O'NEILL'S MUSIC OF IRELAND
("The 1850")
Incidental Notes
= = = = = = = = = = = = = =

==============================================================
Original ABC transcriptions:  Vince Brennan (2003). These files represent
a massive amount of work by Mr.Brennan and my sincerest thanks are due 
to him for sharing the results of his labors.

Details on particulars of the transcriptions are at the end of the file.

========================================================================
TUNE STRUCTURE

Some of the tunes in the older collections (including O'Neill's) are structured as ABA or AA-B-A, which simply means that the tune returns to the first part before ending. The "segno" sign (looks like a fancy dollar sign) is used to indicate the starting point for the return, and "DS", "dal segno", "DC", or "da capo" are used at the end to direct the player back to the "segno". The A part is then played once through - no repeats - to a "fine" (end) measure, which might be the 2nd ending if one is present,

This elegant system is a legacy of classical music which is almost totally irrelevant in traditional music today, where AA-BB is the prevalent structure. 
 
For the tune printouts (PDFs) I kept the segni/DS/fine protocol. However, ABC does not read these symbols for playback purposes; to create an accurate playback I would have had to place the parts manually (so to speak) as they were intended to be played. (The symbols might still be in the ABC but they don't do anything.)

I decided against doing this, which means I'm counting on the player's imagination to figure out how an A-B-A tune will sound. The primary reason for my decision is the fact that many A-B-A tunes in O'Neill's and other older collections are in reality not played that way any more: they are either played as A-B (single) or AA-BB (repeats on both parts but no return to the A part).

I've marked A-B-A tunes accordingly and kept the DC's etc. just in case someone insists on playing them "as written".  

========================================================================
"AMBIGUOUS" TUNES

Many of the tunes in thie O'Neill's volumes that carry major key signatures of A, D, or G are no longer played as major key tunes. In some cases (particularly in A) they are now played as A minor (more correctly A dorian, because the F remains sharp while the C and G are lowered half a step). 

A tune might also be played "modally" (i.e., in mixolydian mode) where all 7ths are lowered half a step. Tunes adapted from the Scots piping repertoire are almost 100% "modal". A well-known Irish tune like "Blarney Pilgrim" is modal because all its C's are natural. G modal tunes also exist (part 3 of "The Luck Penny" is an example).

There is a table at the end of this section that might help clarify how each scale degree is treated in the different modes.

The problem for a transcriber in encountering an unfamilar tune is to determine how credible O'Neill's key signature is. In 90% of tunes there's no difficulty - the Chief's key signature tells you all you need to know. However figuring out the remaining 10% requires some experience and guesswork, and even after these are judiciously applied, the transcriber still can't be 100% sure that his result will be what the Chief had in mind!

In the case of tunes that suffer from ambiguity syndrome, I have included in the individual tune file an alternate version of the tune that contains my ideas on how it should sound. While I can guarantee that my version will sound authentic, I can't guarantee that it's the way the Chief or any other musician would play it.

One of the great things about ABC is the flexibility it offers to users familiar with it. That means that anyone having a copy of this or any ABC file can make changes to its contents in order to find a suitable sound. For example, if I show a tune as being in A minor, a few simple key-strokes on the appropriate notes will change the tune to A major. If the results aren't suitable, the tune can be restored to A minor without permanent damage (strongly recommended is to use only COPIES of tunes for experimentation purposes!)

In fairness to the Chief, I should note that he is certainly not the only collector to suffer from the ambiguity syndrome. I would venture a guess that the advent of recording towards the beginning of the 20th Century reduced (if it did not completely eliminate) the problem by providing a "standard" from which other musicians might learn. This process continues today, and works well once a tune has been recorded. It's in regards to the older tunes, unfamiliar outside of the pages of the various collections, that the ambiguity syndrome might persist, at least until a "definitive" version is recorded.

Here are the various permutations of A, D, and G:

A major			C, F, G sharp
A minor			C and G natural, F sharp (= "Dorian" mode, which applies to 95% or Irish 					minor-key dance tunes)
A modal			C and F sharp, all accented G natural

D major			C and F sharp
D minor			C and F natural, B natural (Dorian)
D modal			F sharp, accented C natural

G major			F sharp
G minor			F natural, B flat, E natural (Dorian)
G modal			accented F natural
=================================================================================
DOTTED RHYTHM

The use of dotted rhythm (a/k/a/ "cut time" or "Scots snap") (e.g. 
a>bc>d, e<fg<a) in 2/4 or 4/4 tunes is very common among 19th Century 
collectors, including O'Neill. It may reflect the influence of Scots 
forms on what later came to be identified as Irish tunes. Many of the
tunes credited to the Chief's colleague James O'Neill - from the
North of Ireland - share this characteristic.

In ABC, the requirement to use  or < every second note makes for a 
tedious job of transcribing. That fact, combined with the knowledge 
that very few of today's Irish players pay any attention to cut time 
in he normal course of playing reels or hornpipes, has led me to the 
idea of removing it from the tunes in this file. (The fact that cut 
time reproduces very poorly in ABC MIDI helped the decision.)

=================================================================================
MORE ON BALFE:

O'Neill admired Dublin-born Michael Balfe (1808-1870), best known for his opera 'The Bohemian Girl', 
although he took some criticism for including Balfe's compositions in a collection of traditional tunes. 
Balfe seems to have had some exposure to traditional music in his younger days as a 'violinist', and 
most of his other compositions can - with some critical suspension -  pass as authentic. Details of his life do not leave the impression of Balfe as an Irish nationalist (e.g. he's buried in the UK, not Ireland) but maybe The Chief knew something about him that the rest of his contemporaries (and subsequent generations of musicians) didn't.

Here's the Wiki link: https: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_William_Balfe
=================================================================================