Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 1566 (Trip to Birmingham)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Reel32AABBG Major
Transcription of first 2 bars of Trip to Birmingham
 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 1 (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):
Trip to Birmingham / An Turas go Birmingham / McDermot's / Josie McDermott's / The Pile of Bricks / Peg McGrath / Dinny O'Brien's / The Cornerhouse / The Priest's Leap (compare Teresa Halpin's #4083 and more distantly Corner House #396) (composed by Josie McDermott)
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
~197412#1[KCB 3] [The Kilfenora Ceili Band]. [The Kilfenora Céilí Band]. View album details
~19767#1[MM 1] Matt Molloy accompanied by Dónal Lunny. Matt Molloy. Matt Molloy (flute).View album details
~20031#1[KitRec] Seán O'Driscoll and Larry Egan. The Kitchen Recordings. Seán O'Driscoll (banjo, bouzouki), Larry Egan (accordion).View album details
~20065#1[JasCt] James Carty. Upon My Soul. James Carty (flute).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 #9 in volume 2 of [B&S] D[avid] Bulmer and N[eil] Sharpley. Music from Ireland. 4 vols.
As tune #26 in volume 2 of [AW] Eithne Vallely. Learn to Play the Tin Whistle.
As tune #315 in [JOL] Terry Moylan. Johnny O'Leary of Sliabh Luachra. Dance Music from the Cork-Kerry Border. [available]
As tune #41 in [DM 3] Dave Mallinson. 100 Evergreen Irish Session Tunes. [available]
As reel #272 in [Cobb] Dan Cobb. Cobb's Music of Ireland. [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): 1974