Cloch Na Ceithre Mhile reel

Source:Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh & Frankie Kennedy:“Ceol Aduaidh”. Transcription:Gian Marco Pietrasanta

I’ve heard Mairead play this tune more than once and she always plays it slowly. Have heard players rip through it in sessions and it works that way too I s’pose. Sounds best slow by my lights tho.

I would like to learn this tune on the whistle but I see it goes very low. Any ideas how Frankie Kennedy plays it on the CD and what key his flute is in?

Thanks,
Daniel

On the whistle/flute you have to play the tune not as written, but one octave higher. You can play it with a standard D flute/whistle.

T:Darley’s
M:4/4
L:1/8
S:John Williams
R:reel
Z:GMP
K:ADOR
A,2A,A, EA,A,E|A,E=FE DCB,A,|G,2DG, B,G,DB,|G,B,~B,2 DB,G,B,|
A,2EA, CEAB|c2Bc A2AB|c2BG AGEA|1GEDG EB,DB,:|2GEDG EAAG||
A2cA eA~A2|A,B,CD EB,DB,|G,2DG, B,G,DB,|G,B,~B,2 DB,G,B,|
A,EED EFGB|AGED EGAB|c2cB ABcA|GEDG EA,A,B|
A2cA eA~A2|A,B,CD EB,DB,|G,2DG, B,G,GA|BdAF GEDB,|
A,EED EFGB|AGED EGAB|c2cB ABcA|GEDG EB,DB,|

I think this is (more or less) the version Frankie Kennedy plays on Ceol Aduaidh. helpfull corrections appreciated.

X: 1
T: Cloch Na Ceithre Mhile
T:The Four Mile Stone
C: Frankie Kennedy on Ceoul Aduaidh
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K:Ador
A2eA ~A2eA|~A2ge dBAB|G2(3BAG dGBA|G~B3 GBdB|
A2eA ~A2AB|(3cBA BG AGAB| (3cBA BG AG.E A|GEDB GA (3BAG:|
|:AA ~A2 eA ~A2|A ~e3 d2BG|AGdG eG .d2|(3ded (3BdB (3GAG DA|
AE ~A2 AB (3cde|AG ED~E2AB|(3cBA BG AGEA|GEDB GAAG:|

… for the Ceoul. It should be Ceol of course.

This tune was composed early in the 20th century by Arthur Darley, a classical violinist and traditional music enthusiast who, at the time it was written, lived in Donegal. Darley’s original setting is presumably the one printed in the 1920s in the Roch collection. The version popularized by Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh and Frankie Kennedy is quite different and was, according to the Irish-language notes on the Ceol Aduaidh album, learned from Larry Redican, the Dublin-born fiddler and banjo player who died in New York in 1975.

This is the third tune in the “Lark on the Strand set” Midsummer Night album, by Dervish.
There is the fiddle solo. Sounds recognizable but anyway different).

A further note on Larry Redican and this tune. I have an old recording possibly the same one Maread and Frankie learned the tune from. It’s a house recording and Mr. Redican plays it with a few extra beats in the second part. In other words he plays it crooked. If he composed it maybe those extra dashes of notes should be restored to it’s original version.

Then if you’ve got the original recording, please feel free to post the “abcs” here.

Here’s a twiddle free, flute friendly version in E

(E dorian, minor, mixolydian, whatever we call it, it has neither 3rd nor 6th, being entirely pentatonic -save for the wee run in the last part)

X: 1
T: Cloch Na Ceithre Mhile
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Edor
E2BE E2BE|E2dB AFEF|D2(3FED ADFE|DFF2 DFAF|
E2BE E2ef|f/f/e fd edef|f/f/e fd edBe|dBAF DEED:|
Eefe befe|EBB2 A2FD|EDAD BDA2|(3aba (3faf (3ded AE|
FBee ef (3gab|ed BAB2ef|f/f/e fd edBe|dBAF DEED:|

Fiddlers might enjoy this version in D which reaches down to Cnatural…

X: 1
T: Cloch Na Ceithre Mhile
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Ddor
D2AD D2AD|D2cA GEDE|C2(3EDC GCED|CEE2 CEGE|
D2AD D2de|e/e/d ec dcde|e/e/d ec dcAd|cAGE CDDC:|
Dded aded|DAA2 G2EC|DCGC ACG2|(3gag (3ege (3cdc GD|
EAdd de (3fga|dc AGA2de|e/e/d ec dcAd|cAGE CDDC:|

a version from Dervish Midsummer’s Night Album

Not a new setting, but I’ve just altered the line lengths in the abc of Yooval’s Dervish-ish setting, to make it easier to see the structure. It helps me, anyway.

Works for me

This is the standard version that I’ve heard in DC-area seisiuns. It’s very close to Gian Marco’s X:1 above (it probably derives from the same Mairead/Frankie recording), but with a few slight differences that shed some of the particularities of the recording and, to my ear, make it perhaps a bit more consistent/predictable.

The “original” version of the tune that blarneystar mentioned above can be found here in the Francis Roche collection (c. Arthur Darley, though it doesn’t say that). Thought it’s a bad shape to be ripping the ABC off the archives, so the link is just for someone’s curiosity https://www.itma.ie/digital-library/score/roche-vol-1-189

Yet to get my hands on the Larry Redican recording, but wonder if the “crookedness” of his version comes from him playing through the printed bit at the end that’s just a variation for ‘last time played’?

Here’s my version.