Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID#2065 (Whistling Postman)
| Rhythm ? | Bars | 8-bar phrase structure | Mode ? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reel | 32 | AABB | D Major |
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 AW (details in the Discography below).
Titles given to this tune in the sources listed below (plus notes of mine about this tune):
Whistling Postman, The / Fear Poist na Feadaíola / Gallagher / Gallagher's / Connelly's / Connolly's Reel (also in A)
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). |
|---|---|---|
| ~1971 | 8#2 | [AW] Paddy Reynolds, Charlie Mulvihill, James Keane, with Felix Dolan. Atlantic Wave. Paddy Reynolds (fiddle), Charlie Mulvihill (accordion), James Keane (accordion). |
| ~1976 | 7#1 | [KClns 1] Kathleen Collins. Traditional Music of Ireland. Kathleen Collins (fiddle). |
| ~1984 | 11#1 | [Crsl] Séamus McGuire, Manus McGuire, Dáithí Sproule. Carousel. Séamus McGuire (fiddle, viola), Manus McGuire (fiddle), Dáithí Sproule (guitars, vocals). |
| ~1986 | 1.4#3 | [RtH] various. Round the House. Music for the Sets - Vol. 1. Séamus Meehan (piano accordion), Paul O'Shaughnessy (fiddle), Neillidh Mulligan (pipes), Breanndán Ó Beaglaoich (accordion), Gerry Bevan (fiddle). |
| ~1993 | 5#1 | [JKn 2] James Keane. That's the Spirit. James Keane (accordion). |
| ~1996 | 2#2 | [JCt 2] John Carty. Last Night's Fun. John Carty (fiddle, banjo, flute). |
| ~2003 | 12#2 | [KitRec] Seán O'Driscoll and Larry Egan. The Kitchen Recordings. Seán O'Driscoll (banjo, bouzouki), Larry Egan (accordion). |
| ~2005 | 3#1 | [MMhn] Martin Meehan. Three's Company. Martin Meehan (flute, bodhrán). |
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 #564 in [HN] Henrik Norbeck. Henrik Norbeck's Abc Tunes. |
| As tune #267 in [FT] Randy Miller. The Fiddler's Throne. |
| On page ? of volume 3 of [CRE 3+] Breandán Breathnach. Ceol Rince na hÉireann. |
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): 1971