Irish Tune ?

[Alan Day]

A little Irish tune (I think)

Al

[Rod]

A little Irish tune (I think)

Al

 

Where did the idea originate ?

[Alan Day]

I learnt it from an old recording of an Irish Piano accordion player, so assumed it could be Irish, but I have heard it many times by other players who are not Irish so I did not want to make false claims as to it's origin.

Al

[Rod]

I learnt it from an old recording of an Irish Piano accordion player, so assumed it could be Irish, but I have heard it many times by other players who are not Irish so I did not want to make false claims as to it's origin.

Al

 

I thought it might have been a 'Horley Tune' !

[Alan Day]

Too clever to be one of mine Rod.

Lots of left hand work on this one.

For beginners,I am playing this on a GD box

To start the first note is A on the pull left hand the next chord is A Minor, A with the two next to it

(First three buttons left hand)

Al

Edited June 5, 2010 by Alan Day

[David Levine]

Hi Al-- it's called Drowsy Maggie. I play it in E minor. There is a lovely Clare version with a different second part. I think Micho Russell called it The Reel with a Birl - and other people called it that after Micho. I first heard a fiddle version played in Doolin, in the 80s by Willie "Beag" Shannon. It's an old tune that isn't played very often at the sessions I go to (that are hardly definitive).

[Larry Stout]

I hear it frequently at Irish sessions here in central Illinois. I haven't tried playing it on concertina, only on fiddle.

[Daniel Hersh]

I hear it frequently at Irish sessions here in central Illinois. I haven't tried playing it on concertina, only on fiddle.

Around here (San Francisco area) it's one of those tunes that you don't hear much at sessions because they were played all the time decades ago and went out of style.

[Alan Day]

I hear it frequently at Irish sessions here in central Illinois. I haven't tried playing it on concertina, only on fiddle.

Around here (San Francisco area) it's one of those tunes that you don't hear much at sessions because they were played all the time decades ago and went out of style.

I can understand that. Many of the old Sidmouth tunes got played so many times people got sick of them.When we first started Rosbif one of the early tunes sets we learnt were the Gentianne Mazurka's. We found out that in France these two tunes had been played to a standstill. It was interesting however how well they were received as we played them in a different style to what they were used to.

Thanks for the name which I remember now. Time for a re launch?

Al

[Bill N]

[When we first started Rosbif one of the early tunes sets we learnt were the Gentianne Mazurka's. We found out that in France these two tunes had been played to a standstill. It was interesting however how well they were received as we played them in a different style to what they were used to.

 

Alan,

 

From your recording, and with help and encoragement from Robin Harrison, I learned Gentianne Mazurka as one of my first pieces in the harmonic style. It's now a favorite at the English session I attend in Cambridge, Ontario. If I don't offer to lead, someone will ask for it.

[Alan Day]

Well done Bill.

It is a set of tunes that have remained my favourites from the first time I heard them. I cannot play them enough,I think it is the unusual third part, repeatable wonderful chorus, that although unusual is just fantastic to play. The first waltz sets this second tune up nicely,

Al

[michael sam wild]

A little Irish tune (I think)

Al

 

 

Drowsy Maggie , I read on a Chieftain's sleeve years ago that it may have started as a clan march, it does go nicely as a swaggery march . Round here it has sadly been regarded as a bit hacknied but i still like to slip it in with tunes like Wind that Shakes the |Barley and Staten Island. I like the Mrs Crotty version, the Reel with the Birl I think it was called.

[michael sam wild]

Just remembered it was reel with the Beryl! birl, dirl = rolls or ornamentations . Beryl gives the Scottish sound better though

[Henrik Müller]

...

There is a lovely Clare version with a different second part. I think Micho Russell called it The Reel with a Birl - and other people called it that after Micho.

...

- and IMHO much more interesting. It is found on many records with both names.

One of the cooler versions - again IMHO - is found on "Irish Traditional Concertina Styles"

(now part of "The Clare Set" CD-box collection) with Mrs. O'Dwyer, playing an old German

double-reeded concertina, with Toss the Feathers/Drowsy Maggie.

 

She plays with a little "dialect" that makes the tune almost a blend between Drowsy Maggie

and The Reel with the Birl.

/Henrik

[fernando]

I live in Galway, Ireland. This would be one of those "standard tunes" in an Irish session. I mean this would be one of those tunes that would allow musicians to agree on the tune to play even if it is the first time they play together in a session. And with these tunes there wouldn't be the problem of the existence of different versions, most of musicians would agree in the key to play as well.

 

Sometimes I'm not sure when a tune is "standard". Sometimes I'm sure when it's not. In this case I'm pretty sure it is.

 

Nice playing Alan! the version you play is the same I can hear around here.

 

Fernando

[David Levine]

Al's version is the "standard" one. There is no one session standard. Thank god! I agree with Henrik. The Clare version is far from over-played or hackneyed.

[fernando]

... There is no one session standard. Thank god!...

 

Hi David,

 

It's nice to find someone with other views as mine. And I like to debate!, always in a friendly atmosphere of course.

 

But can you explain yourself why you think so? I need more information to try to convince you.

 

Cheers,

 

Fernando