Sheet Music: The Butterfly

TitleThe Butterfly
Alternate titlesBarney's Goat
Late Home at Night
Skin the Peelers
The Peeler Jig
Óró, a Thaidhg, a Ghrá
ComposerTraditional Irish
InstrumentationFlute solo
KeyE minor
RangeD4–B5
Time signature9/8
Tempo96 BPM
Performance time0:50
Difficulty leveleasy
Download printable scorePDF Sheet Music (44 kB) (preview)
Download audio tracksMIDI (change tempo/key) MP3 (387 kB)
Date added2011-10-13
Last updated2011-10-13
Download popularity index☆☆☆☆☆ 1.7 (above average)
Categories
Celtic Music, Jigs, Traditional/Folk

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Thursday 13 October 2011

Tune of the Day: The Butterfly

Traditional Irish slip jig

The composition of this slip jig is usually credited to the late fiddler Tommy Potts, who knew the first two parts of the tune from his father, Sean, an Uilleann piper. As the story goes, Potts was working in his garden one day when he noticed the erratic flight of a butterfly flitting about. Intrigued, Potts tried to mimic the rhythm of the insect while he continued to work in the garden, and was inspired to come up with the third part of the tune. The first two existing parts were then altered rhythmically to fit.

The tune is also known among Highland bagpipers as “Skin the Peelers”, peeler being an old slang term for a policeman.