Hundred Pipers (jig)
Scollay's Reel

Sonny's Mazurka
Shoe the Donkey (aka Put Your Little Foot)

March Set
Girl I Left Behind Me
Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine
Mount Cashell's Brigade

Hundred Pipers
Scollay's Reel
Sonny's Mazurka
March Set

Irish session music has historically been an aural folk tradition where the tunes are learned, played, and passed along without reference to written musical notation.

I thought it appropriate to continue in this tradition by teaching some tunes by ear. This method has been shown to facilitate the learning, retaining, interpreting and improvising of tunes compared to "sight reading" methods.

I will use the call and response method. This is the method most often employed at summer music camps. I will play a passage of several notes a few times, and the attendees will play them back as they hear them. As each new section of the tune is learned, we will link that seciont to the previously learned sections.

There is generally a basic musical theme and rhythm to each tune, and this basic theme and rhythm is repeated during both the a and b Parts of the tune.  Hearing and recognizing this musical theme and rhythm are aids to learning the tune.

Often a 16-measure Part of a tune will have four Sections:

•   a musical Statement (4 measures),
•   followed by a Response (4 measures),
•   the initial Statement repeated,
•   the part concludes with (you guessed it!!) a Conclusion (4 measures).

In some tunes, both the a and b Parts will follow this Statement, Response, Statement, Conclusion ("SRSC") format using different Statements, etc for the a and b Parts.  Occasionally, the b Part will share a Statement and/or Conclusion with the b Part.

As many of you have noticed, most tunes have different versions in the commercially available tune books and free websites.   However, the basic theme (aka: head or skeleton) of the tune is the same.  The differences are due to the publisher's personal preference for pick-up notes, and ornaments such as grace notes, Irish rolls, arpeggio run-ups or run-downs, added triplets, shuffles, etc.

In the learning session, we will learn the basic theme=head=skeleton of the tune and some suggestions for ornamenting as time permits.

I look forward to the sessions and your patience in implementing this learning method.

Bob