The Coachman’s Whip (reel) on The Session

Four settings

X: 1
T: The Coachman's Whip
R: reel

M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Gmaj
|:d2 BG DGBG|E2 BE dEBE|d2 BG DGBG|FGAc BGGB|
d2 BG DGBG|E2 BE dEBE|FGAB cdef|1 gdcA BGGB:|2 gdcA BGGE||
|:DB,DE G3 B|d2 BG DGBG|E2 BE dEBE|dBAG EAGE|
DB,DE G3 B|d2 BG DGBG|FGAB cdef|1 gdcA BGGB:|2 gdcA BG G2||

X: 2
T: The Coachman's Whip
R: reel

X: 3
T: The Coachman's Whip
R: reel

X: 4
T: The Coachman's Whip
R: reel

M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Amaj
e2 cA EAcA|F2 AF dFAF|EecA EAcA|GABd cAAc|
e2 cA EAcA|F2 AF dFAF|GABc defg|1 aedB cAAc:|2 aedB cAAF||
ECEF A3 c|e2 cA EAcA|F2 AF dFAF|ecBA FBAF|
ECEF A3 c|e2 cA EAcA|GABc defg|1 aedB cAAc:|2 aedB cA A2||

Seven comments

Coachman’s Whip

Composed by Vincent Broderick. Mich Neilsen , of Copenhagen, put me onto this fine flute tune when he sent me a tape years ago of 2 Danish musicians playing Irish music on flute and harp.
Recorded by Desi Wilkinson & Gerry O’Connor. Sometimes played with the 2 parts in reverse order, in fact I think that may have been how it was composed, but this version seems more popular.

This is an other version not very different

A & B

Yeah, I’ve got at least 2 recordings, most notably The Magic Square, which put the B part first. Also Hell on the Nine Mile -- it’s usually played that way in East Coast sessions. Moving Cloud plays it as Kenny has it. Great tune either way.

The Coachman’s Whip

I’ve always played it as Kenny has it. However, VB’s book (The Turoe Stone) is proof that the tune was originally composed with the parts in reverse order. Another important difference is that bar 3 of each part has C nats instead of B, like this |E2cE dEcE|.

it doesn’t sound quite like:
X: 1
T: ???
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K:G Maj
ge|d2GG G2Bd|e2dB A2GA|BEE2 BGAB|BGGE Dgge|
d2GG G2Bd|e2dB A2GA|BGAG EDBA|GEED G2:||
B2AG EDBA|G2AD EDBA|B2AG EDBA|BEE2 B2GA|
B2AG EDBA|G2AD EDBA|B2AG EDBA|BDAE G4:||
but it has the same feel…
(“???” originally submitted by DJF in A Maj:
https://thesession.org/discussions/24636)

Re: The Coachman’s Whip

Dr. Dow… Yes. C natural instead of B. Learned it from Antoin macGhaoibin as he learned it from Vincent. Please post that version if you have it. Thanks!

The Coachman’s Whip, X:4

I’ve based this setting on the playing of James Cullinan in Doolin in 2016, on the YouTube link at the bottom, and it’s the first tune in the set. There’s also a thread discussing this set, and the tuning/key too :

https://thesession.org/discussions/43233

It was just by chance that I came across the tune here, and it’s the first time I’ve heard it (although I must have played the video about 92 times!

I personally prefer it in Amaj fingering, which is the version I’ve done here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpxD-2gzoWY

play video

The Coachman’s Whip reel