I’ve fallen behind a couple of weeks in Alex’s class, so here is the “catch-up” post. However, I will say it was well worth the wait as these are two tunes worth knowing. I think Sue was the force behind learning Paddy Fahy’s, and no, we don’t know which Paddy Fahy’s it is. Part of the allure. However, after looking it up on thesession.org, it listed several other titles for it, one of which gave me quite a good chuckle this morning.

“Also known as And Never Was Piping So Gay, Blacksmith’s Anvil, The Blacksmith’s Anvil, Ed Reavy’s, Fahey´s Tractor, Never Was Piping So Gay, Paddy Fahey’s, Paddy Fahey’s No. 14, Paddy Fahy’s Favourite Orgy Scene, Reavy’s, Shaney Mulhearn’s, Shaney Mulhern’s.”

When we were learning Sligo Maid, I was sitting there thinking that I just recently played it with someone, but I couldn’t place it. Sophie was kind enough to remind me that we played it for our teacher set on Friday. Yes, Alzheimer’s is rapidly setting in. Further confirmation of that was that I couldn’t recall the names of the tunes the next day and had to email for help. The brain is an amazing place and getting less amazing all the time. Enjoy the tunes!

Paddy Fahy’s  Listen   View Notation   Key of G
Sligo Maid   Listen   View Notation   Key of Am

Sadly I couldn’t stay for class tonight. It’s been one of those weeks. But I did drop by to record this week’s tune, The Sailor’s Bonnet. Alex mentioned it was part of a classic set, which of course, piqued my curiousity, so off to Google I went. As is often the case, I became distracted by other themes and came across this wonderful resource on the Comhaltis site. Many tunes, ordered by some common sets. Sweet!

Comhaltis Tune Links (set 1)
Comhaltis Tune Links (set 2)

But I digress. Below is the tune for the week – enjoy!

Listen to Sailor’s Bonnet (reel).
Listen to Sailor’s Bonnet (played slower).

P.S. Maybe the set was The Tarbolton / The Longford Collector / The Sailor’s Bonnet. Will have to ask Alex!

Part 2 of the Maid set (or part 1, depending on the order you play them). Great tunes! I, however, was reeling on Tuesday from too long a day at work. Tonight, hopefully, I will get this one down. Really happy to have them as part of my repertoire. You will too!

Listen to Wise Maid (reel).
Listen to Wise Maid (played slower).

Last night, Alex started teaching us the Maid set, starting with Maid Behind the Bar. So glad we’re working on these tunes as they should be part of everyone’s repertoire. I started trying to learn this one a few weeks ago, so it’s good to have the extra push in class. The b part is definitely a challenge and I have to say that it’s even tougher (at first) with the bowing, but I can sense that it will make it much easier in the long run. Really appreciated Alex letting us record the bowing (and I can’t imagine being able to play a tune and speak the bowing). Thanks Alex!

Listen to Maid Behind the Bar (reel).
Listen to Maid Behind the Bar (played slower).
Listen to Maid Behind the Bar (bowing on b-part).

A new semester of BRIMS classes is upon us. For the time being, I’m going to try to hang with the Intermediate fiddle folks as my guitar class is at 7pm. This week we learned “The Killarney Boys of Pleasure” which Alex referenced from a Lunasa CD, though played in a different key from what we learned in class. You can hear the Lunasa version here.

Here’s the sheet music (from that key, I believe). Move it all over one string lower for the key we learned in class.

Listen to Killarney Boys of Pleasure (reel).
Listen to Killarney Boys of Pleasure (played slower).