The Man of the House

Reel (Single), E Dorian, Traditional Irish
Also known as: Carthy’s; Paddy Carthy’s Reel

A popular session tune, The Man of the House is straightforward to learn and play, and it’s a tune that invites repetition and variation.

Recordings

• Video – Oran Irish Music: Oran – Man of The House Set – Man of The House / Julia Delaney’s / Sleepy Maggie
• Video – NicGaviskey: Reels: The Man of the House / The Blacksmith – from the album Home away from Home. Sean Gavin, Bernadette Nic Gabhann, Catlin Nic Gabhann, Sean McComiskey.
• Audio – Stephen Ducke: The Man of the House (Reel) – played on tin whistle. From the book Irish Music – 400 Traditional Tunes

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. See the About the Chords section below for insight into the chords used in this arrangement.

About the Chords
This arrangement includes some chords that might be unfamiliar. The Am7 and Dsus2 chords are quite easy to play on a guitar in standard tuning. As the chord diagrams here show, each chord just requires two fingers.

Sets

Examples of sets that include this tune.

• Come West Along the Road / The Man of the House / The Congress Reel
• The Old Bush / Castle Kelly / The Man of the House
• Castle Kelly / The Man of the House / Come West Along the Road
• The Ashplant / The Woman of the House / The Man of the House

References and Resources

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

• More Recordings
  • Video – Noel Hill & Tony Linnane: Anderson’s Reel / Carthy’s / Sweeney’s Dream (Remastered 2020) – from the album Noel Hill & Tony Linnane. The Man of the House (Carthy’s) begins at time 0:54 in this recording.
• Books
  • Book – Grey Larsen: 150 Gems of Irish Music for Tin Whistle – with audio tracks of the tunes played on tin whistle
  • Book – Stephen Ducke: Irish Music 400 Traditional Tunes
• Lessons
  • Lesson – Mari Black: Mari’s Tune of the Month – July 2018: Irish reel, “Man of the House” – fiddle demonstration, playing the tune with and without ornaments and variations.
  • Lesson – Shannon Heaton: Man of the House – #NameYerTune – taught phrase by phrase on flute.
  • Lesson – Marla Fibish (Peghead Nation): Irish Mandolin with Marla Fibish – lessons for playing the tune on mandolin. (Requires subscription to Peghead Nation.)
• Other Resources
  • Webpage: The Session: The Man of the House (Reel) – crowdsourced sheet music, comments, and other information
  • Webpage: The Irish Traditional Music Tune Index: Man of the House
  • Article: Dorian, Mixolydian, Oh My: Modes in a Nutshell, by Jonathan Lay, TrailJams