The Boys Of Malin reel

This is a fast and lively reel, guaranteed to liven up any session.

If you play it as shown here, you’ll get a rollercoaster ride of notes in the first part. Try putting in some pauses by the lengthening the first E note that gets played, or the first F, or both.

This is the kind of tune that’s hard to break out of in a set, but a classic combination is to follow this reel with "The Gravel Walks". As Cole Porter so succinctly put it, "How strange the change from major to minor".

I learned the A part as :
e|ABcd eAce|fdfa edcB|ABcd eAce|fdBc d2 ec:|
I think the second measure is actually easier played this way, as it breaks up the runs. And it also provides a change from going straight up and down the scale as the first part does.

I’ve spent a bit of my evening and learned ‘The Boys of Malin’ using the tune Jim Doran provided on his site. Using some sheetmusic from here and then toggling between slow and fast versions was, for me, a great way to get the mechanical and stylistic components of the tune. Thanks a heap Jim!

What I really want to know now is what tunes would you all suggest would go good before or after or both?

Right after I posted I got the bright idea to look throught he recordings section to see what some people have put with the tune. Duh! Well… if you have favorites or unique suggestions I’d still ove to hear them 🙂

Go easy on the Labatt, Mike.

Jack The Lad / Boys Of Malin / Trip To Windsor
The Shetland Fiddler /T he Boys Of Malin
Macleod’s Reel / The Boys Of Malin
Boys Of Malin / Maids Of Castlebar
The Star Of Munster / The Boys O’ Malin
The Guns Of The Magnificent Seven / The Boys Of Malin / The Gravel Walk
Timour The Tartar / Boys Of Malin
Martin Wynes / The Boys Of Malin
Boys Of Malin / High Road To Linton
The New Policeman / The Boys Of Malin / The High Road
The Wind That Shakes The Barley / The Boys Of Malin
Victory Reel / The Boys Of Malin
The Boys Of Malin / Jenny’s Wedding
The Boys Of Malin / The Old Oak Tree
The Boys Of Malin / The Sailor On The Rock
The Boys Of Malin / McDermott’s Reel
Road To Lisdoonvarna/Boys Of Malin
The Sailor on the Rock/Boys of Malin/The Star of Muns

What happened to the sheet music for this reel?

Great tune………………but how do you bow that last line cleanly when it’s bowling along at a fair lick?!

Separate bows?
2 notes to a bow?
Use 4th finger on A-string to play the e’s?

Just little flicks of the wrist, crossing the strings. It takes some practice, but is an excellent skill to learn. I still can’t do it very well, and I’ve been at it for years. (I have found, however, that if you play an electric fiddle with really heavy distortion, nobody really notices that you mess it up 🙂

This is the version I learned from a recording by Buttons and Bows. Although it’s plain that it’s the same tune, it’s significantly different

X:036
T:The Boys of Mallin
D:Buttons and Bows: ‘Grace Notes’ 1991
Z:Nigel Gatherer
M:4/4
L:1/8
K:Bm
Bfdf Bfdf | Bfdf e2 dc | Bfdf Bfdf | ecAc ecdc :|
Bcde f2 df | g2 eg fedc | Bcde f2 df | ecAc ecdc |
Bcde f2 df | g2 eg fedc | Bcde f2 df | ecAc efga ||
bB B/B/B fBdF | b2 ba fefa | bB B/B/B fBdf | ecAc efga |
bB B/B/B fBdF | b2 ba fefa | bgaf gefd | ecAc e2 dc |]

Boys of Malin/Anderson’s Reel/Cup of Tea

going from Jeremy’s A Major version into Nigel’s B minor version.

Third tune here by the White Hare, great stuff
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTOBgBqFsCQ

play video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jT9bqBUoF8

play video

@bogman, anyone…what are the first 2 in the White Hair video posted? With Boys of Malin as third.
Great set! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTOBgBqFsCQ

play video

Thanks!

Diane - the titles are given at 24 - 27 secs.

Kenny… thank you so much! Missed it entirely; just saw the band name. 🙂

This set, learned from the late great fiddle master of County Antrim, Denis Sweeney, works well:
Tommy Peoples’ (The St. Johnston)/Anderson’s/The Boys of Malin.
We used to play it in our band for the final figure of the Plain Set - really got them going !

I learned this version from Martin Tourish.

Not sure where I got this melody line from but this is the one I always used. I suspect it is from sessions because this is a quite common tune. I mostly agree with Norbeck, to which setting I just did minor changes.