Sporting Nell reel

source: Ceol Rince na hEireann No. 3

1) As written, and as played by e.g. the wonderful musician Tommy McCarthy (may he R. I. P.), this is really in a mode of D. Different versions use either f natural or f# in the second part, which might change how you name the mode (if you care about that), but the tonality is D.
2) Other versions (sometimes called “Gorman’s”) are often played in a mode with an “E” tonal center, which especially suits some pipers, whistlers, and flute players.
3) Could the name refer to Nell Gwyn? Or a less famous but locally popular character of similar reputation?

To add --
comment #1 was made because the key is currently listed as “G.”

Love this tune setting from Patrick Ourceau. Patrick is a master. Real soul and passion. Not sure about the modality but it works out, feels right in resolving to a D. I like a slow slide up to the low A on the G-string while playing the unison open D string at the end of the tune.

X:1
T: Sporting Nell
M:C
K: D Dor
S:Patrick Ourceau
|:AD{F}ED A2 dc|AcGE {F}ED (3EFG|AD{F}ED A2 dc|1 AcGE {F}ED D2:|2 AcGE {F}EDEG|
[|~c2 ec gcec|~c2 ec AddB|~c2 ec gcec|AcGE {F}EDEG|
~c2 ec gcec|~c2 ec Adde|f3 d efed|cAAG Addc|] [D4A,4] z4|

I was told by the late Micho Russell RIP that the name originates from the tune called Nell Flaherty’s Drake.
He supposed that the name came from someone sportin’ around with it to make it into the reel

A more major version gets played in our session, with C#s in the 2nd part:

X: 1
T: Sporting Nell
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Dmix
AD~D2 A2dc|AcAG EG~G2|AD~D2 A2dc|AcGE ED~D2:|
^cdec ~d3A|(3B^cd ef gedA|^cdec deed|^cAGE ED~D2|
^cdec ~d3A|(3B^cd ef gedg|eaag eged|^cAGE ED~D2||

That Patrick Ourceau version given above is basically the same tune as the Long Strand, posted here: https://thesession.org/tunes/3169.

I’ve been playing through the version with C nats, and now I’m not so sure which is played at our session. I think maybe it sounds better with nats. Ach whatever… 🙂

http://www.rogermillington.com/
http://www.rogermillington.com/tunetoc/sportingnell.html

X: 1
T: Sporting Nell
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Dmix
AD (3EFG AB cd|dccA GED2|AD (3EFG AB cA|1GEED AFD2:|2GEED FAd2||
dedc A2 (3Bcd|edcA G2 Ad|dedc ABcA|GEED FAd2|
dedc A2 (3Bcd|edcA G2 Adde|f2 ed|cAGE EDAF||
“variations”
AD (3EFG AB cA|dBcA GED2|AD (3EFG AB cA|1GEED AFD2:|2GEED FAd2||

Your barlines are all wrong there in your McGoldrick setting, but not to worry, he misnamed it anyway. Go here for the McGoldrick tune https://thesession.org/tunes/7223

Manu Novo transcription, with barline corrections, moved to tune comments for #7223…

X:5 from a Parlophone 78 of Dublin piper Billy Andrews, his title was “Johnny Gorman.” Gorman was a famous Roscommon piper.

Second tune here by Mick O’Brien… https://youtu.be/IcRXOxzo-yk

play video

which version hear is the closest to the way Mick plays it. I’ve tried the first few and the triplets dont seem to fit

As close as the teetotalers’ version as I could get it, but transposed into Dmix. They have a few variations that are nice to throw in there as well.

There are three variations I like to play, one can be heard by the Teetotallers’ performance of the tune. It occurs in bar 2 and/or 6:
|C3 G EFGE|

It really helps break up the monotony of the first part of the tune. The other variations are for the second part and are in the 14th and 15th bar as follows:
|cdef ~g3z|eaab (3gag fg|cAGE ED D2||

It’s nice as a way to end the tune.

The other one is my personal favorite which I actually default to as a my standard setting:
|eaag =f^fed|cAGE ED D2||

Subtle but the f natural into the f sharp gives the tune a lifting sound that makes me think of a chromatic piping style.

Source: H. Norbeck, under “Long Strand”