The Whistler Of Rosslea reel

This may be my favorite of Ed Reavy’s tunes. The posting here is as played by Martin Hayes on his self-titled cd. After one time through, he gussies the tune up a bit, so give the cd a listen.

This is a finger stretcher for fiddlers. Those A flats in Part A and the turns on the low C beg for a relaxed left hand. I’ve also included the moving, bowed triplets Martin uses in both halves. Play this tune at a slow tempo until your hand gets accustomed to the odd scale and reaching all over the G string.

Nice tune, but what a beast of a key! I can’t wait to see the look on my harpist’s face when I plop this in front of her (steadfastly refusing to transpose it, of course!) Hee hee!

Jeff, I’ve long wondered whether Reavy composed it in this key, or if this is just one of Martin Hayes’s new age transpositions. It would be easy enough on fiddle to move it all up one string and play it in c dorian/g minor, with notes a little more friendly to other trad instruments….

Of course, if you transpose it a semitone up, it becomes real friendly, in F# dorian (2 sharps).

Or is it really B minor, with that freaky G sharp slipped in for grins? Thanks for the deft read…I’ll definitely work it out in F# dorian on my fiddle, to accommodate all those whistle and concertina players. It also works well in A dorian, come to think of it….
Thanks for the inspiration!
Will

Can this be played on the whistle?

Ed reavy wrote this in two sharps G lydian/E dorian or B minor, F# Dor produces Four Sharps - which is not correct. Ed Reavy named this tune after a man who sold fish in Rosslea, this man also whistled (with his lips, not a tin-whistle) tunes with perfect rolls, cuts etc. This tune has some Fnaturals in it, but is well suited for a garden variety D whistle when played in it’s original key.

F dorian? It’s mostly in C dorian except for the odd A flat.

tune in A dorian:

X: 1
T: Whistler Of Rosslea, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K:Ador
|EFGA B2 AF|BGAF G~E3|DEFG A2 GA|BcAB GAFG|
|EFGE FGAF|B=cdB edBA|GA (3BAG AGFA|GEFD E3 B,|
|EFGA B2 AF|BGAF G~E3|DEFG AFGA|BcAB GAFG|
|EFGE FGAF|B=cdB edBA|GA (3BAG AGFA|GEFD E3 d|
|:e2 Be GeBe|edfd edB=c|d2 Ad FdAd|d=cBA GFDF|
|E~e3 feBA|GAB=c d3 e|edBA GA (3BAG|1 AFDF E3 d:|
|2 AFDF E3 B,|

Davey Garmin, of Bristol’s Hibernia Centre, taught this tune to half a dozen of us today. He referred to it as being in "C minor", which is as close as most, but isn’t an available key here. Davey learnt it off the Martin Hayes CD.

Can this be played on the whistle?
The above transposition is not in A dorian, it’s in E! And E is the easiest key to play this tune on the whistle alright (albeit without the bottom B,’s). Both minor and dorian 6ths (c’s) can be played easily that way. And if you play this E version on a Bb Whistle you’ll get the C minor/dorian sound of the original of course.
But if you want to keep the bottom ‘G,’ of the original score, you must play this tune in A or B, making use of f natural and g# respectively.

For clarity, here are the three versions, with adequate Key signatures and 2 small whistle friendly modifications.
X: 1
T: The Whistler Of Rosslea
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K:E dor
EFGA B2AF|BGAF G~E3|DEFG A2GA|B=cAB GAFG|
EFGE FGAF|BcdB edBA|GA(3BAG AGFA|1 GEFD E3[B,B]:|2 GEFD E3d||
e2Be GeBe|edfd edBc|d2Ad FdAd|d=cBA GFDF|
E~e3 feBA|GABc d3e|edBA GA(3BAG|1 AFDF E3d:|2 AFDF E3[B,E]||

X: 1
T: The Whistler Of Rosslea
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K:A dor
ABcd e2 dB|ecdB c~A3|GABc d2 cd|e=fde cdBc|
ABcA BcdB|efge aged|cd (3edc dcBd|1 cABG A3 E:|2 cABG A3 g||
a2 ea caea|agbg agef|g2 dg Bgdg|g=fed cBGB|
A~a3 baed|cdef g3 a|aged cd (3edc|1 dBGB A3 g:|2 dBGB A3 E||

X: 1
T: The Whistler Of Rosslea
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K:B min
Bcde f2ec|fdec d~B3|ABcd e2de|fgef decd|
BcdB cdec|f^gaf bafe|de(3fed edce|1 dBcA B3F:|2 dBcA B3a||
b2fb dbfb|bac’a baf^g|a2ea caea|agfe dcAc|
B~b3 c’bfe|def^g a3b|bafe de(3fed|1 ecAc B3a:|2 ecAc B3F||

NB: I might have moved some # around for added interest!

NB: I only brought a minor(!) modification to the tune: the dorian 6th of the 2d part’s 4th bar is now a minor/eolian 6th. Which is surely just as nice.
This goes WITH saying because the transposer: http://www.8ung.at/abctransposer is not clever enough to convert the accidentals along with the key change. One must proof read one’s transposition carefully afterwards, mustn’t one flamin fiddler? ;- )

A few little corrections to the original transcription…

X: 1
T: The Whistler Of Rosslea
R: reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Cdor
CDEF G2FD|GDFD EC~C2|B,CDE ~F2EF|G_AFG EFDE|
CDEC DEFD|GABG cBGF|EFF/F/E F_ADF|ECDB, C4:|
|:c2Gc EcGc|~c2dc cBGA|~B2FB DBFB|BAGF ECB,D|
CccB cBGF|EFGA B3c|cBGF EFF/F/E|FB,DB, C4:|

Same setting transposed up a string in Gdor

X: 1
T: The Whistler Of Rosslea
R: reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Gdor
GABc d2cA|dAcA BG~G2|FGAB ~c2Bc|d_ecd BcAB|
GABG ABcA|defd gfdc|Bcc/c/B c_eAc|BGAF G4:|
|:g2dg Bgdg|~g2ag gfde|~f2cf Afcf|fedc BGFA|
Gggf gfdc|Bcde f3g|gfdc Bcc/c/B|cFAF G4:|

Go here for a major version closer to the original https://thesession.org/tunes/3584

Here’s one more version - slight variations on the Martin Hayes one. This one is from the playing of Caoimhin Vallely on his Strayaway album. This is my favourite version so far.

Being explicit about the c#’s and cnat’s. This is what hear on Martin Hayes’s recording of this tune, though I’ve shifted it up four steps from his key of C dorian.

I saw Martin play in a solo gig recently in Portland, Maine. It was transfixing. He plays without a single note out of place and yet it all feels so fluid and effortless. An incredible evening of music.

Ed Reavy wrote this tune in G mix. Dr Dow’s link is to the tune as I know it, as played by Paddy Carty. I may be missing something here, but can’t understand why anyone would choose C minor!