The Flame In The Fiddle jig

This is my first addition to the archive, and the tune is one of my all-time favorite jigs. I learned it as a kid on the highland pipes, played (interestingly) with accidentals in the key of A minor, which allows you to play birls on all the … well, the repeated low E’s in my transcription. I learned this off a classic pipe band recording, Polkemmet Grorud’s "Celtic Roots," the tape of which I lost maybe 10 years ago. Who knows how good my memory is: this is the way I’ve adapted it for Irish flute, and it may be exactly the way they play it or my arrangement. Who knows. It’s a great tune that few people know. Eh, secret’s out.

Several years back I talked with someone who had a service for finding the standard settings of pipe tunes, and I asked him about this jig. He gave it the title "The flame in the fiddle," but I don’t remember who wrote it. If anyone knows, I’d love to find out whose work it is. Polkemmet played it in a set of minor jigs, the rest of which I can probably transcribe in Irish-friendly E minor if folks are interested.

Don’t make fun of my novice ABC. ;)

Stuart

Composed by Pipe Major Robert Mathieson, I think.

Note that there is not a 6th in the whole tune. (no f sharp here)

X: 1
T: Flame In The Fiddle, The
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
R: jig
K:A min
|:Aee edc|BGG dcB|Aee edc|Bcd e3|
eaa gee|edc BGG|GBd edc|BAA A3:|
|:eaa g2d|e2c Bcd|eaa ged|Bcd e2d|
eaa g2d|e2c Bcd|edc Bcd|eAA A2d:|
|:eAA ABc|BGG GBd|eAA ABc|Bcd e2d|
eAA ABc|BGG GBd|edc Bcd|eAA A2d:|
|:eaa ged|eAA eAA|eaa ged|Bcd Bcd|
eaa ged|eAA eAA|edc Bcd|eAA A3:||

Here’s another ‘fire’ themed tune: The Creel of Turf;
https://thesession.org/tunes/537
It’s first part is probably the source for this-here jig; as noted in the link above or the various versions posted in the comments section.

setting in d minor!

This is actually in c minor, but there isn’t an option for that so I had to use F Dorian instead.! 🙂