Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 2056 (Wheels of the World)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Double jig32AABBD Mixolydian
Transcription of first 2 bars of Wheels of the World
 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 MB 1 (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):
Wheels of the World, The / Rothaí an tSaoil / Sheep on the Mountain (3rd in set The Small Girl on MSHtn 1) (also in A)
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
~19797#3[MB 1] Mary Bergin. Feadóga Stáin. Traditional Irish Music on the Tin Whistle. Mary Bergin (whistle).View album details
199811#3[Lgcy] Legacy. Navan. Don Penzien (guitar, vocals, whistle), Valerie Plested (fiddle), Beth Patterson (bouzouki, vocals), Justin Murphy (flute, whistle).View album details
~200312#3[MSHtn 1] Matt and Shannon Heaton. Dearga. Shannon Heaton (flute, whistle, vocals), Matt Heaton (guitar, vocals, bodhrán, dobro, electric 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 tune #777 in [1850] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. [available]
As tune #54 in [1001] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. The Dance Music of Ireland. 1001 Gems. [available]
On page 108 of [Cr] Matt Cranitch. The Irish Fiddle Book. [available]
In [M] Phil Rubenzer. Midwestern Irish Session Tunes. 3rd Edition.
On page 196 of [M2] Phil Rubenzer. Midwestern Irish Session Tunes. Millennium Edition.

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
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!
Start at