Sheehan’s Reel

Reel, G, traditional Irish
Also known as: Sheehan’s; The Black-Eyed Sailor

This traditional Irish reel is a popular session tune that has made its way into the New England fiddle tune and contra dance repertoires.

Recordings

• Audio – Comhaltas: Sheehan’s – session recording. From the album Foinn Seisiún Volume 1
• Video – Antoin Mac Gabhann and Caitlín Nic Gabhann: The Bellharbour Reel / Sheehan’s Reel – played on fiddle and concertina. Sheehan’s Reel starts at time 1:23 in this recording.
• Video – Rodney Miller: Sheehan’s Reel – played on fiddle

Dots (Music Notation)

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.

• Congress Reel Set: Sheehan’s Reel / The Congress / The Reconciliation
• Sheehan’s Reel / The Old Copperplate
• Sheehan’s / The Silver Spear
• Sheehan’s / Cameronian / Foxhunter’s (reel)
• The Bellharbour Reel / Sheehan’s Reel

References and Resources

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

• More Recordings
  • Video – Keyreel Raskolenko &Victor Livanov: Sheehan’s reel / Pigeon on the gate / The Boys Of Ballysodare – “Keyreel Raskolenko (fiddle) & Victor Livanov (guitar) playing the set of reels for fun in Vermel, Moscow.”
  • Audio: Lee Cremo Trio – Sheehan’s Reel / Pigeon on the Gate (medley) from the album Creation’s Journey: Native American Music
  • Audio (CD) – A Portland Play Along Selection: Sheehan’s (CD format, audio not available on line.) Betsy Branch, fiddle; Clyde Curley, mandolin, 4-string banjo, fiddle, guitar; Susan Songer, piano. Contra Dance Music in the Pacific Northwest.
• Books
  • Book – Comhaltas: Foinn Seisiún, Volume 1
  • Book – The Portland Collection, Volume 1 – Contra Dance Music in the Pacific Northwest. By Susan Songer with Clyde Curley.
• Lessons
  • Lesson – Online Academy of Irish Music: Sheehan’s Reel – tune taught on piano accordion, with video lesson, sheet music, and play-along tracks. Requires subscription to Online Academy of Irish Music. (Watch out for spelling if you search for the lessons — one is spelled with and the other without the apostrophe in “Sheehan’s”.)
  • Lesson – Jody Stecher: “Sheehan’s Reel” (part 1 of 2) – guitar flat-picking lesson video. Also see video “Sheehan’s Reel” (part 2 of 2) and for the full package of video with sheet music and tabs, see Jody Stecher’s Celtic Melodies for Flatpicking Guitar.
• Other Resources
  • Webpage – The Session: Sheehan’s (Reel) – crowdsourced sheet music, comments, and other information.
  • Webpage – The Traditional Tune Archive: Sheehan’s Reel – sheet music, archival information and more
  • Webpage – The Irish Traditional Music Tune Index: Sheehan’s– sheet music, archival information and more