The Porthole of the Kelp

Reel, D Dorian
By Bobby Casey (1926-2000)
TrailJams Tune of the Week: February 8, 2026

With its steady center on the pitch of D, this Irish reel has a hypnotic and meditative groove. The tune was composed by Bobby Casey (1926 – 2000) of County Clare, Ireland.

D Dorian

Being entirely in D Dorian, the tune uses only the notes of the C scale, and fits nicely on a C tin whistle. If you are a bit hazy on the Dorian mode, see the article “Dorian, Mixolydian, Oh My: Modes in a Nutshell” for a brief and friendly explanation.

The Kelp and its Porthole

The Kelp, as Bobby Casey tells it, was the name of a ship. He and his cousin encountered the Kelp aground on the beach at Spanish Point, on the coast of County Clare, Ireland. His cousin kept one of the ship’s portholes as a souvenir, and it was that keepsake that inspired Bobby to name this tune “The Porthole of the Kelp.”

There are records of a 127-foot steel-hulled cargo ship named the Kelp that wrecked at Spanish Point in 1916. The Kelp may have been a sailing schooner or (as the illustration above suggests) a steam-powered freighter. The shipwreck occurred ten years before Bobby Casey’s birth, and is probably the ship he refers to.

Recordings

• Video – P.J. Hayes & Martin Hayes: The Porthole of the Kelp / The Maids of Mitchelstown Reels – from the album The Shores of Lough Graney
• Video – Renee Doucet and Seph Peters: The Porthole Set (The Porthole of the Kelp & Cutting a Slide) – played on fiddle with guitar. The Porthole of the Kelp is played in D Dorian. (The second tune, Cutting a Slide, is  a Phil Cunningham composition.)
• Audio – Jon Antonsson: Porthole of the Kelp (Reel Dm) – played on flute in D Dorian, slowly and then at dance tempo. From the album Tunes & Tools To Learn Irish Music Vol​.​1. The same recording also available as a video.

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.

• Kelp Reel Set: Sergeant Early’s Dream (D Dorian) / The Porthole of the Kelp (D Dorian) / The Maids of Mitchelstown (D Dorian)
• The Porthole of the Kelp / The Maids of Mitchelstown
• The Porthole of the Kelp / The Exile of Erin — (Tucson, AZ set)
• The Raivlin Reel / The Porthole of the Kelp / The Boy in the Boat — (Olympia, WA set)

References and Resources

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

• More Recordings
  • Video – Tergal14 Mandolin: Irish Mandolin tunes. Porthole of the Kelp – played on mandolin
  • Audio – Bobby Casey: The Porthole of the Kelp — Bobby Casey plays the tune (on fiddle, in D Dorian) and then talks about its title. Archived from the radio program Céilí House from the 1970s on RTÉ, Raidió Teilifís Éireann, Ireland’s national public service media organization.
  • Video – Warbelow Range: Porthole of the Kelp – Garech’s Wedding – O’Rourke’s: Warbelow Range @ FSAF 2018 – played in E Dorian
• Lessons
  • Lesson – Cayley Schmid: Porthole of the Kelp – instruction for playing the tune on fiddle. Played in D Dorian.
  • Lesson – Aodan Coyne: Porthole Of The Kelp – DADGAD Guitar Tutorial – video tutorial for playing backing rhythm on DADGAD guitar
• Other Resources
  • Webpage – The Session: Porthole of the Kelp (Reel) – crowdsourced sheet music, comments, and other information
  • Webpage – The Irish Traditional Music Tune Index: Porthole of the Kelp
  • Webpage – Henrik Norbeck’s ABC Tunes: Porthole of the Kelp, The – sheet music and ABC notation for the tune
  • Article: Dorian, Mixolydian, Oh My: Modes in a Nutshell, by Jonathan Lay, TrailJams
  • Shipwreck Information
    • Web page – Irish Shipwrecks: Kelp – record of the 127.4 foot, steel-hulled sailing schooner Kelp wrecked at Spanish Point in 1916.
    • Web page – Irish Wrecks Online: Wrecks off Co. Clare – record of the 127.5 foot schooner Kelp stranded and wrecked at Spanish Point in 1916.