The Lark In The Morning jig

The length of this tune may appear daunting at first, but a lot of phrases simply repeat themselves, making it easier to play. In fact, the last two parts are more like variations than actual seperate bits of the tune.

The long G and F which come at the end of all but the first part can be rolled to produce a nice effect. Alternatively, on the fiddle try double-stopping the G with a B and the D with an open A string.

This tune would seem to be a pipe tune so it probably lends itself to the whistle more than the fiddle.

This tune appears in The Cumann na bPiobairi Collection of Pipe-Friendly Tunes by John B. Walsh and Mel Bay’s Complete Irish Fiddle Player by Peter Cooper.

Peter Cooper relates a story associated with this tune about two fiddlers who had a contest to see who could be the best fiddle player. The fiddlers played all night until dawn broke and they could play no more and still it could not be decided who was the better player. In the silence of the morning, they heard a morning lark. Both fiddlers agreed that it wasn’t either of them that had the sweetest music, but "The Lark in the Morning".

Cooper suggests using turns on the consecutive G and F in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th part.

Are you sure that it was this one they heard and not the "Morning Lark" ? See also http://www.thesession.org/tunes/2060 - only joking!!

The lastr part of this one is nearly note for note with one called "The Goat’s Horns" in O’Neill’s Eighteen Hundred and Fifty Melodies.

Also known as the Lark on the Strand? That’s very weird.

Link to the Old Lark in the Morning: http://www.thesession.org/tunes/1578

The "Lark on the Strand" as played by Dervish is a very different tune from this. It is a jig but it’s two parts and none are similiar to this. It’s on Noel Hill’s "Irish Concertina" CD as "The Morning Lark" but again, that’s a different tune.

However, it’s on "Champions of Ireland: Flute" as "The Ha’Penny Bridge". Maybe it’s another misprint but if someone can back me up on this, then go ahead and stick it in as that name.

Anyone know of a tune that works well before the lark in the morning (the popular 4 part one), preferably in a different key. Cheers

The Two and Sixpenny Girl http://www.thesession.org/tunes/1715
is a nice 4-parter that would, in my opinion, go well with it. However, it’s not as universally known as ‘Lark’, so you might be met with blank looks (and, let us hope, open ears). But learn it anyway.

The Battering Ram after Lark works well.

Natalie MacMaster plays an a minor jig before it and I have always liked the change. I think it’s the Rakes of Kildare.

I play it in a set starting with a Welsh tune called ap Shenkin, then Haste to the Wedding, then the Lark. This is one of our most popular sets with audiences.

PS I’ve just looked and I was surprised to find that Ap Shenkin is on here! Didn’t think it would be, ‘cos it’s Welsh … But I play it in D, rather than the G it’s shown as here.

An alternate tune, going by the name ‘Lark in the Morning’, I heard many years ago played by Robin Williamson when I was visiting California. I went home with the tune in my ‘ol’ noggin’ and learned what I thought was the right melody - which I still play today. Some time later, I was given a copy of a book of tunes by Williamson only to learn that I inadvertently substituted several notes in the (A) part and slightly shifted the accents on the original phrasing. One of these days I’d like to meet Mr. Williamson and thank him for the years of pleasure I’ve had from playing this and numerous other Williamson versions. In the above mentioned book of fiddle tunes – he indicates the tunes ‘Apples in Winter’ and ‘Sunday was My Wedding Day’ are good compliments. I play one or the other as a set and like them on the slower side giving emphasis to the minor quality of the tunes. As with the ‘Lark’ tune, I use somewhat different ornaments – I tend to use triplets when I play the tunes on the mandolin and play a lot more ‘squawks’ when I play the fiddle. Hope this is of some interest – Regards to all.
PrairieDawg

i am preparing for the fleadh cheoil on banjo and im lookin for some helpful variations on this jig or some tips. I was also wondering whether i should play this tune or Wandering Minstrel. As well to ‘slainte’ i play a jig called ‘Lark on the Strand’ which is totally different to this tune

Gerry’s Beaver Hat & The Lark in the Morning.

Probably the first four part jig I ever learnt in the fifties. It was still called The Lark in the Morn then. Its only five or six years ago that I first heard the jig named on here as The Morning Lark and I thought when I heard it that, it was a slight variation on a cut down version of the Lark in the Morning.

Dusty Windowsills (Ador) / Lark in the Morning (D) / Cliffs of Moher (Ador) is a good set

"Peter Cooper relates a story associated with this tune about two fiddlers who had a contest to see who could be the best fiddle player. The fiddlers played all night until dawn broke and they could play no more and still it could not be decided who was the better player. In the silence of the morning, they heard a morning lark. Both fiddlers agreed that it wasn’t either of them that had the sweetest music, but "The Lark in the Morning"."

Sounds awful similar to a story that uilleann piper Seamus Ennis told on track 15 of Fourty Years of Irish Piping. Only difference is, the two fiddlers as it were, were pipers, and the tune was an older version of The Lark in the Morning, and it was called The Lark’s March.

The Tipperary Knights play "Lark in the Morning" into "The Kesh".
Works very well.

I heard this story years ago, but also not as two fiddlers…but pipers; one of those pipers was the famous 18th-century Irish piper Jackson, who played in contest through the night against another piper. As sunrise approached, Jackson ran out of tunes and dejectedly walked outside and sat on a bench against the pub wall, where he heard the morning trill of the lark, upon which he ran back inside and played this tune to win the contest. The fourth part of this tune is the first of a three-part double jig from O’Neill titled "An bo breac" or "The Spotted Cow."

X: 1
T: Lark In The Morning, The
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
R: jig
K: Dmaj
|:A3 AFA|B3 BdB|A3 AFA|fge fdB|
A3 AFA|B3 BAB|def afe|fdB BAB:|
|:def a3| baf afe|def afe|fdB BdB|
def a3|baf a2f|g3 f3|edB BAB:|
|:d2f fef|fef fef|d2f fef|edB BAB|
d2f fef|fef def|g2e f2d|edB BdB:|
|:Add fdd|edd fdB|Add fdd|edB BAB|
Add fdd|edB def| g2e f2d|edB BdB:|

The laiverok lilts
aw day an the day
is no lang aneuch.
Matsuo Basho (1644-94)

Here’s a 7 part version:
http://www.avibirds.com/euhtml/Sky_Lark.html

X: 1
T: Morning Lark, The
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
R: jig
K: Dmaj
AAA DDD|DEF A2d|BGG dGG|BBB BdB|
AAA DDD|DEF A2c|def gfe|fd^c dcB:|
|:ABd fdd|add fdB|Add fed|edB BAF|
Add fdd|add fdd|faf gfd|ed^c d2B:|

X: 1
T: Lark In The Morning, The
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
R: jig
K: Dmaj
||A3 AFA|BGB BdB|AFA ABd|fed edB|
AFA AFA|BGB BAB|def afe|fdB BdB|
|A3 d=cA|BBB BdB|AAA AFA|fed edB|
AFA Ad=c|BGB BAB|def afe|fdB BAB||
||def a3| baa afe|daa afe|fdB BAB|
def a3|bab a2f|g3 fed|edB BAB|
|def a3| bab afe|daa afe|fdB BAB|
def a3|bbb afd|g2e fed|edB BAB||
||d2f fef|fef fef|fef fef|edB BAB|
d2f fdf|fdf fef|g2e fed|edB BAB|
|d2f fdf|fef fef|d2f fdf|edB BAB|
d2f fdf|fdf fdf|g3 fed|edB BAB||
|:A2d fdd|ede fdd|A2d fdd|edB BAG|
A2d fdd|ede fdB| g2e fed|edB BdB:|

||A3 AFA|BGB BdB|AFA ABd|fed edB|
AFA AFA|BGB BAB|def afe|fdB BdB|
|A3 Ad=c|BBB BdB|AAA AFA|fed edB|
AFA Ad=c|BGB BAB|def afe|fdB BAB||

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZsS9AZN1fI&feature=related

play video

Most Irish dance-tunes start low and go on to the higher octave, or a higher note run in the ‘turn’. This is the case here, but I can’t help seeing it -or more appropriately hearing it- as an out of the ordinary imitative feature as well: A direct imitation of the bird’s rising song, as well as a connotation of its rising and suspended flight. The notion we’re hearing an imitation, reinterpretation or translation of the bird’s call is reinforced -if not created in the first place- by these other features: the melody extends to 4 parts which include relentless, ecstatic variations. This rather closely parallels the lark’s own relentless yet varied song.

Hear for yourselves:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkk7bnTG5JM

play video

males on the wing, from 2’40":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lhkvahyxVk&feature=related

play video

More about the subject at:
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/7632/comments
and: http://www.thesession.org/tunes/632/comments

For heightened sound-alike effect, play this tune on a tin whistle (feadóg // fuiseog!) and as fast as you can!
Bet you can’t beat the larks’ amazing 400 notes per second!

..Some birds reach a 100 notes per second: Our lark’s a bit of a champion! We don’t get the full benefit of this amazing skill tough since our ears are not fine enough to pick the modulations.

Jean C. Roché’s and André Bossus’s book on birdsong point out to another similarity between traditional music and the lark’s song: they’re both ‘formulaic’. i.e.; the lark has 9 different ‘calls’, all of which can be varied to an extent, but when it sings, it can use these calls as formulas fully incorporated and developed in the main ‘text’ or lyrics!

Someone told me that this jig version came from the reel "The Bucks of Oranmore".

Could anyone confirm this for me?

S: Tom McHale, whistle ~ incorporating some of his ways with the music.

Pipes Solo - "Lark in the Morning", Cillian Vallely (pipes) & Alan Murray (guitar)
Published on Oct 17, 2012 ~ imtfolk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoiB1-Ubn2I

play video

“Lark in the Morning” ~ whistles: Ryan Duns & Brian Holleran
Uploaded on Aug 8, 2010 - Ryan G. Duns, SJ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3yNj4_NejA

play video

Flute duet - Patsy Hanly and John Carlos accompanied by Johnny "Ringo" McDonagh
http://source.pipers.ie/Media.aspx?mediaId=4331&categoryId=318

S: Cathal McConnell - whistle

I’ve used brackets to show where he has used two different notes in the repeats:
| BGB B[Gd]B | (A part, bar 2) ~ & ~ (C part, bar 1) |: [A2d2] f fef |

So one could first play these, as he did:
| BGB BGB | (A part, bar 2) ~ & ~ (C part, bar 1) |: d2 f fef |
~ with the other possibilities of:
| BGB BdB | (A part, bar 2) ~ & ~ (C part, bar 1) |: A2 f fef |

Nice one slainte, only I wish they hadn’t amplified the bodhran, as much as I usually appreciate Johnny ‘Ringo’ McDonagh’s accompaniment. Here it’s ‘killing’… :-P

B: "Allan’s Irish Fiddler", collected & arranged by Hugh McDermott, 1930s, page 3, tune #5

"Allan’s Irish Fiddler"
http://www.oldmusicproject.com/
http://www.oldmusicproject.com/allans.html

Aw, come on…..
It may be bordering on naffdom, but it’s probably the version thast has sold more copies than any other:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_N-neipG-7w

play video

Pipes duet - John and Larry Rooney
http://source.pipers.ie/Media.aspx?mediaId=4356&categoryId=246

John Rooney is son-in-law and nephew of Felix Doran, still keeping the tradition of travelling pipers with his son Larry. He is believed to have introduced Dave Williams to Paddy Keenan.