Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 1665 (Reel with the Beryl)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Reel32AABBE Dorian
Transcription of first 2 bars of Reel with the Beryl
 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 MR 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):
Reel with the Beryl, The / The Reel with the Beryle / The Reel with the Birl in It / Reel with the Birl / The Reel with the Burl / The Lady's Bonnet / Craith na Cleiteacha / Toss the Feathers / Drowsy Maggie (also singled, also in A) (compare 1st part with 1st part of Toss the Feathers #1957 and with 1st part of Drowsy Maggie #545)
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
19601#2[ECr] Elizabeth Crotty. Concertina Music from West Clare. Elizabeth Crotty (concertina).View album details
~19774#1[FG 1] Frankie Gavin and Alec Finn. Frankie Gavin and Alec Finn. Frankie Gavin (fiddle, whistle), Alec Finn (bouzouki).View album details
~197811#2[Ch 8] The Chieftains. 8. Paddy Moloney (pipes, whistle), Seán Potts (whistle), Seán Keane (fiddle), Martin Fay (fiddle, bones), Michael Tubridy (flute, concertina, whistle), Derek Bell (harp, tiompán), Kevin Conneff (bodhrán).View album details
~19935#2[MR 2] Micho Russell. The Limestone Rock. Micho Russell (whistle).View album details
~19932.15#2[WFO 1] various. Wooden Flute Obsession. View album details
~19955(2:21)#3[JW 1] John Williams. John Williams. John Williams (accordion, concertina).View album details
19976#2[MH 3] Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill. The Lonesome Touch. Martin Hayes (fiddle), Dennis Cahill (guitar).View album details
~19988#3[BG 5] Bobby Gardiner. The Clare Shout. Bobby Gardiner (accordion, lilting).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 #195 in [CRE 1] Breandán Breathnach. Ceol Rince na hÉireann 1.
As tune #28 in [WC] Pat Mitchell. The Dance Music of Willie Clancy. [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): 1960
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!
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