What One Octave Tunes in D exist?

How many decent tunes exist that are just in one octave?
I have found
The Volunteer
Blacksmith’s Reel
do others exist? Any suggestions?

Cheers

Sarah

There are a few I know in G, which would be perfectly playable in D, on your own or with consenting sessioneers:
The Grinders (slip jig)
Drops Of Brandy (slip jig)
A Mile To Ride (slip jig)
Because He Was A Bonny Lad (Northumbrian 2/4)
The Herd On The Hill (Northumbrian 2/4)

I believe all these are in the Tunes database.

Fraher’s is MOSTLY in one octave, it just jumps into the second octave for two notes in the B part of the tune.

https://thesession.org/tunes/992

Brian Boru’s March (I learned this one as a lament)

Tom wards
Blarny pilgrim
Clare jig
Wild Irishman
O’Neills March
Though these may well be one octave and a note…….do they count?

Jimmy Wards Jig is in G but it fits within the D octave

Hmmm… Tom wards? Jimmy Wards? have i got the wrong name? same tune. I play it in D.

You can play Sullivan’s Polka (around here usually played in A) in the key of D, and it will span from D to D. And The Concertina Reel is in D, and spans a single octave (although, that octave spans from F# to F#). If you want to find tunes that fit into an octave, look at the airs of songs—because of the limitations of the human voice, they almost always span a single octave (and sometimes one or two notes beyond).

AlBrown, it seems to me that the Concertina Reel fits completely within one D octave — it only ranges from F# up to D. See https://thesession.org/tunes/18. Do you have a version that goes up higher (and perhaps makes this tune more interesting)?

If you look at the entire repetoir of Scottish Pipe music you will find it is all within a 9 note scale. Lots of great tunes there. If the tunes go too high for you (they can go as high as a high A then you could always transpose the tune into a more friendly key.

csharpd, Ooops, you are right, I thought there was a high F# in there somewhere, but the way it is posted is the way I play it. And I agree, it is one tune that could be more interesting…..

Why restrict yourself to one octave on the flute?

Now, if it was a matter of finding tunes that avoided a difficult bottom E or D, I’d see the point!!

In the keys of D & G many tunes are either 1 octave, or Mr. Alarms’ Scottish piping scale, or even less than an octave. Breton music has many tunes of small range. I have never made a list they just seem to fall under the fingers. I often try to see if I can play broader tunes within the range of about an octave. [Not noodling, I practice them outside of the session ]. Some fiddle tunes go below low D ~ you can try different things (up an octave … hold the tonic … silence … ) At night (or in the wee early hours) I will play in the 1st octave. That or hand out earplugs to the neighbors.

How about these; Mermaid’s Song ~ the 9 note scale. Danza del Oso ~ less than 1 octave. Breton Dance Tune ~ let someone else take the high part & drop the B part 1 octave.
X:120
T:Mermaid’s Song
M:6/8
L:1/8
K:A Mixolydian
A2A c2d|e2d c<e- e|A2A c2d|e2d c3|B2B B2d|e2d B<G- G|A2A c>de|B2A A3:|!
c2e a2e|f2d e<A- A|c2e a2e|f<d- d e3|e2d c2A|d2c B<G- G|A2A c>de|B2A A3:|

X:6
T:Danza del Oso
R:Reel
M:4/4
L:1/4
K:Am
e A A e/d/|e A A A/B/|c c B c|d2 d c/d/|e e d/c/B|c c B/A/G|A c B/A/G|A4:|!
A/B/c A/B/c|B G G2|A/B/c A/B/c|d2 d c/d/|e e d/c/B|c c B/A/G|A c B/A/G|A4:|

X:103
T:Breton Dance Tune
R:Air(Reel)
M:4/4
L:1/4
K:G
EBBA/B/|cB A/G/F/G/|AABA|G/F/E/F/ GF|EBBA/B/|cBA/G/F/G/|AABA|G/F/E/F/E2:|!
eef g/f/|eef/e/f/g/|abba|g/f/e/f/gf|eef g/f/|eef/e/f/g/|abba|g/f/e/f/e2:|

Nicholas, if one avoids the low D on flute they are missing an important part of the tradition. As far as playing in a small range, one does not have to show all of ones’ cards at one time. Having said that, there is a tradition amongst fifers of finding just how many octaves there are in a tiny instrument with just six finger holes.

Don’t worry, Muse, I was only joking, I know you can’t do without it! But I did enough flute playing to be frustrated many a time by my inability to get a good note out of bottom D…

No problem Nicholas. It is not easy when so many players are so good at the bottom 2 notes.
Well, well, well I didn’t really have anything else to do so here are some possibilities. I may have made some mistakes but here goes;
1 full octave
Aires de Pontevedra [E ~ e]
https://thesession.org/tunes/3070
Breeches Full of Stitches [A ~ a]
https://thesession.org/tunes/1075
Humours of Kiltyclogher [E ~ e]
https://thesession.org/tunes/1043
Marcha De Breixo [G ~ g]
https://thesession.org/tunes/3416
Take the Bull by the Horns [A ~ a]
https://thesession.org/tunes/847

Octave +
Music For a Found Harmonium [C ~ c#]
https://thesession.org/tunes/346

9 note scale
Down By The Sally Gardens [D ~ e]
https://thesession.org/tunes/1314
Return From Fingal [E ~ f]
https://thesession.org/tunes/851
Dinny Delaney’s [D ~ e]
https://thesession.org/tunes/185
Mairi’s Wedding [D ~ e] [A ~ b]
https://thesession.org/tunes/1797
https://thesession.org/tunes/706
Skelton’s {Dziekowice, Mazurka Auvergnate, Mazurka De Barbary} [D ~ e] [A ~ b]
https://thesession.org/tunes/3522

Once more from the top;
here goes nothing
Aires de Pontevedra [A ~ a]
https://thesession.org/tunes/4587
Asturian Air [E ~ e]
https://thesession.org/tunes/3070

How many notes are in an octave again? "Aires de Pontevedra" [G ~ a] Oh well, that’s what you have to do until time travel really screws everything up.

I thought your family had put that time machine out of bounds to you, along with your Playstation… I’m a bit fed up with having to pick up your messes along the time streams and in limbo… You’ve got to stop throwing candy wrappers from the vehicle…

As this was a quantifiable question ~ 624, give or take a few…

There have been collections made, in particular for the ocarina and the tabor pipe ~ for starters…

A lot of tunes in A which could easily transpose to D
Mrs MacLeod of Raasay
Boys of Malin (there is a high B in the version on here which doesn’t need to be played)
etc etc

Google the name Kelischek…you could add ‘George’ to it…

Ceolachan if you are fed up consider the real source.
Sarah has a very legitimate question. From my perspective Bren & No Cause For Alarm each point this out. It is an important question for flute players. If you are being humorous watch where you point that thing please. As far as sharing tunes … that is what we do.

The Trip to Pakistan stays in the low octave also.

https://thesession.org/tunes/112

Gosh I am stunned by the amount of replies. It’s not for playing on my flute it’s because I have a set of Scottish small pipes with A and D chanters. I have plenty of pipe music for the A but for the D chanter I was wondering if there were any existing tunes without the need to transpose etc. I guess I am looking for tunes within the range low D to Upper D and I probably mean in the key of G rather than D but being a flute player I’m not so good at keys!
Thanks to all for this help

Sarah

I doubt if there are many tunes in one octave *intended* to be played in D, in ITM and related music. D bagpipe chanters are something of a one-off in the Scottish / Irish / Northumbrian piping traditions as far as I know.

On the A chanter you can play any amount of Highland bagpipe tunes that are in the key of D, but on the D chanter they’d come out in G using the same fingering - and there’s no other way you play those tunes on your D chanter, they simply wouldn’t fit!

Come to think of it, there’s one place to look: websites of people who are into revived old English and European bagpipes. These are, I think, one-octave instruments; some may have been made in D. New tunes will have been written for these, in addition to traditional tunes already around. Check out the Blowzabella or Horseplay websites, e.g., and look for links.

If you listen to some current top-notch Highland pipe band music, you’ll hear that it has become very popular to adapt traditional Irish tunes to the Highland pipe’s one-octave range. Especially pipe bands like St Lawrence O Toole (SLOT) from Dublin, and Field Marshal Montgomery (FMM) from Northern Ireland play loads of Irish trad stuff in addition to Scottish stuff. Sometimes these bands will play a fairly long medley consisting almost entirely of trad Irish.
Sometimes trad Irish tunes translate to the scale of the Highland pipes perfectly, but most often the tunes have to be adapted, or in some cases, mangled almost beyond recognition. For example Highland pipers love playing The Gold Ring, even though most of its parts go far beyond the Highland range. What they do is play only some of the parts, and compress the bits that go into the upper octave. Sometimes the Highland pipe arrangements are different, but just as pleasing, as the original tune: The Kesh Jig is an example.
There is an entire book of trad Irish tunes adapted to the one-octave Highland scale: "Traditional Irish Music For The Bagpipe" by Dave Rickard. His arrangements are very good, the best possible given the Highland pipe’s restrictions. It’s full of common tunes from Planxty and Bothy Band albums etc.

Oh, as a person who plays uilleann pipes and Highland pipes, I should mention that there is a small number of trad Irish tunes which actually fit BETTER on the Highland pipe’s scale than the uilleann pipe’s scale in my opinion. These are tunes which have the subtonic note, what would be low C on the uilleann pipes, what is low G on the Highland pipes.
One is the March Of The King Of Laois: the bit where the tune is jumping a sixth between low E and middle C natural is clumsy on the uilleann pipes, and when you play it on the Highland pipes it’s obvious that some of those C’s are supposed to be low C’s. It must have originally been an Irish Warpipe tune.
Other tunes which in my opinion work better on the Highland pipe’s 9-note scale:
Sweet Carnloch Bay
She Moved Through the Fair
Cliffs of Dooneen
The Curragh of Kildare

I have Dave Rickard’s book and it is excellent but that’s with the A Chanter. I know I could adapt it for the D chanter but I was just wondering if there were any lively tunes like the Volunteer and Blacksmith’s Reel that I’ve found that are written for the octave low D to high D because they sound better in that key. I play with other musicians so I wanted to get some tunes we can all play easily from sight reading without the need to work out adaptations etc so we can see what is likely to work with the pipes. Oh sheer laziness on my part I know!

Cheers

Sarah

Hi Sarah, I hope you didn’t take my comments as Muse did. I have a deep interest in this particular subject, as I also like the use of such tunes for starting off beginners. The title was an immediate draw, if arriving late to the discussion. Now for a little clarity and steam cleaning ~

Muse, ease up will yuh, I’m not sure what you are reading into my comments, but I don’t recognize it…

There are some lovely tunes from early times to the present, including from traditions in England and Germany and France and beyond, for the ocarina and the tabor pipe ~ and as these are octavely challenged instruments, appropriate to this discussion ~ "What One Octave Tunes in D exist?". Kelischek has done a few collections of tunes and also runs workshops and works with other octavely challenged instruments. He is madly passionate about it. If not in ‘D’ per say, as some people have already noted, and I didn’t think it needed repeating, as Sarah is well adept at transposing, I suspect, moving something from elsewhere in to the relative D shouldn’t be a problem… Others had also already covered areas like the highland bagpipe tradition, so I didn’t need to repeat that either… I suppose I could have brought in the bagpipe traditions of ‘elsewhere’, but though that might have been a step too far…

We obviously don’t have the same ‘sense of humour’. I was joking with you on that your previous response:

"Oh well, that’s what you have to do until time travel really screws everything up."

But, the comment about ocarinas and tabor pipes, for those that would have realized that, was not flippant… So, ease up, you brought in ‘time travel’ to the discussion. I just should have been more sensitive to your more serious nature… 😏

So, to repeat, ocarinas, tabor pipes and Kelischek were attempts at constructive contributions of material not already mentioned…

😛 So there…

Oh yes, almost forgot, ‘other’ bagpipe traditions, if you’ve the interest Sarah, Galician music, as is usually for the gaita…

Check this recent discussion:
Common tunes worth learning from other traditions
https://thesession.org/discussions/15206

& more seriousness ~ the list of octave limited tunes is endless…not 624… 😎

NB - I think the tabor pipe plays an octave and a half, if not more!

Sarah, if you like Welsh tunes, John Tose put out a book of one-octave tunes for the pipes, "Y Pibydd". 117 tunes for a D pipe, including some fairly well-known.

Yes Nicholas, but a lot of the stuff I’ve seen in collections and as played was limited or could be limited to the easier range of about an octave and a note… There are at least half a dozen French collections I’ve seen over time, and a few groups I’ve seen. I’d also seen a Spanish collection at one time…or was it Basque, not sure… I haven’t any of those on hand. I thought that most of the tunes were limited to 9 notes or less, but without them at hand I can’t be sure…

sara g ~ isn’t there also a website somewhere of Welsh tunes for ‘Y Pibydd’? I did an initial search when this subject came up but couldn’t find it. I should have added it to the ‘links’ when I first found out about it. I’ll look later and see if maybe I have the link somewhere on site here. I think it was a maker, and I’m sure they had quite a few tunes on site, if the site is still up and running.

This subject seemed open ended ~ but if there is a particular tradition you meant Sarah, sorry for the asides to other times and inclinations…

Muse, I’ve already answered your email, but to repeat ~ I only ‘tease’ people I like, and that is what the aside was about ‘time machines’ passing in the stream ~ just an aside, just a tease, just fantasy, that was given as if between friends, playfully. I now know I was wrong and will do my best not to repeat myself. I haven’t a time machine and the quantum candy wrappers probably weren’t yours anyway. Maybe the ‘Playstation’ comment was too close to call. If so, I honestly didn’t know you had one and that it had been put off limits…sorry… 😏

I’ve dug out a couple of pipe and tabor books, both give the range for a tabor-pipe in D as D to a, 13 notes, or as you mentioned, an octave and a fifth… I’ve a couple of tune collections and include a selection of 1 octave tunes but also tunes that cover that fuller range… I did find that quite a few Morris tunes are within the range of one octave, such as ‘Balance the Straw’, which is less than an ocave. So, another source, if you’re open to it, would be Morris tunes, and there are numberous ‘early’ pieces too, amongst recorder and early music repertoire, including quite a few country dances, such as can be found in Playford and in other collections of the times.

There is / was a book out on English pipes that included a slew of tunes, and the last time I saw it they were selling it from the "Early Music" shop in London, but that was ages ago, when you could also buy a kit to build your own set of pipes… I do have that, but not at hand, sorry…

The Early Music Shop
http://www.e-m-s.com/

They also had quite a choice of music, and that included other collections that specialized in or included single octave tunes…

Now to see if I can find that Welsh piper’s site…

That was easy, why was I having trouble finding it earlier? I’m not well this week, probably spelling ~ or my Welsh. Here it is:

Welsh Bagpipes and Welsh Pibgorn
http://www.pibydd.fsnet.co.uk/

I think there used to be another too, but this will do for starters…

"Muiñeira De Chantada"
Submitted on September 20th 2007 by ceolachan.
https://thesession.org/tunes/7738

And that reminds me, just t’other side of the channel, I did mention France, but there’s also, to narrow things down a little bit more, Breizh / Brittany, and the repertoire of the Bombarde et Biniou Koz?! Before someone reminds me of their range ~ a number of single octave tunes are played, including several En Dro / An Dro… Funny that, because I’d just been playing a number of these and it had completely slipped my mind, probably the bug bugging me this week ~ unnnnh… 🙁

Just get Scottish smallpipes in D, then all those Highland pipe tunes with an A to A range then have a D to D range without you having to change a thing.
I used to have a nice loud set of Scottish smallpipe in D, and whenever I would play a tune normally in A , the fiddlers would just move the tune a string down, allowing them to make A tunes come out in D without any change in bowing or fingering.

I have got smallpipes in D which is what prompted the question! The Dave Rickard book mentioned is great with loads of Irish tunes reset for the low to high A octave - BUT sometimes a tune that’s designed to be played in A doesn’t always sound so good in D. Also being lazy I’d have to sort the tunes from A into D so I was after anyone who had already looked into this and found some tunes in the Low to high D range so band and I can get going fairly quickly and we can all play along

Thanks for the continued help everyone

Sarah

I love the small pipes, lovely instruments, and much better suited to small settings than their larger relatives, alternatively named ‘war pipes’… Here’s another, if the question is inclusive of other traditions ~

"En Dro" / "An Dro" ~ a simple limited range tune from Breizh / Brittany
Key signature: A Dorian
Submitted on September 22nd 2007 by ceolachan.
https://thesession.org/tunes/7744

As mentioned previously, there are quite a few French and Breton tunes that fit the limitation of an octave or an octave and a bit…

I’ve just entered this one - Emin but fits the spirit of the request since it has only 6 notes, going from D to B - no c’s at all.
https://thesession.org/tunes/7746

Some great tunes here. I have a book of breton stuff where a lot of one octave stuff appears so thanks for the tune Ceolachan and the tips! Spindizzy I LOVE that tune! Our band does Em really well so this is an excellent find!

Many thanks to all for the suggestions

Sarah (about to go gigging)

"La Piquée Double" ~ a Breton couple dance
Key signature: G Major (between D & d) ~ & D in the comments
Submitted on September 22nd 2007 by ceolachan.
https://thesession.org/tunes/7747

This is a sweet tune. I’ll probably only get one or two more in before Jeremy’s voice of reason requests I get back to the usual material from these isles… I do realize the need for balance… I had been going over a slew of Breton stuff and there is a lot that fits the request. The same is true of French tunes. There are also Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Cornish, Manx and English too. I have other promises to keep, but I’ll dig up some others in the near future and add them if they aren’t already here. There are also a number that have been transposed to within your range (D to d) in the comments for different tunes…

Best of luck with your smallpipes…

Damn spin, no c’s… How sad is that? 😉

Well, I was just looking at Oob Be Est Da Vong…oh no, sorry, F sharp to A…..
Ah ! The Burning of the Pipers’ Hut ! D to d if you don’t ornament over the top d.

Now that’s a lovely one GP, I’d forgotten about that. Here’s another for you Sarah ~

Gan Ainm ~ polka ( Irish! 😉 )
Key signature: Gmajor
Submitted on September 23rd 2007 by ceolachan.
https://thesession.org/tunes/7751

I was sitting on it, not liking to submit ‘gan ainms’, preferring things have a name, for all our sakes, and crediting a composer if one is involved, but try as I did, I didn’t find either for this one. I hope you like it anyway… At least it is Irish and a start to pull back a balance…

"The Defaulter’s March" / "The Burning Of The Piper’s Hut"
Key signature: e minor
Submitted on April 27th 2002 by cheshire puddy tat.
https://thesession.org/tunes/660

No longer a ‘gan ainm’, I found it was a duplication. Here’s the earlier transcript ~

"The Cascade Polka"
Key signature: G Major
Submitted on September 17th 2006 by fiddlercjp.
https://thesession.org/tunes/6203

WOW! As a Highland piper and Smallpipe (A & D) player, this has been a most fantastic string! Thank you to Sarah for posing the question and to everyone else for the amazing list!

"The Woods Of Fanaid" ~ slip jig
Key signature: Dmajor
Submitted on September 25th 2007 by ceolachan.
https://thesession.org/tunes/7761

"Drummore Lasses"
Key signature: Dmixolydian
Submitted on February 16th 2007 by ceolachan.
https://thesession.org/tunes/6822

"The Silver Slipper" ~ slip jig, kissin’ cousin to "The Woods Of Fanaid"
Key signature: D Major
Submitted on September 21st 2003 by david a.
https://thesession.org/tunes/1999

"The Peacock Followed the Hen" ~ E Dorian
Key signature: A Dorian / E Dorian in the comments
Submitted on November 19th 2002 by cuchulain54.
# Posted on September 25th 2007 by ceolachan (E Dorian)
https://thesession.org/tunes/1145/comments

Hey this is great ceolachan! With these slip jigs that’s a set for Strip the Willow sorted! ….. Now the REAL (reel?) challenge - any advance on Concertina, Volunteer & Blacksmiths???????

Thanks so much to all for the help with this

Sarah

I’m not through yet Sarah ~ 😉

"The Piper’s Maggot" ~ slip jig, D Mixolydian
Key signature: A Mixolydian & D Mixolydian in comments
Submitted on March 23rd 2007 by gaitazampogna_32.
# Posted on September 25th 2007 by ceolachan
https://thesession.org/tunes/6994/comments (D-Mix)

I’ve a few more slips to slip you before changing gears. I think slip jigs are particularly nice on the pipes, but I like them anyway, however they’re taken… I only wish I could be present to dance to your pipes…

I am putting off other work, including a couple of other promises, but I’ll get to them too, soon…

Curious, what make of pipes to people have? Sarah? Piprgrl? I’d love to chase up the makers sites and see what they’re making, what they look like. That could be another discussion… I wonder if the ol’ early music kits are still available?

"The Spirit Of Whiskey" ~ slip jig
Key signature: e minor
Submitted on September 25th 2007 by ceolachan.
https://thesession.org/tunes/7763

"Follow Her Over The Border"
Key signature: D Major
Submitted on September 26th 2007 by ceolachan.
https://thesession.org/tunes/7771

The previous is still in slip jig country, and here’s another, more to follow ~

"The Dusty Miller" ~ slip jig
Key signature: Dmajor
Submitted on March 17th 2005 by grymater.
https://thesession.org/tunes/4323

See the ‘comments’…

"The Shamrock" ~ slip jig
Key signature: G, A & D Major
Submitted on December 20th 2006 by ceolachan.
https://thesession.org/tunes/6528/comments

If you want the dots for ABCs in ‘comments’, don’t forget this online tool, if you haven’t one yourself ~

Concertina.Net
http://www.concertina.net/
Tune-O-Tron
http://www.concertina.net/tunes.html
ABC Convert-A-Matic
http://www.concertina.net/tunes_convert.html

This thread grows and grows
Many thanks for your continued help Ceolachan
very much appreciated
Sarah

You need a break from 9/8, which isn’t over with yet 😉

"The Hullichan Jig"
Key signature: G Major & D in the comments
Submitted on October 27th 2002 by lazyhound. / in D by ceolachan
https://thesession.org/tunes/1084/comments

"Tending The Steer With A Heavy Heart" ~ slip jig
Key signature: G Mixolydian / D Major-Mix in the comments
Submitted on September 27th 2007 by bogman.
( & D by yours truly, in the comments 😉 )
https://thesession.org/tunes/7779/comments

Up and Down Again - https://thesession.org/tunes/4445 - is a marvelously hypnotic slip jig in E minor/G major, with a range of D to d.

Well TDM, if its e minor you like, here’s another ~

"Throw the Beetle at Her" (D to d)
Key signature: b minor / e minor in the coments ( 😉 )
Submitted on September 25th 2002 by Netallica.
https://thesession.org/tunes/988/comments

"Looby Light" ~ slip jig & song / dance?
Key signature: D Major
Submitted on September 28th 2007 by ceolachan.
https://thesession.org/tunes/7782

Thanks, ceolachan, I do love me some E minor.

Sarah, if you can get an F natural on your flute, here’s a Dminor/Ddorian jig from D to d:

https://thesession.org/tunes/5891

"Come Under My Dimity" ~ slip jig
Key signature: G Major
Submitted on September 29th 2007 by ceolachan.
https://thesession.org/tunes/7793

TDM, a good one for All Hallows / Halloween… 😲

"We’ll All Lie Together" ~ slip jig
Key signature: Dmixolydian
Submitted on September 30th 2007 by ceolachan.
https://thesession.org/tunes/7799

"The Hawthorn Bush" / "Captain MacDonald’s Favourite"
Key signature: D Major
Submitted on October 1st 2007 by ceolachan.
https://thesession.org/tunes/7807

You do keep finding them C
Thanks so much this is really helpful
Pipes had their first public outing on Sunday and worked really well with the band.
I now have A/D combination pipes by Burleigh. I also have my original ones in A by Colin Ross but will be selling these now.

Sarah

"Donald, Willie, and the Dog" ~ 4-part slip jig
Key signature: A Mixolydian ~ G Mix & Major in the comments, courtesy of ‘c’
Submitted on May 16th 2004 by slainte.
https://thesession.org/tunes/3019/comments

That’s a quirky number, as is my take off in Major… I have several more slip jigs, not fudges, and will add those later. It is good practice for me, getting in touch with them, and slip jigs, I think, are particularly fun given your situation and instrumentation… There are other forms, but I’m on a roll just now and enjoying awakening the memory and focusing on 9/8, too often neglected and such a kick to play and dance to…

Colin Ross, yes, that’s a maker I’ve known, but the name Burleigh isn’t activating any memory cells at the moment, not that I can depend on mine to work on cue. I’ll have to give a look online and see what there is. I’ve been out of touch for awhile. I’ve always been fond of people who create musical instruments, everyone I’ve ever met was a character, and an education…

Was Sunday the dance you mentioned? That’s cool. I love dancing to bagpipes, all sorts… If your band has a website it would be cool to update it with maybe an MP3 of the group with the pipes going, and pictures of course, close ups of the pipes… 😉

One octave ? Every single Highland bagpipe tune ever composed.

Nah - that’s wrang - 9 notes, but what’s an extra 1 note ?

Yes, we’d been there, the GHB… Why do I always see in my mind the BFG? What brought you out Kenny? I’ve been trying to avoid that next step, one note up, as you say, it is like staring into the maws of infinity… 😉

Anyway, here’s another slip jig ~

"The Roving Blade"
Key signature: D Major & A
Submitted on October 3rd 2007 by you.
https://thesession.org/tunes/7815

"Rattlin’, Roarin’ Willie" ~ slip jig
Key signature: D Mixolydian ~ & G Mix
Submitted on October 7th 2007 by ceolachan.
https://thesession.org/tunes/7837

"The Time Of Day" ~ slip jig
Key signature: b minor
Submitted on October 9th 2007 by ceolachan.
https://thesession.org/tunes/7841

Another sweet number…

https://thesession.org/tunes/3818

this must be one of the best one octave tunes out there

The Lochaber Badger by Fred Morrison.
https://thesession.org/tunes/5758

Re: What One Octave Tunes in D exist?
Tunes of a single octave are great for transposing. I like the Scottish reel "The Ale is Dear"
played down a fourth. It is usually played in Bm (B Aeolian) & the range is exactly an octave. The lowest and highest notes are both A’s.
Dropping down a fourth you play an octave between D’s

X:1
T:The Ale is Dear
M:4/4
K:E Aeolian
B2AB E2BA|Bd AB FD DF|B2 AB E2 BA|Bd AF E2 EF:|!
|:EE EF G2 FE|DD DE FD EF|EE EF G2 FE|B2 AF E2 E2:|

The lower tone of this version is sometimes nice. Either version is easily played on a D flute or whistle.

I hate to necrotise this old thread but is it sacrilegious to change a two octave tune to one octave? Some tunes are too high they are shrill for my whistle. I’m thinking The Roaring Barmaid for example. Second part can be played in the lower octave as well as the higher.

What a marvelous collection of one-octave and nine-note tunes! I was given a "thumbpiano" as a Christmas gift. Although mostly given with tongue-in-cheek, I decided that because it is a musical instrument, it should be used for Irish tunes. Thanks for all the leads on material! I will have to retune the thumbpiano from C to D, but that is easily enough done. Now to figure out how to mic this thing ….

Is this the same instrument as formerly known as the Kaffir thumb Piano, made from one piece of wood with nails tuned in an octave? I’ve always thought of these as the triumph of man’s mind over his poverty. God bless Africa!

PS. Any tune can be played in any key suitable for any particular instrument. Just be careful when playing with others.

Chris B.