Original Tunes

I love composing tunes in the traditional style. I often write music to commemorate poignant, or funny, or important events or people–it’s one of my responses to stuff the moves me.

I’ve included original tunes in my Irish music method books, my albums with Matt Heaton, and in a few published tune collections. And now in the year of the rabbit, I plan to compile all of my tunes in one place. By revisiting a handful every month, I’m aiming for a complete collection by December 2023!

My friend Clayton Cook helped put together this table for presenting (and searching for) all the tunes–each links to videos, mp3s, sheet music, and notes. Many thanks to Clayton for his support and creativity of this project, and of the Virtual Guided Session (for which he built and maintains the VGSDB )

Tune Title	Tune Type	Key Signature
Mind the Door AKA Mind the Wren	Slip Jig	G Major
Two Cardinals	March	E Major
Brown Weasel	Reel	D Major
Frame the Cat	Jig	G Major
Astor’s Box	Jig	A Mixolydian
Sailing Down Fulton Street	Jig	D Major
Phoebe Liam and Ricky	Slide	D Major
Big-Eared Brad	Reel	E Minor
Three Petes in a Pod	Reel	D Major
The Othsprey	Strathspey	G Major
Bird Tree	Slip Jig	B Minor
Cher Ami	March	D Major
Against the Grain	Jig	G Major
Knit the Collar	Jig	D Modal
In Tune With Reality	Reel	D Modal
Leather Apron	Reel	G Major
Blue Dress Waltz	Waltz	A Major
The Anniversary Reel	Slow Reel	D Modal
Zoom Twins	March	E Major
Misty Moors of Medford	Slip Jig	E Minor
Green Velvet Chair	Hornpipe	A Major
Little Wooden Spoon	Jig	A Minor
The Luthier’s Bench	Hornpipe	D Major
F-Stop	Reel	E Minor
The Kink in the Stream	Slide	A Major
The Laggy Chat	Slide	E Minor
The Rambunctious Window	Slide	A Minor
Frog in a Bottle	Jig	C Major
Grenadilla Seas	Jig	D Modal
Foot of the Hill	Jig	C Major
Last Days of Fourth Grade	Waltz	G Major
Chicken Dinner	Reel	D Major
Saturdays Soup	Hornpipe	G Major
Bag of Rolls	Jig	D Major
40 Watt Waltz	Waltz	B Minor
Bunch of Basil	Jig	B Minor
Where is my Tukata	Jig	D Modal
Carriage Return	Reel	G Major
Fetch the Charger	Polka	E Minor
Waltzing on Wash Day	Waltz	E Minor