The Tailor's Twist
Notation:
Standard Notation
ABC Notation
Mandolin Tablature
Violin Tablature
traditional
PDF Files:
--- choose file type ---
Standard Notation
Mandolin Tablature
Violin Tablature
Tune Sheet
Irish
Play
MIDI
No audio
available
Transcription: by Darryl D. Bush
"The Tailor's Twist", in Gaelic "Casadh an táilliúra", also known as "The Jolly Butchers",<br> "Spellan the Fiddler" is an Irish hornpipe in D Major. The parts are played AABB.<br> A 'tailor’s twist' refers to thread that is stored by twisting in a figure ‘8’ pattern around two dowels,<br> rather than around a spool.<br> The tune was first recorded by fiddler James Morrison (1893-1947) on August 10th, 1935, for Columbia<br> Records as one of a set of two hornpipes. Morrison was born in Drumfin, near Collooney, south County<br> Sligo and died in New York in 1947. He was a contemporary of Sligo fiddler Michael Coleman and was<br> nicknamed ‘the Professor’ because of his love of teaching the instrument. New York fiddlers Andy McGann<br> and Paddy Reynolds recorded the tune in the late 1970’s. The tune was also associated with piper Tommy Reck,<br> from whom Brendan Breathnach transcribed the tune for his Ceol Rince na hÉirreann vol. III. In fact,<br> the tune has become an important piece in the modern uilleann pipe repertoire, popularised by not only<br> Reck but Liam O’Flynn and Brian McNamara as well. It appears in the Roche collection under the title<br> "The Jolly Butchers”.<br> It was printed by Breathnach in Ceol Rince na hÉirreann III (1985),<br> Bulmer & Sharpley's Music from Ireland, vol. 3 (1976),<br> Miller's Fiddler’s Throne (2004),<br> Peoples' Fifty Irish Fiddle Tunes (1986),<br> Phillips' Fiddlecase Tunebook (1989),<br> Roche's Collection of Traditional Irish Music, vol. 2 (1912) and<br> Treoir, vol. 36, No. 2 (2004).<br> It was recorded by Brian Conway on Consider the Source (2008),<br> Brian McNamara on A Piper’s Dream,<br> Ken Perlman's Clawhammer Banjo and Fingerstyle Guitar Solos,<br> Tommy Reck's The Stone in the Field (1977),<br> Jimmy O’Brien-Moran on Seán Reid’s Favourite (1996) and<br> Andy McGann and Paddy Reynolds on Ón tSean-Am Anall.<br>
Click
here
for a full page view.