A Tune A Week

I’ve actually known the Brosna Slide for a while, but I did learn it since I started this project, so I figure it counts enough for a week when I’m playing catch-up. One day I paired it with Denis Murphy’s—the slide, not the polka—and liked how it sounded, so here they are together. The Brosna Slide is on a Johnny O’Leary disc in A, and on one of Jackie Daly’s CDs in G. I learned it in G. Playing it in A would mean learning a whole new button, the low G#—so I’ll save that project for later.

Update: The tune I’m calling Denis Murphy’s here is called the Gleanntan Slide on Tony MacMahon’s album Traditional Irish Accordion. And he plays it in F. Go figure.

Not quite the same version of this polka as they have posted over at The Session, but I swear I’ve heard it this way somewhere. Maybe in the same set as Denis Murphy’s at the last McGuinness session. Or in a different set. Or something.

This jig goes nicely before The Lonesome Jig, and that’s the setting I heard it in the other night. Conveniently, I have the pair on a John Williams recording, played on concertina no less, so I can listen to them over and over until the neighbors come by with big sticks. And guess what: I have conquered that issue with my pinky that I was blaming on my box a couple weeks ago…

Yes, yes, I got a little behind for a while there. This polka is one I used to know five years ago, and forgot. When I heard it at the session the other week, I decided to go get it in my head again. The possibility of playing a tune with other people is a big motivator.

I found an archive of a few tunes recorded by helpful local musicians at a helpful local Yahoo Group. This reel is one, played both fast and slow by a helpful local flautist. Since it’s in G rather than D, the fingering and bellows work are relatively simple. And now I have a new reason to upgrade my box: the button that’s hardest to press is also the one I want to play a grace note on with my right pinky in this tune.