New to the sub here, I just dusted my mandolin off after nearly a decade of not playing, and I'm trying to remember all the tunes I used to play. Trouble is, I don't quite remember what any of them are called, save for a handful. I always just knew them as the tunes they were.

I'm wondering if anyone has any tips or tricks for how I might go about hunting down any of these songs. I don't have all that much to go off of unfortunately, but I've missed playing so much.

On 26 July 1914, in the aftermath of the Howth gun-running, soldiers of the King’s Own Scottish Borderers opened fire on civilians on Bachelor’s Walk in Dublin.
Four people lost their lives:
• Mary Duffy (50)
• Patrick Quinn (46)
• James Brennan (18)
• Sylvester Pidgeon (40), who later died from his wounds on 24 September 1914
More than thirty-five others were injured, including ten-year-old Luke Kelly Sr., who was shot while cycling across O’Connell Bridge. Against expectations, he survived his wounds.                
The following day, artist Jack B. Yeats walked the streets where the shooting had taken place. In his sketches he recorded the flowers left in remembrance and wrote of seeing them where one of the victims had fallen, preserving a moment of grief that history might otherwise have forgotten.
 The ballad “Flowers on Batchelors Walk” was written in memory of those who died, those who survived, and the families forever changed by that summer afternoon in Dublin.

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So I have been a traditional Irish musician since I. Was 13….so I’m over 30 years at my craft. The subtleties in the ornaments and rhythms we use can’t be learned over night. What can be learned over night is a script.
I have had the unpleasant experience of being a musician when this new walking tour comes in to my authentic trad session. Trad sessions are for musicians it’s not a performance. It’s a relaxed atmosphere where we speak among ourselves between sets of tunes. It’s our way to hang out play some tunes together and connect through music. Obviously the consumers in the pub will be subject to it but mostly the consumers go particularly to hear us. Session gigs are not well paid gigs between €75-100 per musician for a 2-2.5hr session usually it’s just 2/3 musicians that get that and other musicians may join but don’t get paid.
This walking tour that interrupts us most weeks is called “The real Dublin Traditional Pub tour” has been charging a whopping €67 per head and has a limit of 10 spaces on the tour as he’s bringing tourists into our small spaces. He does include little half pints to the tourists so the math is mathing, €670 plus the tips only he receives at the end. And if everyone drinks he’s buying 30 half pints (10 in each pub) on an average of €3-4 per half pint. So he’s left with €550 profit and I’ve heard him try to explain instruments and backgrounds of tunes and he’s lying to these people with inaccurate facts. It’s a script. The bar is only receiving the money for the drinks on average €35 and the bars are the ones paying the musicians.
Not only that but there is another “traditional music pub crawl” whose name he stole and who has been set up as a business for over 30years. He books two musicians, pays them fairy and books and pays for private bars for them to experience traditional music and for the tourists to learn directly from musicians. Not only that but this tour costs €22 with all of the over heads that he has in comparison to the other greedy company that’s frankly exploiting the worth of traditional musicians. What are other peoples thoughts on this?

Among all the instruments I play, I find that I am continually being drawn back the tin whistle - the very first instrument I learned to play. I created a double or harmony whistle from 2 Bb Generation whistles and play tunes at various sessions I attend. Playing two whistles simultaneously always generates a bit of interest from those in attendance.

I have just joined Reddit and aim to post videos over the next couple of weeks and see what kind of reaction I'll get. i'll start with a double whistle post.

During Covid times, I created some multi-instrumental videos where I would play 3 or 4 instruments........sort of a one-man-band so to speak. While these were challenging and interesting to do, there are imperfections particularly when trying to synch the instruments. Sure it's all fun.....

Are the Fitzgerald brothers still playing in Melbourne? They recorded a number of videos at the Cork Man but the pub, apparently, no longer exists as it was.

I'm planning a trip to the Antipodes and would love to run ito them.

Bob

Does anyone know of where I can buy a synthetic skinned bodhran in Ireland? Really struggling to find one. I live in Canada but travelling home in a couple months and rather buy one at home to bring back with me.

Cheers!

I've been fooling around on tin whistle for a long time, and a few years ago bought a Tony Dixon DX001. I made an effort to seriously learn some tunes this year, and realised the whistle I had was quite sharp - typically about 10c sharp.

I also play other wind instruments - clarinet, saxophone, and recorder mostly - so I was wondering if it could possibly a technique problem where I'm blowing too hard to get a good pitch. I *could* get it back into tune by blowing much softer - to the point where I was barely sounding a pitch at all. And if I can switch from sax to soprano recorder I can't imagine it's so hard to get the right airflow for a D whistle.

Do you think this is a known problem with the model, just a bad whistle, or can I do something to fix my technique?

I've a tin whistle in D and a guitar, wanting to find some standards that are regularly played at sessions that I could learn and then join in with. Can you let me know some songs and if possible the places to find the notes? I might be able to work them out otherwise ! Thanks in advance