Cronin’s reel

Are you not going to comment? 🙂

C’mon…

Key signature: D major ~ & C & A
Submitted on July 20th 2006 by you.
https://thesession.org/tunes/5992

Once the other variants are here you’ll see an even closer relationship. You can see what happens when you give "Cronin’s" as the title, a whole load of recordings fill the ‘Details’ for this one. There are only a few differences in the tunes, but hopefully enough to allow it a place of its own. I’ll give the links to the other family members soon, but first down to some other ABC transcripts.

Give me space to catch my breath… 😉

I’m utterly shocked that you haven’t stated your source. I dunno how many times I’ve seen you have a go at people for that. I think you should give yourself a good slapping.

K: C Major
CB,CD EG ~G2 | cded cAAG | AcGc Aa ~a2 | gecd ed ~d2 |
C3 D EG ~G2 | cded cAAG | AcGc Aa ~a2 | gedf ec ~c2 :|
g^fga ge ~e2 | fedc ec ~c2 | AcGc Aa ~a2 | gecd ed ~d2 |
g^fga ge ~e2 | fedc ec ~c2 | AcGc Aa ~a2 | gedf ec ~c2 :|

The above shows the repeats and the rolls as the tune was published in volume 4 of this collection, page 5, tune #15, 1974.

The fairies gave it to me… ;-/

|: D3 E FA A2 | defe dB B2 | (3Bcd Ad Bd b2 |1 afde fe e2 :|
2 af (3efg fd d2 ||
|: a^gab af f2 | gfed fd d2 | BdAd (3Bcd b2 | afde fe e2 :|
2 afeg fd d2 ||

I’m sick of hearing about those bloody fairies, ‘c’. You e-mail me about them every day. I’ve told you time and time again you need to go and talk to someone who can help you.

Now, what do you think about the Flax In Bloom? https://thesession.org/tunes/748. After reading your stuff on the Braes of Auchtertyre last night, I went to bed and then woke up today with the Flax In Bloom playing in my internal jukebox, and it’s stuck with me all day. Is there any meaning in all of this? Can you ask the fairies for me? It’s too cold for them down here at the moment I should think.

I just read through the comments for the Belles Of Tipperary again https://thesession.org/tunes/769/comments, and discovered that Trevor posted this tune there back in November 2002, albeit in the key of D. That distinctive octave leap |BdAd Bb~b2|afde fee2| sounded familiar to me, so I googled that sequence of notes, first in the key of C, and then in D, and got a hit. So it’s in the New England Fiddle Collection as the Belles, or maybe it was there under a different title. Maybe Trevor can help out here. Anyway, whatever it’s supposed to be called, I’d say it’s different enough to be classed as a distinct tune. Thanks for this one, ‘c’, I’ll practise it up this weekend I think, and then perhaps spend a few years trying to untangle all those tunes that sound so similar :-|

This is a good example of a reel that can be inundated with rolls and related embellishments, the Bulmer & Sharpley notation showing some of that. So, here’s a guide as to where one might roll this tune flat. I could argue that every damned beat could be rolled, but I’ll try to contain myself.

I’m using ‘N’ as a value for note, and in this case we’ll say any note of equivalent value. I’ll use ‘X’ for the variable. Keeping with the reel, 4/4 and L: 1/8, so N = 1/8 and N2 = 1/4, etc…

Any value of N2 or N3 can be rolled (I include all the many varieties of this act including crans).

NXNX & XNXN:
CB,CD | ~C2 CD | ~C3 D
cded | cd ~d2 | c ~d3
AcGc | Ac ~c2 | A ~c3
g^fga | ~g2 ga | ~g3 a
AcGc | Ac ~c2 | A ~c3

XN N2 & N2 NX:
EG ~G2 | E ~G3
Aa ~a2 | A ~a3
ed ~d2 | e ~d3
ec ~c | e ~c3

XNNX & NXXN:
cAAG | cA ~A2 | c ~A3

Using the Bulmer & Sharpley notation but as a single reel ~ N3:

K: C Major
~C3 D E ~G3 | c ~d3 c ~A3 | A ~c3 A ~a3 | 1gecd e~d3 :|
gedf e ~c3 :|
~g3 a g ~e3 | fedc e ~c3 | A ~c3 A ~a3 | gecd e ~d3 |
gedf e ~c3 :|

YUCK!!!

"Miss Monaghan" ~ reel
Key signature: D Major
Submitted on December 30th 2001 by Josh Kane.
https://thesession.org/tunes/471

"The Belles Of Tipperary" / "The New Policeman" ~ reel
Key signature: D Major
Submitted on June 16th 2002 by Mad Baloney.
https://thesession.org/tunes/769

"Billy in the Lowground" / "Lizzy In The Lowground" ~ reel
Key signature: G Dorian
Submitted on July 26th 2005 by frisbee.
https://thesession.org/tunes/4782

"Billy in the Lowground" ~ reel
Key signature: C Major
Submitted on October 30th 2005 by Unseen122.
https://thesession.org/tunes/5135

"The Mohill" ~ reel
Key signature: C Major
Submitted on December 31st 2004 by Dow.
https://thesession.org/tunes/4030

You’re quick, yes, I remember coming across it here previously but the search feature doesn’t work on the comments so despite a lot of searching I didn’t find it or remember about it. Thanks for putting the links in. I’m also familiar with that New England collection, but I don’t have my copy here. If I did I would have known it would be likely to be here. I think Trevor ABC-ed everything in the book not realizing it wasn’t out of print…

I’ll be putting in anothe take on "The Braes of Auchtertyre" that is very close to this transcription…

Are you familiar with Tommy Peoples take on the Belles, it has been given the name "The Belles of St. Louis"?

I see the version of the Belles Of Tipperary in Ryan’s Mammoth Collection also has that octave leap, and a simpler 2nd part than the usual session version:

X: 1
T: The Belles Of Tipperary
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
S: Ryan’s Mammoth Collection of Fiddle Tunes
Z: Contributed 20010525022734 by John Chambers jc@trillian.mit.edu; edited a bit by Dow, but only the horrible semiquavers
K: Dmaj
D3D F2A2|defe dcBA|BcBA B2b2|afde fee2|
D3D F2A2|defe dcBA|BcBA BcdB|AGFE ADD2:|
|:a3b agfa|gfeg fedc|BcBA B2b2|afde fee2|
a3b agfa|gfeg fedc|BcBA BcdB|AGFE ADD2:|

Compare this with the setting Trevor gave us:

X: 1
T: The Belles Of Tipperary
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
S: New England Fiddle Collection
Z: Trevor Jennings
K: Dmaj
D3E FA A2|defe dBBd|BdAd Bb b2|afde fe e2|
DCDE FA A2|defe dBBd|BdAd Bb b2|afde fd d2:|
|:a3b afed|gfed fd d2|BdAd Bb b2|afde fe e2|
a3b afed|gfed fd d2|BdAd Bb b2|afde fd d2:|

I’m think maybe this is an older setting of the Belles Of Tipperary. Or maybe the Belles Of Tipperary and the New Policeman are actually different tunes which have merged or something.

Sources ~ I have suspicions as to who I first learned this tune from, he’s a member of TheSesh. We played it for dancers and the first way I knew it was as a double reel, 32 bars, expanded to fit the needs of 32 bar dances…but I prefer it as a single reel…which its melody and structure support…

I love that low G, too…making a greater leap than an octave. Both those jumps are fun…

Thanks for the Belles, so obviously the same root ~ what a kick, including those others that just hint at the relationship.

Hey I hadn’t even noticed you posted it as a single. I wasn’t paying attention! Hmm, I know what you mean about it lending itself to the structure of single. I’d have to play it for a while and get used to the tune before I decide. It’s punchier and less repetitive as a single, that’s for sure…

Also it strikes me that if all these reels are all supposed to be derived from the Braes of Auchtertyre, then it’s likely that this tune *is* an older reel setting, since it has preserved the octave leaps and simpler B-part of the original strathspey version.

I agree.

I’ve another irritation, you know this convention of notating triplets for reels, the (3NNN, well, really, reel triplets, unless you’re swinging it, are played more like N/N/N mostly. Another option is NN/N/. I think you know what I mean. What is weird is that some folks do it the other way around and for swung tunes, like strathspeys and the sort, they notate them N/N/N and NN/N/, when mostly they are (3NNN…

It’s those damned fairies, they’ve been spiking my water… 😏

I had it in mind to post a reel setting that preserves even more of the original, but ‘c’ beat me to it https://thesession.org/tunes/5992/comments#comment221330.

Well I swing my reels close to a 12/8 feel, so any reel transcriptions by me are going to have triplets in. Sorry, ‘c’, you’ll just have to be irritated by me 🙂

Unfortunately the standard setting of the Belles Of Tipperary in D and the Mohill in C are both common tunes in my session, so people would most likely join in with one or the other if I started this tune in either key. Whilst experimenting in other keys, I came up with this version which would not be confused for either:


X: 1
T: Cronin’s
T: The Belles Of Tipperary
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Fmaj
~F3G Ac~c2|fgaf gfdc|dfcf ~d3=B|cAFG AG~G2|
~F3G Ac~c2|fgaf gfdc|dfcf ~d3f|1 cAGc AFFE:|2 cAGc AF~F2||
|:~c3d cA~A2|BAGB AFFc|dfcf ~d3=B|cAFG AG~G2|
~c3d cA~A2|BAGB AFFc|dfcf ~d3f|1 cAGc AF~F2:|2 cAGc AFFE||

…and then from that came this one in G that might be good on the flute:

X: 2
T: Cronin’s
T: The Belles Of Tipperary
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Gmaj
~G3A Bd~d2|gabg aged|egdg ege^c|dBGA BAAB|
~G3A Bd~d2|gabg aged|egdg egbg|1 aged egg2:|2 aged egge||
|:~d3e dB~B2|cBAc BGGd|egdg ege^c|dBGA BAAB|
~d3e dB~B2|cBAc BGGd|egdg egbg|1 aged egge:|2 aged egg2||

Hardly an irritation, at least not to me ~ I like a well swung reel…

Not bad settings, but I miss those leaps of faith… 😉

I also find the single reel version more driving and exciting…

Or what about this one - lots of possibilities for variations here:

X: 3
T: Cronin’s
T: The Belles Of Tipperary
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Gmaj
~G3A Bd~d2|gabg aged|egdg egdg|egdG BAAB|
~G3A Bd~d2|gabg aged|egdg egdg|1 bgag egg2:|2 bgag egge||
|:~d3e dB~B2|cBAc BGGd|egdg egdg|egdG BAAB|
~d3e dB~B2|cBAc BGGd|egdg egdg|1 bgag egge:|2 bgag egg2||

X: Dow’s
T: Cronin’s
T: The Belles Of Tipperary
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: G Major
~G3 A B ~d3 | ~g3 b a ~g3 | e ~g3 d ~g3 | egdG B ~A3 |
~G3 A B ~d3 | ~g3 b a ~g3 | e ~g3 d ~g3 | ~b3 g a ~g3 :|
|: ~d3 e d ~B3 | ~c3 A B ~G3 | e ~g3 d ~g3 | ~e3 G B ~A3 |
~d3e d ~B3 | c ~A3 ~B3 d | e ~g3 d ~g3 | ~b3 g a ~g3 :|

X: 3
T: Cronin’s, Sort Of…
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Gmaj
~G3A Bd~d2|gabg aged|egdg egdB|cedB cAAB|
~G3A Bd~d2|gabg aged|egdg egdB|1 dega bgg2:|2 dega bggf||
|:~g3e dB~B2|dBAd BAAd|egdg egdB|dega baaf|
~g3e dB~B2|dBAd BAAd|egdg egdB|1 cBAc BGGf:|2 cBAc BGGD||

Oo I like that last one I did 🙂

Key signature: G Major
Submitted and cobbled together on July 21st 2006 by Dow.
https://thesession.org/tunes/6000

It seems the lad liked it so much he submitted it and turned it into a political statement. The shouting is his, or at least what he sometimes would like to do…

X: 1
T: Cronin’s
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Cmaj
|: C3D EG G2 | cded cA A2 |(3 ABc Gc A2Aa | gecd edd2 |
| C3D EG G2 | cded cA A2 |(3 ABc Gc A2Aa | gedf ecc2 :|
|: g3a ge (3 eee | fedf ecc2 |(3 ABc Gc A2Aa | gecd edd2 |
| g3a ge (3 eee | fedf ecc2 | (3 ABc Gc A2Aa | gedf ecc2 :|

I could play this version for hours!

Thanks Catherine, appreciated…

I always assumed the Cronin referred to here was Paddy Cronin, the Sliabh Luachra / Boston fiddler. He certainly recorded a lovely version in C on his "Rakish Paddy" album, under the name "The Braes of Auchtertyre". Man, do I love that version!

Agreed, Daniel. I had the tune from Paddy Cronin at a Fleadh in the 70s, and it passed to those who published it as it came from that source.