The Bunch Of Keys reel

Such a somber, souful tune for a bunch of keys. Perhaps they unlock something secret, or someone’s heart. Or perhaps this is just an anti-paean to the bunch of keys that each of us loses over a lifetime….

I picked this version off of Kevin Burke’s early Sweeney’s Dream recording (I think now being re-issued by the Smithsonian Institute). Burke gives it extra swing and lift with a very effective trademark of his--slurring onto a note by first repeating the note before it as a slow grace note. It can sound like a slide, but it’s usually just the slow lowering of the next finger from the one below it, for example moving from E to F by repeating the E just before the F quarter note in measure 3 of Part A: |DFFE EF2 B| On fiddle, you’d swing this by bowing it: down D, up F, down F, up E, down EF2, up B.

You’ll find the slur throughout the tune as written here, and as Burke says, it really helps the dancers “lean into” the steps.

This is a great reel to learn if you’re just braving the more adventurous keys/modes beyond G, D, Em, and A. It goes well at a slow pace, yet livens up nicely at session speed, and the fingering is not as tricky as it might first appear.

This reminds me a bit of “Paddy on the Turnpike”, although this one’s a bit more complex. It’s almost like a variation…

I play this one with B naturals (In the Key of C) With some deviations from Will’s setting. I also play a Third Part on this tune. Anywho this is how I do this one.

DGGF ~G2 Ac|BG (3GGG dGBG|DFFE EF2 B|A~F3 dFcF|
DGGF ~G2 Ac|BGGA Bcde| (3fga fe fdec | (3Bcd cA BGG2 :||
dgg^f ~g3 a | bg~g2 ag^fe|d^cde fefg|af~f2 gfeg|
dgg^f ~g3 a | bg~g2 ag^fg|(3fga fe fdec | (3Bcd cA BGG2 :||
BG(3GGG BGdG | BG(3GGG Bdgd | AF(3FFF AFcF | AF(3FFF ABcA |
DGGF ~G2 Ac|BGGA Bcde| (3fga fe fdec | (3Bcd cA BGG2 :||

Thanks for making it playable on the flute! 🙂
I actually like it a lot better with the B naturals. How weird that this would work, but i like it a lot.

As Will points out, this one goes well at a slow pace; avery good recording in this respect is on the album ‘Give it Shtick’ by Matt Cranitch.

There seems to be two famous verisons of this tune{ i personally
like them both!!! The Paddy On the Turnpike, and the
Shaskeen verison? }

Paddy Keenan, Jerry O’Sullivan play the Britches~~~~ of the
Shaskeen sounding verison, Opps left out the most famous
rendition----the famous, Johnny Doran verison, He really cooks!

Bernard

Here’s my setting:

X: 1
T: Bunch Of Keys, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Gmix
DGG^F G2Ac|BG~G2 eGdG|DFFE ~F3_B|AFcF dFcF|
DGG^F G2Ac|BGGA Bcde|fage fdcA|1 BdA^F DGGC:|2 BdA^F DGGc||
|:dgg^f ~g3a|bg~g2 bgaf|~d3e fefg|af~f2 gfdc|
dgg^f ~g3a|bg~g2 gfde|fage fdcA|1 BdA^F DGGc:|2 BdA^F DGGA||
|:BG~G2 BGdG|BG~G2 (3Bcd gd|AF~F2 AFcF|AF~F2 ABcA |
BG~G2 BGdG|BGGA Bcde|fage fdcA|1 BdA^F DGGA:|2 BdA^F DGGC||

Oo I’ve just discovered a really delicious variation:

DGG^F GDAd|BG~G2 eGdG|DFFE FCGc|AFcF dFcF|…

This also goes by the name of Paddy On The Turnpike which was posted here: https://thesession.org/tunes/338. I’ve read that this Gdor 2-part setting is older than the Gmix 3-part. I like playing both.

This tune sounds like a variation of “The Rainy Day” to me (or vice versa)

Peter Horan and Gerry Harrington recorded a 3-part version of the tune in G major. The notes of their recording “Fortune Favours the Merry” informs it’s a variant of the tune called “The Flowers of Limerick.” I posted a 2-part version of it: https://thesession.org/tunes/5779

Submitted on May 18th 2006 by slainte.
https://thesession.org/tunes/5779

Oops! ~ duplication ~ 😉

The Ewe Wi’ The Crookit Horn: https://thesession.org/tunes/5610

thats exsactly what i need on the flute for this tune!

John Carty has a kick ass youtube version posted.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=td90L8NPnVE&NR=1

play video

Dow’s setting is great.

X: 1
T: Bunch Of Keys, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Gmaj
|:GF|DGGF G3A|BGdG eGdG|DFFE F3G|AFcF dFcF|
DGGF G2 GA|BAGA Bcde|f3d cAFA| (3Bcd cA G2:||
|:Bc|dggf g3a|bg g2 bgaf|dcde f3g|af f2 afbf|
dggf g3a|bgag fdde|f3d cAFA|(3Bcd cA G2:||
|:BG G2 BGdG|BG G2 (3Bcd gd|AF F2 AFcF|AF F2 ABcA |
BG G2 BGdG|BGGA Bcde|f3d cAFA|(3Bcd cA G2:||

This tune is in the Gunn Book (Fermanagh 1865) as Miss Wellington’s Reel

It’s a whole bunch of wretched keys if you play it on the piano accordion…

It’s in the A mixolydian mode

X: 1
T: Bunch Of Keys, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Amix
|:EAAG A2 Bd|cA (3AAA eAcA|EGGF FG2 c|BG3 EGBG|
|EAAG A2 Bd|cAAB cdef|g3 e dBGB|1 BcBG EAAG:|2 cABG EAAB|
|:eaa^g gaea|(3aaa ea bage|dggf fgdg|(3ggg ba gBdg|
|eaa^g gaea|(3aaa ea bage|dg3 dBGB|1 cABG EAAB:|2 cABG EAAG||

Watch Cape Breton fiddlers Andrea Beaton and Troy MacGillivray play an old Scottish version of the tune: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_yytnddx88

play video

The second last reel is the one, I believe.

That video of Troy and Andrea took place in my house!

Any crack in the floor?

My version

La Bottine Souriante play a version after Brandy Payette on the album ‘Jusqu’aux p‘tites heures’ - brilliant!

Paddy on the Turnpike as per Andy McGann
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWJFR2a7HO8&list=OLAK5uy_mdj-568UZQ_RNV_kJ5NlGp2jgYHmw6_GA&index=6

play video

From: “Music from Ireland” (Bulmer & Sharpley), 1974

This is a transcription of how Paddy Canny plays this on ‘Ceol Agus Foinn: Music And Songs From The Willie Clancy Summer School’ (https://thesession.org/recordings/2911). I’m currently a bit obsessed with the track, which combines a sort of brutish vigour with the most wonderful and refined musicality.

I’ve conflated the two times Canny plays it through so as to give the variations and touches an airing, though in the process of transcribing it I was amazed at just how much subtlety there is, especially when slowing down the track; there are some triplets combined with string crossings that felt like they’d be overkill to include in the transcription, and even at slow speed it can be hard to quite make out what he’s going for. I already knew that Canny has a wonderfully subtle and dynamic style, but doing this has further increased my appreciation for his playing.

As ever, and perhaps particularly with his style, there were things that are difficult to capture visually. His thirds and sevenths (Bs and Fs) easily bend between sounding more major or minor, often seeming to go from one to the other within the space of a note. I put those high Bs in the middle part as flat because they seemed the only ones that were truly so. In the third bar of that section he also does a fantastic long slide through the first few notes of the E string, and I’ve tried to show this as best I can. Get listening - it’s a mighty track.

This 2 part version of the tune is notated in the Power manuscript from Kilmore in County Wexford. This is from the later part of the manuscript (c. 1920) where it is titled as ‘The Green groves of Erin’. The manner of notation of triplets in the second part is particularly unusual and interesting.

The Pinch ofSnuff should be called the Bunch of Keys!