The Silver Spear

Reel, D, Traditional Irish

The Silver Spear is one of the most popular tunes played in Irish sessions. If you play Irish tunes with others, it’s bound to come up.

Recordings

• Video – Whistle Workshops – The Silver Spear (Reel) – played on tin whistle by Conor Lamb.
• Audio – Comhaltas: Silver Spear – session recording from the album Foinn Seisiún Volume 1

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.

• Silver Chair Reel Set: The Silver Spear / The Earl’s Chair/ The Musical Priest
• Far from Home Reel Set: Far from Home (G) / Silver Spear (D) / Star of Munster (A Dor)
• The Sally Gardens / Silver Spear / Humors of Tulla

References and Resources

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

• More Recordings
  • Video – Liz Carroll: The Silver Spear/The Earl’s Chair/The Musical Priest (Reels) from the album Lost in the Loop.
  • Audio – Olympia Traditional Music Sessions: The Silver Spear Set – session recording, Olympia, Washington. (The first tune is The Silver Spear.)
  • Audio – Andrea Verga: The Silver Spear – played on 5-string banjo in American old-time frailing style, with fiddle and uilleann pipes.
• Lessons
  • Video – Mikela Valenzuela: The Silver Spear reel – slow, medium, fast – tune played on fiddle.
  • Lesson – MandoLessons: The Silver Spear – full mandolin lesson taught by Baron Collins-Hill. Taught by ear, with sheet music, tab, chords and play-along tracks. (Free, with option to contribute or purchase tracks.)
  • Lesson – Shannon Heaton: Learning Irish Flute – Tune of the Month with Shannon Heaton – Silver Spear [Reel]
  • Soundslice Lessons – Enda Scahill: 5 Tunes for Irish Banjo – Simple and Ornate Versions – Soundslice lessons provide video with an animated musical score. This package includes simple and ornamented versions of 5 tunes including The Silver Spear. Taught on banjo, but also suitable for mandolin players. (Requires purchase of package.)
  • Soundslice Lesson – Whistleworkshops (Conor Lamb): The Silver Spear (Reel) – tin whistle lesson with video and animated musical score. (Free)
• Books
  • Book – Foinn Seisiún, Volume 1 — Published by Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann
  • Book – Learn to Play Irish Fiddle, by Tom Morley — sheet music with chords and audio example played on fiddle.
  • Book & Audio – Matt & Shannon Heaton: In Harmony  – sheet music with chords and audio example played on flute with guitar backup
  • Book – The Portland Collection, Volume 1, by Susan Songer with Clyde Curley
• Other Resources
  • Web page – The Session: The Silver Spear Reel – crowdsourced sheet music and information