Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 1730 (Scolding Wife)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Reel16ABD Major
Transcription of first 2 bars of Scolding Wife
 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 A RS (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):
Scolding Wife, The / The Clare Reel / Ríl an Chláir / The Last Word (2nd in set John Doherty's Reels on A RS) (also with 2nd part as intro)
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
19972#2[A RS] Altan. Runaway Sunday. Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh (fiddle, vocals), Dermot Byrne (accordion), Ciaran Tourish (fiddle, whistle, vocals), Ciaran Curran (bouzouki, mandolin, vocals), Mark Kelly (guitar, vocals), Dáithi Sproule (guitar, vocals).View album details
~20009#1[COC] Connie O'Connell. Ceol Cill na Martra (Music from Cill Na Martra). Connie O'Connell (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 tune #1430 in [1850] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. [available]
As tune #667 in [1001] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. The Dance Music of Ireland. 1001 Gems. [available]
As tune #138 in [CRE 2] Breandán Breathnach. Ceol Rince na hÉireann 2.
On page 137 of [Krsn] Miles Krassen. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. New and Revised. [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): 1903