Andrea Palandri is originally from Venice in Italy and has been living in Ireland since 2014. He started to take a keen interest in the music of Sliabh Luachra, and in particular in the fiddle music of Pádraig O’Keeffe, Denis Murphy and Paddy Cronin in his late teens. He has been looking through O’Keeffe manuscripts and studying the bowing techniques found therein for several years now. He is particularly interested in the distinctive bowing patterns taught in O’Keeffe’s notation, in which much of the rhythm and detail of this unique regional style is hardcoded. These manuscripts are an incredible resource for any fiddle player who wishes to study the techniques taught by O’Keeffe to his students, effectively allowing us to carefully retrace the steps taken by some of the most extraordinary musicians ever to emerge from this region.
Andrea choose to focus on 21 tunes from various O’Keeffe manuscripts, 11 jigs, 2 hornpipes, 2 polkas, 2 slides and 4 reels. Each of these tunes was recorded individually and made available on the ITMA site with a full suite of learning resources.
Links to all 21 tunes can be found in this collection.
21 tunes chosen by Andrea Palandri and made available as interactive scores
He also recorded a number of the tunes in sets. Note in the recordings below the sets were recorded in a different key to the individual tunes.
Untitled [tune no. 28], polka from O’Keeffe Mac Aoidh-O’Connor MS A
Untitled [tune no. 85], polka from O’Keeffe Mac Aoidh-O’Connor MS E
Untitled [The ladies cup of tea] [tune no. 30], reel from Pádraig O’Keeffe ITMA-Collins manuscripts, book 2: fiddle.
Untitled [Murphy’s] [tune no. 59], reel from Pádraig O’Keeffe Mac Aoidh-Miscellanous Manuscripts
Untitled [tune no. 7], jig from Pádraig O’Keeffe Mac Aoidh-O’Connor Manuscript C
Untitled [tune no. 8], jig from Pádraig O’Keeffe Mac Aoidh-O’Connor Manuscript C
Untitled [tune no. 9], jig from Pádraig O’Keeffe Mac Aoidh-O’Connor Manuscript C
Untitled [tune no. 104], slide from Pádraig O’Keeffe Mac Aoidh-O’Connor Manuscript E
Untitled [tune no. 27], slide from Pádraig O’Keeffe Mac Aoidh-O’Connor Manuscript A
Videos, like those above, were recorded for each of the 21 tunes chosen by Andrea. Each tune also has an interactive score synced with the video and a downloadable PDF of the staff notation.
The 63 interactive music scores on this page have been notated from the second of three sets of manuscripts written by Pádraig O’Keeffe for fiddle pupils, and donated to ITMA by Paud Collins from Knockacur, Knocknagoshel, Co Kerry. For more tunes, further information and copies of the original manuscripts, see Pádraig O’Keeffe Resources at ITMA.
Nicholas Carolan, Treasa Harkin & Jackie Small, 19 April 2014
The 51 interactive music scores on this page have been notated from one of three sets of manuscripts written by Pádraig O’Keeffe for fiddle pupils, and donated to ITMA by Paud Collins from Knockacur, Knocknagoshel, Co Kerry. There are 191 tunes in all in the three sets of manuscripts. For all tunes, further information and copies of the original manuscripts, see Pádraig O’Keeffe Resources at ITMA.
Nicholas Carolan, Treasa Harkin & Jackie Small, 19 April 2014
The 88 interactive scores on this page have been transcribed by ITMA staff from a copy-manuscript made of music written for an accordion pupil by the Kerry music master, musician and composer Pádraig O’Keeffe (1887–1963) in his own unique accordion notation. Although O’Keeffe was famous as a fiddle player and fiddle teacher, he also a teacher of other instruments, including the button accordion.
The manuscript has been donated to ITMA by Paud Collins from Knockacur, Knocknagoshel, Co Kerry, himself an accordion pupil of O’Keeffe’s as was his brother Dan. Three sets of fiddle manuscripts written for Paud’s brother Jer also form part of the donation, and have been made available in facsimile and as interactive music scores on the ITMA website (see Pádraig O’Keeffe Resources at ITMA) The fiddle manuscripts were written by O’Keeffe himself, but the accordion manuscript was copied for her brothers from O’Keeffe’s originals by Paud Collins’s sister Tess Drudy (who did not herself read the tablature).
In this copy-manuscript O’Keeffe displays a relatively little-known facet of his talents – an impressive knowledge of the accordion system available in his day and of the appropriate repertory for it. The manuscript embodies a creative and graded approach to teaching the instrument. Though the approach required is much different from that required for the fiddle, O’Keeffe’s first instrument, he is adept at modifying tunes in order to suit both the accordion and the level of proficiency of his pupils, and in placing tunes correctly in the most appropriate places in the instrument’s range. His fingering patterns are generally accurate and pupil-friendly.
For the transcripts presented here it is assumed that the target instrument for the notations in the manuscript was a single-row 10-key accordion or melodeon. O’Keeffe’s tablature would have been valid for an instrument pitched in any key, and there might well have been variety in the pitch of instruments played by his pupils. For convenience, in the transcripts given here, the key of D is adopted as the home key of the instrument.
In making the transcripts for these interactive scores, pragmatic decisions were made regarding problems in the manuscript. Some content in the scores is conjectural due to missing content and/or legibility problems in the manuscript. Some of these problems might be due to copying errors, since the manuscript is not in O’Keeffe’s hand.
In some scores where the tonic note is G or A, the note C natural is given because it is standard for tunes in the key of the relevant tune (G major, A minor). This note was not available on the instrument for which the manuscript probably was written. In the manuscript it was probably C sharp that was intended in those cases. These instances are indicated by an editorial note in the relevant scores.
In the case of one tune in the manuscript there was not enough information to enable the tune to be deciphered – that tune therefore was omitted.
Jackie Small, Treasa Harkin & Nicholas Carolan, 13 May 2014
The 77 interactive music scores on this page have been notated from one of three sets of manuscripts written by Pádraig O’Keeffe for fiddle pupils, and donated to ITMA by Paud Collins from Knockacur, Knocknagoshel, Co Kerry. They have been transcribed from O’Keeffe’s unique form of fiddle-music tablature. It is clear from the manuscripts that he was a conscientious and imaginative teacher who continuously shaped the music that he taught to the proficiency level of his pupils. As his notation was used primarily as a memory-aid for pupils following on from his personal tuition of them, it sometimes lacks essential rhythmic and other information. The re-creation here of some song airs particularly is therefore to a degree speculative. For more tunes, further information and copies of the original manuscripts see Pádraig O’Keeffe Resources at ITMA.
Nicholas Carolan, Treasa Harkin & Jackie Small, 19 April 2014.
The 14 interactive music scores on this page have been notated from a set of manuscripts originally owned by Mickey Duggan a former pupil of Pádraig O’Keeffe. Some of the original manuscripts are in Pádraig O’Keeffe’s music tablature system. The tune ‘Sean Ryan’s wonder hornpipe’ is written in staff notation. Contemporary transcriptions of the individual tunes in this manuscript are also available as a downloadable PDF.
The Duggan collection is one of seven Pádraig O’Keeffe manuscript collections sourced by Caoimhín Mac Aoidh in the early 1980s. The manuscripts mainly belonged to Pádraig O’Keeffe’s pupils, and in a limited number of cases to others. Mac Aoidh photocopied the manuscripts where possible and returned the originals to their owners.
The 109 interactive music scores on this page have been notated from a 19th-century music manuscript which comes from the Sliabh Luachra border region of counties Cork, Kerry and Limerick.
The spelling of tune titles in the original manuscript, especially of those in Irish, is erratic; for ease of access, the spellings have been brought here to a modern standard. Some conjectural readings are given in square brackets.
A facsimile of the source manuscript and information about it is also available on the ITMA website.
Nicholas Carolan, Treasa Harkin & Jackie Small, 20 August 2014
In the following blog Caoimhín outlines the origins of this collection and his long-held desire to make the collection available to the Irish traditional music community.
Introduction to the Pádraig O’Keeffe Manuscript Collection
Transcriptions of the Pádraig O’Keeffe Mac Aoidh-O'Connor Manuscript A
Transcriptions of the Pádraig O’Keeffe Mac Aoidh-O'Connor Manuscript B
Transcriptions of the Pádraig O’Keeffe Mac Aoidh-O'Connor Manuscript C
Transcriptions of the Pádraig O’Keeffe Mac Aoidh-O'Connor Manuscript D
Transcriptions of the Pádraig O’Keeffe Mac Aoidh-O'Connor Manuscript E
Transcriptions of the Pádraig O’Keeffe Mac Aoidh-O'Connell Manuscript
Transcriptions of the Pádraig O’Keeffe Mac Aoidh-Horan Manuscript
Transcriptions of the Pádraig O’Keeffe Mac Aoidh-Duggan Manuscript
Transcriptions of the Pádraig O’Keeffe Mac Aoidh-McCarthy Manuscript
Transcriptions of the Pádraig O’Keeffe Mac Aoidh-McAuliffe Manuscript
Transcriptions of the Pádraig O’Keeffe Mac Aoidh-Miscellaneous Manuscripts
The worn, much-used manuscript presented here gives us an historically important glimpse into an older layer of Sliabh Luachra music. It is one which predates the quadrille-based polkas and slides which now characterise the music of this region on the borders of counties Cork, Kerry and Limerick, and which are thought to have been first introduced in the late 19th century.
Perhaps the most interesting item the manuscript contains, from a historical viewpoint, is a unique version of ‘Máirseáil Alasdruim’ (as ‘Alexander Gigg’) and a related tune ‘Church Hill’. Both form part of a famous suite of traditional programme music which commemorated a north Cork battle of 1647. This was once popular throughout Munster, especially among uilleann pipers, but has long ago vanished from the live tradition. Also revealing of the richness of the music of the region at the time of the manuscript’s compilation are the elaborate slow airs it contains.
The contents are otherwise typical of Irish traditional music manuscripts of its period: a mixture of jigs, reels, hornpipes, song airs, country dances, and other popular current items, including English and Scottish pieces. Many seem to have come originally from printed sources, but the semi-literate spelling of some titles – especially of those in Irish – indicates also an oral dimension to the collection. Judging from the occasional use of bowing marks, it may have been at least partly compiled by fiddle players.
The manuscript was acquired by Breandán Breathnach (1912-85) through an ‘E. Finnegan from D. Curtin of Stagmount, Rockchapel’, Co Cork. It was among the Breathnach papers donated to the Irish Traditional Music Archive by his family in 1987, and it had been indexed by him for his massive file-card resources which are now also in ITMA. It has been digitised by ITMA staff for preservation and dissemination. Interactive scores of the music are also available on the ITMA website.
The manuscript consists of twenty-one 24 x 16 cm leaves of music paper pre-printed on both sides, and hand-sewn in a homemade leather cover. It contains forty-two pages of music in varying states of legibility, written in staff notation by more than one hand and perhaps over more than one generation. The volume has been paginated twice, the second time by Breathnach, and the confused original pagination shows that the first two leaves at least are now missing from it. It is also otherwise incomplete: there are several instances of tunes lacking beginnings or ends. The manuscript has been scanned by ITMA staff and is presented here in the exact order in which it is now bound, which is sometimes in conflict with both paginations.
Although the manuscript is undated, it probably belongs to the mid-19th century. The latest dateable item it contains is ‘Pop Goes the Weasel’, a tune which enjoyed a craze from the 1850s. A mid-century date seems confirmed by the fact that it contains no polkas or slides as such. Various names and addresses are inscribed in the manuscript: John O’Sullivan; Humphrey O’ Sullivan; Edmond Scanlan, Mellan by Rockchapel, Co Cork; E. Coakley; Minnie D. Curtin; Thomas Leahy; Mrs Tom Leahy, Ballycomane, Tournafulla, Co Limerick; David Curtin; and Mike Murphy. From these, it is clear that the manuscript originally belongs to the Sliabh Luachra area.
The manuscript, which Breathnach called the ‘Curtin manuscript’, can usefully be compared with the ITMA manuscripts of the 20th-century Sliabh Luachra fiddle and accordion teacher Pádraig O’Keeffe which are available in facsimile and as interactive music scores here. Echoes of a local slow-air tradition suggested in the Curtin manuscript may have survived into the 20th century in the many airs played by O’Keeffe and imparted by him to his pupils.
With thanks to the Breathnach family.
Nicholas Carolan, Maeve Gebruers and Jackie Small, 1 August 2014
I wasn’t born on a calm night so I got into music at an early age, and got my first melodeon when I was seven years old.. In my early teens, I used to play with the Seán Lynch Céilí Band, and one of the gigs was at a crossroads platform at Knocknacolon, about a mile outside Kanturk in north Cork. It was run by Bill Sullivan, a wonderful local man, who used to show us how to dance as well.
I got a lot of music from Jim Keeffe who played fiddle with us, and he had been a pupil of the great Pádraig O’Keeffe. So it was Sliabh Luachra all the way, and I learned to read that distinctive fiddle notation.
In 1974, I won the All-Ireland accordion contest in Listowel. But I don’t play the usual style. My instrument is in C#/D rather than B/C.
Back in the seventies, I started to play with Séamus Creagh, and we had some great times together, and made an album in 1977.
I’ve played with a few different groups, Buttons and Bows, De Dannan, Arcady, Patrick Street, and duets with Kevin Burke and Matt Cranitch. When people ask me why so many, I say because I’m cheap!
Down the years, I’ve been exposed to many different styles, but it’s the music of Sliabh Luachra that has had the greatest impression on me. So, I’ll carry on till I’m carried out, and I might be good yet!
Nicholas (Nickie) McAuliffe was born in Lyre, Cordal, Castleisland, Co. Kerry on 11th March, 1945. He attended Loughfouder National School, and later the Technical School in Castleisland. He learned his first music from his parents, Kathleen and Florence, who both played melodeon (one row accordeon). Therefore, his first instrument was melodeon and then tin whistle.
He later took up the fiddle which he had seen played by his neighbour and friend, John Ben Lane, progressing quickly to a high standard. He listened avidly to “A job of Journeywork”, a series of weekly radio programmes presented by Cíarán Mac Mathúna. Cíarán had travelled all over the country recording older musicians, and younger ones, using a mobile recording unit. He also recorded in England and America. Nickie also purchased the 78 rpm records which were in vogue at the time. These were mostly recorded in America and featured people like Michael Coleman, James Morrison, and Paddy Killoran from Sligo, and Paddy Cronin from Kerry – fiddle players all.
Bit by bit, his repertoire increased and his style of playing developed. In 1964, he started to travel around to Fleadhanna Cheoil with his friends Denis McMahon from Castleisland, Jack Regan, Knocknagoshel, and other musicians. He joined the Desmond Céilí Band which was led by Michael O’Callaghan (R.I.P.), Castleisland, and travelled all over Kerry and beyond playing for céilithe. In 1967 he joined the Brosna Céilí Band which was led by Donal O’Connor, Brosna. By now he was playing concert flute. Both bands played extensively and took part in competitions, with considerable success. The Brosna actually won the All-Ireland Céilí Band competition at Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in Listowel in 1972. Nickie himself won the Senior All-Ireland tin whistle competition in 1971.
Nickie was also a member of Siamsa Tíre Folk Theatre for many years.
In 1975, Nickie married fellow-musician, Anne Sheehy from Lixnaw in North Kerry, who was also a member of all the above groups. Together they have travelled extensively abroad, to places like U.S.A., Britain, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Australia.
In 1970, Nickie began teaching music for Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann in co-operation with Co. Kerry V.E.C. Thirty-eight years later, he still teaches at many venues around Kerry. Many of his pupils have achieved high honours in music and some are now music teachers also. He also lectures on the history of Irish music to students who are taking the Degree Course in Folk Studies under the IT Tralee in co-operation with Siamsa Tíre. He and his wife, Anne, are regular teachers at the Willie Clancy Summer School in Milltown Malbay, and Scoil Éigse which is held before Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann each year. They have both been selected to teach at the Gaelic Roots Festival in Boston College.
Nickie has written many articles on traditional music and is a regular contributor to the souvenir program for Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann. He is also much in demand as a source for names of tunes and background information by musicians producing CDs.
Besides traditional Irish music, which he has studied in-depth in all its aspects, Nickie is also interested in gaelic football and hurling. His reading covers a wide spectrum from philosophy to the R.T.E Guide! He has a particular gift of retaining what he reads and hears, and is known for his phenomenal memory. He is also a keen photographer.
In recent times Nickie has composed about 25 tunes and has also written some poetry.
