My Darling Asleep

Jig, D, Traditional Irish
Tune of the Week: February 19, 2023; December 29, 2024

A sweet traditional Irish jig, popular in Irish sessions and for contra dances.

Recordings

• Audio – Fiddlehead: My Darling Asleep / Tenpenny Bit / Tobin’s Favorite – from the album Fiddlehead (Olympia, Washington, USA)
• Audio – Comhaltas: My Darling Asleep – from the album Foinn Seisiún Volume 1, published by Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann
• Video – Shane Farrell (Traditional Irish Music): My Darling Asleep Jig – played on tenor banjo

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.

Sets

Examples of sets that include this tune.

• Up the Stairs Jig Set: My Darling Asleep (D) / Donnybrook Fair (G) / Tripping Up the Stairs (D)
• My Darling Asleep Jig Set: My Darling Asleep (D) / Out on the Ocean (G) / The Moon and Seven Stars (D)
• My Darling Asleep / Munster Buttermilk / Tobin’s Favorite
• Connaughtman’s Rambles / My Darling Asleep

References and Resources

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

• More Recordings
  • Audio – Stephen Ducke: My Darling Asleep (Jig) – played on tin whistle. From the book Irish Music 400 Traditional Tunes.
• Books
  • Book – The Portland Collection, Volume 1 – Contra Dance Music in the Pacific Northwest. By Susan Songer with Clyde Curley.
  • Book – Foinn Seisiún, Volume 1 — Published by Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann. 
  • Book – Stephen Ducke: Irish Music 400 Traditional Tunes
  • Book – 100 Essential Irish Session Tunes, by Dave Mallinson (Mally Productions), with accompanying audio tracks.
  • Book – Complete Irish Fiddle Player, by Peter Cooper (Mel Bay Publications) – with accompanying audio tracks.
  • Book – Gary Coover: 75 Irish Session Tunes for Anglo Concertina (Rollston Press). One of a series of Anglo concertina tune books by this author. Available as a printed book a e-book.
• Lessons
  • Lesson – Sean Cunningham (whistletutor): My Darling Asleep – tin whistle video lesson with part-by-part breakdown and suggestions for ornamentation. (The tutorial starts at time 2:00 in the video. Tabs and sheet music on Patreon / whistletutor.)
  • Lesson – MandoLessons (Baron Collins-Hill): My Darling Asleep – taught on mandolin, with video, play-along tracks and sheet music
  • Lesson – Claire Shirey: My Darling’s Asleep Concertina Tutorial – video tutorial for concertina
  • Lesson – James Finnegan (TheBanjoBuddy): Learn My Darling Asleep – Trad Tutorial – video tutorial for tenor banjo
• Additional Resources
  • Webpage – North Atlantic Tune List: My Darling Asleep – sheet music, ABC notation, audio, video, and other tune information