Hmm I played “New Broom” yesterday at sesh! (also in G)
I wonder if that’s a crossover tune!
For us it’s paired with “All around the fairy fort”.

I led - Star Above the Garter / Merrily Kissed the Quaker and flutefriend and I led a “nautical set” - Ships are Sailing / Boy in the Boat / Sailer’s Bonnet (hahaha!)

In 2026 I want to learn more hornpipes, polkas, marches, etc…

quote:

---

Originally posted by NCnotes

Hmm I played “New Broom” yesterday at sesh! (also in G)
I wonder if that’s a crossover tune!
For us it’s paired with “All around the fairy fort”.

I led - Star Above the Garter / Merrily Kissed the Quaker and flutefriend and I led a “nautical set” - Ships are Sailing / Boy in the Boat / Sailer’s Bonnet (hahaha!)

In 2026 I want to learn more hornpipes, polkas, marches, etc…

---

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-O2aNSJjD4  is the version I'm playing, Very notey, but I need to get better at that sort of thing. Can't play it at that tempo - yet - and no doubt I'm not playing it note for note. But I can play it. If I can "inspire" the session - I'll get to polish it a bit with them. 

Is it the same tune you're playing?   

"All Around the Fairy Fort" - reminds me a lot of Camp Meeting on the 4th of July (played in DDad) 

I'm also trying to brush up on a tune they like to play - that is still fairly new to me - "Going tp the Wedding to Get Some Cake"

Haha goodness, your New Broom is hard!

Here is our New Broom (cherish the ladies):
https://youtu.be/IfD_tdtRvpI

quote:

---

Originally posted by NCnotes

Haha goodness, your New Broom is hard!

Here is our New Broom (cherish the ladies):
https://youtu.be/IfD_tdtRvpI

 

---

Nice version.

I can hear where they might be related. But - like a lot of tunes with common names - if it were to be played without the name being "announced" beforehand - I don't know that I would make the association. LOL... that's not uncommon, at all. 

Thanks for sharing.

 

Different tunes. The Irish barndance was composed by Galway flute player and composer Vincent Broderick. Here he is playing it (I think). youtu.be/AOjwCXhzVYw?si=ozrWOKS710MU_hZB The full title may be "The New Broom Sweeps Clean (but the old broom knows the corners)."
Judging from Slippery Hill, Walt and Clare's tune seems to be a contest style tune from Oklahoma. There's also a version from Clyde Davenport, which makes me wonder where he got it. Clyde was a sly fellow though, and picked up stuff from everywhere.

quote:

---

Originally posted by DougD

Different tunes. The Irish barndance was composed by Galway flute player and composer Vincent Broderick. Here he is playing it (I think). youtu.be/AOjwCXhzVYw?si=ozrWOKS710MU_hZB The full title may be "The New Broom Sweeps Clean (but the old broom knows the corners)."
Judging from Slippery Hill, Walt and Clare's tune seems to be a contest style tune from Oklahoma. There's also a version from Clyde Davenport, which makes me wonder where he got it. Clyde was a sly fellow though, and picked up stuff from everywhere.

---

Thanks Doug.

When I listened to it the first tune sounded familiar, but not New Broom. Down in the comments the tunes were identified - the first tune  played in the video is Around the Fairy Fort, then it clicked = yes, sounds like the tune I linked by the same name. The second was New Broom, and they ended with the Mountain Stream. 

Interesting - it seems (I'm no expert - just what I read) that Around the Fairy Fort is not his composition, but New Broom and Mountain Stream are. He must have an "affection" for Around the Fairy Fort to have included it. 

I yield to someone who knows...

Tony, I don't know either of these tunes, just looked them up. According to The Session, "Around the Fairy Fort" was also composed by Vincent Broderick. I would think he was probably playing his own tunes at that awards ceremony.

quote:

---

Originally posted by DougD

Tony, I don't know either of these tunes, just looked them up. According to The Session, "Around the Fairy Fort" was also composed by Vincent Broderick. I would think he was probably playing his own tunes at that awards ceremony.

---

I would have thought so too... and, I'm sure you are right.  Pretty sure the Traditional Tune Archive would be accepted as authority.  

Wild Mountain Thyme. The way the Byrds sing it on one of their long-ago LPs.

Still working on "Sheila Coyles" and all the tri-pe-lets that go into it.

thanks Doug, that video of Vincent Broderick playing his own tunes is wonderful! Going to forward it to session friends. ( I like how they are all wearing nice sweaters and not tapping their feet or bouncing their knees...it's the formal version of a session...)

Pete, I like playing along with Shawn Farrell…he is doing Sheila Coyles here…when I’m practicing/learning, I dial his speed down to 75% and play along...those banjo players are great for hearing the rhythm/timing of triplets, they are all triplet kings...:-).   https://youtu.be/LF1XFL4FC6g?si=pzjazuOk4D2O3ifb
Then I play with fiddlers and I realize nobody is doing triplets all over ... whoops,,,

Today again Lost Indian, adding my own stuff: i tuned down to FCFA (sounds awesome!) and I added some extra plucks here and there in the plucking and play it at a medium tempo I guess. This is such a fun tune to play with in tis tuning , right now reducing the double stops , just here and there. This guy in the video series is also an excellent teacher and I love how you get to see the left hand fingers in the instructional. But I can play without instructional now :-)

Brushing off "Speed the Plough" (asked to lead it at last sesh but I haven't played it for months, yeesh) and I really like his playing and his down-to-earth style. He gives some bowing commentary at the end, about starting on upbow to set the strong beats into the right place. If interested in Irish reels, rhythm and bowing...great video :-)

  https://youtu.be/idLtNOd0eJQ?si=ojzua4J6_4z0N2Qk

quote:

---

Originally posted by NCnotes

Brushing off "Speed the Plough" (asked to lead it at last sesh but I haven't played it for months, yeesh) and I really like his playing and his down-to-earth style. He gives some bowing commentary at the end, about starting on upbow to set the strong beats into the right place. If interested in Irish reels, rhythm and bowing...great video :-)

  https://youtu.be/idLtNOd0eJQ?si=ojzua4J6_4z0N2Qk

---

I learned that tune as something else other than "speed the plough" ( Usual slapdash recording )

Edit: "Tom Billy's or something?"..... Speed the Plough is a well known morris tune round these here parts.

Ah ha, just checked at the session.org and this tune is indeed also called Tom Billy’s and also called Cronin’s! (Around these parts, we call it “Speed the Plough”.

I went to the park session asking several times, “Do you guys play the Kerry Reel”? And they all said Nope. Then one day they took pity and asked me to go ahead and play it anyway, and they all joined in?!! “We love that one”, they said, “Green Fields of Rossbeigh!” …. So much for tune names.

Okay I like the cry singing in the end. That can count as end tag.I listened over and over again and yes kind of satisfied with what I reached with this tune in two or three days. Ok it's not fast. And I mess with the structure. But I like it.

Last day The Lost Indian, paid more attention to the instructional the linking of the different parts is easier now and one short note had to be repeated twice and playing it faster now.

Another day Lost Indian, because I just finally listened to the original Mose Coffman version :-D Why didn't I do that in the first place haha. The goal today will be a little less fortissimo. (Maybe it's a good day for that since I did NOT start with several cups of robusta coffee... Maybe that's all that is needed!)

Today: polish Pretty Little Girl, first listen to several other versions than the version I learned it from and then see what I can pick up from these versions.
Then relearn Maggots In The Sheep Hide, there is an excellent instructional recently posted on YouTube with some very cool remarks on how one can vary the accentuated notes.
And working on Angeline the Baker, because it is so much fun to play.

These days I am following a couple of very young fiddlers on facebook, very inspirational to see what kind of tunes these kids are playing! plus it makes me smile each time I see them playing (no they are not the Biscuit kids, but these siblings are amazing as well) . I don't have kids myself, but I bet if I would have had kids, they would behave exactly like this bunch while playing some music haha <3

Washington County

Flutefriend had been after me to play “Spike Island Lasses” (reel) with her…. Stuck at home during the snow days, I went to give it a listen and learn…uh, somehow she neglected to mention that it’s a FOUR PART reel? It’s a great tune and I am addicted, but Yeesh. Currently all the parts are jumbled in my head…

I’m also working on learning a tune that I call “Voice Memo 7”.
I hope to find its name someday!

I’ve also been fiddling the “Merry Blacksmith” along with this clawhammer banjo guy…I love playing with him, he gives it such a gentle lyrical spirit. if you play Merry Blacksmith, give it a try…in some of the later rounds, there’s room to riff and improvise! I love playing along with him. https://youtu.be/dqBrEjBo9OQ?si=o8N6Arztxi79dp3K

Today I was playing around with an off-beat thing. Off-beat could sound like Ragae depending on the bass figures.
Then for some reason I picked up my banjer and started playing Tumblin' Dice. There's a thread on BHO about, how does one play banjer to a non-bluegrass tune? I think to myself, pick up the banjer and do it.
What did the man say? "It ain't rocket surgery!"

Good mixed metaphor… :-D
I’m working on offbeat rhythm too in my bowing.

Starting on this jig written by John Carty...as usual, it's minor / modal and kinda sad. But when I heard it I knew I had to play it... it's a low dark tune mostly on D and A strings.  John Carty's recorded version is beautiful but complex and fancy, so I'm learning from a simpler version for now (Patrick Street):   Seanamhac Tube Station

Well, I did a fair job leading Speed the Plough/Merry Blacksmith/Cup of Tea at sesh - there was a little crash between the last two tunes because I forgot to say HUP and signal the change! Then the fiddler next to me noted that I only did "Cup of Tea" twice, and she would have liked to do it the full 3x. Leading sets is tough!  :-D

RE: Seanamhac, yes i play it on D&A strings mostly also. 1st finger covering F&C (2nd pos?) it all seems to fit under my fingers from there. With a few cuts and rolls utilizing open strings. I use my 4th finger for the cuts etc,makes em yelp. and the G&D drones are there for the taking.

i learned it from Cathal Haydens banjo version Seanamhac Tube Station