Learning tunes by ear is no easy feat. It takes time, patience, and then more time, and more patience. Read more for tips on how to work through the hard stuff. … More How to work through the hard parts
This week’s tune is a hoppy Irish hornpipe. Check it out. … More The First of May: Tune 26 of 52
It was the year 2013 and I was visiting Ireland for the first time. I was heading to a place called Glencolmcille in county Donegal for a week-long fiddle school. I arrived a day early and a friend who was picking me up asked if I wanted to make a pit-stop in Ballyshannon for a … More Glen Road To Carrick: Tune 25 of 52
Every good sessioneer has a list — a running tab of all the tunes you’ve heard at a session and plan to learn for future sessions. Sometimes it’s just a tiny piece of paper you keep in your instrument case. Sometimes it’s a whole notebook. Other times, it’s just an imaginary collection of tunes to … More Sporting Paddy: Tune 24 of 52
Now that I’m fully vaccinated and more and more people are on their way, I’m excited to start playing music in person again. It has not been an easy journey playing solo for the last 23+ weeks and it has definitely taken some discipline to keep up the practice. What I’ve learned most throughout this … More Silver Spire: Tune 23 of 52
Did you ever just hear a tune and totally lose yourself listening to it? When I first heard this week’s tune, I literally stopped what I was doing to really listen to the music. For some reason it just struck a chord with me and I haven’t been able to get it out of my … More The Eagle’s Whistle: Tune 22 of 52
During this pandemic it has been quite the challenge to play music with other people. If you have tried to play music together via zoom, you’ll know how challenging that can be because of the delay. It’s pretty much impossible to play together. I have been using other apps, one in particular called Acapella, which … More McGivney’s Fancy: Tune 21 of 52
This week’s tune is a hornpipe I learned a while ago and relearned this week, called Road to Eyries. Hornpipes are some of my favorite types of tunes to play because they always sound so joyful and upbeat. I hope you like my version: Join me next week for tune #21 from A Tune A Week. … More Road to Eyries: Tune 20 of 52
I learned this week’s tune, Sweeney’s Dream, because it goes well after last week’s tune Humours of Lissadell. And now we have a set. We’re on week 19 of my tune learning venture and I have to admit, I’m pretty proud of myself for keeping it up for 19 weeks. It has definitely been a … More Sweeney’s Dream: Tune 19 of 52
As I get older, I find there is only room for so much information in my brain. There might just be a limit to how many tunes I can remember at any given time. I mean how am I expected to remember a tune I learned years ago when I can’t even remember where I … More Humours of Lissadell: Tune 18 of 52
Session Obsession 