Phil The Fluter’s Ball hornpipe

I’m posting this in response to a tune request from user Taminka.

It is of course really only the melody for a song of that name, rather than a tune in its own right. However, with a little re-arranging it can be used by a ceilidh band for hornpipe dances.

From th4e sleeve notes to Seamus Ennis’s "Forty Years of Piping".


Music at the Gate is an old reel my late father had; very lively in its melodic sequences. I do not think I have ever heard anyone else play it, but it is obviously the tune to which "Phil the Fluter’s Ball " is sung, though more elaborate in its present form. The Pigeon on the Gate was and still is a very popular reel among Irish traditional musicians. My version is one which my father had from the old pipers.

http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/
http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/PET_PH.htm

"Songs & Dances of Ireland"
Collected & edited by Peter Lavender
Wise Publications, 1982
ISBN-10: 071190099X
ISBN-13: 978-0711900998

X: 2
T: Phil The Fluter’s Ball
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R:Hornpipe
N: Marked "Moderato e marcato"
K: Dmaj
FE |\
DDDD dddc | BABc d2 FE | DDDD dddB | ABAF E2 EF |
DDDD dddc | BABc d2 ee | fded dcBA | BBcc d2 ||
de |\
f2 fd e2 ec | dedB AFDA | fffd eeec | dcBe A3 d |
f2 fd e3 c | dedB AFDF | ABAF dBAF | ABAF E2 ||
"CHORUS"
EF |\
D2 DD d2 dc | BABc dd d2 | DDDD dddB | ABAF EEFE |
D2 D2 dd d2 | BABc d2 de | fded dcBA | BBcc d2 |]

Bayard (1981, No. 250, pgs. 213, 214) collected the tune as a fife march called "The Fluter’s Ball." Carlin (Master Collection), 1984; No. 230, pg. 134. Sing Out, pgs. 22, 23.

From the playing of Sally Sloane on mouth organ.
The original 1950’s recording can be heard here:
http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-214808984/listen/0-1630~0-1705