Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 1291 (Miller of Drohan)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Reel32AABBE Minor
Transcription of first 2 bars of Miller of Drohan
 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 Lu 2 (details in the Discography below).

Where do you get the tune titles?
Titles given to this tune in the sources listed below (plus notes of mine about this tune):
Miller of Drohan, The / The Miller of Draughin / The Miller of Drawen / The Humours of Kinvara (mislabeled on BBow 2 as The Man from Bundoran; 2nd in set De Dannan's on JCt 5) (also in F#, also singled, also with parts reversed)
What do the "track#tune" codes mean?

cd 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). Album details
and contents
19876#1[BBow 2] Buttons and Bows. The First Month of Summer. Séamus McGuire (fiddle, viola), Manus McGuire (fiddle), Jackie Daly (accordion, concertina, whistle).View album details
~19875#2[DD 7] De Dannan. Ballroom. Dolores Keane (vocals), Frankie Gavin (fiddle, viola, flute, whistle, piano), Martin O'Connor (accordion), Johnny (Ringo) McDonagh (bodhrán, bones, triangles), Caroline Lavelle (cello, vocals), Alec Finn (guitar, bouzouki).View album details
~198817#1[PO] Paddy O'Brien with Daíthi Sproule. Stranger at the Gate. Paddy O'Brien (accordion).View album details
~19995#1[Lu 2] Lúnasa. Otherworld. Kevin Crawford (flute, whistle, bodhrán), Seán Smyth (fiddle, whistle, viola), Trevor Hutchinson (double bass, cello), Donogh Hennessy (guitar).View album details
~19993#1[Lu 7] Lúnasa. The Story So Far …. Kevin Crawford (flute, whistle, bodhran), Sean Smyth (fiddle, whistle), Cillian Vallely (pipes, whistle), Mike McGoldrick (flute, pipes), John McSherry (pipes), Donogh Hennessy (guitar), Trevor Hutchinson (double bass, cello), Paul Meehan (guitar).View album details
~200512#2[JCt 5] John Carty. I Will If I Can. John Carty (banjo, guitar, fiddle).View album details

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 reel #95 in [JKg 3] Josephine Keegan. A Drop in the Ocean. Traditional Irish Tunes Collected by Josephine Keegan. [available]

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): 1987