Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID#197 (Glentaun Reel)
about these two barsThese two bars were transcribed by me from how this tune was played – the first time through – on the recording JW 1 (details in the Discography below).
| Rhythm ? | Bars | 8-bar phrase structure | Mode ? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reel | 16 | AB | G Major |
Titles given to this tune in the sources listed below (plus notes of mine about this tune):
Glentaun Reel, The / The Glentaun / Glentown / Lord McDonald / Lord McDonald's Reel / Lord MacDonald's Reel / Lord MacDonald's / McDonald's Reel / MacDonald's Reel / John McDonald's Reel / Bothar na Sop / Little Peggy / Slanty Gart / Leather Britches / Old Leather Britches (also doubled) (compare the 4-part setting as #1157)
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.
Click 
to hear the first 10 seconds.
to hear the first 10 seconds.| Year Recorded |
Track #Tune? |
[Album code] Artist. Title. Performers (instruments). |
|---|---|---|
| ~1969 | 18#2 | [SatG] Denis Murphy and Julia Clifford. The Star above the Garter. Fiddle music from Kerry, played by Denis Murphy and Julia Clifford. Denis Murphy (fiddle), Julia Clifford (fiddle). |
| ~1995 | 5#1 | [JW 1] John Williams. John Williams. John Williams (accordion, concertina). For this tune: (concertina), with Micho Russell (whistle). |
| ~1999 | 7#2 | [BRny 1] Brian Rooney. The Godfather. Brian Rooney (fiddle). |
| 2002 | 12#3 | [AJK] Alan and John Kelly. Fourmilehouse. Alan Kelly (piano accordion), John Kelly (flute, whistle). |
| ~2002 | 16#2 | [MaRaf] Mary Rafferty. Hand-Me-Downs. Mary Rafferty (accordion, concertina, flute, whistle). For this tune: Mike Rafferty (flute). |
Bibliography
Here are all transcriptions of this tune 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 #1408 in [1850] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. |
| As tune #649 in [1001] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. The Dance Music of Ireland. 1001 Gems. |
| As tune #31 in volume 4 of [B&S] D[avid] Bulmer and N[eil] Sharpley. Music from Ireland. 4 vols. |
| On page 166 of [FF] David Brody. The Fiddler's Fakebook. |
| On page 176 of [FF] David Brody. The Fiddler's Fakebook. |
| As tune #21 in [DM 3] Dave Mallinson. 100 Evergreen Irish Session 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): 1903