The Red-Haired Lass

Reel (single), G, traditional Irish
Also known as: Dipping The Sheep

The Red-Haired Lass is a lively Irish reel with a clear, memorable melody and strong rhythmic drive.

This reel is commonly played in G and D, with G major perhaps more widespread. It is also occasionally heard in A, particularly in fiddle settings. Its relatively compact range allows it to move easily between keys, making it a flexible and widely used tune in session sets.

Recordings

• Video – Eileen Ivers & John Whelan: The Red-Haired Lass / Paddy O’Brien’s / The Scholar – from the album Fresh Takes
• Video – Comhaltas: Red Haired Lass – from the album Foinn Seisiún 1: Traditional Irish Session Tunes, published by Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann
• Video – Patrick Madden and Friends: Miss Monaghan’s – Congress – Red Haired Lass – from the album Sounds of St Andrews. (Red Haired Lass starts at time 3:30 in this recording.)

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.

• Tarbolton Tea Set: The Red-Haired Lass (G) / The Tarbolton (E Dorian) / The Teetotaller (G, a.k.a. The Temperance Reel)
• The Musical Priest / The Red Haired Lass / Green Garters
• Miss Monaghan’s / The Congress Reel / Red Haired Lass
• The Red Haired Lass / Enchanted Lady / The Boys of Malin

References and Resources

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

• More Recordings
• Video – Fiddlehead: Blast of Wind – Hag at the Churn – The Burren – Tuttle’s – The Red-Haired Lass – from the album The Pure Drop (Olympia, Washington). (The Red-Hared Lass starts at time 5:40 in this recording.)
• Books
  • Book – Foinn Seisiún, Volume 1 — Published by Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann
  • Book & Audio – Stephen Ducke: Irish Music – 400 Traditional Tunes – sheet music with tin whistle recordings
• Lessons
  • Lesson – Sean Cunningham (whistletutor): The Red Haired Lass (Irish reel) tin whistle lesson – video lesson for tin whistle, teaching the tune phrase by phrase and adding ornamentation and variation. The tune is also demonstrated on flute.
  • Lesson – Hatao (hatao’s Irish tune of the day): 183 The Red Haired Lass (Reel, G Ionian) – video with on-screen sheet music and chords. Tune is played on flute.
  • Lesson – Shannon Heaton: Red Haired Lass [Reel] – Tune of the Month with Shannon Heaton – video lesson for flute, in the key of A major. Shannon plays particular attention for handling or avoiding G-sharp notes when playing the tune on a keyless flute.
  • Lesson – Pat Barton Accordion: How to play ‘The Red-Haired Lass’ – reel on Irish b/c Accordion – video showing the tune played slow and fast with ornamentation and variations.
• Additional Resources
  • Web page – The Session: The Red-Haired Lass – crowdsourced sheet music, comments and more
  • Web page – Irishtune.info: Red-Haired Lass – archival information about the tune, curated by Alan Ng