Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID#642 (Floating Crowbar)
about these two barsThese two bars were transcribed by me from how this tune was played – the first time through – on the recording MMu (details in the Discography below).
| Rhythm ? | Bars | 8-bar phrase structure | Mode ? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reel | 32 | AABB | D Mixolydian |
Floating Crowbar, The / The Floating Crow-Bar / The Rathcroghan Reel / Rathcroghan Reel / The Rathcrogan Reel (1st in set The Silver Spire on ADB) (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.
Click 
to hear the first 12 seconds.
to hear the first 12 seconds.| Year Recorded |
Track #Tune? |
[Album code] Artist. Title. Performers (instruments). |
|---|---|---|
| ~1978 | A.8#1 | [MMu] Martin Mulvihill with Mick Moloney. Traditional Irish Fiddling from County Limerick. Martin Mulvihill (fiddle). For this tune: with Mick Moloney (banjo). |
| ~1993 | 5#1 | [Shskn 6] Shaskeen. My Love Is in America. Tom Cussen (banjo), Benny O'Connor (drums, bodhrán), Sean Conway (flute, whistle, guitar, vocals), Charlie Harris (accordion), Kevin Rohan (fiddle, vocals). For this tune: Tom (banjo), Kevin (fiddle). |
| ~1996 | 9#1 | [ADB] Mighty Session! Derek Hickey (accordion), Cian O'Sullivan (flute). |
| 1998 | 12#1 | [Lgcy] Legacy. Navan. Don Penzien (guitar, vocals, whistle), Valerie Plested (fiddle), Beth Patterson (bouzouki, vocals), Justin Murphy (flute, whistle). |
| ~1998 | 1.12#1 | [ESL 1] An Evening in Sliabh Luachra. Volume One. A Collection of Traditional Music and Song from the Sliabh Luachra Area. Timmy O'Connor (accordion). |
| ~1999 | 5#1 | [JOH 1] John O'Halloran. "But Why, Johnny?". John O'Halloran (accordion). For this tune: (C melodeon). |
| ~1999 | 2#1 | [Lu 2] Lúnasa. Otherworld. Kevin Crawford (flute, whistle, bodhrán), Seán Smyth (fiddle, whistle, viola), Trevor Hutchinson (double bass, cello), Donogh Hennessy (guitar). For this tune: 1st time Sean (fiddle) and John McSherry (pipes). |
| ~1999 | 6#1 | [Lu 7] Lúnasa. The Story So Far .... Kevin Crawford (flute, whistle, bodhran), Sean Smyth (fiddle, whistle), Cillian Vallely (pipes, whistle), Mike McGoldrick (flute, pipes), John McSherry (pipes), Donogh Hennessy (guitar), Trevor Hutchinson (double bass, cello), Paul Meehan (guitar). For this tune: 1st time Sean (fiddle) and John McSherry (pipes). |
| ~2004 | 8#2 | [TTItself] Maeve Donnelly and Peadar O'Loughlin. The Thing Itself. Maeve Donnelly (fiddle), Peadar O'Loughlin (flute). |
| 2008 | 10#1 | [RedW] The Red Wellies. The Red Wellies. Claudine "Beanie" Odell (fiddle), Duncan Wickel (fiddle, pipes), Vincent Fogarty (bouzouki). For this tune: with Aaron Olwell (flute). |
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 #24 in volume 4 of [B&S] D[avid] Bulmer and N[eil] Sharpley. Music from Ireland. 4 vols. |
| As tune #27 in [SIMB] Tony Sullivan. Sully's Irish Music Book. |
| As reel #80 in [MM] Martin Mulvihill. First Collection of Traditional Irish Music. |
| On page 87 of [F] S. C. Hamilton. The Irish Flute Player's Handbook. |
| On page 35 of [M2] Phil Rubenzer. Midwestern Irish Session Tunes. Millennium Edition. |
| As reel #102 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): 1974