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easy tunes?
Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2017 6:39 am
by belinejonq
I am the only Uilleann piper in my region - the closest is about 250 km from here. I am learning on my own. Which easy and fun tunes do you recommend to start with? I have started with The New Approach to Uilleann Piping by H J Clarke. Thanks!
Re: easy tunes?
Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2017 12:05 pm
by myles
I think Patsy Touhey's advice about working on scales before playing dance music still holds good, but one common beginners' tune is Jimmy Ward's - a fun little jig that stays in the lower octave.
Re: easy tunes?
Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2017 7:00 am
by Zeildritch
The Tutor section within The Source on the Na Píobairí Uilleann website has loads of step by step videos of tunes for beginners, intermediate and advance skill levels.
Re: easy tunes?
Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2017 9:58 am
by dyersituations
The early tunes in the Clarke book are great for starting on, such as Garret Barry's. Like myles mentioned, Jimmy Ward's is a great option too, because it stays in the lower octave. The first tune I was given at lessons was Song of the Chanter. A couple others I focused on in the beginning that were mostly in the lower octave were Mountain Road and The Humours Of Trim.
Re: easy tunes?
Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2017 1:41 pm
by CorneliusG
I'm a beginner too (about 4 months) and am having fun with Return from Fingal and Down by the Sally Gardens. They poke their heads up into the second register only for a note or two - mostly in the bottom register.
Re: easy tunes?
Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2017 2:49 pm
by oleorezinator
mo ghile mear
Re: easy tunes?
Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2017 5:20 pm
by bcullen
Bonnie Doone, Rose of Aranmore, Very easy and nice tunes. For a start into the second octave I found South wind a satisfying
tune. I also would recommend picking a hard piece like Harvest Home as an attainable goal or a yardstick on progress You can get those nice pip pip sounds going. I hate exercises but I use diads and triads up and back legato and staccato "painful"
If you can meet with triumph and disaster........
Re: easy tunes?
Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2017 9:11 pm
by oleorezinator
The first 3 tunes that Bill Ochs
taught me were mo ghile mear,
and 2 versions of the return from fingal.
This is not the version that Seamus Ennis played.
X: 4
T: Return From Fingal
R: hornpipe
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Edor
B/A/G/F/ E/F/G/A/|B/A/G/F/ EE|A/G/F/A/ dA|BA B/c/d|
B/A/G/F/ E/F/G/A/|B/A/G/F/ EE|A/G/F/A/ dA|FE E2:|
!|:fe ed/c/|BA d>A|BA dA|BA B/c/d/e/|
fe ed/c/|BA d>A|B/A/F/A/ dA|FE E2:|