain that someone else would chime in, just as you have, to say..."those aren't must know tunes..." And then someone else will come along and say "no, these are the must know tunes..." But really and truly, what denotes a "must know" tune? One person's "must know" tune is another's tired old standard. Alot of the tunes I know from sessions back home aren't played in sessions here in the Bay Area and vice versa.

I merely posted a list of some of the tunes I first learnt, ones that are fairly accessible as it's easy enough to get ahold of ABC's/tab/notation for them, and easy enough to come across recorded versions of them (via youtube for example).

I think the keyword in the original post was "for a beginner in the genre...". If John had instead posted that he'd been working on some easy trad/celtic tunes for awhile and now wanted to move onto some "must have" tunes, then my list would've looked alot different. I'm sure it still wouldn't be a reflection of what your "must have" tunes are, and I would put that down to a) regional tastes and b) personal taste.

Cheers,
Jill

Jill, I agree that your list was pretty spot on as far as basic tunes to know. I also agree with you that 'Good to Know' tunes vary by session, or region.

There is a plethora of tunes out there. It's almost impossible to come up with the quintessential list of "Must Know", but I think the tunes you listed are definitely common and would be known by any of the salts at just about any session. Whether they still want to play them or not is another issue altogether...

[Coffeecup]

Tunes that I've been taught so far as good for beginners and likely to be heard in local sessions are:
The Banshee
Bill Sullivan's Polka
Black Rogue
Egan's Polka
Hills of Tara
Kesh Jig
Kevin McHugh's
Rolling in the Ryegrass
Hardiman the Fiddler
Concertina Reel
Calliope House
Na Ceannabhain Bhana
Rakes of Mallow

OK, that's more than ten.

[Jill McAuley]

Well, irrelevant caveats aside, the OP asked about "must know" tunes. What are "must know" tunes?

If someone else has a solution that actually has some facts, versus opinions and anecdotal personal experience to back it up, I would be as interested as anyone to hear it, because I've been searching for the same thing.

Ouch - get up on the wrong side of the bed today John F., or what? Why so boorish? Your request for a solution based on "facts" is what fascinates me - what "facts" could there be regarding what other folks consider to be "must know" tunes? There is no officially sanctioned list of "must know" tunes to my knowledge, so it stands to reason that the OP is going to get suggestions based on, dare I say it, "opinions and anecdotal personal experience".

My apologies to the OP, John B. - here are some more tunes for you, these ones a step beyond "beginner" tunes (of course that's only my opinion and anecdotal personal experience....)

-The Maid Behind the Bar (reel)
-The Sligo Maid (reel)
-The Steeplechase (reel)
-Jackie Coleman's (reel)
-The Congress (reel)
-Star of Munster (reel)
-Toss the Feathers (reel)
-Master McDermott's (reel)
-The Silver Spear (reel)
-Green Groves of Erin (reel)
-My Love is in America (reel)
-Tongs by the Fire (jig)
-Queen of the Fair (jig)
-Up and About in the Morning (jig)
-Humours of Ballyloughlin (jig)
-Scatter the Mud (jig)


Cheers,
Jill

[John Flynn]

You are taking this way too personally, Jill and I think your name calling ("boorish") is uncalled for. The topic of this thread is a quest I've been on for some time and put some considerable study into. It is important to me. You seem to have mistaken my passion for it as some sort of attack on you and it's not.

Of course there can never be any "officially sanctioned list" of session tunes. I never suggested there is, or could be. That is one of the things that makes it such a fascinating study. However, there are valid techniques that can be applied. If thesession.org keeps stats on what tunes are most often added to members' tune lists and they have thousands of members, all interested in Irish music, those stats are relevant facts. If the dozen most prominent books and sites on Irish session tunes have an 80% overlap in the tunes they present, that is a relevant fact. If someone could get tune lists from sessions across the country and create a list of common tunes, that would be a relevant fact. BTW, I have done all that and it is still a work in progress. Sure, we can argue how relevant and how valid those facts are and that is all a part of the debate.

[Bernie Daniel]

John Flynn: If someone else has a solution that actually has some facts, versus opinions and anecdotal personal experience to back it up, I would be as interested as anyone to hear it, because I've been searching for the same thing.

Jill McAuley: John... Your request for a solution based on "facts" is what fascinates me - what "facts" could there be regarding what other folks consider to be "must know" tunes?

If I could "put words in both of your mouths" I think what John meant to say was if anyone has a solution based on statistics (not facts) - - in other words a tally of all possible Celtic tune choices by all Celtic players collected over all of time would be the prefect solution!

[John Flynn]

If I could "put words in both of your mouths" I think what John meant to say was if anyone has a solution based on statistics (not facts) - - in other words a tally of all possible Celtic tune choices by all Celtic players collected over all of time would be the prefect solution!

Bernie: That's funny, but that would indeed be putting words in my mouth, words I would never say and would never intend. Research and statistics is almost never about anything like "a tally of all possible Celtic tune choices by all Celtic players collected over all of time." It is more about drawing reasonable inferences based on what facts can be systematically gathered. I do think it is possible to put together a better list than we have now and the benefit is that more people who want to break into playing at Irish sessions would have a better tool with which to do it.

[Jill McAuley]

You are taking this way too personally, Jill and I think your name calling ("boorish") is uncalled for. The topic of this thread is a quest I've been on for some time and put some considerable study into. It is important to me. You seem to have mistaken my passion for it as some sort of attack on you and it's not.

Jaysus, this kind of "last word-ism" is exactly why I hesitated in responding to John B.'s original post. Good luck to you, John Flynn, in your statistical analysis of trad music. I wasn't aware that the word "boorish" was name calling, but it's all subjective, so my apologies to you.

Cheers,
Jill

[Eddie Sheehy]

Jill's second list is spot-on for most "serious" sessions. Reel after reel with a smattering of jigs and hornpipes seems to be the norm. You'll get a better selection of jigs and hornpipes - and O'Carolan tunes - at an Old Time session.

BTW, I have yet to see any list of "standards" on which I knew all the tunes... but I'm getting them... just added Tobin's Favourite to my repertoire.