Esther’s reel

I taped this at a session at the Willie Clancy Festival in 1984 but the parts were played reversed. Nice tune.

I’ve been curious about this tune for a while.
Does anyone know who wrote it or where it originated?

This title appeared on a recording by “Buttons and Bows” (Jackie Daly with Seamus and Manus McGuire and Garry O Briain). It’s really derived fom “Miss Brady,” which can be found in O’Neill’s collection.

This is a flute tune but sounds nice on any instrument .I like playing it slowly and it`s great for learners.I am now wondering,however, if I should have named it in the key of G.Jack McGuire was the father of Sean the fiddle player and came from County Cavan to Belfast-He played in lots of the ceili bands in the Belfast area on Flute and Piccolo.

This tune is already in the database with the parts reversed. I play a version very similar to it, but I don’t reverse the parts. Anyway, here it is. https://thesession.org/tunes/2522

The reversal of the parts is obviously why it didnt show up when I put the first couple of bars into the advanced search!

I know this originally from Sharon Shannon’s Spellbound CD. It’s in 3 flats on that but I think it works better in E minor / D major. It’s also on Four Men and a Dog’s Maybe Tonight as the tune after the Ashplant in the set of that name (unaccredited in the sleeve notes). They play it with the ‘B’ part first (and also in 3 flats in terms of pitch but maybe they’ve retuned their instruments? - I see the Ashplant on this site is in two sharps so it maybe confirms the correct key for 3-HM as the same). They do a neat ending using the first bar of the ‘B’ part and finishing on the D at the start of bar 2. I think it’s either by Sharon Shannon or Donal Lunny.

This is Esther’s reel and it’s already here.

Jim

Sorry. Thanks for that.

Peter

No need to apologise! I’m sorry if my note seemed critical. And, of course, I should have said that this is also known as Esther’s reel.

Jim

Here’s an instance (they’re not so common) of an Irish dance tune that starts “high” and ends “low”.

@ https://thesession.org/tunes/3488

@ https://thesession.org/tunes/2522

Key signature: E Dorian ~ & in its original order
Submitted on July 22nd 2006 by Pere.
https://thesession.org/tunes/6003

K: E Dorian
|: D |
EFGA BABc | dDDD ADFD | EFGA BAGF | GBAF GEE :|
efge fgaf | efge fddf | gfed (3efg fe |1 dBAF GEE :|

“(Variation 1st bar part A)” [E4B4] B3c||

Portrait Of A Scottish Fiddler

My transcription of this reel from ‘Portrait Of A Scottish Fiddler’ (Alasdair Fraser)
He plays the variation of the first bar the second and third time that he plays the tune but not in the repetition, mmm… well I don’t know if you understand it because I can’t explain it very well.
Played after Tog Orm Mo Phiob and Braigh Loch Iall---> https://thesession.org/tunes/5979

Submitted on July 22nd 2006 by Pere.

Key signature: E Dorian

Submitted on February 17th 2004 by Heiko.
https://thesession.org/tunes/2522

Submitted on June 20th 2004 by cos.
https://thesession.org/tunes/3183

Key signature: E Dorian
Submitted on June 20th 2004 by cos.
https://thesession.org/tunes/3183

Key signature: E Dorian
Submitted on September 4th 2004 by lottiemaus.
https://thesession.org/tunes/3488

Wouldn’t you know I’d link it back on itself, the Oroboros…#2522…like two mirrors facing each other… 😏

Correction to the above, I’d missed a bit, Pere’s submission:

K: E Dorian
|: D |
EFGA BABc | dDDD ADFD | EFGA BAGF | GBAF GEE- :|
|: E |
efge fgaf | efge fddf | gfed (3efg fe | dBAF GEE- :|

Variation on the 1st bar of part A: | [E4 B4] B3 c |

Submitted on July 22nd 2006 by Pere.

My Love is in America.

Or so I find.

Added Aly Bain and Phil Cunningham’s version of it, known as Western Lilt in “Spring The Summer Long”.

This was the first tune I learned at my first Willie Clancy Week in the early 2000’s, in Joe Burke’s B/C accordion class, which he called the “master class.” It is definitely on a Joe Burke record, though I can’t recall which one. I had never heard or heard of it before. I was in over my head, but stretching to keep up with the teenage pyros and tyros was a true growth experience. It was pure, intense ear learning, to which I was very new, and I surprised myself and, I believe, our diplomatic maestro, by managing to play back the previous day’s new tune(s) the next morning. Anyway, I thought Joe gave this tune title as, “The Bunch of Curtains.” This brought down the house when I blurted out later in the week how much I liked “The Bunch of Curtains,” and I had a chance to reacquaint myself with the sensation of being an object of ridicule to an adolescent peer group.

Buttons and Bows do really nice job of this (in G^/Ab)
I wrote out their notes close as I could (slipped down to G)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iLWssfUdSk

play video