Mel Bay O'Neill's Music of Ireland [Paperback]

James O'Neill and Francis O'Neill (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 1998

A facsimile edition containing the original collection of 1,850 melodies consisting of airs, jigs, reels, hornpipes, marches, and more for fiddle.

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Mel Bay Publications, Inc. (November 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786624981
• ISBN-13: 978-0786624980
• Product Dimensions: 1 x 9 x 12 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #391,808 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely Phenomenal, October 19, 2000

By 

Jason (Baltimore, MD) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mel Bay O'Neill's Music of Ireland (Paperback)

I was in a small pub in Baltimore for the ceili beginner's nights they have, and was asking some of the advanced regulars about good books with Irish music. They showed me a copy of this book and told me it was "the Bible of Irish music," and that's just what it is. With about 240 pages of more than 1000 jigs, reels, slip jigs, hornpipes, set dances, and Carolan's compositions, this book has it all. This is the real stuff too, because many of the songs from the book can be found on various Chieftains recordings, so it gives you the ability to play the music of the greats. Among others, there are versions of "Toss the Feathers," "Soldier's Joy," "The Wind that Shakes the Barley," "The Job of Journeywork," and the list goes on. This is a fiddle book, but the music can be played and sight read by any person of any instrument. I am a flutist and love this book. I highly recommend this book for anyone looking for a thorough compilation of quality Irish music.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best tunebooks of Irish traditional music, July 27, 2004

By 

Lawrence M. Sanger (Columbus, OH USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mel Bay O'Neill's Music of Ireland (Paperback)

You really can't not have this book, if you're going to get very deep into Irish traditional music. I think most Irish musicians would agree with me on that, too. (I teach Irish traditional fiddle.) There is another version, edited by Miles Krassen, that I do not recommend (Krassen "updated" the settings in idiosyncratic and often not particularly helpful ways). But I do recommend the other "big" O'Neill's--"1001 Gems." The latter and "Music of Ireland" are *not* the same book, although they have considerable overlapping content, many tunes are in one but not the other.

Basically, while as a teacher and player I don't recommend actually *learning* tunes from tunebooks like this, this great tome is extremely useful for purposes of reminding yourself how tunes go, for acquainting yourself with tunes, for getting ideas about good settings, for practicing sight-reading, etc.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Essential Irish Tune Book, September 8, 2006

By 

Jefferson D. Bronfeld "always_reading" (Binghamton, New York USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mel Bay O'Neill's Music of Ireland (Paperback)

Look no further. Of all the Irish tune books, this is the one to get. It goes by many names, "O'Neill's", the "big O'Neill's", the "1850", and the "yellow book". Like the Fiddler's Fakebook, I am on my second "yellow book", having worn out the first till the pages came out. This collection contains most if not all of the Irish tunes you will hear being played, and many hundreds more you will want to play.

I find it indispensable for several reasons -

It's a reference - when I hear an Irish tune that I like on an album or in concert or a jam session, I look it up in the "yellow book" to determine the canonical version. I'll probably end up playing it my way anyway, or the way I hear it played, but I like to at least see the "official" version.

It's a collection - most of the Irish tunes I have come to love and learned to play are here collected in one volume.

Its an exercise book - the "1850" serves as a seeming endless supply of sight reading material, after I have practiced scales and tunes I know.

It's a diamond mine - there are gems in there, just waiting to be learned. Amazing and uncommon tunes lying between the pages waiting for the curious musician to breath life into them. Grab a tune, take it to a session, set it free.

Get a copy of O'Neill's Music of Ireland, and the Fiddler's Fakebook. There are many other wonderful tune books, but these two are essential.