Jenny’s Chickens reel

Usually played as a set preceded by Bonnie Kate. This tune is more B Dorian but that wasn’t an option, so I sharped the g’s in the B & C Parts. The A part is played in true B Minor where the g’s are natural. A nice effect for those B’s in the 2nd part is to just tap the D with your bow at the begining of the B note letting it ring but not fully playing a doube-stop. I put that in the abc’s for the first bar on the 2nd part. All in all it’s a nice, easy, straight forward tune that was borrowed from the Scots.

Michael Coleman was the first man to make this tune popular. I have been told that every time he played the tune, he would change it a little bit, which made it very difficult for any one to learn it.

-Max

Brad, I’m not sure what to make of the ornamentation in your transcription…

a relative of sleepy maggie?

Yes. https://thesession.org/tunes/787

The Hunter’s House goes well before this. I think I heard Denis O Briain do that set with some fiddle player I don’t know the name of.

The above band recorded this tune on ‘La Mistrine’ under the name ‘Le reel des soucoupes volantes’ (the Flying Saucer). I wonder how it acquired that name…? 🙂

man sounds great on the flute if you can get past the G sharps ok

Bonnie Kate is the best tune to put before jennie’s chickens.
This selection was and is used by all the greats including Michael Coleman and Joe Burke.

Listen to Brian Conway’s niece Maeve Flanagan play the classic set: http://www.myspace.com/maeveflanagan

Very addictive. Nice backing too.

I know this is years after the fact but I wanted to explain the grace notes that are listed on the transcription: Those low D grace notes are not typos. if your playing the fiddle, drag the bow across the open D only long enough to make it ring then play the B note. That’s how Coleman did it on the recording I heard, he also does the same type of thing when playing the Morning Dew, he lets the bow hit the open G & rolls the E note in the begining of the the tune. Careful to be quick about it, or else it comes across more like a double stop.

http://www.soundlantern.com/UpdatedSoundPage.do?ToId=23189

Last tune of the set (Funny enough, not played with Bonnie Kate)

Don’t miss Matt Molloy’s amazing take of Jenny’s Chickens on his album Heathery Breeze!
I completely fell in love with it…

T:Jennie’s Chickens
M:1/8
L:1/8
S:Matt Molloy - Heathery Breeze
R:reel
Z:gian marco pietrasanta
K:BMin
| ~f3e fece | ~f3a eAce |~f3a fece | ~f2af eAce |
~f3a fece | ~f3e~e2ce |~f3a fece | ~f2af eAce |
|: fBBA ~B3e | fB ~B2 ABce | fBBA ~B3e |~f2af eAce |
fB~B2 fB~B2 | fB ~B2 ABce | fBBA ~B3e |~f2af eAcA :|
|: ~B2 ~b2 ABgB | ~B2 AB eAcA | B2 ~b2 ABge |1 ~f2af eAcA :|2 ~f2af eAce ||

% Output from ABC2Win 2.2 13/01/2009

I love sharon corr’s accoustic version of it :

http://sharon-corr.com/download/glastonburyradio/02JennysChickens.zip

I’m currently learning this tune, a bit harsh to play ! 🙂

“Music from Ireland, Volume Two”, page 5, tune #18
Dave Bulmer & Neil Sharpley, 1974
ISBN: 0-9503784-10

X: 3
T: Jenny’s Chickens
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Bdor
|: f2 fg fece | fefa eAce | f2 fg fece | fgaf eAce :|
|: fBBA B2 ce | fB ~B2 eAce | fBBA B2 ce |[1 fgaf eAce :|[2 fgaf eAcA ||
|: ~B2 bB aBgB | B2 af eAcA | B2 bB aBgB |[1 fgaf eAcA :|[2 fgaf eAce |]

………..and Liz C chasing Bonnie Kate at about 13:27

http://www.youtube.com/user/paulgoelz#p/u/8/UqoE5wu6svU

…in the sense that you can hear the chicken cackle in the second and third parts:
fBBA BBce | fBB2 eAce | f…
and
B2bB aB^gB | B2af edcA | …

The whole tune is high energy, like a worked up chicken yard!

It’s the type of tune that can be played, no matter how different each musician’s version might be, all together, in wide chorus, at a session:It will always sound great (or mad, and great cause mad) as long as people put this mad level of energy intil it!

Hello
I am wondering if anybody has the abcs to the above as played on his “Athchuairt” album

grma in advance

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vMUiNOoxx0

play video

I found this version in tunearch.org, where it says is the version played by Matt Molloy in Heathery Breeze. It also points out that it is related to Sean sa Cheo (https://thesession.org/tunes/177) and The Gravel Walks (https://thesession.org/tunes/42).

This also from tunearch.org, a Scottish (two-part only) version. They in turn sourced it from http://www.cranfordpub.com/tunes/abcs/Bremner.txt.

Sounds v like Sleepy Magpie to me, which is a great tune

I love how at the start of this reel, as with the above-mentioned Seán Sa Cheo, the way some musicians play it means that the key isn’t immediately obvious until the second part, which gives it great lift and climax. I love tunes that work this way. For Seán Sa Cheo, though, the key is made obvious by the presence of the tonic note (A, G, or D, depending on the version), whereas in Jenny’s Chickens the B is not present until the second part. This tune is like the first part of Seán Sa Cheo combined with both parts of “Sleepy Maggie”. Great tune!

Played on whistle by Sharon Shannon : https://youtu.be/h_uH1Q9BgG8

play video

My take for pipes.

A minor setting.

Le Reel Des Soucoupes Volantes, La Bottine Souriante 🙂