Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 1806 (Spey in Spate)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Reel32AABBD Major
Transcription of first 2 bars of Spey in Spate
 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 PG 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):
Spey in Spate, The / John Stewart's (also in E) (2nd in set Sean McGuire's on DD HR) (composed by James Scott Skinner)
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
~19915#1[PG 2] Paddy Glackin. Rabharta Ceoil. In Full Spate. Paddy Glackin (fiddle), Dónal Lunny (bouzouki, guitar, bodhrán).View album details
~19926#1[CR 1] Craobh Rua. The More That's Said the Less the Better. Mark Donnelly (pipes, whistle), Michael Cassidy (fiddle), Brian Connolly (banjo, mandolin, bodhrán), Jim Byrne (guitar, mandola, vocals).View album details
~199612#2[DD HR] De Dannan. Hibernian Rhapsody. Frankie Gavin (fiddle, flute), Alec Finn (bouzouki, guitar), Colm Murphy (bodhrán), Derek Hickey (accordion), Tommy Flemming (vocals).View album details
~200712#2[OMcA] Oisín McAuley. Far from the Hills of Donegal. Oisín McAuley (fiddle, guitar).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 reel #506 in [HN] Henrik Norbeck. Henrik Norbeck's Abc Tunes. [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): 1991