The Hills Of Tara barndance

Source: Hammy Hamilton, S

Thanks Gian, another great little tune - I don’t know why but most barn dances always seem to have good melody lines.

there is a little mistake in the 2nd and 6th bar of the B part. (sorry)
This is the correct version:
Bc|d2 G2 GB AB|c2 E2 E2 AG|FGAB cBcd|e2 d2 B3c|
d2 G2 GB AB|c2 E2 E2 AG|FGAB cADF|A2 G2 G2 :|
|:Bd|g4 f3d|efed A2 AG|FGAB cBcd|e2 d2 B3d|
g4 f3d|efed A2 AG|FGAB cADF|A2 G2 G2 :|

mmmmm….I prefer the "wrong" version…

one by Ed Reavy, "The Dances at Kinvarra"

What, no sound file??? No midi??? I’m terrible at notes, need to hear it, and by following
the tune along w/ the notation, it will help this "newbie" to learn how to read.

This tune is also on Eoghan O’Sullivan, Gerry Harrington, and Paul De Grae’s trio album "The Smoky Chimney." They call it Pearl O’Shaughnessy’s. I think she’s a Scottish-born fiddler and Paul O’Shaughnessy’s mother.

I have just posted another tune called Pearl Shaughnessy’s Barndance - it is slightly similar ti this one but my version has four parts and is in D, and I think it is a completely different tune. I heard it on a Paul McGratten and Paul Shaughnessy album, (album title I just can’t remember), but do remember reading that Paul Shaughnessy got the tune from his mother Pearl. I first learnt it as Con Cassidy’s Barndance many moons ago, and got it from my late friend Simon Knight, accordion player, from Wells, Somerset.

The notes of O’Sullivan, Harrington, and De Grae’s trio recording "The Smoky Chimney" say the four-part version of the tune is often played as two separate barndances in Donegal.

Key signature: G Major
Submitted on January 26th 2003 by glauber.
https://thesession.org/tunes/1376

X: 2
T: Hills Of Tara, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: barndance
K: Gmaj
|: B>c \|
d2 G2 G>A (3BAG | c2 E2 E2 A>G | F>GA>B c>Bc>d | (3efe d2 B>AB>c |
d2 G2- G>AB>G | c2 E2 E2 A>G | F>GA>B c>AF>G | (3ABA G2 G2 :|
|: (3Bcd |\
g4 f4 | e>fe>d A2- A>G | F>GA>B c>Bc>d | (3efe d2 B>A (Bcd |
g2 G2 f>F (3FFF | e>fe>d A2- A>G | F>GA>B c>A (3DEF | A2 G2 G2 :|

Thanks for the head up muspic, assuming this is the ‘slip in standards’ you referred to… 😉

It seems I screwed up, nothing new there. I’ve been teaching this one lately in a set of three. As I’m repeating the one just above, I’ll add some other possibilities ~

Here’s that previous mistake ~ |: B>c \| ~ which should have read |: B>c |\ 😏

X: 22
T: Hills Of Tara, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: barndance
K: Gmaj
|: (3ABc |\
d2 G2- G>A (3BAG | c2 E2 E2 A>G | F2 (3GAB c2 (3Bcd | e>G^c>e d>G (3ABc |
d2 G2 D>B>A>B | c2 E2 E2- E>G | F>GA>B c>DF>G | (3ABA G>F G2 :|
|: B>d |\
g>G (3GGG f>F (3FFF | e>fe>d A2 (3BAG | F2 (3GAB c2 (3Bcd | e>G^c>e d>GB>d |
g2 G2 f2 F2 | e2 (3fed A2- A>G | F>GA>B c2 (3DEF | A2 D2 G2 :|

~ transmutation ~ Ooo-ooO… 😎

Wow! I must be tired, check out that bar, the 5th of the A-part. That shouldn’t read ~ d2 G2 D>B>A>B | ~ but should instead have been ~ d2 G2 D>BA>B | ~ I promise, I’ll have to start considering taking old man naps in the middle of the day…

Enough messing about with notes, I’m going for a long soak, having just returned from a night of music and being pickled in the smoke of the publican, a dear man who in our current cold wet weather doesn’t have an outside place to exercise his addiction… Cough, cough… 😲

I play the tune something like this…

Bc|:d2G2 GBAB|c2E2 A2AG|FGAB cBcd|e2d2 ~B3c|
|d2G2 GBAB|c2E2 A2AG|FGAB cADF|A2G2 G2:|
(3Bcd|:g2ge ~f3d|efec A2AG|FGAB cBcd|e2d2 B2(3Bcd|
|g2ge ~f3d|efec A2AG|FGAB cADF|A2G2 G2:|

Personally, I like that c in the B part more…
I like doing a variation on the B part kind of like this:
gBdg fBdf|efec A2AG|…

The following is closer to how I usually pass this on to others, with more ‘agreement’ between the bars, as with the closing of both parts, bars 7 & 8:

X: 4
T: Hills Of Tara, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: barndance
K: Gmaj
|: B>c |\
d2 G2 G>A (3BAG | c2 E2 E2 A>G | F>GA>B c>Bc>d | (3efe d2 B^>AB>c |
d2 G2 G>A (3BAG | c2 E2 E2- E>G | F>GA>B c>AF>G | (3ABA G2 G2 :|
|: (3Bcd |\
g2 g2 f2 f2 | e>fe>d A2 A>G | F>GA>B c>Bc>d | (3efe d2 B^>AB>c |
g>G (3GGG f>F (3FFF | e2 (3fed A2- A>G | F>GA>B c>AF>G | (3ABA G2 G2 :|

I’ve also noticed another mistake in the variant rich version given before this ~ bars 4 & 5 of the A-part ~ 😏

~ | e>G^c>e d>G (3AB=c | (missing the change to natural / =)
d2 G2 D>BA>B | ~ (removing that extra > that was in the middle)

Submitted on July 30th 2012 by Innocent Bystander.
~ /tunes/12094

X: 5
T: Hills of Tara, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Gmaj
|: Bc |\
[d2D2] G2 G2 AB | c2 E2 E2 G2 | FGAB c2 (3AcA | e2 d2 dcBc |
d2 G2 G2 AB | c2 E2 E2 G2 | FGAB c2 A2 |[1 (3AcA G2 A2 :|[2 (3AcA G2 G3 ||
|: f |\
g2 gg g2 bg | f2 e2 e2 AB | c2 c2 (3cec Bc | e2 d2 dcBc |
g2 gg g2 bg | f2 e2 e2 A2 | FGAB c2 A2 |[1 (3AcA G2 G3 :|[2 (3AcA G2 G2 |]

Scotch Polka ~ I was passed this tune in the course of teaching a group of people a Morris Dance, called "Tinner’s Rabbits". It’s English (sorry!), and the composer is "Bob Cann". The dance is for three groups of three, with staves.

# Posted on July 30th 2012 by Innocent Bystander

Innocent Bystander’s original submission, for which it took my addled brain a moment to recognize ~

K: Gmaj
|:[d2D2]G2G2AB|c2E2E2G2|FG ABc2 (3AcA)|e2d2dc Bc|
d2G2G2AB|c2E2E2G2|FG ABc2 A2|1(3AcA)G2A2Bc:|2(3AcA)G2G3f|]
|:g2ggg2bg|f2e2e2AB|c2c2(3cec)Bc|e2d2dc Bc|
g2ggg2bg|f2e2e2A2|FG ABc2A2|1(3AcAG2G3f:|(3AcA)G2G2Bc|]

The ‘dance’ mentioned by ‘Innocent Bystander’ might be of Bob Cann origin, but the tune isn’t…

Scotch Polka is the tune used for the Morris dance Tinner’s Rabbits as noted by Innocent Bystander. When learning the tune recently for the dance I found it as Fred Pidgeon’s No.2. He was a fiddler from E. Devon and he called it ‘Scotch Polka’ - I was playing "Hills of Tara" today and realized it was the same tune.

How some people know it and transcribe it ~ as 2/4, followed by the same melody in 4/4…

Are there ever more variants of this tune? Here’s the one I learned.