‘Londonderry Air’/’Danny Boy’ (downloadable PDF)

$1.00

One of the most popular melodies of Irish origin, often known as 'Danny Boy', and also 'I Cannot Tell' (a church hymn), and 'Irish Love Song' (among others). This tune is one of the most commonly requested on St. Patrick's Day.  Harmony part included. Please see further below for more information and an audio sample.

Description

One of the most popular melodies of Irish origin, often known as ‘Danny Boy’, and also ‘I Cannot Tell’ (a church hymn), and ‘Irish Love Song’, among others. This tune is one of the most commonly requested on St. Patrick’s Day. The original, full melody expands well beyond the range of typical Scottish pipe chanters —hence many pipers avoid it— but this arrangement artfully compresses the melody and fills in the missing notes with the added harmony part. (This version also succeeds without the addition of the harmony part.) We believe this to be the best and most musical adaptation of ‘Londonderry Air’/’Danny Boy’ for Scottish-style pipes. Set in A-Major, and includes chord symbols. (Lyrics are not included.)

This arrangement will also succeed as a march —e.g. for St. Patrick’s Day parades— if played at a slightly faster tempo than the recorded sample below.

An audio sample, featuring Scottish smallpipes (A-chanter). The harmony part can be heard on the repeat, approximately halfway through the track: