Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 223 (Brian Boru's March)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
March48AABBCCA Dorian
Transcription of first 2 bars of Brian Boru's March
 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 Ch 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):
Brian Boru's March / Brian Ború's March (also in B Minor or A Minor, also without 3rd part, also with a 4th part)
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
196912#1[Ch 2] The Chieftains. 2. Michael Tubridy (flute, concertina, whistle), Seán Potts (whistle), Paddy Moloney (pipes, whistle), Martin Fay (fiddle), Peadar Mercier (bodhrán, bones), Seán Keane (fiddle).View album details
~198611#1[HMSP] Joe Burke, Michael Cooney, Terry Corcoran. Happy to Meet and Sorry to Part. Joe Burke (accordion), Michael Cooney (pipes, whistle), Terry Corcoran (guitar, vocals).View album details
~20019#1[MLnn] Maurice Lennon. Brian Boru. The High King of Tara. Maurice Lennon (fiddle, vocals).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 #1801 in [1850] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. [available]
As tune #334 in volume 2 of [R] Francis Roche. The Roche Collection of Traditional Irish Music. 3 vols. [available]
On page 18 of [TP] Tommy Peoples. Fifty Irish Fiddle Tunes. [available]
As tune #96 in [DM 2] Dave Mallinson. 100 Enduring Irish Session 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): 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