May 21, 2026: Siúil A Rún is posted in Book 2.
As I'm sure you've figured out, my musicology and Irish language skills go only as deep as Wikipedia goes, so here's what I know about Siúil A Rún. It translates more or less as "Walk, My Love" and is about a woman willing to do anything, literally anything, to be with him and protect him as he goes off to war. There are Irish lyrics in the chorus that sorta mean "let's run off together," and thankfully the verses are in English. Robert Louis Stevenson and James Joyce each made references to the song in their works so perhaps a bit more famous than I previously knew. I find the tune to be beautiful and worth your time. It was recommended to me by one of my students during the covid-era and it still brings me a lot of joy to rediscover it here on the website.
Musically the main challenges are playing slowly enough to let the tones develop, but not so slow it drags. Pay attention to the repeats as they're a bit wonky. Even though it's not the main chord or the key, the A minor chord (E minor on baritone) is the star of the show here and it presents itself in three different ways up the neck. It keeps the piece feeling like there's a magic wand conducting you. The only really mean thing is in Measure 11 when you'll need to bar the 5th fret and stretch your pinky up to the 10th fret. It will mostly drive you baritonists crazy.
Make a video on your phone of you playing this song and email it to me. I'd love to see you turn this into something wonderful.
Remember we're getting together on Sunday nights at 7 pm Mountain time on YouTube and you should join us. Info is here.
