"What'll you do when the kettle boils over"...How you getting on with Farewell to Ireland, is it the A tune or the other one?

...Made me brush it up again (The A tune)

Farewell to Ireland/Erin is in the key of Am. Much easier than A. Great fiddle/box tune. The Bothy Band did a great job of it even though the first part doesn't suit the flute and pipes. A tune that most of us "ZERO" in on Kevin Burke. 

Apart from the other one that isn't... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfcqGJBxxSg 

Also i tend to think of the 4 part A tune as A mixolydian

Got to love Cathal's playing!

I have heard that there is another tune with the same title. That is superb playing by Cathal. I assume Farewell is the first one?
I’m not great with music theory I don’t understand A maximatosis :-)

A Mix 5th mode of D major, it's got a C# instead of the C natural which is in the A natural minor scale, or A Aolian Mode. There is some interchange between them in the 4 part A tune, but i think of it as mostly A Mixolydian.
 

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Originally posted by pete_fiddle

A Mix 5th mode of D major, it's got a C# instead of the C natural which is in the A natural minor scale, or A Aolian Mode. There is some interchange between them in the 4 part A tune, but i think of it as mostly A Mixolydian.
 

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Actually my bad . The interchange actually happens between A Dorian minor and A Mixolydian mostly. But you could probably force a bit of A Aeolian in there also (the F natural slide up to the f# in the 3rd part). Suffice to say that a guitar could "Wong" around an A chord and a G chord, But don't emphasize the 3rds. or alternatively play an A drone, it'll go with all 3 modes obviously.

Back to Kitty or "frost is all over" ...My Definitive version....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAYW5dwZJRA&list=RDwAYW5dwZJRA&start_radio=1

Great tune, cool dudes!..IMO

I remembered this tune/song was discussed here a few years ago, and here are a couple recordings I think the younger folks learned from:
youtu.be/6Z3IZY5gRRc?si=wKwCq_gbpeXDafeI This was recorded by Jean Ritchie on a trip to Ireland in the early 1950's. The YouTube mentions Elizabeth Cronin, but that's Seamus Ennis piping and singing.
youtu.be/sZYmw9zC8WI?si=SPT9zCKIBr4lYmgd This is Elizabeth Cronin, who I think was Ennis' source.
This tune is in O'Neill's "Dance Music of Ireland" as "The Frost is All Over."

I was surprised to find this version by two of the Burnett Sisters, from Boone, NC:
youtube.com/shorts/lh7dSaYY6d0...N0F2f57FM

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Originally posted by DougD

I remembered this tune/song was discussed here a few years ago, and here are a couple recordings I think the younger folks learned from:
youtu.be/6Z3IZY5gRRc?si=wKwCq_gbpeXDafeI This was recorded by Jean Ritchie on a trip to Ireland in the early 1950's. The YouTube mentions Elizabeth Cronin, but that's Seamus Ennis piping and singing.
youtu.be/sZYmw9zC8WI?si=SPT9zCKIBr4lYmgd This is Elizabeth Cronin, who I think was Ennis' source.
This tune is in O'Neill's "Dance Music of Ireland" as "The Frost is All Over."

I was surprised to find this version by two of the Burnett Sisters, from Boone, NC:
youtube.com/shorts/lh7dSaYY6d0...N0F2f57FM

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Very informative post. There really is nothing quite like the pipes - otherworldly. I'd never heard Seamus Ennis sing before.

Agreed! With Johnny Moynihan aka the Guy who Brought Bouzouki to Irish Music. Never heard him on fiddle.
A little bit of Slieve Russell at the end.

I actually got it from the “Kitty Lie Over” album!

https://youtu.be/mM2T3YlB_Uc?si=0RZVU1pSV7ZKzK3D

I figured it must be a famous jig since it was the title of their album, so I was surprised to play it at session and get blank faces! But yea it’s become a known tune in local repertoire now…first the melody players I play with the most learned it (whistle guy & flute friend) and from there, it seems to have spread...:-)

Farewell to Ireland is pretty solidly memorized now...He sent us the Bothy Band link as something to listen to...ya, Mr. Burke is amazing! (Speaking of Speed!) 

I had a similar experience with "The Honeymoon Reel" (in O'Neill's 1001; not in the 1850). I was introduced to the tune by George Ainley in 1975 and then learned it from the Crockett Family's recording (in a medley only played 3/4 times through). Years later found it was an Irish tune. When I retired and started to attend Irish sessions playing whistle, I began to make up my own sets, the first being my Irish American set which is: Temperance, Greenfields of American (from which came Old Mother Flanagan and Shippensport) and Honeymoon. Now this was about 2006 or 2007. When I got to the Honeymoon Reel, I was playing all by myself. Afterward, someone said they sort of remembered that tune. A number of years later, I heard a recording (from 1966) of two great Philadelphia Irish musicians playing it (Tom Standevon and John Vesey, pipes and fiddle). Very soon after I played that set, people learned it and started playing the Honeymoon Reel. Glad, I revived it in Philly.
 

Johnbow - If you like the pipes, have you heard the cylinder recordings made by Chief O'Neill in the Dunn Family Collection at the Ward Irish Music Archive?
archives.irishfest.com/dunn-fa...Music.htm
Many are of Patsy Touhey, probably the most accomplished piper of his day, and very influential. Chief O'Neill was an admirer and supporter of Touhey. Some of the cylinders are pretty rough, but many are quite listenable. I think these wax cylinders are some of the earliest recordings of traditional Irish music in the US, possibly anywhere.

I hadn’t heard those recordings or heard of Patsy Touhey. That guy can play at a blistering tempo. I’ll dig in to the archive over time.

I don’t know much about the pipes, or the pipers for that matter. The first video of a piper I remember seeing was a young Noel Hill playing his concertina while sitting alongside Seamus Ennis. I remember being struck by the amount of focus and attention Seamus was paying to Noel’s playing, sort of coaching him along. Seamus played in another video segment.

Johnbow, as someone who has attempted to play pipes several times - not surprised at your comment about focus. IMHO pipes are the one instrument harder to learn well than fiddle.

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Originally posted by wrench13

Johnbow, as someone who has attempted to play pipes several times - not surprised at your comment about focus. IMHO pipes are the one instrument harder to learn well than fiddle.

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I can well imagine they are quite difficult to play and set-up and maintain. They look like they'd be fun to play and I love bellows-driven reed instruments - concertina, accordion, harmonica, etc.

A decade or so ago, there was a set of uilleann pipes for sale on our local CL. They were made by a guy here in Texas, and all of man-made materials - pvc pipes, some sort of cloth bag, synthetic reeds, etc. I believe the maker put out a couple videos and I remember thinking they didn't sound horrible. I probably should have bought them.

wrench13 - I don't think Johnbow was referring to focus while actually playing, although I'm sure that's essential. I think he was ralking about this video (or one like it) where Mr. Ennis is intently watching young Noel Hill playing - as he put "sort of coaching him along."
youtu.be/OVU3pSHQcFE?si=ZBHCC3u2-5oUkFtu

The good pipe players i know (all 5 of them), all make pipes apart from one, who can make pipes but prefers to let his Father make them for him. it seems to be a requirement that you need to have a close relationship with pipes and the makers before you can play them well. Messing with reeds and such isn't for the uninitiated. "Kitty Lie Over" or "Frost is all over" seems to be a perfect pipe tune.

I played the bassoon for a few years, and after a point I think most players at least learn to make their own reeds. Same with oboe. Double reeds are different from clarinet or saxophone where you just install one, and maybe try a few till you find one you like (I think).

I used to buy thick reeds for my sax and file them down to suit. It’s an acquired skill purely gained by trial and error. Working with double reeds takes it up a notch like the wet reeds of the Scotts highland pipes. Then another notch with the dry reeds of the Northumbrian pipes. I haven’t had any experience with uillean pipe reeds but they do look finicky plus they have to deal with two octaves (like the bassoon). The instrument itself is surprisingly easy to play basic melodies. It’s the grace notes and cranns that require a lot of discipline. That’s probably partly why most pipers double up on tin whistle rather than the flute. 

Doug, yes, that’s the video I was referring to and it was nice watching it again.

After reading the two posts above this one (and others in the past), I’m learning that more than any forum I’ve read, this one seems to contain many musicians who are really quite widely varied multi-instrumentalists. I’ve also studied all the common woodwinds with the exception of double reed winds.

This ain't just making reeds, they turn the whole set regulators drones , argue and discuss about the tapered bores etc. make the keys, fit them stitch the bags put all the whipping on the joints, and every little piece of work needed to turn some wood and leather into a set of usable pipes. They are world class masters who could give any uilleann pipe maker a run for their money. And do...