The Drummond Lasses reel

Joyce & I learned this setting from Kevin Crawford at Gaelic Roots 2003. There’s a great version of this tune on The Missing Reel CD with John Lee & Seamus McGuire which I will add to the recordings sections in a bit, though they do play it in a different key.

Yeah, this is a really nice reel. We did wonder if the A and B parts are reversed. But that’s how Kevin taught us. Anyone else think the B part is really the A part? Either way, it sounds good.

Thanks for posting this, Emily. I still need to brush up on the ABC format so I can post more tunes. (I’ve copied & pasted a couple things from JC’s ABC tune finder)

Joyce

In the 4th & 8th measures of the B part, try | cBAG EGAE |, it mimics the run in the first measure, which is nice.

Yeah Joyce, I know, abc takes some getting used to. I’ll try for Camber Lassies soon, & maybe Sheila Mulhaire’s at some point.

Have you heard the setting from the Missing Reel? I think Marc first played it for us in his car. It’s a really nice arrangement, opens with higher part (the A part here), very slowly, then goes ABAB, lower part first, before it moves into the Missing Reel. So I dunno.

Yes, I have the Missing Reel and love the setting. I also modified the B part of Camber Lassies to make it easier (remember that bitch of a part?) I think my B part of Camber Lassies is more like the setting on the Missing Reel. But I love both reels and have been trying not forget them so we can play them together!

LOL Joyce, actually I love the Bpart now as it stands, but in the first phrase of the A part, I cran the E in lieu of some of that other stuff, but I like switching back & forth too. I’ll post Camber Lassies tomorrow, since I"m maxed out for tunes today though. 🙂

The parts are usually played the other way round, but I don’t suppose it matters really… nice tune Patsy and Eddie!

Hey Em your ABC is spot on by the way - it’s nice and tidy 🙂

Thanks Dubg! 😀

Concerning parts swap: O’Neills has the parts the other way around (see http://trillian.mit.edu/~jc/music/book/oneills/1001/T/DrummondLasses.abc).

That said, I originally got the tune from the playing of Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh and Oisin Mac Diarmada - and they played in the order submitted here. Which I have to admit I prefer.

Here’s a Fermanagh setting of the tune mostly based on Pat McManus’s fiddle playing on “Hidden Fermanagh Vol. 2”:

K: Gmaj
G2BG DGBG|G2BG FGAB|G2BG DGBG|1 cBAG EGGF:|2 cBAG EGGf||
gfed Bddf|gfed eaaf|gfed B2Ac|BGAG EGGf|
gfed Bddf|gfed eaaf|gfed efge|dcBA EGGF||

P. McManus plays another beautiful tune in the same set: https://thesession.org/tunes/2215/comments Both works well when played slowly.

This tune is obviously Scottish in origin. Compare the first part of the tune with the second part of “Miss Girdle”: https://thesession.org/tunes/2417

Here’s a nice simple version from the Cillian Vallely and Kevin Crawford album “On Common Ground”. They call it ‘Tá An Saol Ar Fad I NGrá Liom’ but it’s clearly a version of this tune. They play it in F.

X: 1
T: Drummond Lasses, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Gmaj
|: F | G2 BG ddBG | ddBG FAAB | G2 BG ddBG | cABG EGG :|
|: f | gfed e2 dB | gfed eaaf | g2 fd egdB | cABG EGG :|

A wonderful rendition by Gerry O’Connor on banjo here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLfFzLVhuKc

play video

Here is another version from Conal Ó Gráda. It has been listed as a separate tune:

https://thesession.org/tunes/11379

but I’ll put it here in case it’s deleted.

X: 1
T: Conal Ó Gráda’s
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Gmaj
{B}G2 BG DGBG | {B}G2 BG FA{c}AB | {B}G2 BG DGBd | cA{c}BG EFGA |
{B}G2 BG d z BG | {B}G2 BG FA{c}AB | {B}G2 BG d z Bd | cA{c}BG EFga ||
{b}gf{g}ed {c} B2 {c} B2 | {b}gf{g}ed fa ~a2| {b}gf{g}ed Bc d z | cA{c}BG EFGA |
{b}gf{g}ed {c} B2 {c} B2 | {b}gf{g}ed fa ~a2| {b}gf{g}ed BcdB | cA{c}BG EFGA ||

This reel appears in the McBrien-Rogers MS c.1895-1905 of Aughavas, Co. Leitrim. I have transcribed here one of the two versions in this manuscript that was written by the fiddle master Bernard Rogers (1856-1907) of Oghill, Killoe, Co. Longford. Rogers entitled the tune ‘Sally Kelly’, a title that is also used for at least two other tunes. His second version follows this one closely but contains some subtle differences throughout. John Lee, who recorded this tune on The Missing Reel, is from the same area that this manuscript was written in, but he used O‘Neill’s title for his rendition: ’Drummond Lasses’.

Setting 6 comes from a recording of Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh playing the flute.