same old tunes

[rorybbellows]

One of the most common introductions to a tune , you hear from pipers is that "I got this from the playing of blah blah". So this means that the same old tunes are being played over and over again . Considering that O'Neill's alone has a thousand tunes and there are loads of other published tunes , some of our more talented pipers should play some unheard or at least lesser known tunes.The only piper I ever heard introduce a tune by saying that he got it from O'Neill's was Liam O Flynn.
Wouldn't it be good if a piper brought out an album of tunes that are not on any other pipers album.

RORY

[No E]

May I suggest Jerry O'Sullivan's "O'Sullivan Meets O'Farrell" (Vol. I & II), all tunes taken from the O'Farrell Collection, which you would be unlikely to encounter at your local session (very fine playing as well!).

-No E

[PJ]

Mick O'Brien's Tunes from the Goodman Manuscript.

[rorybbellows]

Yea! but apart from them two why dont pipers bring out new tunes.
RORY

[PJ]

Yea! but apart from them two why dont pipers bring out new tunes.
RORY

Maybe because it's Traditional Music. Playing the same old tunes is kind of the point.

[Brazenkane]

Rory, Michael Cooney introduce tunes and refers to O'Neill's all the time. Saying that, I get your point.....

[dunnp]

There are plenty of people mining the old collections, I would think.

I know I am.

Look at Ross Anderson's page, NPU Source, etc.

It's readily available stuff.

The most recent album I purchased is Deadly Buzz, a few classics amid O Riada tunes, A Goodman tune, etc.

[NicoMoreno]

Many pipers do though! And not just pipers, lots of musicians are plumbing the depths of manuscripts. But not just manuscripts, old recordings and old musicians, too. I just recently learned, and I know a couple other musicians who have learned, a version of Banish Misfortune from a cylinder recording of Edward Cronin, for instance.

Look at Brian McNamara's recordings - he's brought out a lot of tunes from a manuscript of tunes collected from Leitrim. Many musicians have recorded Ed Reavy and Paddy Fahey tunes, learned either from manuscripts or recordings or from the men themselves. There are many, many new "old" tunes being added to the repertoire.

Also, your second statement in the OP absolutely does not follow from the first. Just because someone says "I got this tune from the playing of ****" doesn't mean it's one that has ever been (commercially) recorded before. It's entirely possible that it's from a home tape, or a field recording, or from a friend who came over and played something...

Anyway, it seems like you're just complaining about the fact that it's an oral tradition... Mentioning who you got a tune from is part of the package - it's almost expected because it's expected that you're part of the tradition. You just need to pay more attention to all the people who are bringing relatively obscure tunes back into the tradition.

Here's some recordings with a fair share of tunes from old and obscure recordings or musicians, and manuscripts:
http://thesession.org/recordings/3623
http://thesession.org/recordings/4268
http://thesession.org/recordings/285
http://thesession.org/recordings/1115
http://thesession.org/recordings/3265
http://thesession.org/recordings/2668
http://thesession.org/recordings/831
http://thesession.org/recordings/252 (and others by them)
http://thesession.org/recordings/2085
http://thesession.org/recordings/1631
http://thesession.org/recordings/4358
That's just a few off the top of my head.

[rorybbellows]

it's an oral tradition... .

Actually its an aural tradition .

RORY

[CHasR]

Wouldn't it be good if a piper brought out an album of tunes that are not on any other pipers album.

RORY

Pretty sure I get what you're saying; & if I do get it; then I agree (quite unusually) 100% with you Rory.

Plow new fields. Expand the core.

Personally, I do not feel that "playing the same old tunes" is "kind of the point" of traditional music.

[john]

one thing to bear in mind is that there is endless possibilities with tunes, they can be reshaped and reinterpreted ad infinitum so even if it's the same tunes you're hearing again and again there's always something new about them - i would venture to argue that in the session circuit there is a tendency to ignore some of the more familiar standards in favour of newer compositions - it's our job to strive to mine a tune for all it's worth and add something original to it

[Cathy Wilde]

Looking for the "like" button under John's post.

It seems to me that even when someone says "I got this from the playing of Willie Clancy," it's still different. I guess that's why I for one find endless fascination in listening to different versions. It's fun to try to find the influences and the variations. Plus I'd much rather hear good tunes than new tunes for new tunes's sake.

[Lorenzo]

There's probably a good reason why some of the classics are so popular and never die. Some of them just have it...if you know what I mean. Personally, I don't care where they came from, how old they are, who played them, who wrote them, or who collected them. I like them for their intrinsic value. There's a few old traditional tunes I could play all day just because of the way they are magically put together as a tune. I never get tired of them.

[uillmann]

There you go, Lorenzo. Play the tunes you like.

[Pipewort]

I think its the aural tradition.

When the likes of the Goodman Collection were written, few traditional musicians would have been able to read music. This is not at all uncommon today, with even a prejudice against using notation for learning tunes.

Thus a bias towards hearing the same old same old, with new additions as inspiration from the likes of Mick O'Brien, et al, as new recordings come to the fore.

Most tuition is 'off the fingers', too.

Pwrt