Everyone enjoys Celtic Folk Songs and Folk Hymns but not all realize that often they can be one and the same. A hymn text has often found its home in a folk song and a secular text sometimes finds a home in a hymn tune. This collection has a little of both. All but one of the tunes in this collection are of Celtic origin. The exception, “Amazing Grace,” is a folk hymn of unknown origin that has all the markings of a Celtic Tune, including a pentatonic harmonic foundation.
For the harpists who also like to understand the history of a tune or even sing along, a variety of texts along with information about the tune and the lyrics can be found in the back of this book in the “Notes on the Tunes.”
One of the nicest things about this book is that each song has a short but lovely introduction!
Table of Contents
• Ad Hyd y nos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 1-2
• Annie Laurie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 3
• Auld Lang Syne . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 4
• Bunessan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 5-6
• Brother James’ Air . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 7-8
• Down By the Salley Gardens . . . . . . . . . . . .page 9
• Greensleeves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 10
• Iona Boat Song . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 11
• Rorate (Rorate Coeli Desuper) . . . . . . . . . . page 12
• Londonderry Air . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 13
• New Britain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 14
• O Waly Waly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 15
• Slane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 16
• Scots W’ Hae . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 17
• The Ash Grove . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 18
• Royal Oak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 19
• The Twenty-Ninth of May . . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 20
• St. Denio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 21
• Skye Boat Song . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 22
• The Bard of Armagh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 23
• The Streets of Laredo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 24
• The Caledonian Hunt’s Delight . . . . . . . . . . page 25
• St. Columba . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 26
• The Road and the Miles to Dundee . . . . . . . page 27
• The Rowan Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 28
• Ye Banks and Braes O’ Bonnie Doon . . . . . page 29
Notes on the Tunes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pages 30-44
