Find out your irishness level/score

[Tyghress]

I'm also wondering what kind of penalty is invoked for starting up Planxty Fanny Power. Or what about Danny Boy???
Tony

Tony, if you call it Danny Boy, its -5.
Call it Londonderry Air... -10
Call it Derry Air should be a +3 (add'l points if you can name the person who penned it)

[colomon]

How about "Irish Tune from the County Derry, Name Unknown"?

[feadogin]

Well, let's see...I bet I play lots of sets in the same key, and I usually only play whistle in sessions, AND I like to play some recently composed tunes, so I probably have a negative overall score. Of course, I don't know the names of most of my tunes, so maybe I'd break even at the end of the night.

Justine

[BrassBlower]

OK, let's find out the Irishness of "Sleepwalk":

3) +10 because everyone knows who wrote it.
4) +5 for being written before 1960.
10) +3 for starting a conversation at the very mention of its name
13) -3 for rarely being played as a set (and when it is actually put in a set, it's usually with a Carolan)
19) -5 for being non-Irish (but also non-Scottish and non-English)

All other scores are either neutral or depend on the player, so that puts the Irishness of "Sleepwalk" at +10. Pretty Irish, eh?

[lyrick]

Start a tune composed before 1920, then tell your session mates who actually composed the tune, then tell your session mates about the time you and the composer played some tunes together: +1,000

[colomon]

You know, that may sound far-fetched, but I know a number of (not terribly old) Newfoundland musicians who could do it (in the context of Newfoundland music). There were a couple of composing fiddlers there who were born around the turn of the century and were active well into the 1980s, and quite a few people played with them back in the last decades of their lives. I know at least one of the two wrote tunes while he was a teenager (pre-1920).

[Skyclad01]

What points does one gain (or loose) for not knowing the year a tune was composed?

[Azalin]

Darn, there's a big weakness in the score list. Most of the points assume an irish tune for the bonus to be applied. For example, you get bonuses for tunes composed before 19xx only when it's an irish tune! So playing an old american tune composed in 1920 would give you -5!

[Flyingcursor]

Darn, there's a big weakness in the score list. Most of the points assume an irish tune for the bonus to be applied. For example, you get bonuses for tunes composed before 19xx only when it's an irish tune! So playing an old american tune composed in 1920 would give you -5!

I presume Cape Breton tunes are also minus points.

How about Irish tunes that have been altered through centuries of Appalachian drift?

[moxy]

How about scoring points for actually being Irish, or part Irish? Depending on how far back your ancestry goes? (parent, grand-parent, etc)

I guess I really should learn a new instrument, according to this scoring system. And I need to start smoking, and instead of improving my playing, I should spend more time learning the names of the tunes, who composed them, how old they are, where they're from. Geez, that's a lot of work.

Good thing for me, I have my own scoring system

[Flyingcursor]

How about scoring points for actually being Irish, or part Irish? Depending on how far back your ancestry goes? (parent, grand-parent, etc)

I guess I really should learn a new instrument, according to this scoring system. And I need to start smoking, and instead of improving my playing, I should spend more time learning the names of the tunes, who composed them, how old they are, where they're from. Geez, that's a lot of work.

Good thing for me, I have my own scoring system

You don't mean....practice!!!?????

BTW you have a wonderfully lovely smile.

[Azalin]

and instead of improving my playing, I should spend more time learning the names of the tunes

Actually, you'll get points by not knowing the name of the tunes! Being irish doesnt really count as I didnt want to add any racial or gender discrimination.

[Bloomfield]

I think you got it all wrong, Az. At least the first part. Who cares who composed tunes (except for Junior Crehan's, Sean Ryan's, and Ed Reavy's tunes).

What really counts is who had it from whom. So, you want to be able to say "Nice one. That's called "The Waiting Rolling Pin" and Willie Clancy had it from his father Gilbert, who had it from Garret Barry who used to come through Miltown in those days. Johnny Doran had a version of it, but with all the f's flattened in the turn. Doran called it "The Angry Housewife," but it's the same tune."

[Flyingcursor]

I think you got it all wrong, Az. At least the first part. Who cares who composed tunes (except for Junior Crehan's, Sean Ryan's, and Ed Reavy's tunes).

What really counts is who had it from whom. So, you want to be able to say "Nice one. That's called "The Waiting Rolling Pin" and Willie Clancy had it from his father Gilbert, who had it from Garret Barry who used to come through Miltown in those days. Johnny Doran had a version of it, but with all the f's flattened in the turn. Doran called it "The Angry Housewife," but it's the same tune."

[moxy]

Thank you fly

OK Az, so I'm good about knowing or not knowing the names of tunes. Still though, there's so much else to worry about that I don't know if I'll ever be able to play these tunes, but hey at least I'll be Irish

Can I ask something - what triggered someone to tell you that you were insecure in your Irishness?...