The First Month Of Summer reel

This is a great set & I’ve never heard the First Month of Summer played without being preceded by the “Lads of Laois”. Sometimes the “First Month of Summer” is played in G, but If it’s played with the “Lads..” I think it sounds best in A - it’s the modulation of Em to A that makes the set cook.

Oops did I say “Never” I meant “rarely”… is that better Will?

Brad I really enjoy your new moniker…I smile every time I log on now. I only wish my name had such a fun anagram (and if it does, I’m sure you or Zina or Glauber will soon unfurl it on these pages) *grin*

And I genuinely do appreciate the comments you post with your tunes, such as this one, which helps me think about a new and interesting approach to these two tunes as a set. Maybe you can persuade Josh Kane and others to take the time to comment more on their tune postings.

It was a child hood nickname that I still think is kind of funny. I’ll give Josh a good punch in the head if I see him tonight. Or even better - I’ll tell his mom to.

I love you too, Brad…

I’ve heard 2 different versions of this at our session which are in different keys. The first is Matt Molloy’s version which he calls First Month Of *Spring* https://thesession.org/tunes/3806, and the 2nd is a bit like Brad’s version and also similar to the version in the Miles Krassen ed of O’Neill’s:

X: 1
T: First Month Of Summer, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Amaj
AF~F2 E2CE|A,2CE dBcB|AF~F2 EA,~A,2|CEAB c2cB|
AF~F2 FECE|A,ECE dBcB|AF~F2 EA,~A,2|CEAB c2Bc||
Ac~c2 ecfc|ecAc defa|ec~c2 acec|dBBA Bcdf|
ec~c2 ac~c2|ec~c2 defb|(3aba ga faec|dBBA BdcB||

This tune also gets played in G, and I find that this lies under my fingers better. My setting goes like this:

X: 1
T: First Month Of Summer, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Gmaj
GECE D2B,D|G,DB,D cABA|GECE D2B,E|DEGA (3Bcd BA:|
GB~B2 dBeB|dBGB cdeg|dB~B2 eBdB|cAAG ABce|
dB~B2 dBeB|dBGB cdef|gzfd egdB|cAAG AcBA||

In Amaj, that’s:

X: 1
T: First Month Of Summer, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Amaj
AFDF E2CE|A,ECE dBcB|AFDF E2CF|EFAB cecB:|
Ac~c2 ecfc|ecAc defa|ec~c2 fcec|dBBA Bcdf|
ec~c2 ecfc|ecAc defg|azge faec|dBBA BdcB||

X: 1
T: First Month Of Spring, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Dmaj
|dB~B2 BAFA|~D2FA defe|dBBF AAFA|BBed egfe|
|dB~B2 BAFB|~A2FA defg|afge fdec|dBAB e2fg|
|af~f2 afbf|af~f2 afef|af~f2 ~a3f|egfe dBA2|
af~f2 afbf|af~f2 afea|fa~a2 fb~b2|bafe fgfe|
“variation”
|affb afbf|fefb afef|af~f2 ~a3f|egfe dBA2|
af~f2 afbf|af~f2 afea|fa~a2 f[~b3 ~g3]|[b g]afe fgfe|

Tommy McCarthy’s setting of the classic tune has some lovely things in it that the other versions do not have. I didn’t put some accents in - notably in the 2nd and 3rd bars in the second line. Players familiar with Irish ornaments will have no trouble figuring out where to put the grace notes. I think that Tommy plays the tune on a Bb whistle. Tommy is a wonderful musician and the album, Sporting Nell, is a classic.

From a wax cylinder recording of a great Mayo piper, Mike Carney. This recording was transcribed in full by Pat Mitchell and Sean Donnelly, their work may be viewed here: http://162.13.136.126/data/PIOBAIRE/PIOB0304.PDF This is accurate down to the individual grace notes and pauses; I’ve taken their work and attempted to suss out the melody underneath it all, which would be nigh-unto-impossible for even modern day pipers to make sense of, Carney like his Connaught born piping peers of those times played in a very tight (=staccato) style which would be constantly breaking the octave and which was chockablock full of triplets and trills, this is a style which has by and large died out except for aficionados. The present setting may be of interest or use to musicians looking for alternatives to the run-of-the-mill as set in stone by Molloy + Peoples. You may do a better job of figuring out what the basic melody here is than I did, too. Feel free to addendize, if that’s the word.

This setting from the great Sligo fiddlemaster Paddy Killoran. Killoran had it after “My Love is Fair and Handsome” ( https://thesession.org/tunes/5955 ), another great tune, and the two go well together, somewhat unsurprisingly.
Of note is that Killoran titled it the “First Month of Spring”. B/C Boxplayers might make good use of their outside E for the low phrase as well.

Version on C whistle.

From the playing of Limerick Junction. They used to play it after Rakish Paddy.