King of the Fairies

Hornpipe, E minor, traditional Irish

This haunting tune is a set dance tune played with the swing of a hornpipe.

E Minor or E Dorian? A distinguishing difference between an E minor tune and an E Dorian tune is whether it contains C sharp or C natural notes in its scale. This tune contains several of each, so it is fairly arbitrary whether it is labeled as an E minor or E Dorian tune. If you are hazy on the Dorian mode, you’ll find a brief and friendly explanation in this article: Dorian, Mixolydian, Oh My: Modes in a Nutshell.

Recordings

• Audio – Kevin Burke: The King of the Fairies – solo fiddle from the album Sweeney’s Dream
• Video – The Dubliners: King of the Fairies – solo fiddle played by by John Sheahan. From the album In Concert.
• Video – Sean Softley: King of the Fairies 106 – fiddle and guitar. From the album Irish Set Dances Volume 7 by Sean Softley (Calgary, Alberta, Canada). The album includes the tune at multiple tempos. website | YouTube

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.

In TrailJams Tune Camp, the tutorial for this tune includes 2 versions: Version 1 is the basic tune. Version 2 adds more triplet ornamentation, additional notes, and double-stops (two notes played at once). These versions can be played together, and as you play you can draw from a mix of both versions as you create your own variations.

Sets

Examples of sets that include this tune.

• King of the Fairies Hornpipe Set: King of the Fairies (Em) / The Pride of Petravore (Em)
• King of the Fairies / The Old Grey Cat
• Blackbird / King of the Fairies

References and Resources

For those who want to dig deeper, here are some other resources.

• More Recordings
  • Audio – Stephen Ducke (Tradschool): The King of the Fairies (Set Dance) – played on tin whistle. From the book Irish Music – 400 Traditional Tunes.
  • Video – Seán Ryan & Dan Coughlan: Blackbird / The King of the Fairies (Set Dances) from the album Ryan & Coughlan, Vol. 3. (The King of the Fairies starts at time 2:08 in this recording.)
• Books
  • Book & Audio – Stephen Ducke: Irish Music – 400 Traditional Tunes – book with audio tracks played on tin whistle
  • Book – Gary Coover: 75 Irish Session Tunes for Anglo Concertina (Rollston Press). One of a series of Anglo concertina tune books by this author.
• Lessons
  • Lesson – Kevin Burke (Fiddlevideo): The King of the Fairies – Trad Irish Fiddle Lesson – video sample lesson. (Full lesson requires subscription to Fiddlevideo.)
  • Lesson – Chris Haigh (The Fiddle Channel): King of the Fairies (Fiddle lesson) – video lesson of the tune as played by John Sheahan of the Dubliners, with and without ornamentation. Sheet music is shown in the video.
  • Lesson – Liz Faiella: How to play King of the Fairies, Traditional Irish hornpipe, Fiddle tutorial – video tutorial
  • Lesson – Baron Collins-Hill (MandoLessons): The King Of The Fairies (With Tabs & Play Along Tracks) – Mandolin Lesson
• Additional Resources
  • Article – Jonathan Lay (TrailJams): Dorian, Mixolydian, Oh My: Modes in a Nutshell
  • Webpage – The Session: King of the Fairies – crowdsourced sheet music, comments, and other information
  • Webpage – irishtune.info: King of the Fairies – archival information about the tune, curated by Alan Ng