Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 1309 (Going to the Fair)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Reel16ABG Major
Transcription of first 2 bars of Going to the Fair
 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 Ev (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):
Going to the Fair / Miss McGuiness / Miss McGuinness / Take Your Choice / Terence's Rambles / Jim Coleman's / Miss Parr's Reel (also in D) (compare Miss McGuiness #937; compare 2nd part with 2nd part of Micho Russell's #3855)
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
~19798#3[Ev] Kevin Burke and Jackie Daly. Eavesdropper. Kevin Burke (fiddle), Jackie Daly (accordion, concertina).View album details
~198711#1[MM 3] Matt Molloy. Stony Steps. Matt Molloy (flute).View album details
~199628#2[CmA 1] various. The Coleman Archive Vol. 1: The Living Tradition. View album details
~20031.2#1[WFO 2] various. Wooden Flute Obsession 2. View album details
20065#2[MMrch 2] Marcas Ó Murchú. Turas Ceoil. Marcas Ó Murchú (flute, whistle).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 tune #1187 in [1850] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. [available]
As tune #1412 in [1850] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. [available]
As tune #466 in [1001] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. The Dance Music of Ireland. 1001 Gems. [available]
On page 93 of [Krsn] Miles Krassen. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. New and Revised. [available]
As reel #162 in [MM] Martin Mulvihill. First Collection of Traditional Irish Music.

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
Please cite your source when you use information from this document.
© 2000–2008 Alan Ng, agng@facstaff.wisc.edu. Questions? Comments? Please use the easy Feedback Form. Thank you!
Start at