How to Check an Irish Tune Name

How do you check an Irish tune name?

To check an Irish tune name, preserve the title you were given, then connect it to a specific recording, transcription or catalogue record. Search alternate spellings and documented titles, but do not treat matching words as proof of matching music. Keep the performer, tune type, source and reference number together. If the evidence remains uncertain, retain a candidate identification and ask a knowledgeable musician or archive rather than inventing a definitive name.

A title can get you to a promising page. The reference attached to it helps you return to the particular tune you meant.

This guide examines catalogue text and record-keeping. It does not claim to identify a performance by ear, supply a definitive tune dictionary or settle how every community should name its repertoire.

Why might the same name lead to different results?

Alan Ng's Irish Traditional Music Tune Index explicitly helps readers investigate both directions of the problem: other titles associated with a tune, and whether sources using one title actually concern the same tune.

Those are different questions. Finding several names on one record does not mean every occurrence of those names elsewhere belongs to that record.

In his indexing methodology, Ng explains that he retains published titles, including errors, because readers may search for the names they encountered. Title ordering is an editorial decision within his index, not a universal declaration of the proper name.

Use an alias as another search route. Do not turn it into permission to correct a musician who uses a different documented title.

The distinction also protects your notes. Keep “title printed on this release” separate from “title used by this index.” Both can be useful without being identical.

What does a real archive record show?

The ITMA transcription record separates title information from recording and transcription credits. Its text fields provide this example:

This is a reading of the page's text, not our transcription or a claim that we listened to its recording. No musical notation is reproduced here.

The fields let you state exactly which source you found. They do not independently establish who composed the tune, why each name arose, or how all other performances relate to it. Bracketed text stays bracketed in a faithful record; do not silently replace it with a different punctuation scheme that suggests a set of separate performances.

Which details belong in your first note?

Before searching, make an original source card with these six entries:

1. Title as encountered. Preserve spelling, punctuation and any uncertainty. Put a question mark in your own note, not into a quoted source title.
2. Where it appeared. An album booklet, archive page and spoken announcement are different sources.
3. Specific location. Record a track and tune position, page, item number or direct record link where available.
4. Named roles. Keep performer, composer, collector and transcriber in separate fields.
5. Stated musical description. Record the source's tune type or meter without promoting your own guess into its statement.
6. Identification status. Mark source documented, candidate match or unresolved, with a short reason.

A performer credit is not automatically a composer credit. If a page supplies only the former, your composer field can remain “not stated in this record.”

Do not fill a blank with a familiar musician's name because it makes the card look finished.

How should you search a partly remembered title?

Start with what you actually have. irishtune.info's search instructions distinguish whole-word searches from exact character-fragment searches and advise allowing spelling variants.

For that particular tool, begin with all tune types rather than filtering on an uncertain classification. Narrow the results when you have better evidence. Its fragment search is sensitive to punctuation: removing an apostrophe can change a match. These are that website's documented behaviors, not promises about every search box.

Keep an untouched copy of the original title beside each search variation. A useful search log has three columns: words entered, source searched and result worth checking.

If no result appears, change one assumption at a time. Was the spelling uncertain? Did you filter too narrowly? Do you have a track title rather than an individual tune title? An empty result is not proof that the tune is unknown or newly composed.

Our jig-versus-reel guide explains why a first impression of tune type may need checking.

Is a track title the same thing as a tune title?

Not necessarily. One track can contain a set of tunes. A reference must therefore distinguish the track from a tune's position within it.

Ng's methodology gives the code 7#3 as an example meaning the third tune on track seven. That convention belongs to his index. Do not assume another archive interprets the same symbols identically.

For your own notes, write the words out: “track seven, third tune.” If a source supplies a timestamp, preserve it with the release or recording version it describes. Do not manufacture a transition time from an unrelated upload.

A list separated by slashes also needs context. It might identify a sequence, while another source might use punctuation to present alternative titles. Read the page's explanation and fields rather than deciding from the slash alone.

What does the paper-only matching exercise establish?

Everything in this table is invented for this guide. “Example tune X,” “Example tune Y” and “Example-ID-A” are labels for the exercise, not real titles or catalogue references.

Assume the three rows come from one fictional index:

What can you responsibly write?

• A and B: matching title words do not establish one tune. Keep the records separate.
• A and C: the supplied identifier and explicit cross-reference show that this fictional index links them to one entry. Preserve both title forms.
• All three: nothing here tells you which title a particular musician uses, what any performance sounds like or who composed the music.

The answer depends on the supplied record relationships, not on a guess about Irish repertoire. There are three displayed records and two distinct identifiers; that is not a claim about three performances or two universally agreed musical identities.

If C lacked its identifier and cross-reference, it would become a candidate requiring further evidence. Similar words or matching tune type would not restore the missing link.

What should you do when records disagree?

Make the disagreement visible before trying to resolve it. Write “source A lists this title; source B lists that title,” followed by the two references.

Keep number suffixes too. ITMA's Port listing presents separate entries headed “Toss the feathers. No. 1” and “Toss the feathers. No. 2.” Removing the numbers would discard information that the catalogue uses to distinguish its entries. The listing alone is not our musical comparison of them.

A useful question for an archive or knowledgeable traditional musician is: “Do these two specific references concern the same tune, related versions or different tunes?” Supply the references you used and explain what remains unclear.

For finding tune notes or song words in its holdings, ITMA's FAQ directs readers to its catalogue search. A collection's search service is a research route, not a guarantee that every tune has been identified there.

Can you share a recording to ask for help?

Do not upload, extract or repost music merely to make identification easier. Check the permissions for the particular material and intended use first.

ITMA's copyright guidance states that the archive does not own every item's copyright and directs reproduction requests through its permissions process. Online availability does not itself give you permission to redistribute an item.

For a live gathering, follow hosts and musicians; ask before recording, photographing, identifying participants or posting. Respect refusals, privacy and requests for quiet. Local practice varies, as the session culture section emphasizes.

You can ask a precise question using an authorized source-page link and your own short description without attaching copied media. Keep research notes free of other people's private contact details.

When is your note useful enough to keep?

A useful result has a traceable source and an honest limit. “Documented title on this archive record; relationship to the tune I remember unresolved” is a better research note than an unsupported identification.

Save the reference, date checked and next question. When stronger evidence arrives, add a dated correction while retaining what led to the earlier candidate. That makes your notebook useful to your future self and fair to the sources.

Continue through tune listening when you want to explore the musical distinctions behind the catalogue labels.

Sources

• Alan Ng: Irish Traditional Music Tune Index.
• irishtune.info: Indexing methodology.
• irishtune.info: Tune Search and Finder.
• ITMA: Example score record.
• ITMA: Port catalogue.
• ITMA: Frequently asked questions.
• ITMA: Copyright and reproduction guidance.