Monday, December 20, 2021

Published December 20, 2021 by Erich with 0 comment

Session on 16 Dec 2021

 In Memory of Mark Grasso

One of our friends was missing in the session on December 16, and we'll be missing him for a long time to come.  Mark Grasso finally lost his battle with cancer the day before.  His son Eliot has written a lot about Mark - his music, his principles, his approach to life, his humanity - in a CaringBridge blog.  It's well worth reading.

In honor of Mark's life and the time and music he shared with us, in this session we played many of the tunes that Mark liked to play: tunes that he learned from Eliot and taught us, such as The Bear in the Buckwheat; tunes that he learned in our session, such as Tommy Peoples'; and old classics such as Cooley's and Providence.  Following is the complete list of the tunes we played in this session:

The Bear in the Buckwheat / Bonnie Ann (reels)

McCarthy's / Congress (reels) 

The LuckpennyHumours of Ennistymon (aka Coppers and Brass) (jigs)

The Galtee Hunt (set dance)

Tuamgraney Castle / The Good-Natured Man / The Rights of Man (hornpipes)

For more specific details (e.g., key, settings) see the InLikeFlynnTunes spreadsheet.

Here is one other set of tunes that Mark was working on recently, with the intent of bringing up this set in a future session:

Last Night's Joy / The Youngest Daughter / My Love is in America (reels)
 
We will indeed be playing this in future sessions, in memory of Mark.

Thanks again to everyone (Pete, Kathy, Tracy and Eric, Jason, Gary, Rachel, Bill, Jane, Nancy, Peter, and Dara) who came out to the session in memory of Mark.

-Erich




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Tuesday, December 14, 2021

Published December 14, 2021 by Erich with 0 comment

Session on 9 Dec 2021


Tunes and sets we played in the session on 9 Dec 2021:

Tunes marked with ** were just added to the InLikeFlynnTunes spreadsheet.
Tune names are linked to thesession entries or other sources.
For more specific details (e.g., key, settings) see the spreadsheet.

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Monday, December 6, 2021

Published December 06, 2021 by Erich with 1 comment

Session on 2 Dec 2021

Tunes and sets we played on 2 Dec 2012:

(Tunes in bold have just been added to the InLikeFlynnTunes spreadsheet.)

Battering Ram / Gallagher's Frolics / Connachtman's Rambles
A nice set led by Jason.

Boys of Bluehill / Harvest Home
A pair of very common hornpipes.

Aggie Whyte's Favorite
 / Belles of Tipperary
A set from the Mulcahey family's CD "The Mulcahy Family", track 14 (first tune mislabeled as Father Kelly's)

Tar Road to Sligo / Paddy Clancy
A set from the Bothy Band CD "The Bothy Band 1975".

Mountain Road / Tommy Peoples' / Rolling in the Ryegrass
A local 'standard' set that we play almost every session.

Jackie Coleman's / Jack Rowe
Two tunes we haven't played in quite a while, which go nicely together.

Humours of Glynn
 / Cordal Jig / Australian Waters
Three great tunes!

Crib of Perches
Another nice tune that we haven't played for a year or two.

Banshee
A much more common tune than the previous one.

Trip to Durrow / Concertina Reel / Lady Anne Montgomery
Another of our local 'standard' sets.

Collier's / Miss Thornton / Concert Reel 
A set from Billy McComiskey's CD "Out of the Box".

The Castle
 Jig / The Nightingale 
A pair of jigs composed by Seán Ryan.

The Swallow's Nest
 / Bubbling Wine 
A pair of Paddy O'Brien compositions.  We actually played them one at a time, but they would make a nice set.

Father O'Flynn / Morrison's
Another local 'standard' set.

Cliffs of Moher / Sliabh Russell
Finally found something that goes with Cliffs of Moher.  Maybe would work better if the order were reversed.


A few additional tunes came up but weren't played in the session.  (Those in bold are not currently in the spreadsheet yet but will be added if/when they get played in a future session.)

Breen's / Hangman's Rope 
Two hornpipes from Martin Mulvihill's CD "Traditional Irish Fiddling from County Limerick".

Maho Snaps 
A tune that Jason mentioned.


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Thursday, December 2, 2021

Published December 02, 2021 by Erich with 0 comment

Most-Played Tunes (Dec 2021)

 


Below is a list of the most-often-played airs, hornpipes, jigs, reels, polkas, and slides during the past four months (from late July 2021 to late November 2021), derived from the tune tracking we've been doing in the InLikeFlynnTunes spreadsheet.  Roughly half the tunes we play each week are from this list.  New tunes or less-frequently-played tunes typically make up the rest of the session.

Tunes in this list have been played at least twice (2+) or three times (3+) in the past 4 months, and some of the more common tunes have come up almost a dozen times in that period.  The tunes in each group are listed in order of decreasing frequency, so those near the top of a group are more likely to come up than those at the bottom (assuming that past history will be reflected in future sessions).  So if you are not familiar with some of these tunes and want to learn them, you might want to focus on tunes that appear higher in each group before those that appear lower in the group.

While the list of tune names can be helpful, it isn't sufficient to fully identify what we're playing.  Many (perhaps most) tunes have multiple names, and quite often any given tune name may be associated with multiple tunes.  Both of these possibilities show up in the list below.  Alternate tune names show up as "(aka ...)" notes.  The entry for Pipe on the Hob is qualified as "(2-part in Dmix)" to distinguish it from the completely different tune with the same name that has 3 parts and is in Ador.  Similarly, the entry for the Blackbird is qualified with the note "[dc | B2BG A2A/B/c | ...]" to indicate which one of several hornpipes named The Blackbird is intended by specifying its incipit, or first few measures.  (This is 'abc' notation, an ASCII representation of music that can be used to transcribe tunes, format scores, and playback tunes.  More about this in a future post.)  

So take this list as a starting point, but it needs further qualification, which will be coming along soon.

Top 5 Airs (2+)

  • Island of Woods
  • Loftus Jones 
  • Carolan's Draught
  • Planxty Hewlett
  • Morgan Magan (aka Morgan MacGann)

Top 9 Hornpipes (3+)

  • Home Ruler
  • Taylor's
  • Bantry Bay
  • An Comhra na dTonn (aka An Comhra Donn, The Brown Coffin)
  • Boys of Ballycastle 
  • Rights Of Man
  • Kitty's Wedding
  • Murphy's
  • Blackbird [dc | B2BG A2A/B/c | ...]

Top 24 Jigs (3+)

  • Blarney Pilgrim
  • Out On The Ocean
  • Gallagher's Frolics
  • Helvic Head
  • Jimmy Ward's
  • Pipe on the Hob (2-part in Dmix)
  • Rambling Pitchfork
  • Morrison’s
  • Dusty Windowsills
  • Gander in the Pratie Hole
  • Killavil 
  • Geese in the Bog
  • Goat on the Green
  • Swallowtail Jig
  • Tobin's Favorite
  • Calliope House (in D)
  • Father O'Flynn's
  • Banish Misfortune
  • Strike the Gay Harp
  • Old John's Jig
  • Hag at the Churn
  • Garrett Barry's
  • Lilting Banshee
  • Monaghan Jig 

Top 10 Polkas (2+)

  • Ballydesmond #2
  • Ballydesmond #1 
  • Britches Full of Stitches
  • Bill Sullivan's
  • O'Callaghan's
  • Bridgie Con Matt's
  • Ballyvourney (Baile Mhuirne) 
  • Waves of Tory 
  • Barren Rocks of Aden
  • Ballydesmond #3 (aka Andy Boyle's)

Top 29 Reels (3+)

  • Rolling In The Ryegrass (aka Shannon Breeze)
  • Tommy Peoples'
  • Mountain Road
  • Father Kelly’s
  • Lady Anne Montgomery
  • Concertina Reel
  • Trip to Durrow
  • Congress
  • Did You Wash Your Father's Shirt 
  • My Love is in America
  • Cup Of Tea
  • Cooley’s
  • Golden Keyboard
  • Earl's Chair 
  • Bank of Ireland
  • Maid of Mt. Kisco 
  • Rakish Paddy
  • Tom Billy's (aka O'Keefe's Speed the Plough)
  • Swinging on the Gate
  • Roll Her in the Rushes 
  • Foxhunter’s
  • Virginia
  • Silver Spear
  • Jim Donoghue's
  • Providence 
  • Hunter's House 
  • Claudette's
  • Shoemaker's Daughter
  • Woman of the House

Top 8 Slides (2+)

  • Star Above the Garter
  • Dan O'Keefe's
  • Eileen O'Riordan's 
  • Brosna #2 (aka Scartaglen, Donal O'Connor's)
  • Patsy Geary's
  • Brosna #1 (aka Trip to the Jacks)
  • Palm Sunday
  • Denis Murphy's

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