The Cloone reel

"Cloon" as in Cloon nr. Claregalway, "Cloon River" or "Cloone" Co. Leitrim?… Anyone?
Sometimes in D major, but why not play it in C - I mean look how many other D major reels there are. Dervish play a different setting in D, available at Norbeck’s #680. I think the setting I’ve transcribed is more suitable for a sessions, but I’m not sure, maybe the Dervish setting is becoming popular in some places.

One good reason for playing this tune in C is that it has no F-naturals in it, so theres no awkward fingering involved for whistle and keyless flute players. Tunes played in C have a quality about them which is different from the common keys of D and G (I would not like to stipulate as to whether this is due to some inherent nature of the key or to the relationship between fingerings and acoustics of the instruments - probably largely the latter, given that pitch standards have varied enormously over the last 4 centuries) and this should be exploited to the full.

I’ve done a pretty careful transcription of Malloy’s setting of this tune for any of you fluties out there who are interested in such things, and here’s the abcs.

X:1
T:Cloon, The
S:Matt Malloy
Z:Jack Gilder
M:4/4
L:1/8
R:reel
K:Cmaj
dcAE ~G3A|GEcE ~G3c|dcAE ~G3A|GEcGE D~D2|!
dcAE ~G3A|GEcE ~G3A|c2ec ~g3e|dcAG ED~D2:||!
c2ec gcec|~g3a gede|c2ec gceg|gedc AGEG|!
c2ec gcec|~g3a gedg|gedc ~d2ed|cAGE ED~D2:||!

I didn’t know he played flute as well as being an actor! Has he done any recordings?

Wise guy! 😛

Here’s the way the Border Collies recorded it:

X:1
T:Cloon Reel
R:reel
D:Border Collies: Unleashed
Z:Jack Gilder
M:C|
K:D
d|fedB ~A3F|FEDF ~A3d|fedB ~A3F|FEDE FEEd|!
fedB ~A3F|FEDF ~A3B|d2fd ~a3f|1edBA FEE:|2edBA FEE2||!
d2fd adfd|~a3b afef|d2fd adfd|ABde feef|!
d2fd adfd|~a3b afea|bafd e2fe|1dBAF FEE2:|2dBAF FEE||!

The slievenotes from "the missing reel" album could help clarify this.
I can’t quote from it now but the celticgrooves.homestead.com review says: "A magnificent 1990 release by Sligo fiddle player Seamus McGuire and Leitrim flute player John Lee, featuring great tunes and local settings from the South Sligo and Leitrim traditions"
I think I remember reading there that the tune came from Leitrim and it definitely is played by John Lee on this album.
They call it "the Cloone reel" (but is it a "true" reel?)

What’s in a name? The Cloone Reel which Jack Gilder and the Session’s sheet music section gives (which is in a ‘sort of’ d minor key) is not the same reel as is played on the Missing Reel which is another tune altogether and in a more recognisable G major.

There aren’t too many tunes in the key of C in the Irish trad. repertoire (the hundred of ‘CMajor’ tunes listed on this site are to be played on, say, a C whistles, not the usual D) …
…but the finger pattern for this tune is very natural (bar the turn, easier if transposed to D*) to the D whistle!!
How do youse play it? C or D’?
Have you ever tried a CD (no pun intended) duet on this?
Which do you prefer?
Do you play it in a set?
I think I only play one other tune in this way (ie CMAj on Dwhistle) but can’ t think of it now. (let’s c… mm… well, it will be for another time…)

(*it was by accident I stumbled on the D version -or was it at a session? It’s not often heard there either…)

for another instance of a ‘true’ C tune, see also: https://thesession.org/tunes/1643 (Johnny Loughran’s or Con McGlinchey’s.(reel)

I suppose that any tune based on the twin pentatonic modes Am / C (respectively without the 6th and 2nd and 4th and 7th) (which is less common than the the less ambiguous third-less pentatonic scale for those who are into modes) is a potential candidate for this little collection, really. (the likes of the Chicago reel, etc…) Here’s another one -depending on whether you hear it in A or C-;
https://thesession.org/tunes/345 (The Kerryman’s Daughter (reel))

in the Jigs category:
cathe-https://thesession.org/tunes/5147 (Wakin’ Nancy (jig) (1st part only, rearranged a bit)
-https://thesession.org/tunes/4563 (The Funny Mistake (slip jig) 2nd part only not very convincing though)
-https://thesession.org/tunes/2277 (The Rooms Of Dooagh (jig)) (drop all f’s!)
-why not Pedwar Post O’r Gwely (jig) https://thesession.org/tunes/5600
-https://thesession.org/tunes/4638 (Michael Burke’s (jig)) (drop the only f)
-in A? C lydian? https://thesession.org/tunes/3979 (Merrily Kicked The Quaker (jig)
-in A? https://thesession.org/tunes/3842/details (The Lisnagun (jig)
Last but not least:
https://thesession.org/tunes/4047 (Liam O’Connors (jig)

Our reporter, live from ‘thesession’:
-so what’s the C-tuation outhere like today, B?
-Rr…there’s that last part of: https://thesession.org/tunes/42/details The Gravel Walk (reel) that shifts nicely into ‘C’, we love it!
True, the tune has A written all over it, though. Over!

See https://thesession.org/tunes/2660 for the other version in D, sometimes called the Humours of Toomagh.

Codladh Sámh (reel) https://thesession.org/tunes/10423 can also be played in CMaj.

CMajor tunes update:
The Kerryman’s Daughter (reel)
https://thesession.org/tunes/345

Submitted on March 10th 2012 by D.J.F..
~ g/tunes/11830

X: 4
T: Cloone, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Gmaj
|: DGBG DGBe | dBGB AEGE | DGBG DGBe |[1 dBAF ~G3 E :|[2 dBAF G2 ge ||
dg ~g2 dgbg | agab ageg | dg ~g2 dgbg | agab ~g3 e |
dg ~g2 dgbg | agab agef | ge ~e2 dB ~B2 | dBAc BGGE |]

I got this powerful reel from "The Missing Reel" which is a brilliant album by Sligo fiddle player Seamus McGuire and Leitrim flautist John Lee.

Really love the small run down in near the end of the B part, an absolute killer tune!

# Posted on March 10th 2012 by D.J.F.

https://thesession.org/tunes/2660

# Posted on March 10th 2012 by Kenny

# Posted on March 10th 2012 by Weejie

is the tune i submitted actually the same tune though?

.. but I’m bloody sure that I checked your abcs before declaring it a duplicate, and there’s no way I’d ever confuse the abcs posted above by "ceolachan" for the tune I know as "The Cloone". I did not declare it a duplicate solely on the basis of the name. What’s going on here ? It would also mean that neither "Weejie" nor "ceolachan" had noticed that what you’d posted was indeed a different tune, and I’d say that’s unlikely.
"ceolachan’s" rescued abc duplication above is certainly the reel which Messrs Lee and Maguire call the "Cloone" - 3rd reel on track 5, on "The Missing Reel" recording. I don’t know if it’s here in the database - probably not. I’d like to hear from "C" and "Weejie" what they remember about this. I can but offer humble apologies D.J.F., please post the tune again - as you say, it is a great reel, and worthy of inclusion here.

Thanks Kenny, I will re-submit it tomorrow.

Incidentally a variation in C major of the tune Dow posted here originally is played on the Missing Reel album but on the last track under the name of "Humours Of Tooma" which adds to the confusion!

Yeah - I knew that, DJF. I think "C" is the original key, but could be wrong. Wouldn’t be the first time. 🙂

Duh! Duff! Right you are Kenny, as usual. I need more sleep. I usually play through tunes before ‘rescuing’ them as duplications. I gather I must have passed on that on some other authority, but even then I still will play through a tune. I’m guessing I didn’t play through the original transcriptions here.

I’ll see about getting Jeremy to clean up my mistake…😛

Sorry D.J.F.

OH! It was you Kenny. You were the authority I took for granted. 😀 Sorry! No excuses, I should have played all versions before moving D.J.F.’s transcript here.

I’m guessing I was also worried, arriving late, that it would soon go "POOF!"

No - I didn’t actually check it through either. I was taking it as being a duplicate on your word, Kenny. It’s rarely - and kind of goes without thinking that yuo would be correct. Sometimes, perhaps a different enough variation. I should have actually checked it. Apologies too, DJF.

Humble apologies here too Kenny. I’d moved too quickly, and it seems rightly so as soon afterwards it did go "POOF!". After seeing your trusted comment that it was a ‘duplication’, and giving Dan’s transcription some playing time, the one given above, I just lifted it and placed it here without also checking and playing through what was here originally. That’s unusual for me, not to double check, or more. Having arrived late , I thought, I’d only checked to see which was the earliest database submission to file it under.

So, Kenny, there are two different tunes with the same name? Or did someone tagging tunes get confused, not rare for commercial recordings… Both melodies are familiar.

Re title: Cloon, Cloone or Clon are all derivations of the Irish word Cluain, meaning a meadow, place of grazing etc. So you can take your pick.

http://youtu.be/WkIRic3lZlo?t=3m59s

play video

Kitty In The Lane:
https://thesession.org/tunes/569

their first parts are obviously derived.

transcribed from from "The Missing Reel" by Sligo fiddle player Seamus McGuire and Leitrim flautist John Lee

Any hints for an interesting way to back the tune on guitar?

"Any hints for an interesting way to back the tune on guitar?"

It depends what you consider ‘interesting’. My feeling is, if the backing is too busy, it takes interest away from the tune. Some tunes are harmonically ‘robust’ and cry out for chord changes, passing chords, bass runs, the works… This tune, to my ear, wants about as few changes as you can get away with.