How many tunes do you know?

[snoogie]

Enough fluff! Time for a real post.

One of the other topics (How many whistles do you own) got me to thinking about how many tunes people might know.

I have only been playing for almost a year and have the following memorized.
Amazing Grace
Spinning Wheel
Lord of the Dance (from our Methodist Hymnal)
Ladies Pleasure
Swallowtail Jig (almost memorized)

Amazing Graze was the first tune I memorized. I use it as a warmup tune, and one day I realized I no longer had to look at the music. After that I started working on actively memorizing tunes.

Lord of the Dance and Spinning Wheel are two of my wifes favorite tunes. Funny, since I started playing them on the whistle, she doesn't tell me what other tunes she likes...hmm.

I have not yet tried learning by ear. My training started in the 6th grade reading music in the band, and I can sight read pretty quickly. I have thought about trying to learn one of the Airs off of Mary Bergin's CD, such as Aisling Gheal.

At this rate in about 20 years, I will know enough tunes to join in a session! I can hardly wait.


edited to remove that nasty 's' word and replace it with 'tunes'

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: snoogie on 2002-09-03 20:18 ]</font>

[Wandering_Whistler]

As luck would have it, every time I learn a tune, I put it on a list, so I can keep track. I used to pad the list out with the simple kiddy tunes (muffin man, london bridge, etc) so that I'd feel better about myself, but I recently went back and took them out and took out the christmas tunes, too. I've been playin about 7 years.

1. All For Me Grog
2. Amazing Grace
3. Arran Boat
4. Auld Lang Syne
5. Ballydesmond Polka #2
6. Battle of Aughrim, The
7. Blarney Pilgrim, the
8. Blow the Man Down
9. Brian Boru’s March
10. Boatman, The
11. Bonaparte’s Grand March
12. Bonny, Bonny Broom, The
13. Boys of Bluehill, The
14. Burning the Piper’s Hut
15. Butterfly, The
16. Casadh An tSugain
17. Cat’s Jig, The
18. Clay of Cill Creggan, The
19. Cliffs of Moher, The
20. Crested Hens
21. Constant Billy
22. Cup of Tea
23. Dan O’Keefe’s Slide
24. Dancing Master, The
25. Don Oiche Ud I Mbethel
26. Down by the Sally Gardens
27. Drowsy Maggie
28. Drummond Castle
29. Drunken Landlady, The
30. Duffy the Dancer (High Reel)
31. Duke of Perth
32. Dusty Windowsill, The
33. Dunmore Lasses
34. Eagle’s Whistle, The
35. Eanach Dhuin
36. Egan’s Polka (Peg Ryan’s Reel)
37. Fairy Dance
38. Flowers of Red Hill, The (Clogher Reel)
39. Foggy Dew, The
40. Fool’s Jig, The
41. Four Mary’s, The
42. Foxhunter’s Jig, The
43. Fraher’s Jig
44. Gay Gordons, The
45. Ger the Rigger
46. Gravel Walk
47. Greensleeves
48. Harvest Home
49. Haste to the Wedding
50. Hey Diddle Dis
51. Holy Ground, The
52. I Buried My Wife and Danced on her Grave
53. Idbury Hill
54. Immigrant, The
55. Inisheer
56. Kemp’s Jig
57. Kerrigan’s Jig (Kesh Jig)
58. Kitty’s Gone A’ Milkin’
59. Ladies Pleasure, The
60. Legacy Jig
61. Little Fair Cannavans, The
62. Loch Lomond
63. Londonderry Air (Danny Boy)
64. Long Long Ago
65. Lyke Wake Dirge
66. MacPherson’s Farewell
67. Maggie Pickens
68. Maid Behind the Bar, The
69. Mairi’s Wedding
70. Marcus Hernon’s Air
71. Mermaid, The
72. Milliner’s Daughter, The
73. Minstrel Boy, The
74. Mitty Matty
75. Mooncoin Jig, The
76. My Heart Will Go On
77. New Rigged Ship, The
78. Nora Criona (Wise Nora)
79. Flower of Scotland
80. Old Grey Cat, The
81. Old Mother Oxford
82. Paddy Clancy’s Jig
83. Parting Glass, The
84. Planxty Dale Wisely
85. Planxty Hewlett
86. Planxty Irwin
87. Quaker’s Wife, The
88. Rakes of Mallow, The
89. Roisin Dubh
90. River is Wide, The
91. Road to Lisdoonvarna, The
92. Rufty Tufty
93. Ryan’s Slip Jig
94. Scarborough Faire
95. Shepherd’s Hey
96. She Moves Through the Faire
97. Si Beg Si Mor
98. Silver Spear, The
99. Siubhán Ní Dhuibhir
100. Star of the County Down
101. Skye Boat Song, The
102. Sliabh na mBan
103. Sliabh Mhachaire
104. South Wind, The
105. Spanish Lady, The
106. Stairway to Heaven
107. Star of Munster, The
108. Streets of Cairo, The
109. Tar Road to Sligo
110. Tarmon’s Polka
111. Tim Finnegan’s Wake
112. Tralee Gaol
113. Trip to Tunbridge, The
114. Tripping Upstairs
115. Wayfaring Stranger
116. WSWDWa Drunken Sailor
117. When Johnny Comes Marching Home
118. Water is Wide, The
119. When Saints Come Marching in
120. Wild Rover, The
121. Yankee Doodle

[whatzitt]

I've only been playing for a little over a year, also, but I hope to have a list like Wandering's someday. Most of the songs I've memorized are from the "Play Pennywhistle" tutorial that I got from Song of the Sea while on vacation last year. My hubby started playing the hammered dulcimer at the same time, so I learned a couple of songs from his books to play along with him as well.
I've found that it is much easier to play with expession if I've memorized the song instead of trying to read music while I'm playing.

This is my list:
Fools Jig
Old Mother Oxford
Rondeau
My Lodging's on the Cold Ground
Sheebeg Sheemore
Newcastle
Black Nag
Road to Lisdoonvarna

Working on:
Eigth of January
Fasten the Leg in Her (what does that mean, anyway!)
I often wonder about the names of some of these songs. But they are beautiful!

[vaporlock]

Hmm...looks like I'm averaging about 1 tune a month (I've been playing about a year). In reality, though, the longer I play the easier it is for me to memorize the tunes. I think 4 of the tunes listed were memorized in the last month.

1) Off to California
2) Amhr'an Leabhar
3) Blind Mary
4) Catching Rabbits
5) The Belfast Hornpipe
6) Road to Glountane
7) The Coach Road to Sligo
8 ) The Three Little Drummers (the TenPenny Bit)
9) Mom's Favorite
10) Tam Lin
11) Bruach na Carraige Baine
12) The 5th Year

Edited to remove a smiley inadvertently created by my numbering system



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: vaporlock on 2002-09-02 22:26 ]</font>

[BrassBlower]

I'm working on about 6 months of the whistle. Before you look at my list and congratulate me on my progress, keep in mind that I'm also working on about 10 years as a guitarist!

Amazing Grace
How Firm a Foundation
House of the Rising Sun
Londonderry Air
Sleepwalk
The Sound of Silence
The Boxer
Moondance
Mansion Over the Hilltop
Greensleeves / What Child is This?
Shout to the Lord
Rainy Day People (not Bob Dylan's "Rainy Day Women! )
Rocky Mountain High
Eleanor Plunkett
Waves of Kilkee (a CTL tune)
Blind Mary
Planxty Irwin
Mexican Hat Dance (still need to work on the fast part)
All I Want for Christmas is a Pennywhistle (Concertina)
The intro of Jethro Tull's "Living in the Past"
The bridge section of "Nights in White Satin" (great on the Dixon Low G)

[lollycross]

The band I am in does about 80 songs,
rotating them as slow ones for weddings and fast for Casinos, etc. I have the 33 fast
ones memorized, but the slow ones are really
hard arrangements and I have to follow the music carefully to know when to come in, etc.
I probably could play them by memory if I
really tried, tho, ha ha
I've been in the band 2 years now, and playing about 3 1/2.
Lolly

[JohnPalmer]

I know lots of songs on lots of instruments. To list all the songs is more than my brain could handle. To find all the instruments hidden around this house is another.

Cheers,
JP

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: JohnPalmer on 2002-09-03 00:03 ]</font>

[whistlingfiddler]

I've been playing for 2 years.

After the Battle of Aughrim
Aililiú Na Gamhna
Along With the Girls
Alta's Reel
Breakout (from Lord of the Dance)
Caliope House
Carraroe Jig
Castle Reel
Congress Reel
Corona (air from 'Reel Around The Sun')
Crested Hens
Erin Shore
Haste to the Wedding (jig)
Haste to the Wedding (air)
Her Mantle So Green
High Germany
Lift the Wings
Joe Wilson's
Minstrel Boy
Miss Maule's
Níl 'na Lá
O'Dowd's
Paddy McCarthy
Paddy something's...
Pat Enright's
Rebel Heart
Riverdance (first slip jig)
Rolling in the Barrel
Siamsa (from Lord of the Dance)
Song of the Kelpie
Star Above the Garter
The Anascaul Polka
The Banks of Lough Gowna
The Butterfly
The Countess Cathleen
The Waves of Kilkee
The Wind That Shakes the Barley
Toss the Feathers
Trout in the Bath
Women of the Sidhe

In addition to these tunes, I can also play all of The Corrs' little whistle interludes.

[jim stone]

If I may add some non-Celtic
and Celtic
tunes that I like:

Someone to watch over me--Gershwin
(first note G)
Just the Way You look tonight
(first note high D)

Turkey in the Straw (which is
Celtic, I think)
The Ash Grove (which is also Celtic)

Oh Shenendoah
My Funny Valentine

Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Have yourself a Merry Little XMass

Sometimes I feel like a motherless child
Oh Susannah

Hard Times Come Again No More

The Red Haired Boy (Little Beggar Man)

The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
Star of the County Down

When I am 64 (which is a trip
to play on the whistle)
Favorite Things

Here, There, And Everwhere
(half-holing)

I Will

Minuet in G (wonderful
on the whistle and improves
over the years)

Sheep May Safely Graze

Rodney's Glory

Down by the Sally Gardens

Wouldn't it be lovely? (half holing)

And on...

A neat story about 'Someone to watch
over me' is that it was a little ditty
played quickly as the dancers came
out on stage--then one day George
Gershwin happened to play it slowly
on the piano....

Also I find it moving that perhaps
the most beautiful love song
of the twentieth century ('My Funny
Valentine') is to a plain woman.

'Your face is laughable, unphotographable,
Yet your my favorite work of art...'

Where did that craftsmanship go?

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: jim stone on 2002-09-03 12:02 ]</font>

[Sandy Jasper]

I could tell you, but then I would have to kill you.

[avanutria]

I've been playing for a year but most of the tunes I know have been since July.

1) Autumn Child (Lunasa)
2) Bag of Spuds
3) Ballydesmond Polka 2
4) Blackthorn Stick
5) Boys of Bluehill
6) Butterfly
7) Crested Hens
Donnybrook Fair
9) Down by the Sally Gardens
10) Dusty Windowsill
11) Egan's Polka
12) Far From Home
13) Foggy Dew
14) Gander in the Pratie Hole
15) Give Me Your Hand
16) Harvest Home
17) Inion Ni Scannlain (Lunasa)
18) John Ryans Polka
19) Kesh Jig
20) Lord Mayo
21) Merrily Kiss the Quaker
22) Off to California
23) O'Keefe's Slide
24) Parting Glass (mostly...)
25) Peat Fire Flame
26) Planxty Dale Wisely
27) Road to Lisdoonvarna
28) Rolling in the Rye Grass
29) Shebeg Shemore
30) Star of the County Down
31) Swallowtail Jig
32) Tom's Air (I don't know the real name)

...and a few others that I don't know the names of.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: avanutria on 2002-09-03 09:41 ]</font>

[Blarney Pilgrim]

I've been at this for about 5 years and I too made a list. I just never bothered to count them up before. If my count is right it comes to 67. This is my list:<br>
Blarney Pilgrim, Southwind, Endearing Young Charms, Strayaway Child, 1812 Quickstep, Rakes of Mallow, Road to Boston, Minstrel Boy, White Cockade, Fisher's Hornpipe, Gary Owen, Lord Mayo, Water is Wide, Drummond Castle, Scarboro Fair, Sheebeg Sheemore, Wayfaring Stranger, Lord of the Dance, Planxty Dale Wisley, Kesh Jig, Sally Gardens,
Waves of Kilkee, Larry Grogan, Danny Boy, Loch Lomand, Star of the County Down, Followed a Lass, Come By the Hills, Scotland the Brave, Sea Shanty Medley, Wearing of the Green, Irish Washerwoman, Greensleeves, The Immigrant, The Bard of Armagh, Ashokan Farewell, The Girl I Left Behind Me, Going Home, Amazing Grace, Be Thou My Vision, Font of Every Blessing, Let All Things Now Living, Grace Devine, Come Christians Join to Sing, It Is Well With My Soul, My Shepherd Shall Supply My Need, Principle Within, Sweet Hour of Prayer, I Wander as I Wonder, It Came Upon a Midnight Clear, Oh Holy Night, Joy to the World, Oh Little Town of Bethlehem, Hark the Herald Angles Sing, Silent Night, First Noel, Jingle Bells, Oh Come All Ye Faithful, Twelve Days of Christmas, In the Bleak Midwinter, Angels We Have Heard on High, Jolly Old St. Nicholas, King Holly King Oak, We Wish You a Merry Christmas.<br>Steve

[eskin]

Been playing about 5 years, probably know about 300 session tunes.

[sweetone]

Isn't it more important how well you know them, at what speed and how well you play them, with acceptable ornamentation etc.
Could you play them in a group or just on your own in your living room. Could you play some of them in different keys. So many questions to add to the list of song you know.
cheers

[ChrisLaughlin]

Tunes, gosh darn it. Not songs.

Chris