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The Top Of The Maol polka

Also known as Garráin Ghníomh Go Leith, Groves Of Gneeveguilla, The Groves Of Gneeveguilla, Maol Mountain, Murphy’s Delight, Queen’s, The Queen’s, Top Of Maol, The Top Of Maol.

There are 33 recordings of this tune.

This tune has been recorded together with

The Top Of The Maol appears in 3 other tune collections.

The Top Of The Maol has been added to 18 tune sets.

The Top Of The Maol has been added to 127 tunebooks.

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Seven settings

1
X: 1
T: The Top Of The Maol
R: polka
M: 2/4
L: 1/8
K: Amix
|:A2 AB/c/|ed Bd|G2 GA|Bd BG|
A2 AB/c/|ed Bd|e/f/g/e/ dB|1 A2 AG:|2 A2 A>d||
|:ea ag/a/|ba g2|ef ga|ge ed|
ea ag/a/|ba g2|e/f/g/e/ dB|1 A2 A>d:|2 A2 AG||
2
X: 2
T: The Top Of The Maol
R: polka
M: 2/4
L: 1/8
K: Ador
|:AE|A2 AB/d/|ed Bd|G2 GA|Bd B/A/G|
A2 AB/d/|ed Bd|e/f/g/e dB|A2:|
|:Bd|ea ag/a/|ba ge|ef ga|ge ed|
ea ag/a/|ba gd|e/f/g/e/ dB|A2:|
3
X: 3
T: The Top Of The Maol
R: polka
M: 2/4
L: 1/8
K: Edor
|:D|"Em"E2 EG/A/|BA FE|"D"D2 DF/G/|AF ED|
"Em"E2 EG/A/|BA FA|"G" B/c/d/B/ "D"AF|"Em" E2 E:|
|:A|"Em"Be ed/e/|fe dA|"G"Bc de|dB BA|
"Em"Be ed/e/|fe dA|"G" B/c/d/B/ "D"AF|"Em"E2 E:|
4
X: 4
T: The Top Of The Maol
R: polka
M: 2/4
L: 1/8
K: Ador
|:E|A2 AB/d/|ed BA|GG/F/ GA|Bd B/A/G|
A2 AB/d/|e/f/g/e/ Bd|e/f/g/e/ dB|A2- A:|
|:B/d/|eg a/g/a|ba ga/g/|e>f ga|ge g/e/d|
ea a/g/a|ba g2|e/f/g/e/ dB|A2- A:|
5
X: 5
T: The Top Of The Maol
R: polka
M: 2/4
L: 1/8
K: Amix
d2 B2|A2 AB/d/|ed Bd|G>F G>A|Bd BG|
A2 AB/d/|ed Bd|e/f/g/e/ dB|A2 AE|
A>G AB/d/|e/f/e/d/ Bd|G>F G>A|Bd BG|
A2 AB/d/|ed Bd|e/f/g/e/ dB|A2 A2||
ea a2|ba g2|e>f ga|ge- ed|
ea a2|ba g2|e/f/g/e/ dB|A2 AB/d/|
ea a2|ba g2|ef ga|ge ed|
ea a2|ba g2|e/f/g/e/ dB|A2 AE||
6
X: 6
T: The Top Of The Maol
R: polka
M: 2/4
L: 1/8
K: Amin
|:A2 AB/d/|ed Bd|G2 GA|Bd BG|
A2 AB/d/|ed Bd|e/f/g/e/ dB|1 A2 AG:|2 A2 A>d||
|:ea ag/a/|ba ge|ef ga|ge ed|
ea ag/a/|ba ge|e/f/g/e/ dB|1 A2 A>d:|2 A2 AG||
# Added by JACKB .
7
X: 7
T: The Top Of The Maol
R: polka
M: 2/4
L: 1/8
K: Ador
A2 AB/d/|ed B/d/B/A/|G>A GA|Bd (3B/A/G/|
A2 AB/d/|ed Bd|e/f/g/e/ dB|A2 A2:|
ea a2|ba g2|e>f ga|ge ed|
ea a2|ba g2|e/f/g/e/ dB|A2 A2:|
# Added by Mars .

Sixteen comments

Lovely tune! Thanks for posting this.

"The Top of the Maol" / "The Groves Of Gneeveguilla"

~ the second name being another of Dan Herlihy’s free titling of this old standard…

The following transcript is courtesy of Ptarmigan, transcribed from the playing of Dan Herlihy & John Drew, from their album "The Ballydesmond Polka":

M: 2/4
L: 1/8
R: polka
K: A Dorian
|: AE |
A2 AB/d/ | ed Bd | G2 GA | Bd B/A/G |
A2 AB/d/ | ed Bd | e/f/g/e dB | A2 :|
|: Bd |
ea ag/a/ | ba ge | ef ga | ge ed |
ea ag/a/ | ba gd | e/f/g/e/ dB | A2 :|

Submitted on July 23rd 2006 by Ptarmigan.

Pronunciation?

How does one pronounce ‘maol’ and ‘gneeveguilla’?

Pronunciation? RE:

"Pronunciation?

How does one pronounce ‘maol’ and ‘gneeveguilla’?"

Maol is pronounced as

M-w-a-y-l

you’re kind of adding an <m> before "whale"

m-whale.

Im not sure about the second one, i’d imagine you dont pronounce the <g>. If I was to take a stab at it, i’d guess

<neeve> <gweeya> or <neeve> <geeya>
(That gee as in geese)

Queen’s Polka

Also known as Maol Mountain and Top of Maol. From The Traditional Tune Archive, which, according to them is from the Hardy family music manuscripts (Thomas Hardy).

edit problem

Was unable to edit the title - The Queen’s Polka - and the time signature.

@janglecrow: You have neglected to ‘slash’ your semiquavers in bars 7 and 14.
It should be:
|"G"B/c/ d/B/ "D"AF|

Gneeveguilla, the townland in Kerry, gets its name from Gníomh go leith which means a ploughshare and a half, a ploughshare being a measure of land - I think based on how much a horse could plough in a day. The locals call it something like ginny-gwilla.

X: 4 “The Top of the Maol” / “The Groves Of Gneeveguilla” ~ a rescued duplication

# Posted by stewardy - June 22nd, 2003

Lost under a weird minor version of the polka "The Lakes of Sligo"
https://thesession.org/tunes/393

stewardy’s note: "Lakes of Sligo" ~ I have just been learning this tune which I have heard on a cheapo CD from the cheapo shop - it is the first track and played in a very Scots fiddle style but evidently from the title, very Irish. And yes, it is followed by ‘Top of Maol’ also known as the Queens Polka or the Groves of Gneeveguilla - and I have copied down the abc notation which is as follows and seems to be very similar to what I am learning…

I am not familiar with abc either, but together they make a lovely couple and bear out what someone was saying in Top Ten Sessions about polkas being a lot subtler than they are cracked up to be…

# Posted by stewardy - June 22nd, 2003

X: 5 "Murphy’s Delight"

S: “Jimmy Doyle & Dan O’Leary: Traditional Music From The Kingdom Of Kerry”
https://thesession.org/recordings/1247 ~ track 7 ~ the 1st polka of two.

Q: 128 bpm (1 beat = three quavers/eighth notes)

I have also learned this one direct as well from other living sources and situations where the average tempos varied from 120 to 135 bpm (1 beat = three quavers/eighth notes)…

Q: 128 bpm (1 beat = one crotchet/quarter note)

1 beat = one crotchet/quarter note (not three quavers)

Re: The Top Of The Maol

Interesting. Is this the tune that the song "Johnny Cope" was set to? Or is the similarity a coincidence?

Re: The Top Of The Maol

We play this tune for the dances of the local contra dance/folk dance society and the version we use is very similar to the version posted by "dafydd" eighteen years ago at the top of the page.

Laurence