Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID#840 (Hold the Reins)
| Rhythm ? | Bars | 8-bar phrase structure | Mode ? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reel | 16 | AB | G Major |
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 JW 1 (details in the Discography below).
Titles given to this tune in the sources listed below (plus notes of mine about this tune):
Hold the Reins / Hould the Reins / The Boys of Dublin / The Lads of Dublin / Callan Lasses (untitled tune following The Wee Bag of Spuds on DOEI) (also in C) (compare 1st part with 1st part of Lucky in Love #2396 and with 1st part of Dublin Lads #5145)
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.
| Year Recorded |
Track #Tune? |
[Album code] Artist. Title. Primary musicians (instruments). |
|---|---|---|
| 1992 | 6#3 | [DOEI] various. Dear Old Erin's Isle. Irish Traditional Music from America. |
| ~1995 | 3#2 | [JW 1] John Williams. John Williams. John Williams (accordion, concertina). |
| 1999 | 3#3 | [Sld 1] Slide. The Flying Pig. Aogán Lynch (concertina, whistle), Daire Bracken (fiddle, guitar, vocals), Mick Broderick (bouzouki), Éamonn de Barra (flute, piano, keyboards, whistle, vocals). |
| 2001 | 8#2 | [KlmFcy] Catherine McEvoy and John McEvoy. The Kilmore Fancy. Catherine McEvoy (flute), John McEvoy (fiddle). |
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 reel #85 in [MM] Martin Mulvihill. First Collection of Traditional Irish Music. |
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): 1986