Sheet Music: The Rakes of Kildare

TitleThe Rakes of Kildare
Alternate titlesThe Old Barn Door
The Fair of Drumlish
The Galbally Farmer
The Cranbally Farmer
Jim McBride's Jig
Get Up Early
Let us leave that as it is
The Limerick Rake
Fágamaíd Súd Mar Atá Sé
ComposerTraditional Irish
InstrumentationFlute solo
KeyA minor
RangeE4–B5
Time signature6/8
Tempo96 BPM
Performance time1:20
Difficulty leveleasy
Download printable scorePDF Sheet Music (61 kB) (preview)
Download audio tracksMIDI (change tempo/key) MP3 (657 kB)
Date added2017-01-06
Last updated2017-01-06
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Categories
Celtic Music, Jigs, Traditional/Folk

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Friday 6 January 2017

Tune of the Day: The Rakes of Kildare

Traditional Irish jig

This old Irish tune goes by various names: “The Old Barndoor”, “The Galbally Farmer”, “Let us leave that as it is”, and others.

The word ‘Rakes’ stems from the Old Icelandic word reikall, meaning “wandering” or “unsettled”. However, in 18th and 19th century usage the term ‘rake’ was used to denote unruly and spirited young gentlemen. Kildare is a County in the Mid-East of Ireland.

The tune appears in many collections of Irish music, but its earliest appearance in print is in the first volume of R.M. Levey's The Dance Music of Ireland (1858), where it is called only “A jig”. Irish music collector Francis O’Neill, however, believes the tune to be much older, and claims it descends from an ancient march melody called “Get Up Early”.

American versions of this tune have been collected in New England and Michigan. In England, it is sometimes used as a tune for Morris dancing.