A Short Examinationof the Tempo of

Recorded Irish Music

Gerard Foley

Preface

In October 2008 I received a phone call out of the blue from Robin Morton. Aside from his

many other accomplishments, he has been manager of The Battlefield Band for the last thirty some

years. He had received an enquiry from Celtic Connections (the annual festival of traditional music held

every January in Glasgow) as to whether the 1980 line up of the band could be persuaded to recreate in

concert their ground breaking recording Home is where the van is (1980 Temple Records). A year earlier I

had visited Andy Irvine when he had been working hard at getting up to speed on old material following

a similar request for himself and Paul Brady to perform music from Welcome here kind stranger (197?). I

remember being slightly bemused (and perhaps amused) at how hard he was finding it to get to grips

with the old tunes. I told Robin I was free and willing but that he would have to send me a copy of the

CD as I no longer owned one.

A week later a package arrived from Scotland containing copies of both CDs I had recorded

with the band and their two most recent releases. The plan was that we would recreate the old album

and then play some material with the current band. I enjoyed listening again to music I had not heard or

thought about for twenty five years. Then, I got out my mandolin and tried to play along.......

In September 2009 I embarked on a course of study at the University of Limerick. A part of my

academic requirement was to undertake an elective analysis. I decided to investigate tempo in recorded

Irish music with a view to casting some light on the following question : Are modern musicians now

playing faster than previous generations?

Ged Foley, Flagmount, Co.Clare, October, 2009

i

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to Sandra Joyce, Acting Course Director for the MA in Irish Traditional Music

Performance at Limerick University for her help and encouragement and not least for her sage

suggestion to restrict this potentially massive study to two or three main protagonists.

Thanks are also due to:

John Carty for furnishing me with a copy of Michael Coleman’s last recordings made in

1944. At the time of writing these are not yet available commercially.

Kieran Hanrahan for his radio program on Paddy Canny which was broadcast six

months after Paddy’s death in June 2008. The program included much interesting material from the

RTE Archives as well as an interview recorded by Kieran several years earlier.

And last, but certainly not least, to Niall Keegan for his thought provoking work on

style, language and power in Irish traditional music.

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Table of Contents

Page

Preface i

Acknowledgements ii

1. Young people play too fast these days 1

2. The big question 4

3. The fine print 5

4. Sticking my neck out 6

5. Michael Coleman 8

6. Kevin Burke 10

7. A chip off the old block 12

8. Conclusions 14

9. Epilogue 16

Reference List

Discography

1

Young people play too fast these daysThis phrase is never far from the lips of some older musicians. It has become a widely held

opinion in modern traditional music practitioners of a certain age. In fact I have found myself

expressing the same view from time to time. When I chanced upon the following I realised that this

view of younger players was not peculiar to our modern time.

One word of caution may here be given against the tendency that exists

at the present day to play this class of music a great deal too fast. Some

are possessed of the idea that, in order to dance a Highland reel well,

one must jump and shout like a maniac.... The present writer well

remembers the style of dancing of the older inhabitants of Skye thirty

years ago, and he is bound to say that it was then different from what one

sees nowadays in a public ballroom..... and as to the time of the music,

performers would have considered it an insult to be asked to play faster than

the proper time.

(MacDonald 1887, pp. iii-iv)

So wrote Keith Norman MacDonald in the preface of The Skye Collection . MacDonald was

writing in the introduction to his book of Scottish dance music. From an Irish music perspective I came

across the following by Proinsias de Roiste writing in the preface to Volume III of The Roche Collection.

The habit of dancing too fast and accelerating the speed, so prevalent of

late years, should be checked and discouraged ; it tends to spoil the effect

of both dance and tune and is at variance with the traditional style in which

the pace was moderate and steady.

(de Roiste 1927)

And from Pat McNulty in the introduction to his book Dance Music of Ireland .

In conclusion, I wish to deplore the present tendency to play Irish dance

music far too fast.

(McNulty 1965)

In the foreword to the fourth edition of the same book McNulty revisits this topic and seems

to feel he has more to be aggrieved about some thirty three years later.

1

In my introduction to the last edition I referred to some of these unwanted

influences creeping in, to the detriment of the true art, viz., misnaming tunes,

drastic changes in some instances to the key signatures in which the tunes

had traditionally been performed, and fast playing. Today unfortunately,

such practices are fairly common; indeed the tempo at which dance music is

played today is excessive, and destroys for the listener, much of the intrinsic

beauty of our tunes.

(McNulty 1988)

The opinions expressed above span a century and are worth examining for that, if for no other,

reason. Is the music getting ever faster? Has this been the case for at least the last one hundred and

twenty years? Prior to the advent of recording we must resort to descriptive accounts and the occasional

metronome setting in older tune collections. These accounts, unfortunately, by their very nature must

comprise opinion rather than fact. One man’s ‘steady’ is another man’s ‘speedy’! Metronome settings

would provide a more robust basis for examining whether the music is subject to ever increasing tempo

changes. However, a perusal of a selection of the more common dance music collections in my

possession reveals little information as regards metronome settings. In The Scottish Violinist by James Scott

Skinner, published around 1900, we find indications of metronome settings on some tunes, principally

136 for Solo Reels. From this I draw two inferences. The first is that the designation ‘Solo’ implies a

‘showpiece’ and not meant for dancing. The second is that the tunes not so labelled are meant to be

played at a slower, yet undefined, pace. However, I venture to suggest, merely as an observation and

admittedly relating to Scottish music, 136 is ‘speedy’ by anyone’s terms.

If we now turn to Irish music we find in the introduction to the second reprint of Ceol Rince na

hEireann (1974) by Brendan Breathnach a list of tempos for a variety of dance forms :

Double Jigs 127 Single Jigs 137 Slip Jigs 144 Hornpipes 180 Reels 224

For the jig rhythms these values relate to the dotted crotchet (two per bar in double and single

jigs and three per bar in slip jigs) and correspond to the number of beats in each bar of notation. For the

reel and hornpipe they correspond to the crotchet (four per bar). On the face of it it would appear that

the Irish reel is considerably faster than the ‘Solo’ Scottish reel mentioned above. However, while

Breathnach is technically correct, the normal convention for rendering tempo in reels and hornpipes is

2

to treat them as if they consisted of two beats per bar rather than four. So, by dividing Breathnach’s

values by a factor of two for the reel and hornpipe, the list would now look like this :

Double Jigs 127 Single Jigs 137 Slip Jigs 144 Hornpipes 90 Reels 112

This now allows a truer comparison between the tempo of Irish reels and the faster ‘showpiece’ Scottish

ones.

Breathnach also has some thoughts on the speed at which the music is played and follows this

table with more of an observation than the type of diatribe shown in the previous extracts :

To play the music at a quicker tempo detracts from the melody ; to play it

slower can do no harm. It was customary for many of the older musicians

when playing for themselves to adopt a slower pace than that demanded by

the dancers.(Breathnach 1974, p. ix)

It is interesting to compare the attitudes in the various extracts. All suggest that the music can be

found being played at different tempos. MacDonald, de Roiste and McNulty decry the fact that younger

players are destroying the music by increasing the tempo. Therefore, by implication, there is a right and

wrong tempo. Breathnach, however, introduces the notion of the the music existing quite happily at

two distinct tempos and the difference being determined by the purpose for which it is used. He also

draws our attention to one of these tempos being the realm of the ‘older musicians’ when not playing for

dancing.

3

2

The big questionIn December 2008, six months after the death of Paddy Canny, Kieran Hanrahan broadcast a

programme on RTE about Paddy and his music. Included in the programme was a recording made in

Clare by Ciaran MacMathuna in 1955. Paddy was then in his mid thirties and his playing was very lively

indeed. Not the Paddy Canny that springs to mind these days.

Around that same time I had occasion to try and relearn some material I had recorded in 1980.

Imagine my surprise when I found that I could not easily play at a tempo I found comfortable almost

thirty years earlier. I say surprise but perhaps horror is a better word. As I struggled and sweated in an

effort, to quote the American parlance, ‘to get my chops back’, I started to ponder this conundrum.

Many questions presented themselves to me on a personal level and in a wider context. Of course, my

first thoughts were an attempt at self consolation. In 1980 I was playing in a Scottish band. For the last

fifteen year I had been playing in an Irish band. That must be it. I am playing a different sort of music

now and everyone knows Scottish music is faster! This feeling of consolation was all too short-lived. I

had been a constant professional practising musician for thirty years. Could I just have slowed down? If

this was the case, was I alone in this?

I remembered a conversation I had with John Carty. He was playing me a CD of the last

recording session of Michael Coleman made in early 1944 the year before his death in January 1945.

This recording session consisted of ten tracks recorded for the Decca controlled World Broadcasting

Company. (Bradshaw 1991). John found these recordings to be very moving. He believed that you

could hear in the music that Coleman was nearing the end of his life. The music was steadier and

perhaps more restrained than in his earlier recordings. I remember concurring at the time, but now I

wonder if this was the case.

As a result of all of this I started to wonder whether musicians, without realising it, slow

down as they age. Is it as a bi-product of this unconscious process that some of we older musicians

arrive at the belief that young musicians play too fast? I decided to explore this possibility.

4

3

The fine printAt this point I feel that some clarification may be necessary. The potential scale of a full

methodical analysis to determine whether musicians play slower as they age, and if so, why, is way

beyond the scope of this modest effort. That said, by a combination of restricted analysis and judicious

assumption I hope to be able to furnish a convincing argument that at least some musicians do slow

down. A study of the recordings of Michael Coleman would determine whether he actually slowed

down over time. He is suitable for my purposes by virtue of the fact that he recorded regularly over a

number of years from 1921 to 1944. I also decided to examine Kevin Burke. He too has recordings

spanning a lengthy period from 1973 to the present and conveniently bridges the gap between

Coleman’s era and now.

Turning to the question of whether the music is played faster today, I would then have to

examine the tempos of some modern players.

We now move to the practicalities and assumptions:

1) I decided to concentrate exclusively on reels. The assumption being that if one dance

form is gradually played slower, this will hold true for the others.

2) For Coleman I will examine only tracks of solo fiddle accompanied by piano. The

first assumption is that these pieces would have been at concert pitch when recorded. I can adjust tracks

back to concert pitch, if necessary, before determining the tempo. The vagaries of reproducing 78s and

transferring to tape can lead to some distortion of pitch and hence tempo.

The second assumption is that since he is playing solo he was free to choose his own

tempo. Coleman recorded several duets over his career but I have no way of knowing how often he

played with these musical partners outside of the recording studio and whether the tempo was

completely under his control.

3) The recordings of Burke that I will examine are solo fiddle tracks whether

accompanied or not. The assumption again is that he would have sole control of the tempo. I will

further assume that, with improved recording and duplication technology, the tempo is correct

regardless of pitch.5

4

Sticking my neck outSo far in this paper I have tried to remain broadly practical. Originally I was going to examine

Michael Coleman and Paddy Canny. I felt that these both could supply answers as to whether musicians

slowed as they aged. However, I realised that it would be difficult to draw direct comparisons between

the two because of that thorniest of issues, Regional Style. In reviewing work in this field I

found the following extracts;

The first (and perhaps the only) account of the diversity of regional styles

in Ireland was by Sean 6 Riada in Our Musical Heritage.

(Keegan 2006 p.12)

Another important aspect of style is the speed at which the dance tunes

are played. There are several common regional paradigms around this

which, though specifically often inaccurate, do illustrate the importance

of speed. These include the oft quoted ‘Donegal music is fast’ and ‘East

Galway and East Clare music is slow’ paradigm.

(Keegan 2009 Lecture Notes p. 23)

Since O’Riada first proposed the idea of Regional Style in the early 1960’s the notion seems

to have been adopted wholeheartedly by the Irish traditional music community. The idea has now

become a seemingly incontrovertible truth and is given continued credence by being oft repeated. In

The Compendium to Irish Traditional Music , for example, we find ; “regional style. The varying ways in

which music is played from region to region.” (Sommers-Smith 1999, p. 308)

In turning to Folk Music and Dances of Ireland we find this somewhat simplistic view:

Although radio and gramophone have been exercising a levelling influence

on traditional music, it is still possible, particularly among the older players,

to distinguish different local styles. Northern players from Antrim across to

Donegal favour what may be described as a single-stroke style. They produce

strong vigorous music of clear tone with an economy of ornamentation.

Rolling is wholly absent ; the triplet played staccato is preferred. there are

exceptions, of course to this general description ; players in Tyrone favouring

6

embellishment. From Sligo southwards the music is much more decorated,

all forms of ornamentation being used.

(Breathnach 1977 p. 92)

I must again plead paucity of endeavour in now avoiding a detailed examination of the concept

of Regional Style. However I suspect that this concept was originally imposed on the music for many

reasons, not least the following:

a) Our modern need to categorise and codify

b) The Irish construct and inherent mythology of regional identity / rivalry as

promoted by the division of the island into four provinces and thirty two counties, and,

propogated by, amongst others, the Gaelic Athletics Association (GAA) and Comhaltas

Ceoltoiri Eireann (CCE).

c) Convenience

It would be too ‘convenient’ for me to now revert to what I think of as the potential ‘myth’ of

regional style in my justification of choosing both Coleman and Burke for my current examination.

However there is an undeniable link between both in terms of material and approach. Having decided

to explore the validity of the concept of Regional Style at some future date, I realised that I needed an

alternative descriptive terminology for my present purpose. After much pondering I arrived at ‘stylistic

lineage’. After examining Coleman and Burke I will then look at two recent recordings of musicians

who are part of the same stylistic lineage.

7

5

Michael Coleman

Michael Coleman was born in 1891 near Killavil Co Sligo. He emigrated to the USA in 1914

and made his first commercial recordings in 1921. He maintained an active recording career for the

next 15 years with his last commercial recordings being made in October 1936. Then followed an eight

year gap until the final radio recording session early in 1944. So, we have recorded examples of his

music spanning twenty three years from ages thirty to fifty three. (Bradshaw 1991)

Michael Coleman’s Recordings

Year Age Track Title Av. Tempo1921 30 Reidy Johnson’s 123

The Shaskeen 125O’Dowd’s Favourite Medley 119Paddy Ryan’s Dream 112Farewell To Ireland 116

1922 31 The Boys at the Lough 113The Pigeon on the Gate 117Rakish Paddy / Miss Roddy’s 120The Sailor on the Rock 106

1923 32 Wellington’s 1201924 33 The Real Blackthorn Stick 121

The Kerry Reel / The Boyne Hunt 124The Crooked Road to Dublin 120

1925 34 Jackson’s 1261927 36 The Morning Dew / The Woman of the House 121

The Kerryman’s Daughter / The Bird in the Tree 127Farrell O’Gara 106Trim The Velvet 116The Green Fields of America / The Swallow’s Tail 122Lord McDonald’s / Ballinasloe Fair 116

1929 38 Doctor Gilbert / The Queen of May 1101935 44 Crowley’s 114

Lucy Campbell 1211936 45 Miss McLeod’s / Philip O’Beirne’s Delight 118

O’ Rourke’s / The Wild Irishman 1181944 53 The Graf Spey 107

Reel title unknown 104Reel title unknown 104Roaring Mary 105The Galway Rambler 105

8

As can be seen from the table overleaf, Coleman recorded something in each year from 1921 to

1925. I took that period as my first sample. The second comprises the years 1927 to 1936. The third is

his final recording session in 1944.

Coleman’s Average Tempos

Age Period Av Tempo30 to 34 1921 to 1925 118.736 to 45 1927 to 1936 117.2 54 1944 105

The average for his final recordings in 1945 is significantly lower at 105 beats per minute

(hereinafter bpm). In fact it is so much slower than in his earlier recordings that I was tempted to ignore

this figure completely. However, he did record two pieces at 106 bpm earlier in his career namely The

Sailor on the Rock in 1922 and Farrell O’Gara in 1927. So, this slower playing was not without

precedent.

What conclusions can I draw from these figures? I think it shows that even in his heyday he was

gradually slowing down. A reduction of 1.5 bpm is small but still significant. I can only speculate as to

why his final recording is so much slower. There is nothing in Bradshaw’s book to suggest that Coleman

was subject to a long and protracted illness prior to his death. The final recording was made almost a

year before this event. In the eight year gap prior to this he was probably playing less frequently. He

certainly was not recording. Perhaps he had reached that age when, as Breathnach suggested, older

musicians when playing for themselves adopt a slower pace.

9

6

Kevin BurkeKevin was born in London in 1950. His parents both came from Sligo. He started taking violin

lessons at an early age but was also encouraged to listen to the recordings of the great Sligo fiddle players

particularly Michael Coleman and Paddy Killoran. Later he would be influenced by the many great

players he encountered in London in his teenage years including, amongst others, Martin Byrnes,

Michael Gorman and Bobby Casey. In 1978 he recorded “If the Cap Fits’ . This recording is regarded

by many to be a classic of the modern era.

Kevin Burke’s Recordings

‘If the Cap Fits’

Year Age Track Title Av. Tempo1978 28 The Wheels of the World 118

Star of Munster 119College Groves 110Pinch of Snuff 114Woman of the House 118The Girl who broke my heart 118Toss The Feathers 118

‘Up Close’

Year Age Track Title Av. Tempo1983 33 Lord Gordon’s Reel 115

Tuttle’s 108The Shepherd’s Daughter 118

‘In Concert’

Year Age Track Title Av. Tempo1999 49 Bonnie Kate 115

Cottage Groves 110Mountain Road 114Old Torn Petticoat 113

10

‘In Tandem’ and ‘Equinoxe’

Year Age Track Title Av. Tempo2005 55 The Graf Spee 105

The Roscommon Reel 1082008 58 The Sligo Maid 111

The change in recordings from single selections on each side of the old 78 recordings to the

modern album or CD format means that I do not have year by year examples of Burke’s playing. So I

will tabulate his average tempos by album.

Burke’s Average Tempo

Year Age Album Title Av. Tempo1978 28 If The Cap Fits 116.41983 33 Up Close 113.71999 49 In Concert 113.02005 to 2008 55 to 58 In Tandem and Equinoxe 108.0

Once more we see a gradual lessening of tempo with the most marked reduction being seen

between 1999 and 2005/2008. It is interesting to note, within the necessary limitations of this short

study, that Burke also shows a more marked reduction in tempo as he enters his fifties, and, at that point

in his life, he is playing at very similar tempos to Coleman in his fifties. The conclusion that I can safely

draw from this exercise, though, is that Burke at his fastest (119 bpm) is significantly slower than

Coleman at his (127 bpm)!

11

7

A chip off the old blockHaving looked at whether musicians slow as they age, I now turn to the question of whether the

current crop of players is playing faster. In line with my self styled label of ‘stylistic lineage’ I decided to

evaluate two more recordings. The first is a recording made by John Carty. Entitled Last Night’s Fun

(Shanachie, 1995) this was the debut in recording terms of Carty the fiddle player. The second is a

recording by Declan Folan and Junior Davey called Skin and Bow (1996). As above I will examine only

reels.

John Carty

John, like Kevin Burke, was born in London. His father was from Roscommon and his mother

from Connemara. He received music lessons from Brendan Mulkere starting in the early seventies.

John’s fiddle playing is firmly rooted in the so called ‘golden era’ of the great Sligo fiddle players of the

1920s, 30s and 40s. He made this his first fiddle album in 1995 when he was thirty three.

‘Last Night’s Fun’

Track Av Tempo1. Tansey’s Favourite 1242. Devanney’s Goat 1184. The Bunch of Keys 1226. The Glen of Aherlow 1057. McGovern’s Favourite 1189. Anderson’s 12110. Farewell to Ireland 12412. The Drunken Landlady 10613. The Silver Spear 11916. George White’s 123

The average tempo of the reels on this recording is 118 bpm. Once again we see examples of

reels recorded at 105/106 bpm. While being faster than Kevin Burke, Carty’s average is very similar to

Coleman’s. However when we compare the fastest tempo of Carty (124) with that of Coleman we see

he falls short. Coleman recorded selections at 125, 126 and even 127 bpm.

12

Declan Folan

Declan Folan is one of the current generation of native Sligo fiddle players. He was born in

Bunanaden in County Sligo. He came up through the competition system and cites Andy Davey as a

big influence.

‘Skin and Bow’

Track Av Tempo1. Maurice Lennon’s 1146. Tempest 1259. Jenny Picking Cockles 10812. Larry Redican’s 11214. Folan’s 10717. Maurice Lennon’s 118

On this recording the average tempo is 114 bpm. This puts Folan’s average tempo as the lowest

of the four people I have examined at a similar age. Again we see tempos in the low hundreds with one

example of 125 bpm. This latter tempo puts him, at his fastest, a touch speedier than Carty but still

slower than Coleman. His slower selections at 107/108 bpm. are not quite as slow as the others

who have reels at 105/106 bpm. I should point out that Folan also recorded three selections on

this CD that he designated as ‘slow reels’. These were played at 84, 86, and 96 bpm respectively.

13

8

ConclusionsPerhaps it is no great surprise to find that it looks like musicians slow down as they get older, at

least in the terms of this limited study. However, what did surprise me was that, of the four musicians I

looked at, Michael Coleman was the fastest. Admittedly he is only a little faster than both Carty and

Folan and all four definitely play in the same ‘tempo range’ at times. If I can draw a generalised point

from this it is that the music is not being played ever faster. So, if this is true, why do we so often hear

the view outlined in the first section of this paper? Before addressing this further I must turn to my

first, if seemingly obvious, finding.

I think it would be erroneous and simplistic to suggest that musicians play slower merely because

they are getting older and can no longer play as fast as they once could. There are, in fact, several

examples of recordings of musicians in their seventies and eighties still playing quickly. John Docherty is

a prime example who springs to mind. Also, I know from personal experience that Kevin Burke is still

capable of playing relatively fast. However, I think that common sense would suggest that there is some

diminution of physical ability and dexterity as we age and that this is at least a factor.

With tempos ranging from 105 bpm to 127 bpm in this study I think it is safe to say that, when

not required for dancing, there is no set tempo for reels. Perhaps musicians develop an instinctive feel

for the right tempo of any given reel or any given type of reel. This proposition is difficult to evaluate

because it is unusual to find examples of tunes being revisited on later recordings by the same person.

The nature of the commercial aspect of recording demands fresh material at each juncture. However

it is interesting to note that Burke recorded College Groves in 1978 and again in 1999 when he was 28 and

49 respectively. Each rendition is at the same tempo, namely, 110 bpm.

As an aside, Coleman himself recorded Lord McDonald’s on two occasions in the same year,

1927. The first, in April, was a duet with Paddy Finlay on piccolo which would have rendered it

inadmissable under the restrictions I set myself in this study. I would have checked the tempo out of

interest but I was unable to locate a copy. The second was a solo recording made in December. This

recording was made for a different Record Company and Lord McDonald’s was paired

with Ballinasloe Fair. (Bradshaw 1991).

14

Interestingly, a further factor surfaced in a recent conversation with John Carty when I was

telling him about this study. It is Carty’s view that musicians do in fact slow down as they mature

because they are trying to delve further into the music and explore different aspects and nuances. Given

this, then perhaps there is also a subtle change to a different type of reel or a slower rendition more

suited to deeper musical exploration and expression.

If this is all so, then the combination of slow and unconscious physical aging coupled with

artistic maturing could be part of what leads to the view that young players are playing too fast. Since the

speed is actually no faster in reality then, perhaps the other factor is the youthful vitality and ‘immaturity’

of rendition which compounds this perception amongst older players.

15

9

EpilogueI must confess to a feeling of great excitement when I realised that, by their mid fifties, both

Coleman and Burke were playing at a very similar tempo (105bpm) and considerably slower than earlier

in their respective recording careers. I felt I had hit upon a significant discovery relating to tempo and

aging. Imagine uncovering the heretofore unknown fact, and in my very first paper, that musicians when

they reached their fifties all played at the same speed! Of course the feeling lasted only as long as it took

for reality to regain a hold. This was a study of just two musicians after all and there is such a thing as

coincidence.

BUT could there be something there. A few years ago Paddy O’Brien from Offaly had sent me a

CD of recordings made in August 1972 of Paddy Canny, Junior Crehan and Paddy Fahy. At that point

they were 52, 64 and 57 respectively. I determined to examine the tempos of the reels on this recording

once my main study was finished just in case.......

It turns out that Paddy Canny’s average tempo was 104 bpm, Junior Crehan’s was 94 bpm and

Paddy Fahy’s was 88. Oh well! Better luck next time!

16

Reference List

Bradshaw H. (1991) Michael Coleman 1891-1945 Dublin: Viva Voce

Breathnach B. (1974) Ceol Rince na hEireann 3rd ed. Dublin:

Breathnach B. (1977) Folk Music and Dances of Ireland rev. ed. Dublin: Mercier

de Roiste P. (1927) ‘Preface to Volume III’ in The Roche Collection reprint 1983,New York: Oak Publications

Keegan N. (2006) ‘Language and Power in Irish Traditional Music’, O’RiadaMemorial Lecture 16, 12

Keegan N. (2009) ‘The Creative Process in Irish Traditional Music - Stylein Traditional dance Music’, Lecture Notes, 23

MacDonald K. N. (1887) The Skye Collection reprint 1980, Sydney: Cranford

McNulty P. (1965, 1988) Dance Music of Ireland reprint 1991, Cork: Ossian

Sommers-Smith S. (1999) ‘Regional Style’ in Fintan Vallely (ed.) The Companionto Irish Traditional Music, Cork: Cork University Press

Discography

Kevin Burke

If the Cap Fits 1978 Green Linnet RecordsUp Close 1983 Green Linnet RecordsIn Concert 1999 Green Linnet RecordsIn Tandem 2005 Burke and FoleyEquinoxe 2008 Loftus Music

John Carty

Last Night’s Fun 1995 Shanachie

Michael Coleman

Michael Coleman 1891-1945 1991 Gael-LinnMilestone at the Garden 1996 Rounder RecordsThe Wheels of the World 1997 Yazoo

Declan Folan

Skin and Bow 1996 Sound Records