Irish Traditional Fiddle Music
Randy Miller and Jack Perron
Fiddlecase Books; softback; second edition – 2006; 176
pages
At a time
when there was a dearth of Irish tune books, apart from O’Neill’s Dance
Music of Ireland and the somewhat fanciful Allen’s Irish Fiddler,
two Boston-based enthusiasts set about redressing the balance. Visiting bars,
dance halls, competitions and concerts across the north-eastern USA, Randy
Miller and Jack Perron tracked down Irish fiddlers and increased their own
repertoires by assiduous listening to records sold by the renowned O’Byrne De
Witt’s record store. The fruits of their labours were three mimeographed
publications forming volumes one to three of Irish Traditional Fiddle Music
which were issued between 1973 and 1975, each containing tunes carefully
notated from those purchased recordings featuring fiddlers such as Paddy Canny,
Julia Clifford, Michael Coleman and Paddy Cronin. Eventually, in 1977, the
three volumes were combined via the publication of one all-encompassing book
and now, almost thirty years later comes its most welcome second edition. 
This new book
represents one of the most considered publications of Irish traditional music ever
to have been issued. Randy Miller has rigorously reviewed the contents of the original
publications, checking that the tunes had been faithfully transcribed and assigning
compositional credits to tunes now known to have been recently composed (even going
so far as to contact the composers or their descendants for permission to reproduce
them – if only others were so admirably scrupulous!). Additionally, some eighteen
polkas have been added, so that the collection now comprises 253 tunes, divided
into jigs, slip jigs and slides, reels, hornpipes, the aforementioned polkas, airs
and waltzes and a catch-all miscellany of other forms.
Furthermore,
this new edition appears in a handy format, spirally-bound to prevent wear and tear
as one struggles with, say, those wretched low A notes in The New Policeman,
and features not only Randy’s own wood engravings as decoration (based on the Book
of Kells), but also includes a new section providing information on the sources
of the tunes.
Though many
of the entries in that section simply refer to the recorded source of a particular
tune, others reveal alternative settings, highlight particular preferences
(such as Paddy Canny’s liking for the C natural note in Trip to Athlone),
indicate which tune might follow in a fiddler’s repertoire, or simply provide
anecdotal tales about a melody’s provenance. The tunes themselves are presented
with utmost clarity and a special section explains the use of ornamentation, offering
suggestions for ways, for instance, of playing the rolls in Paddy Ryan’s Dream.
Sadly, few
of the musicians who provided the tunes contained here are still alive, but
this collection provides a welcome reminder of the times when Bobby Casey
played the pubs of London or Andy McGann the dance halls of New York and, as so
many of these tunes are still current in the traditional session scene,
reinforces our understanding that the Irish music of the present remains
extraordinarily indebted to the past.
Apart from O’Neill,
if there’s one tune book you must include in your collection, this is it!
Frankly, it’s the best Irish tune collection issued for many a long year. Now
let’s have a look at that Seán McGuire setting of The Humours of Scarriff again
....
Geoff Wallis
7th
April, 2006
The book costs $25 (plus p&p), is worth every cent and more, and is available directly from Fiddlecase Books – www.randymillerprints.com.