Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 634 (First of May)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Hornpipe32AABBA Mixolydian
Transcription of first 2 bars of First of May
 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 TDMI (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):
First of May, The (also in G Mixolydian or A Dorian, and compare jig Fágamaíd sud mar atá sé / Fagamaoid sud mar ata se / Let Us Leave That As It Is, included here)
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
~195324#1[TDMI] various. Traditional Dance Music of Ireland. View album details
~19999#2[KR] Kevin Rowsome. The Rowsome Tradition. Kevin Rowsome (pipes).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 #1708 in [1850] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. [available]
As tune #899 in [1001] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. The Dance Music of Ireland. 1001 Gems. [available]
On page 132 of [IMM] Francis O'Neill. Irish Minstrels and Musicians. [available]
On page 132 of [IMM] Francis O'Neill. Irish Minstrels and Musicians. [available]
As tune #200 in volume 2 of [R] Francis Roche. The Roche Collection of Traditional Irish Music. 3 vols. [available]
As tune #115 in [WC] Pat Mitchell. The Dance Music of Willie Clancy. [available]
As tune #98 in [A] Hugh McDermott. Allan's "Irish Fiddler." [available]
On page 199 of [Krsn] Miles Krassen. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. New and Revised. [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