The Hare’s Paw reel

I got this one from Clare concertina player, Dymphna O’Sullivan. It’s a very simple but nice reel and was very popular with C

… You can find a recording of it under this name (available on CD now) in "The Sliabh Luachra Fiddle Master Padraig O’Keeffe." The CD notes about that tune that it "is named after a travelling fiddler who taught tunes to ‘Bill the Waiver,’ Denis Murphy’s father." Denis Murphy, of course, being the great Kerry fiddler around about Padraig’s time.

Is in ‘The Northern Fiddler’ under the name ‘Low Park’

Kitty Hayes and Peter Laban play this on their new cd, "They’ll Be Good Yet." Kitty’s on a C concertina, so the Hare’s Paw comes out in F, which makes for a great fiddle setting as well.

X: 1
T: Hare’s Paw, The
D: They’ll Be Good Yet, Kitty Hayes and Peter Laban
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: F
~F3A G2 FG|AD D/D/D FDCD|~F3G AGAc|dfec dcAG|
~F3A G2 FG|AD D/D/D FDCD|~F3G AGAc|dfec d3 e||
f2 ef dcAB|c2 dc Acde|f2 ef dcAc|dfec d3 e|
f2 ef dcAB|c2 dc A~c3|~d3e dcAc|dfec dcAG||

Transposed back to G gives the following:

X: 1
T: Hare’s Paw, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: G
~G3B A2 GA|B~E3 GEDE|~G3A BABd|egfd edBA
~G3B A2 GA|B~E3 GEDE|~G3A BABd|egfd e3 f||
g2 fg edBc|d2 ed Bdef|g2 fg edBd|egfd e3f|
g2 fg edBc|d2 ed B~d3|e3f edBd|egfd edBA||

Kitty actually plays on a standard C/G concertina, like everybody else. Not a particular ‘C concertina’. The above notation is not exactly as played on the CD.

Read the B2B, E2E, etc. as rolls - I despise ABC roll notation when it plays out…

X: 1
T: Hare’s Paw, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Gmaj
|G2GA B2Bd|B2BA E2ED|G2GA BABd|efgf edBA|
G2GA B2Bd|B2BA E3D|G2GA BABd|egfd e2ef|
|gfaf gfed|Bdfd B2ef|gfaf gfed|Bdef e2ef|
|gfaf gfed|Bdfd B2ef|bgaf gfed|efgf edBA|

—DtM

ComhaltasLive #215 - 1: Brid Harper and Danny O’Mahoney
http://comhaltas.ie/music/detail/comhaltaslive_215_1_brid_harper_and_danny_omahoney/
and the dots: http://media.comhaltas.ie/notation/cltunes/TheHaresPaw.pdf

http://comhaltas.ie/music/detail/comhaltaslive_271_1_finbar_mcgreevy_and_fiona_doherty/
http://comhaltas.ie/music/detail/hares_paw/

Found a slightly different version of this in ‘The Fiddler’s Tune-Book’:

X: 1
T: Lowlands of Scotland, The
C: Trad.
S: The Fiddler’s Tune-Book; Reels & Rants, Flings & Fancies; p.28, No.115.
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
Q: 300
R: reel
K: Emin
|: A | GFGA BEE2 | Bcdc BEE2 | GFGA BABd |1 eged edB :|2 egfd e2e ||
| f || gfga edBd | d2ed Bdd2 | gfga edBd | egfd e2ef ||
|| gfga edBd | d2ed Bdd2 | bgaf gefd | egfd edB ||

The setting is given as:

|: Em4 | Bm2 Em2 | G2 Bm2 | C D Em Bm | Em4 :|
|| G4 | D2 Bm2 | C2 G2 | C D Em2 ||
|| G4 | D2 Bm2 | Em2 A72 | C D Em2 ||

At the Con Curtin Festival Concert in Brosna, June 2010. The first reel is Jack Coughlan’s Fancy.

http://youtu.be/OIiKsPgxejM

play video

I got this from the new recording by the Boston-based band, Ivy Leaf. Here’s the provenance for the tune from their liner notes:

"The first tune is a local Kerry version of the Hare’s Paw. Padraig O’Keeffe was noted not only for commanding a repertoire of tunes from abroad, but also for producing lovely and unique settings which he passed on to his students; you can hear Padraig playing this one on The Sliabh Luachra Fiddle Master, and hear Denis Murphy playing it on Music from Sliabh Luachra – and if you’re lucky, Paddy Cronin having a go at it on an old private recording."

X: 2
T: Hare’s Paw, (Kennedy’s)
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: G
~G3A BE~E2|dBAc BE~E2|~G3A BABd|egfg edBA|
~G3A BE~E2|dBAc BE~E2|~G3A BABd|egfg edB/c/d||
g2 af gfed|B/c/dgd B/c/def|g2 af gfed|B/c/defe3f|
g2 af gfed|B/c/dgd B/c/dga|bgaf gfed|egfg edBA||

This version appears under the title "Whelan’s Reel" in the Leo Rowsome Collection of Irish Music.