After the recent challenges of The Tarbolton Reel, the Improvers and Beyond class looked at the next reel in the Michael Coleman set, The Longford Collector.
This tune in G sits nicely on flutes and whistle and offers some scope for variation, particularly in the B part. There is not much known abut this tune, which is strongly associated with this set. There are a few variations on the title, and an account of how Michael Coleman gave it its current title on Alan Kuntz’s Tune Archive web site.
Some information on recordings of the tune can be found on Alan Ng’s site Irishtune.info, which puts the earliest source of the tune as 1936, when it was first recorded.
I have put resources for this tune and The Sailor’s Bonnet up on the Resources page for this year.
Photo: Summer sky in Longford, Ireland by Paul Wilson, some rights reserved.
However, there is evidence that the melody goes back further than that. Katherine Campbell and Ewan McVicar include it in their schools’ anthology, Scottish Traditional Songs and Music. There is it called Sherramuir March or The Stewart’s March. It was originally a pipe tune with 9 parts entitled Gabhaidh Sin An Rathad Mór (We Will Take the High Road), and associated with the MacIntyres of Cruachan, Argyll. The Stewarts of Appin then claimed it and played it when returning from the Battle of Pinkie in 1547. The Gaelic title refers to the Battle of Inverlochy of 1644.
Tarbolton in Ayrshire has strong associations with Robert Burns, so it is sometimes a surprise to discover a very popular Irish reel that bears its name. The Tarbolton — sometimes called The Tarbolton Reel — was popularised by County Sligo fiddle master Michael Coleman in a set that is often played today.
