Tag Archives: Reel

Geraldine, Maeve and Cillian Cotter

Our first workshop was with the Cotters at the Micho Russell center in Doolin. I have a bunch of Irish language WMA files, but there’s not much rhyme or reason to them, so just pop me an email if you’d like them and I’ll send them on in a zip file. Also, I don’t have any recordings from Cillian’s class, so if anyone has those, please send them on and I’ll post asap!

Here are the tunes from the workshops and from when they just played for us.

Listen to Maeve playing Rolling Wave. Note that this is the same tune from Alex’s class called Humours of Trim, so you can find the notation for the tune under that earlier post

Listen to Maeve playing set of reels backed by Geraldine on piano.

Listen to Maeve and Cillian playing Home Ruler and Kitty’s Wedding hornpipes backed by Geraldine on piano. The notation for these tunes is provided in one of my earlier posts.

Listen to Maeve and Cillian playing set of jigs backed by Geraldine on piano.

Listen to the advanced fiddle class playing an unnamed slide which was later dubbed “Goats in the Hostel” by our group.

Listen to the advanced fiddle class playing Drops of Brandy.

Listen to Geraldine playing a beautiful air on tin whistle.

The Cotters were a great way to start our musical workshops!

Breda and Claire Keville’s Repertoire Class

Here are four tunes we learned from Breda and Claire Keville at Tommy Keane and Jacqueline McCarthy’s beautiful home in Oranmore. These tunes were from the repertoire class, so if anyone has any recordings from the other classes, please email them on to me!

Listen to Mulhaire’s Jig

Listen to O’Connell’s Trip to Parliament

Listen to Bag of Spuds

Listen to Fowler on the Moor

In case you’re interested, they each have a wonderful CD out that are heartily recommended. Here are the covers and links to each.

Mountain Road

Here’s the reel that Alex taught on Tuesday. Maybe we can surprise her and have the B part down by next week 🙂 I’m not sure if the notation below is consistent with the version she taught, so make sure you learn by listening to the recording!

Listen to Mountain Road
Listen to Mountain Road (slow version)

Also, you may not have heard Alex’s passing comment that the name of this tune is the same as the name of her fiddle camp. In case you’re interested or curious, here’s the link to her Mountain Road Fiddle Camp. Katherine, Karen and I have been going for quite awhile and always have a great time. Be sure to check it out!

DADGAD Guitar – Week 1

Four main aspects to learn for guitar backing (applies to all tunings – DADGAD, Drop D, Standard):

• Rhythm (jig, reel, polka, etc.)
• Root Note or Tonic (D, E, B, G, A)
• Mode (major, mixolydian, dorian, minor)
• Chords (fingering/shapes)

Understanding these will take you a long way.  Practice, ear, improvisation, and experience is the rest of it.

Listen to ITM so that you know the tunes:  What they sound like (major minor), their rhythms (jigs, reels, hornpipes, etc.), where they are going, and recognizing when they don’t fall in typical patterns.   Here are some well-known guitarists to listen to:

• John Doyle (w/Liz Carroll). Note: John plays Drop D primarily

Liz and John Example 1

• Eamon O’Leary (Live at Mona’s)
• Others: Paul Brady, Dennis Cahill, Art McGlynn, Daithi Sproule

There are many tunes on this site, as you gain experience, practice backing them.

Chord Fingering / Shapes:

Here’s one nice D scale pattern (can be used ascending or descending)

Today we’ll work on a well known reel, “My Love is in America”.  It is a two-part reel in D.

Play along with My Love is in America