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Thread: Are Irish Jigs More Written or "Discovered?"

  1. #26
    Registered User John Kelly's Avatar
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    Default Re: Are Irish Jigs More Written or "Discovered?"

    I am mindful of the old question: How can you tell one Irish jig from another? By the title!
    I think that many of the tunes have evolved from the playing of many folk who learned by ear and carried the tunes in their heads then played them as they remembered to others who then picked up what they heard and played that in turn. Over time the tunes would mutate as players might combine bits from one tune into another.
    There is a sort of parallel in the world of Shakespeare with the "good" and "bad" versions of the plays, stemming from the fact that at times, when the theatres were closed by fear of plague or possible insurrection, the actors were forced to move out to the provinces to earn their living and would put together their remembered versions of the plays they had performed in, resulting in words and lines being changed. So, who was an English teacher in his pre-retirement life?

  2. #27
    Registered User jwynia's Avatar
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    Default Re: Are Irish Jigs More Written or "Discovered?"

    And then there are folks like Paddy O'Brien who actually can distinguish and recall thousands of individual tunes and their variations. Locally, I know several Irish musicians who, upon composing something, play it for Paddy to see if they've "reinvented the wheel" and duplicated something already out there.

    Incidentally, Paddy is about to record the 3rd volume of tunes (500 tunes in each volume) and looking for people to help fund the recording/mastering: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...n-volume-three

  3. #28
    but that's just me Bertram Henze's Avatar
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    Default Re: Are Irish Jigs More Written or "Discovered?"

    Quote Originally Posted by jwynia View Post
    folks like Paddy O'Brien who actually can distinguish and recall thousands of individual tunes and their variations.
    There's a savant for everything, why not Irish tunes.
    the world is better off without bad ideas, good ideas are better off without the world

  4. #29
    Registered User DougC's Avatar
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    Default Re: Are Irish Jigs More Written or "Discovered?"

    Quote Originally Posted by jwynia View Post
    And then there are folks like Paddy O'Brien who actually can distinguish and recall thousands of individual tunes and their variations. Locally, I know several Irish musicians who, upon composing something, play it for Paddy to see if they've "reinvented the wheel" and duplicated something already out there.

    Incidentally, Paddy is about to record the 3rd volume of tunes (500 tunes in each volume) and looking for people to help fund the recording/mastering: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...n-volume-three
    Although I have not played in public for a while. I have known Paddy and his wife for about twenty years. And I've called him a hundred times about tune information. He is a great local treasure here.

    There is an interesting aspect to this story however.

    Paddy has his own way of writing and playing tunes. So his version of a well known tune is different from what you would find in a book like O'Neils, or Brody's Fake Book. It is, at the same time, a bother and a blessing to deal with his versions. We love him none the less and since he is getting on in age we help to record his box playing and join his ceili bands.

    Oh, another thing is that there is another Paddy O'Brien in Ireland who is also known as a source for tunes. So our Paddy is the one orignally from Offlay.

  5. #30
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: Are Irish Jigs More Written or "Discovered?"

    Quote Originally Posted by DougC View Post
    there is another Paddy O'Brien in Ireland who is also known as a source for tunes. So our Paddy is the one orignally from Offlay.
    Really??? There is more than one Paddy O'Brien in Ireland?
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  6. #31
    Registered User Randi Gormley's Avatar
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    Default Re: Are Irish Jigs More Written or "Discovered?"

    Don Mead out here in the NYC area also is a great resource for all things tunes; it's nice that there are people out there you can grab when you need 'em
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    Default Re: Are Irish Jigs More Written or "Discovered?"

    I would certainly not claim to know the answer to this, but I would imagine that life events and time do play a role and impact on these songs written?
    As human beings had an oral culture particularly in some tribes, and then it dictated the art, e.g. the San telling and depicting their way of life and events in rock paintings could one speculate that a similar thing happened to music?

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