Tune Sources

Where do people source their tunes? Ok, there’s right here at thesession.org, at real sessions, O’Niells, the BBC virtual session, maybe some of the classic albums, etc. Anywhere else?

I, for example, like to hear recordings of sessions. It’s also fun to listen to some old Ceili band stuff for tunes, once you’re able to withstand the corniness…and also some more “modern” ceili bands, eg the Shaskeen Ceili Band and, recently, in particular, The Thatch Ceili Band - some great tunes on their album The Legacy.

Danny.

Other players, session, cds (leaning more toward solo or duet stuff), old tapes of Thistle and Shamrock on the radio, occasionally Breathnach’s books, abcs from the net…anywhere, really.

Mainly I get my tunes from my teacher. Lately though also from friends who are players at our house sessions. Older players at sessions. Old tapes that I go through, a lot of great friends have sent me old tapes. Tapes of concerts, tapes of friends. Summerschool tapes. Web- the Geezers Tape that ended up on the web, that’s got a lot of great music on it for flute. I liked that bbc virtual session too. There are some fun mpe3’s on Bernie Stock’s place. Sometimes I’ll take something off a cd, esp if my husband is learning it. Abc’s sometimes, I once made myself a “tape of abc’s” and listened to that in the car until I knew some of the tunes and then played them.

I like the best just learning a tune by osmosis from hearing a great setting a lot of times. But I’ve also improved at being taught directly (note-for-note). I dont’ like to learn from books, but once when I was tired at a family reunion, I went off in a corner downstairs with a whistle and read through the John Skelton books.

Yeah to both of the above first 2. Basically, yep, it’s wherever you pick up a tune, be it some Horslips album, or maybe a band from Asturias doing their obligatory Celtic-Cred Irish tune, before they launch into their own, much more interesting, stuff. Or maybe from Paddy O’Brien. It’s what few tunes out of thousands that grab you. Right now, I have the following sets ringing in my ears: The Banks of Ilen/Cronin’s/John MacKenna’s (reels), and The Rakes of Clonmel/Humours of Drimnagh/Castle Connors (jigs). Yeah, I know my sight reading is dire, but I know I can strip a heard tune back to the bare bones, and know whether it’s any good or not.

But these comments are not just said for the experienced players but so that anyone new wanting to learn can share stuff here.

Danny

Something I’ve found very useful over the years is writing a tune down right away, even (especially) if I don’t have time to learn it on the spot. I can usually get the gist of it into dots or abcs within a round or two of hearing the tune, and then when I come back to it later (sometimes weeks, months, or even years), the stuff on the page jogs my aural memory and it’s easy to get it going.

This helps at sessions and workshops too, where my brain hits overload after 4 or 5 new tunes. I start jotting them down after that, so I don’t lose them. And it’s saved me a couple of times when my tape recorder was humming along without a cassette inside (doh! ;o).

I mention this only because I still think of the sound as my source and I rely on that to shape my playing of the tune--the ink-on-paper is just a memory aid.

Danny - what is the BBC virtual session???

Brubakh - you are in for a treat! The vitual session is a site hosted by the BBC which has many sets of tunes. They were recorded at a live session Michael McGoldrick, Karen Tweed, John McKusker, Ian Carr and Tomai Taylor - some session eh?. A great source for learning. You just select a set of tunes and the ‘basic’ dots for each tune are displayed and you get to hear it at the same time. Check it out: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/r2music/folk/sessions/

Keep the music strong …………. Bob

I get most of my tunes from my teachers, which has the added benefit of giving me ready-made groups of people (ie classmates) to play the tunes with. I also agree with all those who recommend listening to ceili bands (I love them, but I know I’m in a minority) first because they play the tunes very straight - which makes the tunes easier to pick up, and enabling the clever ones amongst us to develop their own variations once the tune is in their heads - and second because they generally go out of their way to keep adding new tunes to their repertoire). For good tunes (and I agree that the Thatch tunes are fab), the Kilfenora Ceili Band, the Tain Ceili Band and the Emerald Ceili Band always have nice stuff, as do the (very old) Gallowglass Ceili Band on their CD entitled something like “One Last Time”.

Jane R

I used to own a reel-to-reel tape recorder (Uher 2-track bought in 1970). Ages ago a mate of mine recorded some of his LPs for me. To learn the tunes you only had to play the tape at half speed (you got three different speeds to record and play at) and you would hear the tune exactly one octave lower. Very handy that, a-not-so-amazing-slow-downer if you like. Last year it turned out the machine was beyond repair so I chucked it out along with the tapes. A yes, a pity.

Aaah! loved the old reel-to-reel; a mystical and temperamental bit of kit in me youth, approached only on pain of death, and the source of all me earliest musical memories (since none of us played anything).

Wow!! The bbc virtual session is brilliant!! Thank you!!
Heidi

Glad you enjoyed, Heidi.

danny.

Could someone kindly assist, I wanted to see if the link to the Geezers tape was already listed in links, to post it if not since I mentioned it on this thread. But, I don’t know how to find that. They are mp3’s on the web (what category is that?). Sorry to post a tech query mid discussion. If there’s a better way please someone clue me in. duh.
thanks, Lesl.

Hello Everyone!

Am new to this forum as well as to playing trad irish. Am not new to searching the web and have been able to find tunes from a couple of sites. One of the biggest has a database (TuneDB). Will try to post a link to that site.

Is it cheating to learn from sheet music? My instructor is valiantly trying to train my ear, but as I learned as a child with sheet music, I haven’t broken that habit and don’t dare confess to her! I do use my cd recordings and follow the sheet music to try to learn the tune. It’s a slow process, but it keeps me off the streets.
Fondly, Deb.

im looking fo a gud reel in a major for my ceili band ??

I think the Major might complain a bit!

Oh the key of “A Major”! I thought you were asking for a reel in “a major key”! I misread your post. In my defence it was not that easy to read.

Either way if you go to the tunes section and filter the search for “reels” in “A Major” then you will find loads. Have a look through the comments sections. If you see comments like, “This is a great tune” then you are sorted. 🙂