Hiram Irish Music Session Repertoire/Play List

Here are the tunes that we played yesterday:

Maggie in the Wood
Enchanted Lake
Off to California
Lord Inchiquin (O'Carolan)
Kean O'Hara--1st Air (possibly an O'Carolan tune)
Inisheer (Inis Oírr)--Air in 3/4 time
Haste to the Wedding
Wind That Shakes the Barley
Sligo Maid
Johnny Ward's (with Paul Dreisbach on uillean pipes)
Fanny Power (O'Carolan tune; Ellen Eckhouse played this very well on harp)
South Wind ("An Ghaoth Aneas")
Fr. Kelly's Reel
Drowsy Maggie
Wise Maid
Star of Munster (great whistle tune)
Cape Breton Home (another great whistle tune; by Jerry Holland)
Bride's Favorite
Connaughtman's Ramble (Jig)
Si Beag Si Mor (O'Carolan tune)
Red is the Rose (song; Marlene Connell and Robin Montgomery knew lots of verses)
John Ryan's
Maggie in the Wood
Rights of Man
Roddy McCorly
Far Away

Some tunes we didn't play yesterday but have played on other occasions:

Kesh Jig
Butterfly (Slipjig)
Heights Hornpipe (Dermot Somerville's originaltune)
Frost Is All Over
Geese in the Bog
Temperance Reel
Old Favorite
Rising of the Moon
Over the Waterfall
The Banshee
The Ash Plant
Cliffs of Moher
The Ash Grove
Sally Gardens (song, lyrics by Yeats, Key of C)
Hewlett (O'Carolan)
Maid Behind the Bar
Fr. Kelly's Reel
St. Anne's Reel

And others . . .

Hiram Irish Music Session

The last Irish Music Session of this academic year took place at Hiram College today. The group was smaller in size than normal (9 or 10 musicians and maybe 7 observers), but the music was still wonderful.

Ellen Eckhouse, on harp, with one of her students

Sheldon Firem on guitar, with Robin Montgomery on piano

Sheldon also is a terrific bodhran and whistle player

Paul Dreisbach on whistle (his uillean pipes on his lap); Tina Dreisbach on Irish flute. Tina also plays the concertina

Who know more tunes and song verses than Robin Montgomery? (No one!)

Not pictured: me on whistle and guitar, Marlene Connell on bodhran; and a fiddle player (don't know his name). Marlene was married to the late John Connell, County Cavan native and terrific button box player and singer. Among those in the audience--Kathleen O'Neill Webb and her husband Rick Webb.

I'm going to try to list all the tunes played--[coming in a later post].

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Lá Fhéile Pádraig Shona Duit! Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Here's how to pronounce the Irish: /LAW AY-luh PAWD-rick HUN-uh DIT/ which, word-for word, means "Day of-feast of-Patrick happy to-you," that is, "Happy St. Patrick's Day!"

Cleveland's St. Patrick's Day parade was observed by some 400,000 people on the most beautiful March 17th in Cleveland history, with uncharacteristic blue skies and temperature around 70 degrees. Alas, I was teaching during the parade. The evening of March 17th was spent at the East Side Irish-American Club in Euclid, Ohio, where we heard the band "Fergie and the Bog Dogs," with Johnie Ferguson, his son, and my friend John Connell (aka John Mac Connell), from County Cavan, Ireland. Johnny Mac has a very beautiful voice, and plays a fine button-box accordian as well as guitar. John teaches math and staffs the math lab where I also teach. John is married to Marlene, the most-Irish Slovenian on the face of the earth--"more Irish than the Irish! John has told me that my Fitzpatrick ancestors are probably from County Cavan. We haven't pinpointed that for sure. My Mother thought the Fitzpatrick's were from somewhere near Dublin. Of course, parts of County Cavan are not that far from Dublin!