Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID#1277 (New Policeman)
| Rhythm ? | Bars | 8-bar phrase structure | Mode ? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reel | 16 | AB | G Major |
about these two bars
These two bars are the start of my transcription of how this tune was played – the first time through – on the recording MM 3 (details in the Discography below).
Titles given to this tune in the sources listed below (plus notes of mine about this tune):
New Policeman, The / An Garda Nua /The Twin Brothers / The Twin Brothers' Reel / The Twinbrothers' Reel / The Tinker's Stick / Bata an Tincéara / Tinkers Stick / Boil the Kettle Early / Lady Cork's Reel / Paddy Bolster's Reel / The Far Field / Michael Dwyer's Favourite / The Reel of Rio / The Cloontia Reel (mislabeled as Stony Steps on MM 3) (also in A) (compare 1st part with 1st part of Ambrose Moloney's #2127 and with 1st part of Major Moran's #4504)
Discography
Here are all recordings of this tune considering only the indexed recordings. I have discovered by careful listening that these sources are in fact musically the same tune, regardless of the tune titles they use, key changes, retuning, etc. They are listed in order of when they were recorded.
| Year Recorded |
Track #Tune? |
[Album code] Artist. Title. Primary musicians (instruments). |
|---|---|---|
| ~1987 | 6#1 | [MM 3] Matt Molloy. Stony Steps. Matt Molloy (flute). |
| ~1991 | 15#1 | [MV] various. Maiden Voyage. Live Traditional Irish Music Session from Pepper's Bar, Feakle, Co. Clare. Tommy Peoples (fiddle), Siobhán Peoples (fiddle), Andrew McNamara (accordion), Kevin Crawford (flute), P.J. King (accordion), Páraic Mac Donnchadha (banjo), Pat Marsh (bouzouki), Joe Bane (whistle), John Maloney (bodhrán), Séan Mac Donnchadha (vocals). |
| ~1998 | 13#2 | [KHe] Kevin Henry. One's Own Place - A Family Tradition. Kevin Henry (flute, whistle, pipes, vocals). |
| ~1998 | 15#2 | [MMR 2] Mike and Mary Rafferty. The Old Fireside Music. Mike Rafferty (flute, pipes), Mary Rafferty (accordion, whistle). |
| ~1999 | 2.7#2 | [WFO 2] various. Wooden Flute Obsession 2. |
| ~2001 | 5#3 | [AtR 2] At the Racket. Mirth-Making Heroes. John Carty (fiddle, banjo), Brian McGrath (banjo, piano, keyboards), Seamus O'Donnell (flute, saxophone, vocals), Garry O'Briain (guitar, mandocello, piano), Brid Dooley (vocals). |
| 2007 | 6#2 | [PotW] John Wynne and John McEvoy. Pride of the West. John Wynne (flute), John McEvoy (fiddle). |
Bibliography
Here are all transcriptions of this tune under any title whatsoever – considering only the indexed books – listed in chronological order. I have discovered by careful comparison that these are very similar to this tune as played on the recordings listed above.
| As tune #1237 in [1850] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. |
| As tune #511 in [1001] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. The Dance Music of Ireland. 1001 Gems. |
| As tune #99 in [CRE 1] Breandán Breathnach. Ceol Rince na hÉireann 1. |
| On page 102 of [Krsn] Miles Krassen. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. New and Revised. |
| As reel #96 in [MM] Martin Mulvihill. First Collection of Traditional Irish Music. |
| As tune #78 in [Cr] Matt Cranitch. The Irish Fiddle Book. |
| As reel #89 in [JKg 3] Josephine Keegan. A Drop in the Ocean. Traditional Irish Tunes Collected by Josephine Keegan. |
If you are considering using the above transcriptions to help you learn this tune, I invite you to check these practical Tips for Learning Irish Traditional Music. See also: So why do you bother indexing books and abc?
Year of the oldest source for this tune, considering the recordings and transcriptions listed above (note that I concentrate on sources after 1900): 1903