The Stack Of Wheat hornpipe

Composed by Heinrik Norbek. A nice little tune

Um… Heinrik Norbek is a grand chap but I don’t think we can credit him with this hornpipe which is a lot older than he is, I believe.

Heinrik! You look so young for your age! What’s your secret? 🙂

Zina

I learnt thisprecisely version of ‘stack of wheat’ from Brian Gallagher at willie week some years ago.
That was beginners level, but it’s a nice tune anyhow.
Urs

sorry, i think i put the name on the wrong tune… feeling kinda stupid… i gotta go….
…

as far as I am aware this is the right name of the tune. At least this is what it was called when I learned it, and I think it’s a cracking wee tune. Can anyone thing of some tunes to put it with?

Jen, this would fit nicely with the Wicklow Hornpipe (aka Delahanty’s or Delahunty’s) or Kitty’s Wedding, both in the tunes here at thesession.org.

Our band does this with Off to California, they work quite well together. We usually start with Stack of Wheat and then go into Off to California.

I would, being very thick, like to see a notation of this tune as played by Brady and Irvine, who didn’t seem bothered to play it as a hornpipe, for a start. Also, off my record deck, their version comes out in F sharp - very difficult for my flautist wife to follow, while I have to capo 6 frets up and play it a string down on the ’zouk.

Pete,
John Blake/Lamond Gillespie/Mick Leahy play this on the album “Traditional Irish Music from London”.

Its a nice recording … and its not in “F”! So easier to accompany.
Stefan

The tune of the same name on the Andy Irvine/Paul Brady album is completely different from the tune posted here as far as I can make out. I’ve always known this one as simply “The Stack of Wheat” and the one on the AI/PB album as the “Little Stack of Wheat”. Not sure if this last one has been posted.

Their version or something similar is posted as “Bantry Bay (The Little Stacks of Wheat)”.

Pat Roche’s Harp & Shamrock Orchestra paired it in the 1920s with….the dreaded (but justly favorite, I think) Boys of Blue Hill…The Boys first.

Coleman recorded this preceded by the Stack of Barley , but I have the temerity to think that they work even better the other way round.

But if you want to confuse people, go into Walsh’s Hornpipe!

Watch Chris Droney play the tune: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URBZ65IZykI

play video

Nice version; I like the staggered reruns of the <Bcd e> run in the second part:
(3Bcd|ed (3Bcd edgd|ed (3Bcd ~e …

The dubliners do this one paired with ‘the plains of boyle’. Its called the sheaf of wheat on the 40 years of dubliners album.

As learned from Neilidh Mulligan at Willie Clancy week 1980

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldfc7ANMlKk

play video

There’s a recording of Junior Crehan, Eamon McGivney, Michael Tubridy and Tommy McCarthy playing this before The Rights of Man on the album Set Dances of Ireland Vol. 1.

This sounds like another hornpipe that I can’t bring to mind …. taken from ‘A Fine Selection of Over 200 Irish Traditional Tunes for Sessions’, compiled by David Speers with a Forward by Matt Cranitch.

The LITTLE STACK OF WHEAT by Andy Irvine and Paul Brady which is referred to above is in fact also known as BANTRY BAY and is posted on this site under that name, and yes , they play it in F# after the song Martinmas which is on youtube.

This is the setting as taught by the tutors at the Balaclava’s group at The Cobblestone , Smithfield, Dublin that meet on Wednesday nights at 7.30. Their full and comprehensive list of tunes can be found on the Cobblestone website sub heading Balaclavas.

Newfoundland variant - https://nltrad.ca/tunes/382

Lovely hornpipe, transcription based on the version of Frankie Gavin Paul Brock and Charlie Lennon on their wonderful album Ómós Do Joe Cooley
https://youtu.be/cVK-eruNvR0

play video

We play it preceded by “Greencastle”, a good pairing. https://thesession.org/tunes/search?q=The+Greencastle
Great recording shanachie!