Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID#217 (Dan Breen's)
about these two barsThese two bars were transcribed by me from how this tune was played – the first time through – on the recording Ch 1 (details in the Discography below).
| Rhythm ? | Bars | 8-bar phrase structure | Mode ? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reel | 16 | AB | A Dorian |
Dan Breen's / Dan Breen's Reel / Breen's Reel / Dan Breens / West Clare Reel / The West Clare / Ríl Iarthar an Chláir / The Shepherd's Daughter (3rd in set The Maids of Galway on WFO 1; 3rd in set The Maid of Galway on WFO 1; 1st in set West Clare Reels on Chlr; on MvC 2, this tune appears again at the end of that track) (also in G or E)
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 12 seconds.
to hear the first 12 seconds.| Year Recorded |
Track #Tune? |
[Album code] Artist. Title. Performers (instruments). |
|---|---|---|
| ~1963 | 8#3 | [Ch 1] The Chieftains. The Chieftains. Paddy Moloney (pipes, whistle), Michael Tubridy (flute, concertina), Seán Potts (whistle), Martin Fay (fiddle), David Fallon (bodhrán). |
| ~1986 | 1#3 | [SEgn 1] Seamus Egan. Traditional Music of Ireland. Seamus Egan (flute, banjo, mandolin, whistle, pipes, tres). For this tune: (flute). |
| 1990 | 4#2 | [A RC] Altan. The Red Crow. Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh (fiddle, vocals), Frankie Kennedy (flute, whistle, vocals), Paul O'Shaughnessy (fiddle), Mark Kelly (guitar, vocals), Ciaran Curran (bouzouki). For this tune: Frankie Kennedy (flute). |
| ~1993 | 7#2 | [JKn 2] James Keane. That's the Spirit. James Keane (accordion). |
| 1994 | 2#2 | [MH 2] Martin Hayes. Under the Moon. Martin Hayes (fiddle). |
| ~1994 | 2.16#3 | [WFO 1] Wooden Flute Obsession. Seamus Egan (flute). |
| 1998 | 8#2 | [Chlr] Chulrua. Barefoot on the Altar. Paddy O'Brien (accordion), Tim Britton (pipes, flute, whistle), Pat Egan (guitar, vocals). |
| ~1998 | 16#1 | [MvC 2] Moving Cloud. Foxglove. Paul Brock (accordion), Maeve Donnelly (fiddle), Manus McGuire (fiddle), Kevin Crawford (flute, whistle, bodhrán), Carl Hession (piano). For this tune: with Gerry O'Connor (banjo). |
| ~2000 | 6#3 | [MMcG 2] Michael McGoldrick. Fused. Michael McGoldrick (flute except where noted). |
| 2001 | 1#1 | [KlmFcy] Catherine McEvoy and John McEvoy. The Kilmore Fancy. Catherine McEvoy (flute), John McEvoy (fiddle). |
| ~2003 | 12#3 | [KitRec] Seán O'Driscoll and Larry Egan. The Kitchen Recordings. Seán O'Driscoll (banjo, bouzouki), Larry Egan (accordion). |
| ~2003 | 2.16#3 | [WFO 2] Wooden Flute Obsession 2. Sean Ryan of Chicago (flute). |
| ~2004 | 4#1 | [TTItself] Maeve Donnelly and Peadar O'Loughlin. The Thing Itself. Maeve Donnelly (fiddle), Peadar O'Loughlin (flute). |
| 2006 | 1#2 | [NNW] Eliot Grasso and Dave Cory. North-by-NorthWest. Eliot Grasso (pipes, flute), Dave Cory (banjo, guitar, octave mandolin). |
| ~2009 | 8#2 | [PoNY] Joanie Madden, Brian Conway, Billy McComiskey, Brendan Dolan. Pride of New York. Joanie Madden (flute, whistle), Brian Conway (fiddle), Billy McComiskey (accordion), Brendan Dolan (piano). |
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 #35 in volume 1 of [B&S] D[avid] Bulmer and N[eil] Sharpley. Music from Ireland. 4 vols. |
| As tune #17 in volume 3 of [LPTW] Eithne Vallely. Learn to Play the Tin Whistle. |
| As reel #56 in [Cobb] Dan Cobb. Cobb's Music of Ireland. |
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): 1963