The Hunter’s House reel

This is one of the most popular tunes composed by Ed Reavy.

This is part of a nice reel set on track 6 of this CD with instruments that include:celtic harp, uilliann pipes, hammered dulcimer, irish flute, bodran, pennywhistle. this Cd is described in the recordings section.

X: 1
T: Reavy’s
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Gmaj
B2B2|:BddB cAFD|G2BG DGBG|BddB cAFD|GBAG FDCE|
DGBG cAFA|BGBA GABc|1 defg afge|
dBcA G2GA:|2 defg (3agf (3gfe|dB (3cBA G2GA||
|:B2gB aBgB|~B2gf edcB|A2 (3aaa baaf|dfaf gedc|
B2gB aBgB|~B2gf edcB|cBAg fdaf|1 gedB cAGA:|2 gdBd cAFA|G4||

I was taught this elegant and lively reel a couple of days ago in a lesson and have transcribed it from a recording of my teacher’s demonstration play-through.
Trevor

My teacher got this tune from her teacher who got it from a source in Ireland. It appears that no one along the line was aware of the Hunter’s House connection, otherwise that name would surely have been mentioned. The two tunes are clearly closely related, but with some subtle differences. A good illustration of how tunes can change as they proceed by different routes from a common source.
The "advanced" search I always carry out on this site in respect of a tune I intend to submit didn’t come up with Hunter’s House.
Trevor

Your pontification has resulted in an obscuration of the foundation in regards to… Give it up Trev, you can call this tune Reavy’s & you’ll be right, but most folks call it the Hunter’s House to separate it from the other 100+ tunes Ed Reavy wrote. Ed named all of his tunes & left up to the rest of us to forget the titles.

this tune is the first of a set played on this chieftains record exepted they call it tom billys ??
the last of the three tune set is scartaglen i beleive whereas they call it the star about the garter??
the middle tune is played by two fiddles only and gives a very interesting break between the big session sounds of the first and last tunes. They call it the gladstone but i have never seen it or heard it anywhere else

No, really, this really is a common tune, or am I going mad?

I love this tune and hear it in more advanced level sessions. Does anyone know of any solo flute recordings of this tune? I would love to learn it by slowing down a flute recording, but I don’t know of any…..

Joyce

This is indeed Hunter’s House, by Ed Reavy, though it has been widely recorded under other names (or no name at all). I’m surprised Jeremy hasn’t deleted this setting (or inserted the abcs in the comments of the original post), since the tune was first submitted more than a year ago.

Joyce, if you learn the basic tune off another instrument, then you can make it your own as you fit it onto flute. It’s a bit of a brawl on the Music at Matt Molloy’s cd, but the melody is there.

Will, I agree with you on this. The variation I was taught is too close to the original to be classed as a separate tune, but I wasn’t aware of that at the time. Perhaps Jeremy would indeed like to transfer the abc to the original posting.
Trevor

Trevor, I’d vote for preserving your setting in the comments of the original post—it has some nice twists to it.

Only solo flute recording of this I know of for certain is by yer man Flatley - and you might well need "The Amazing Slow-Downer" to get it. I have a feeling Seamus Tansey recorded this one time on an LP on the Belfast "Outlet" label - early 70s? - but they’re not on CD as far as I know, and are quite rare these days. Great tune.

Yes, I can learn the basic tune from another instrument, but I’m just not good enough of a flute player to "make it my own". My tunes turn out best when I can learn from another flute player and get the correct phrasing. I do have the Music at Matt Molloys CD.

Thanks Kenny, I’ll look for the Michael Flatley recording. I do have the Amazing Slow Downer and use it all the time to learn tunes.

C’mon Joyce, give yerself some credit! First off, you can pick up phrasing from just listening to the tune, even if it’s not on your instrument. Second, there’s no such thing as the "correct" phrasing—a big part of what will make the tune your own is finding your own way to tie the notes together. Everyone will have a slightly different spin on this, and that’s as it should be. And I bet you can do a fine job of it if you try. I’m not being flippant—the process of learning a basic melody without mimicking someone else’s timing, swing, phrasing, variations, etc., is one of the most important steps you can take toward being your own musician, and there’s no harm in trying even if you’re not a veteran player with years of tunes under your belt. Give it a go!

Will’s totally right, Joyce! You go, girl, and just play with the thing ‘til you find *your* "correct" phrasing. Then you’ll hear a recording of it and say to yourself, hey, I like that one phrase/variation/emphasis/note better than my setting, I think I’ll pop that into my setting. And you’ll hear another recording and say to yourself, hey, I actually like my setting better than that. Except for that note there, I want to use that. *grin* That’s the way this stuff works. Go for it!

Zina

Will and Zina - You both are right!! I really need to start learning tunes without copying exactly every phrase, ornament, and variaton of another flute player’s setting. I’m very guilty of this. Last Monday, I slowed down Catherine McEvoy’s Brendan Tonra jig and shamefully copied EVERYTHING……(I think it’s my best jig yet, but that’s beside the point)

But I will make an attempt to learn the Hunters House from the Music at Matt Molloys or another recording with PJ Hayes and Paddy Canny…Hopefully I can put my own stamp on it.

Thank you both for your words of wisdom.

Joyce
.

Have fun with it Joyce, and let us know how it works out.

Hi ed,
I had a listen to that "Water From The Well" track. The first tune is usually known as "Far From Home" - it’s not the "Hunter’s House", (nor is it usually called "Tom Billy’s" come to that,) - the second tune "Gladstone’s", is common in Donegal, but I’m sure it’s a Scottish composition by Scott Skinner. The third tune, I agree with you, is "The Humours Of Scartaglen".
I enjoyed much of that CD - it was reassuring to know that the Chieftains could still play Irish music when they wanted to.

yes
sorry
i had another listen and hunters house isnt named
but it is definitely played after dowds number 9 track five i beleive
did the chieftains ever show any doubt of not being able to play The Music??

This is played as "Reevy’s" on the first Na Connery’s album, going into Bucks (last track), and a rocking good set it is. Nice version of the tune there, too.

Here it is played at a session at Malloy’s. It’s the last tune in the set
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLBFaqZM2Bc

play video

Here’s a link to Sean Keane playing it, with a few others. Fierce playing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnm7cAYs8I0&NR=1

play video

the 2nd part is entirely satisfying to the point that it redeems the whole tune (the 1st part, though it is originally crafted and has swing, is rather plain).

It’s a little late to answer, but Gerry Strong recorded a solo flute version of Hunter’s House on his album "Velvet in the Wind".

I like the version on Moving Cloud’s CD, The Great Nya(?).

version from The Chieftains - The Dusty Miller

the last tune in the set

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JE8zktqo6g

play video