Tunes and Dances

Current Core Tune Set

These tunes are the current core repertoire of the band. As we have been going for nearly 20 years, this is but a sub-set of the tunes which we can draw on. However these are the ones that we practice and will be played as preferred options. If we ran out of a particular type of tune, we could call on the memory banks for an old set and dust it off on the night and indeed have been known to do so on the odd occasion. However for 99% of gigs these are usually sufficient. Tunes come and go, some of these have been there from the beginning and some are recent additions, the very latest only having been played out once or twice. We are constantly on the look out for new tune sets which are both danceable and allow us to develop our particular stlye (whatever that might be!).

32 bar Jigs

  1. The Cleaner Must Go (Morrey) / Hopkinson's Favourite (trad)
  2. Floydian Slip (Morrey) / St Georges (Morrey)
  3. Hale Bop Jig (Morrey)/ Four Birthdays a Week (Morrey)
  4. Gaelic Club (trad) / Old Horned Sheep (trad)
  5. Merry Mary (trad) / A Path Of White Flowers (Morrey)
  6. Moll in the Wad (trad) / Maid at the Well (trad)
  7. A Good Result (Morrey) / The Golden Wedding (Morrey)
  8. Cherish The Ladies (trad) / Paddy McFadden (trad)
  9. Calatha Farm (Morrey) / Pendeen Watch (Morrey)

32 bar Polkas / reels (even time)

  1. Ailith's Birthday (Morrey) / The Old Battle (trad/Morrey)/ Clachaig Cottage (Morrey)
  2. Brooms Reel (trad) / Dusty Miller (trad)
  3. Jack's The Lad (Morrey) / Rex's No 1 (Morrey)
  4. Unfortunate Tailor (trad) / Harper's Frolic (trad)
  5. Highland Mary (trad) / Black Legged Miner (trad)
  6. Showers in May (Morrey) / Mullach an Rathain (Morrey)
  7. My Love is but a Lassie Yet (trad) / Jimmy Allen (trad)
  8. Old Joe Clarke (trad) / The Dark Girl Dressed in Blue (trad)

48 bar Jigs

  1. Lark In the Morning (trad) / Minister's Decision (Lavery)
  2. Lock The Door (trad) / The Hare in the Corn (trad)
  3. Blarney Pilgrim (trad) / Crabs in the Skillet (trad)
  4. Paddy Carey's (trad) / Jimmy O'Briens (trad)
  5. Jungle Bungle (Morrey) / Creosote and Tar (Morrey)

48 bar Polkas

  1. Untitled No 48 (trad) / Untitled No 50 (trad)

Slip Jigs

  1. Drops of Brandy (trad) / Peacock Followed the Hen (trad)

Stephop sets

  1. Bridge of Lodi (trad) / Humours of California (trad)
  2. Glengariff Hornpipe (trad) / The Fair Maidens (trad)
  3. Flowers of Edinburgh (trad) / Harvest Home (trad)
  4. South Of Mansfield (Morrey) / Hills of Ravenshead (Morrey) / Towers of Long Eaton (Morrey)

Marches

  1. Diggy Liggy Lo (trad)
  2. A Starter 4 - 10 (Morrey)

Waltzs

  1. Micheal Turner's Waltz (trad)
  2. Dreaming (Morrey)

"The Intros and The Outros"

  1. Follow Me Down (trad) / Del Caro's Hornpipe (trad)
  2. Do About It (Morrey / Marriot / Lane)
  3. Grandfather's Polka (trad) / Dear Tobacco (trad)

Others

  1. Horses Bransle (trad)
  2. Pastourelle De Chateaubriant (trad)
  3. Swedish Masquerade (trad)
  4. La Ruse (trad)
  5. The Bear Dance (trad) / Karen Mitchell (Morrey)
  6. Olwen's Schottiche (Morrey)

Dances

As a band which works with a variety of callers, you can appreciate that we are unlikely to be able to predict the dances you might encounter. These will vary with the repertoire of the caller, what "skill level" the caller perceives the dancers to have etc. However the list below gives an idea of some of the dances which are quite common.

Andy Stafford one of our more regular callers is setting up a web-site which will be dedicated to dance, dance notation etc and can be found at:

www.ceilidh-dance.co.uk

The list below is neither typical, nor exhaustive, just some dances which might appear.

Dance Comments
Bridge of Athlone A very popular 48 bar dance for which we usually play "The Blarney Pilgrim" and "Crabs in The Skillet".
Circassian Circle The majority of callers will finish an evening with this dance. We usually use the tune set "Old Horned Sheep / Gaelic Club" for this dance.
Clopton Bridge One of the popular step hop dances on the e-Ceilidh in the South of England. However, a lot of callers seem to shy away from calling step hops for non regular dance goers.
Coming Round The Mountain An American style square dance, which callers regularly call variants "on the fly".
Cumberland Square Eight Popular, but opinions are very polarised. Some think it a superb dance, others avoid it like the plague. Like almost everyone else we've used "My Love Is But A Lassie Yet" as the tune, however, we're experimenting with new tunes for this dance.
Foula Reel One of the "strip the willow" dances. We've used "Merry Mary" a couple of times.
Nottingham Swing Arguably one of the most popular dances on the e-Ceilidh scene. An almost "tantric" step hop for which the "South Of Mansfield" tune set was written.
Stoke Golding Country Dance Often a fast and furious dance with a strip the willow figure. We usually play our slip jigs for this, as the dance rapidly becomes "unphrased".
Willow Tree Up there with Nottingham Swing in the popularity ratings. Great to dance, great to play for. We often use "Lark in the Morning / Minister's Decision".

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