Hornpipe, D, Traditional Irish
Also known as: The Cork Hornpipe
Harvest Home is one of the most well-known and often performed hornpipes in the traditional Irish repertoire.
The “Harvest Home” is a feast in celebration of finishing the harvest, of bringing the harvest “home”. Even now, with tractors, combines, and other machines to help with the task, harvest is hard work. But before tractors, the harvest was often too big for one farming family to finish by themselves. So it was a custom for neighboring farmers to help each other with the harvest. As each farm’s harvest was finished, that farm family would host a harvest home feast.
“So take your cup and sup it up, it is our harvest home”
— traditional harvest song, “Sheepshearing,” sung by The Watersons on their album “For Pence and Spicy Ale.”
Recordings
- Audio – Comhaltas: Cork Hornpipe – session recording of Harvest Home, from the album Foinn Seisiún, Volume 1
- Video – Conor Lamb (Whistle Workshops): The Harvest Home (Hornpipe) – solo tin whistle
- Audio – MandoLessons (Baron Collins Hill): Harvest Home (Fast): Mandolin & Guitar – from a full lesson available on MandoLessons.
Sheet Music
As always for traditional tunes, the musical notation and chords do not indicate the “right” way to play the tune, but are a useful reference.
Play-along Tracks
Sets
Examples of sets that include this tune.
- Harvest Home / Boys of Bluehill
References and Resources
For those who want to dig deeper, here are some other resources.
- Books
- Book – Comhaltas: Foinn Seisiún, Volume 1 — Published by Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann. (The tune is called “Cork Hornpipe” in this book.)
- Book & Audio – Stephen Ducke: Irish Music – 400 Traditional Tunes
- Book & Audio – Matt & Shannon Heaton: In Harmony
- Book – James Finnegan: The Banjo Buddy Tune Book – 365 Traditional Irish Tunes – sheet music with tablature for tenor banjo (or mandolin)
- Lessons
- Lesson – Chris Haigh (The Fiddle Channel): Harvest Home (fiddle tutorial) – video tutorial for fiddle, with background information on the tune, and simple to complex versions of the tune
- Lesson – Conor Lamb (Whistle Workshops): The Harvest Home (Hornpipe) – Slow – demonstration of the tune played slowly on tin whistle
- Lesson – MandoLessons (Baron Collins Hill): Harvest Home – mandolin lesson with video, sheet music, and play-along tracks.
- Lesson – James Finnegan (TheBanjoBuddy): Learn The Harvest Home – video tutorial for tenor banjo, with sheet music and tablature displayed in video
- Lesson – Shannon Heaton: Harvest Home [Hornpipe] – Tune of the Month with Shannon Heaton – video tutorial with the tune taught phrase-by-phrase, played on flute
- Additional Resources
- Article – Becky Stockton (Plants and Plantagenets): Harvest Home – about the history of the “harvest home” celebration