The Mountain Lark" is a traditional Irish reel. It can also be referred to as "Brendan McMahon's," "The Steampacket," or "Tulla Moondance."
Sometimes it's difficult to get a solid background on some of these older tunes! But I like to think I'm helping with the preservation of these old songs by putting more high quality recordings out there in the wild.
Headed to Philly next month and considering bringing my fiddle. I tried to look online to find a session that may work for me- wondering if anyone can speak to the session at The Plough? Welcoming to visitors? How fast? I'd say I'm advanced intermediate, but still working on my repetoire. Thanks for any and all info on the session scene in Philly!
For anyone heading to Beyond The Pale this year, make sure you are at BIIRD
Hey,
I'm an amateur whistle player and a dev, and I got tired of jumping between sheet music I can't really read, YouTube tutorials, and PDFs of fingering charts. So I started building a small web app to learn tunes on the tin whistle without needing to read standard notation.
It's still early, but here's what works today:
- Catalog of Irish/Celtic public-domain tunes (sourced from TheSession.org so everything is legal to share).
- Fingering visualizer: every note in the tune is shown as the actual hole pattern for a D whistle, big and clear so you can read it from a phone on a music stand.
- Built-in playback with tempo control, so you can slow tunes down to learn them.
- Autoscroll and active note highlight while the tune plays.
- Favorites and ratings so you can build your own practice list.
- Dark mode and mobile-first design (because that's how I actually use it during practice).
- Optional sheet music view for people who do read notation.
What I'd love to ask: What's the one feature that would actually make you use something like this regularly? A few things I'm considering but haven't built yet:
- Looping a specific section ("just bars 5–8, slowly")
- Practice tracking / streaks
- Printable PDF of the fingering chart for a tune
- Backing tracks / metronome
Cheers, and thanks for any input.
"Thanks be ta Jaysus" -Ronnie Drew
It's hard not to read that in his voice
Split Screen Harmonies & Instruments
Filmed in a small apartment in The Czech Republic
Gotta love it
Tunes are Within a mile of Clonbur // Gossan who beat his father // John Blessings
It was a wonderful time. If you want any of my field recordings, send me a DM.
Hi, I feel like this is a silly question but I play guitar and go to sessions all the time. I have always been to nervous to join as I don’t know how to know which tunes are going to be played, what the chords are, all of this stuff. I have pretty bad anxiety and can’t see myself just asking to join a session then not knowing what I’m doing… how do you learn? How does it work? Btw referring to trad sessions in Scotland and I only just got into trad music a couple years ago. Really appreciate any advice!
Hello Reddit,
I have recently taken up classical guitar tuition and wish to play with others in trad sessions.
However, I am unsure how well I can transfer my classical guitar skills into irish music, I noticed that Ronnie Drew plays a flamenco style guitar and seems to play various arpeggios rather than chords.
Just wondering if it is better to alternate bass strings with the thumb and repeat the tenor strings over and over or if strumming chord shapes is better.
Also, any tips or free resources online would be very much appreciated..
KR,
RedRadical
If you’d like to follow me or listen on other platforms:
Spotify: spotify.rudasruan.com
Apple Music: applemusic.rudasruan.com
Bandcamp: bandcamp.rudasruan.com
Any suggestions for sessions in Belfast City.
Thanks,
Bob
Hey guys, I’ve been really keen to learn a new instrument so took the plunge and bought a new banjo. I’m a complete beginner and eventually would love to be part of a trad band once I’ve learned it. Would anyone have any recommendations of anyone who would do 1 on 1 lessons, or know of any bands that take on a complete novice? I’m based in Whitehall (D9) and can drive within reasonable distance for lessons. Thank you
Specifically with Eleanor Stanley on vocals. It was a Celtic music compilation and I cleverly gave my copy away about 13 years ago and haven’t been able to find another copy since. Searched online, in apps, you name it… ant help much appreciated.