East Clare reel

I learned this off the playing of Michael McGoldrick, adapted to fall under my fingers on fiddle. The version I heard was fairly slow and swingy, and that’s still how I like to play it. It also plays well on a C whistle.

Nice one Will, I was playing through it a few times on my flute and then slid into The Maids of Mitchelstown without any effort. S’fun.

I think it’s on Mary MacNamara’s "Traditional Music from East Clare." I don’t remember the name.

Oh, yes, it’s listed as McGreevy’s Favourite. It seems associated with Chicago fiddle player Johnny McGreevy, who used to visit Co. Clare.

This was also on John Vesey’s Shanachie album, where he just absolutely played the beejeezus out of it. His title was "McGlinchey’s Fancy" - not one of Breandan’s tunes though, I assume?
This is one of those tunes pipers don’t know about and are really missing out on, it has heaps of scope for going well on the chanter.

I heard Conor Keane play this tune in Doolin around 1993 & liked it so much, I got his Tape that night.

To check out the other tracks on his tape, Cooley’s House, go to: https://thesession.org/recordings/display.php/1771

Once again I’m not 100% sure what key this is in, but it appears to be in G Major with a few c #’s so I hope I’m not too far out?

Quick! Before the sheet music appears, there’s a stray comma in the last measure of the first line.

cool tune but should the key be D,not G mix?

Funny ursus, I wrote it out first as D mix & then changed my mind cause I had to naturalise so many c’s in the process, so you are probably correct.

Sorry - this mode stuff is not my strong point - to say the least.

Still, hopefully it was better that I tried, than just didn’t bother as I think it’s a good tune.

What about the Fs? Are they mostly natural (D Dorian) or mostly sharp (D Mix)? They feel to me like they could go either way most of the time.

Thanks again for entering it - it is a nice tune and I plan to learn it.

I just found this here already under the titles: East Clare, Charlie Mulvihill’s, The Corn Boy, Galtee Mountains, Johnny McGreevy’s Favourite, McAuliffe’s, McGlinchey’s Fancy, McGreevey’s, McGreevy’s Favourite. Entered by Will Harmon about a year and a half ago.

https://thesession.org/tunes/3065

And now I see on the Connor Keane album that you got it from, that he has a tune called the East Clare on a different track! Presumably it’s a different tune sharing the title.

Well found sir & thanks for that info Gary.
I will now study Will’s ABC & try to learn how it ‘should’ be done!

As for the f’s, sh*t! - your right, he plays them all as naturals!

Yes, the East Clare he plays on the other side is a completely different Reel - a four parter.

How the heck do you track down a similar tune anyway Gary, or is that just down to patience or is it a trade secret? 😀

A great reel! It’s got that lovely modal traditional feel to it. I wonder if it was actually written by Francie?

I just did an advanced search. The first measure matches both versions of this tune and no other tune at this site! Sometimes it’s much harder to find tunes.

You did a fine job with the ABCs here. The only issue is the mode. GMix makes the sharps (none) come out right, but so does DDor, and the latter is correct because the tune resolves to a D at the end of both parts.

Also played in Dmix.

Hey Will, there’s a great fiddle version of this in D mix on Randal Bay’s CD, "Out of the Woods." Have you heard it?

This tune is called Charlie Mulvihill’s on Tripswitch’s CD. It’s a nice one on a low D whistle and great for practicing F naturals.

As a lazy fluter I’d rather play this tune in Dmix with F sharps. I believe Mary MacNamara recorded it in Dmix with PJ Hayes, and Harry Bradley and Paul O’Shaughnessy recenly did in the flute-friendly key too.

I know you’re not all talk ~ so, where’s your transcript already? 😉

You can find a very neat transcription of Randal Bay’s version of the tune in Dmix at JC’s tune finder, where it’s listed as X:210 "McGreevy’s". MacNamra & Hayes’ version and Bradley & O’Shaughnessy version are pretty close to it.

That’s not good enough… 😏

I’ve been busy!

Submitted on October 10th 2005 by Ptarmigan.
https://thesession.org/tunes/5060

Yeah, busy, that’s why you’ve been spending so much time here lately, doing research for your thesis? ~ 😉

Here’s what I have. Some folks double the parts.

X:1
T:McGreevy’s Favourite
M:4/4
L:1/8
R:reel
K:Dmix
DEFA d2 cA | GEED EFGc | Add^c d2 ed | cAGE EDCE |
DEFA d2 cA | GEED EFGc | Add^c dfed | cAGE EDD2 ||
aged c2 cd | ed B/c/d eg~g2 | aged c2cd | cAGE EDD2 |
ed e/f/g aged | c2 cd cAGE | =FEDE FGAB | cAGE EDCE ||

Here’s a flute-friendly version based on Harry Bradley and Paul O’Shaughnessy’s playing:

K: Dmix
D2FA d2cA|GEED EFGB|Add^c d=cAB|1 cAGE EDCE:|2 cAGE EDD2||
aged cded|cBcd eg~g2|aged cded|cAGE EDD2|
edeg aged|dcAB c2Bc|ADFD EGAB|cAGE EDCE||

They actually recorded it double. Mary MacNamara’s version is pretty much the same except for the ending:

edeg aged|dcAB cAGB|A=FFE FGAB|cAGE EDCE||

There is a mistake in my transcription of Bradley/O’Shuaghnessy version. They actually played the tune as a double reel while Mary MacNamara and P.J. Hayes recorded it as a single reel. I heard it played both ways in several different places, but found it’s played as a double reel more often.

The version I often hear and play in Tokyo is something like this:

K: Dmix
|:D2FA d2cA|GEED EFGB|Add^c d=cAB|cAGE EDCE|
D2FA d2cA|GEED EFGB|Add^c d=cAB|cAGE EDD2:|
|:aged cded|~c3d eg~g2|aged cded|cAGE EDD2|
ed e/f/g aged|dcAB cAGE|=F3E FGAB|1 cAGE EDD2:|2 cAGE EDCE|]

I think I heard the tune in London or Dublin recently, and found the local version there was basically the same. I like the F natural note toward the end even though I play the keyless flute.

Hello,

This tune is actually in D Dorian, not D major or D minor. If you put it in that, it would have made all your Cs natural and been consistent with the actual key of the tune 🙂 I suggest you change it because I have friends that look for songs to add to their sets based on the mode they’re written in, and Dorian is much different from Mixolydian (one sounds sadder than the other). Thanks for posting!

Tony

"I have friends that look for songs to add to their sets based on the mode"

Why don’t they push the boat out a little and perhaps play the tune in two different keys and decide what they like best? Traditional music isn’t that restrictive, and deciding tune simply based on the mode is frankly boring.

There’s a nice recording of Paddy Glackin and Seamus Connelly playing this as part of Seamus Connelly’s nice collection of tunes for the Boston College Libraries collection at:

https://connollymusiccollection.bc.edu/

They call it "The Cornboy" and the reference is:

https://connollymusiccollection.bc.edu/document/608

It might be nicer to have the key be "Dmix" rather that "Gmaj" on the version I posted for the benefit of any accompanists who pay attention to these things….