Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID#1587 (Piper on Horseback)
| Rhythm ? | Bars | 8-bar phrase structure | Mode ? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reel | 16 | AB | A Dorian |
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 MLIIA (details in the Discography below).
Titles given to this tune in the sources listed below (plus notes of mine about this tune):
Piper on Horseback, The / Jig away the Donkey / Mick Hoy's / The Fair Haired Lass / The Dark Haired Lass (also with 1st part in Mixolydian mode) (compare reversed parts to Merry Harriers #1273)
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). |
|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 15#2 | [MLIIA] various. The Boston College Irish Fiddle Festival - My Love Is in America. |
| 1995 | 1#1 | [EI 2] Eileen Ivers. Wild Blue. Eileen Ivers (fiddle), John Doyle (guitar), Tom 'T-Bone' Wolk (organ, accordion, guitar, bass), Ben Wittman (drums), Kimati Dinizulu (percussion). |
| 1995 | 1.9#1 | [GL20] various. Green Linnet Records. The Twentieth Anniversary Collection. |
| ~2001 | 1.18#1 | [WFO 1] various. Wooden Flute Obsession. |
| 2003 | 1#4 | [LLPQ 2] The London Lasses and Pete Quinn. Track Across the Deep. Karen Ryan (fiddle, whistle), Elaine Conwell (fiddle), Dee Havlin (flute, whistle), Maureen Linane (accordion), Kathleen O'Sullivan (vocals). |
| ~2006 | 12#3 | [DCB 1] The Doon Céilí Band. Around the World for Sport. Paddy O'Brien (accordion), Kate Dowling (flute), Laura MacKenzie (flute), Brian Miller (flute), Jode Dowling (fiddle), Django Amerson (fiddle), Sean Egan (piano). |
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 #558 in [HN] Henrik Norbeck. Henrik Norbeck's Abc Tunes. |
| As reel #669 in [HN] Henrik Norbeck. Henrik Norbeck's Abc Tunes. |
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): 1990