The Morning Star reel is a lovely single reel. I play it here in the key of G, but it can be played in other keys.
The Morning Star is a wonderful reel to play on the fiddle, with lots of aspects of bowing and phrasing to practice. In this tune tutorial, I’ll just be going over the melody, taking the parts slowly so that you can learn the tune.
You will hear The Morning Star reel also played in the key of F (mostly probably following Martin Hayes, who recorded it in that key), but this is the more common session key.
This is an old tune, recorded as far back as 1907 by Patsy Touhey on the pipes. It can be found in both of Francis O’Neill’s books, O’Neill’s Music of Ireland, originally published in 1903, and The Dance Music of Ireland, originally published in 1907.
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