The Rolling Waves jig

I learned this from the playing of Kevin Burke (is it on the “Portland” album?), smooth and swingy, not too fast. You want to get the feeling of being gently rocked in your dinghy on a light swell. It makes a nice companion to the Humours of Trim (also listed as the Rolling Waves in the archives here), with Willie Coleman’s in between.

On fiddle, Burke likes to slide the F2 in measure 1 down just a little and the F2 in measure 2 up a smidge to add sway to the already rolling feel. And you can roll any of the B3’s and d3’s as you see fit.

The tunes makes an easy whistle or flute piece as well, ready made for beginner’s fingers (like mine) to find on the low D whistle, for instance. You can cut to separate the doubled-up E’s D’s wherever they occur and the side-by-side A’s from measure 2 to measure 3 in Part B, and the two B’s in measure 6 of Part B.

…on his Caple Street recording. Very nice–don’t know if this recording is still available.

Submitted on July 10th 2006 by ceolachan.
https://thesession.org/tunes/5952

Now Martin O’Connor knows both these tunes but gave this polka as a nameless or ‘gan ainm’. Check out the lovely shared bit between the two, the A-parts. Here’s the first four bars from this polka:

|: D/E/ |
FE ED/E/ | FD D>E | FE DA | dB BA | ~

There’s also a slide in the family…

~ a few basic rhythmic possibilities, bar and beat, minus the possibilities of z… ‘N’ = generic note…

Within the measure:
| N4 | = | N2- N2 | ~
| N2- N>N | ~ | N2- NN | ~ | NN- N2 | ~ | NN- N>N | ~ | NN- NN |

Within the beat:
N2 ~ NN ~ N>N ~ NN/N/ ~ N/N/N ~ N/N/N/N/

Oops! ~ There’s a screw up if ever I saw one. I thought I was in the comments for the polka. That’ll surprise some folks, not my screwing up, but finding the above here…

Submitted on July 11th 2006 by ceolachan.
https://thesession.org/tunes/5954

~ a few basic rhythmic possibilities, not all necessarily ‘common’ ~ minus the possibilities of z… ‘N’ = generic note…

Across two beats:
| N6 | = | N3- N3 | ~
N3- N2 N ~ N2 N- N3 ~ N2 N- N2 N ~

On one beat:
N3 ~ N2 N ~ N N2 ~ NNN ~ N>NN ~ N<NN ~
N/N/NN ~ NN/N/N ~ NNN/N/

I can just imagine folks going around going “Nuh-Nuh-Nuuuuh”… Dow, holding his head and looking for aspirin…

The Clan March of the Maguires. Is in the Gunn Book (Fermanagh 1865) as the Spring of Stradone. Stradone is a village on the Fermanagh/Cavan border

Oops I got that wrong, it’s definitely the SPRIG of Stradone in the Gunn Book. I’m told that a Sprig is a piece of music in Scotland.

What about “The Brig’ o’ Strathdon” ?

Try https://thesession.org/tunes/88

Or both?

Both - some people just like to turn slower tunes into jigs. But I think that if you want to be true to the source, it would be a march, the way it is played, for instance, by James Kelly on “Capel Street”, or by Mickey Dunne here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTguk3CI1R

play video

try again - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTguk3CI1Rk

play video

http://comhaltas.ie/music/detail/comhaltaslive_239_2_ernestine_healy_concertina_and_fionnuala_rooney_harp/

Isn’t this the same tune as “The French March” on the Chieftains 1983 “The Year of the French.”

From Kevin Burke

FEF ~D3|{A} D2d .cAG|FEF ~D3|A2F GFE|
|FEF ~D3|{A} D2d .cAG|~F3 ~G3|(3.A.c.A F GFE|
|FEF ~D3|{A} D2d .cAG|E~F2 ~D3|(3.A.c.A F GFE|
|FEF ~D3|{A} D2d .cAG|(3FGA F GBG|A{B}A F GFE||
|{A}D2d cAd|cAd cAG|~F2 d .cAG|~A2F GFE|
|{A}D2d cAd|ded cAG|(3FGA F GBG|~A2F GFE|
|{A}D2d cAd|ded cAG|~F2 d .cAG|~A2F GFE|
|{A}D2d cde|(3.g.f.e .d cAG| E~F2~G3|~A2F GFE||

Willie Clancy’s pipes version with a different b-part

Is this the tune on Portland by Kevin Burke or is it The humours of Trim on the album instead ?

This is a great tune, with a vibrant life and rhythm of its own, floating somewhere in that modal space between D major and E minor. The pace and strength of the tune really builds throughout the second part. The bits and pieces that I have added just accentuate that build through the repeat. This would be a great tune get rolling with a whistle and guitar, especially if the guitarist knows his Irish jigs. I can see an arrangement of this tune being the favorite track on an Irish Trad. album, if only a group of real talented musicians can pick it up!

Is the Clan March of the Maguires a different tune from the Rolling Wave jig?
Some kind of a version is heard here of the march:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWW0OOCeX74

play video

Taken from ‘A Fine Selection of Over 200 Irish Traditional Tunes for Sessions’, compiled by David Speers with a Forward by Matt Cranitch. It appears in this book as The Lonesome jig. This setting is in C major, giving it a more resonant feel. Might be a good one to go with Hole in the Hedge (in C), which I sometimes pair with The Mist Covered Mountain (in D mix, as on the first Na Connery’s recording - sorry flutes and whistles!).

Setting from Perpetual e-Motion.

From the playing of Brigham Phillips & John Herberman.

From the playing of The Contrarians.

From the playing of Michael Rooney And June McCormack, cast into AABB form.

From the playing of Alec Brown.

From the playing of Patrick Madden & Friends.

This is the same as version 1 above but with the variation in the second time ending of the second part. It is how I have heard it played. It is usually called ‘The Lonesome Jig’. The Rolling Wave (singular) is a different tune (also listed on The Session as ‘The Rolling Waves’ but with the alternative title ‘The Humours of Trim’). This latter tune was played by Willie Clancy and is the theme tune for RTÉ Radio 1’s weekly programme The Rolling Wave.

From the playing of Kerry Elkin, Danny Noveck, and, Peter Barnes.

FEF ~D3|{A} D2d .cAG|FEF ~D3|A2F GFE|
|FEF ~D3|{A} D2d .cAG|~F3 ~G3|(3.A.c.A F GFE|
|FEF ~D3|{A} D2d .cAG|E~F2 ~D3|(3.A.c.A F GFE|
|FEF ~D3|{A} D2d .cAG|(3FGA F GBG|A{B}A F GFE||
|{A}D2d cAd|cAd cAG|~F2 d .cAG|~A2F GFE|
|{A}D2d cAd|ded cAG|(3FGA F GBG|~A2F GFE|
|{A}D2d cAd|ded cAG|~F2 d .cAG|~A2F GFE|
|{A}D2d cde|(3.g.f.e .d cAG| E~F2~G3|~A2F GFE||

Wille Clancy’s version with a different 2nd part