Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 2333 (Thomaisin O Dea's Reel)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Reel16ABG Major
Transcription of first 2 bars of Thomaisin O Dea's Reel
 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 BBow 3 (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):
Thomaisin O Dea's Reel / Ríl Thomáisín Uí Dheaghda / Tomaisin O'Dea's / Tomeen O'Dea's / [Tommy O'Dea's / Tommy O'Dee's] / The Little Bag of Potatoes / Colin Boyd's Favourite (1st in The Tomín O'Dea Set on BBow 3; 3rd in set The Trip to Sligo on Drv 4) (compare The Wishbone Reel id:#4897:)
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
19917#1[BBow 3] Buttons and Bows. Grace Notes - Nótaí Maise. Jackie Daly (accordion, concertina), Séamus McGuire (fiddle, viola), Manus McGuire (fiddle), Garry O'Briain (guitar, mandocello, piano).View album details
19971.8#3[Drv 4] Dervish. Live in Palma. Cathy Jordan (vocals), Liam Kelly (flute), Shane McAleer (fiddle), Shane Mitchell (accordion), Brian McDonagh (mandola, guitar), Micheal Holmes (bouzouki).View album details
~20032.8#2[WFO 2] various. Wooden Flute Obsession 2. View album details
200616#3[MMrch 2] Marcas Ó Murchú. Turas Ceoil. Marcas Ó Murchú (flute, whistle).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 #98 in [CRE 1] Breandán Breathnach. Ceol Rince na hÉireann 1.
As reel #717 in [HN] Henrik Norbeck. Henrik Norbeck's Abc 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): 1963