Sean Maguire reel

I don’t play this particular tune , but thought I’d post it in memory of a great character and a great musician. This was composed in honour of Sean Maguire, by the late Bert Murray of Aberdeen. The two fiddlers were good friends and Maguire liked it so much, he even recorded it himself. Also recorded by “Danu”. it’s been in the Irish tradition for a few years now, and “cos” once sent me a tape of Paddy O’Neill, fiddler from Tyrone having an honourable stab at it. Not one for wind instruments, really, but a typical reel for Maguire’s style of playing.
Bert Murray was a prolific composer, and has 5 books of his compositions available, each with 50 tunes in it.

I`ll have to send you another tape,Kenny,of Sean`s lifelong pal Tom Ginley on flute.He never recorded commercially except with the Eddie Fagan Ceili Band,where he was drowned out by the rest of the band,but he played tunes like the above reel and the Mathmatician Hornpipe ,which aren`t really designed for the flute-a great musician.Sean harrassed him over the years to record with him but he`s very shy and never did.I went with them to a small club one night in 1984 and taped a very interesting set.I met Tom at yesterday`s funeral and he says he packed in playing some years ago.

In reference to the comment about this tune not being one for woodwinds, I have to say that I have heard this played on pipes and flute when transposed down to G.

X: 2
T: Sean Maguire
C: Bert Murray
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: GMaj
|: F/G/A |\
Bd d/d/d ed^cd | gdBG D2 BG | Ae e/e/e fe^de | ae^cA E2 (3=cBA |
Bd d/^c/d ed B/=c/d | gdBG DGBG | e/f/e d/e/d c/d/c B/c/B | A/B/A GF G2 :|
|: d/e/f |\
gb ~b2 gbdc | BdgB dG B/c/d | eA ~A2 eA B/c/d | eAaf g2 f/e/d |
g2 b/^a/b gbdG | B/c/d gB dGBd | ~e2 d/e/d cdBc | A/B/A GF G2 :|

Yes, a lovely tune.

Submitted on March 28th 2010 by schriltz.
https://thesession.org/tunes/10387

Tom Ginley was indeed a great flute player, though more a ‘classical’ than traditional style. Yes, he did play and record with my da’s ceili band and I agree his fine playing is not audible on that album but that was more down to the sound engineers than the musicians. I also did some solo concert work with him back in the ‘60’s accompanying him on piano.

Another tune from:
Lets Have A Session,
Continuing The Tradition,
A Second Compilcation Of Traditional Irish Music,
Settings Selected And Arranged By Kathleen Harte.

Pity the 3 versions are missing the extra cool slice in the B part.. I learnt it from the composer Bert way back.. but im not sure how to put it on here.. i have sibelius.. ? it really makes the tune come alive..!

That surprises me. I took the transcription from Bert’s own book. So if you know better than Bert’s own transcription, please do post it here. You don’t need any music software, just a knowledge of the "abc" system.

I’ve just listened to Bert playing the tune himself on the cassette tape he released in 1986. I don’t hear any difference from the transcription I posted, apart from noticing for the first time that Bert played this "straight through" without repeats. So what is "the extra cool slice", that’s not in the book , nor on the recording, as far as I can tell ?

Apologies for the poor sound quality - 2nd tune, starting at 1m 17s :
https://youtu.be/-KvVT1o_Fug

play video