Master McDermott’s reel

This tune is played brilliantly by Liam O’ Connor and Cathal Hayden on Liam O’Connor’s album “Reel Spirit”. It’s worth buying.

sounds like the “home ruler”

This is a reel, Kurt. I hope you have learned to distinguish reels from hornpipes by now ; )

From sleeve notes to “Good Friends,Good Music “ by “Boys Of The Lough”:
“Master McDermott was a teacher near Pomeroy, Co.Tyrone and was alive until a few years ago.** It is as a fiddler however that he is better remembered”
[ ** - this LP was recorded in 1976 / 1977. ]

X: 1
T: Master McDermott’s from MarcusHernon.com
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Dmaj
DF ~F2 DFAB|dffe d2 Bd|AF ~F2 DF ~F2|B2 AF EAFE|
DF ~F2 DFAB|dffe d2 Bd|AF ~F2 B2 AF|1EAFE D4:|2EAFE D2 AB||
df ~f2 d2 af|~g3 b affe|d2 BA FAde|~f3 a ef d2|
faaf g2 gb|affe d2 Bd|AF ~F2 BFAF|1EAFE D2 AB:|2EAFE D4||

Link to Marcus Hernon’s website: http://www.marcushernon.com The clip is on the Products page.

And click “My Flutes.”

Sean McGuire Irish Fiddle Masters From The 78 RPM Era plays it beautifully on Milestone at the Garden, a re-release of Irish Fiddle Masters From The 78 RPM Era – well worth having and listening to.

It is not widely known but this reel was composed by Sean McGuire and Liam Donnelly a Tyrone fiddler in the late 1940`s.I have a transcription of all Seans compositions from that time and this is one of about fifty tunes sean composed .He composed a few with Liam donnelly.He never got the credit for his compositions or his versions and arrangments of many trad tunes.He also made very little money from his extensive recorded legacy-there were a lot of Peter Kennedys running about in the 60`s and 70`s.

Hanley…a reel can definetely sound like a hornpipe, whether it’s the melodies or chords or whatever. I hope you’ve learned that through playing Irish music! Even some jigs sound like reels, and hornpipes like jigs, etc..

A couple of notes to add: if you click onto this tune from “Josie McDermott’s” most of us hopefully know the two are only connected by surname. However, I did not know that Sean McGuire had composed this tune and had thought that it was composed by Master McDermott himself, a well respected fiddle teacher from Tyrone at least a generation older than Sean. On the other hand, it makes sense that Mr. McGuire would’ve made this reel for another great fiddler he himself had admired. I wish I could’ve heard him play, Master McDermott that is.

Ryan G. Duns - Tin Whistle Reels
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPCMZOr1l50

play video

Stephen Ducke (?) ~ whistle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYLU49D_Ses

play video

http://www.tradschool.com/

Hey there y’all sessioners.
I’ve been a little confused about a tune by this name which appears on Liz Knowles’ “Open the Door for 3” album. The tune she plays by that name sounds an awful lot like “Cillian’s Midnight Dip” which is on Lunasa’s “Spoil the Dance” set, just a single reel version. Any thoughts about this? Where else might I hear her version of Mcdermott’s?

thanks much!
-David

Hi David - I assume the “Liz Knowles” “Open The Door For Three” album you’re referring to is actually the trio recording she made with Kieran O’Hare and Pat Broaders, in which case I’d say you’re right, and the CD sleeve notes are wrong.
The first reel on Track #2 - which the CD notes say is “McDermott’s”, from CRE Vol.4 - seems to me to be the same tune as the reel posted here as “Cillian’s Midnight Dip”, as you suggest. It is definitely not the “McDermott’s” in CRE 4, which is more or less the same tune as the “[Master] McDermott’s” posted here above.

A lovely version of this on Tom McElvogue’s Long Hard Road album.

I’ve only just had the pleasure of discovering this beautiful album. Well worth a listen.
https://thesession.org/recordings/3829

https://youtu.be/XkjrFLtdGzc

play video

If I understand the Irish correctly, Breathnach, who collected the reel, with a number of others from McDermott, states that McDermott composed it and it said on the manuscript, “Composed May 1943”.
As Breathnach noted, it is similar to the Boys of the Lough.