Annotation:Pat Tuohey’s Reel
X:1 T:Pat Tuohey’s Reel R:reel H:Also played single D:Paddy Glackin: Ceol ar an bhFidil le Paddy Glackin Z:id:hn-reel-171 Z:transcribed by henrik.norbeck@mailbox.swipnet.se M:C| L:1/8 K:Edor BE~E2 BAFA|D2FD ADFA|BE~E2 BAFA|Bdeg feed| |1 BE~E2 BAFA|DEED ADFA|B2~E2 BAFA|Bdeg feed:| |2 BEdE cEBE|AD (3FED ADFA|BE~E2 FAFA|Bdeg feed|| |:e2ge gege|degf agfg|e2ge Bege|defa geed| e2ge Bege|defg a2ga|bgaf gfed|Bdeg feed:| P:“Variations of 1st part:” BEdE cEBE|AD (3FED ADFA|BE~E2 BAFA|Bdeg feed| (3Bcd cA BE~E2|AD (3FED A,DFA|BE~E2 BAFA|Bdeg feed| ~E3D EGBG|AD (3FED dAFA|BE~E2 BAFA|Bdeg feed| BEdE cEBE|AD (3FED ADFA|BE~E2 BAFA|Bdeg feed||
PAT TUOH(E)Y'S REEL ("Seisd Padraic Ui Toicig," "Cor Padraig Ui Tuata" or "Rogha Phádraig Uí Thuathaigh"). AKA - "Patsy Twohey's/Tuoh(e)y's Favourite." AKA and see “Coillte Críona (An),” "Donal a' Clumper's Reel," “Gleanntán Reel (5) (The)," "Tuohey's Favorite Reel.” Irish, Reel. E Dorian (Miller & Perron, Mulvihill, O'Neill/1850): E Minor (Breathnach, O'Neill/Krassen). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Breathnach): AA'B (Mulvihill, O'Neill): AA’BB’ (Miller & Perron). The title "Patsy Tuohy's" is also used for another tune, a jig. Breathnach (1963) states that O’Neill prints two settings, and that the one given in Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody (1922, No. 309) as "Tuohey's Favorite Reel " is a special setting taken from a manuscript of Patrick J. Tuohey’s (1865-1923, note last name spelling) who was a gifted Irish piper living in Chicago. Captain Francis O’Neill called him “the genial wizard of the Irish (uilleann) pipes.” Oddly enough, says Breathnach, the first part is faulty and the second belongs with “Jenny's Wedding.” Irish researcher Conor Ward finds this Waifs and Strays version recorded by accordion player Frank Quinn in December, 1923 (the year after O'Neill's volume was issued, notes Ward), in a medley with "New Found Out (1) (The)" (albeit both under the one title, "New Found Out").
Tuohey emigrated from County Galway at the age of four and was raised in South Boston before making a name for himself on the vaudeville stage and touring all over the United States. The piper became a star of vaudeville theaters in New York and other cities with large Irish immigrant populations, and he combined authentic Irish music with stage burlesques and some American tunes thrown in as well. During one appearance, at the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904, he happened to be seen by the famous Irish tenor, John McCormack, who also performed at the fair. McCormack, however, became so incensed over Tuohey’s and other Irish vaudeville antics that he left in a “well-publicized huff” and did not return to the United States for another five years (Ó hAllmhuráin, 1998). Tuohey again shared the bill with McCormack at the New Orleans fair of 1911, and once more the two star performers clashed over Tuohey's insistence on doing his famed paddywhackery routine called 'Mike and Pat', and, while the routine was popular with audiences it was offensive caricature in McCormack's eyes.
In addition to being a virtuoso piper, Tuohey had other talents: at a Gaelic League Function of 1901 in Springfield, Massachusetts, he regaled the dancers with what was probably the turn of the century equivalent of Riverdance, replete with theatrical flourishes and crowd-pleasing decoration. Tuohey was one of the first Irish musicians to recognize the potential of the new recording technology, and waxed the reels “Miss MacLeod's Reel” and “Flogging Reel (The)” on a cylinder around the turn of the century. Continuing to experiment with the commercial possibilities of wax cylinder recordings, by 1901 he was selling tunes at a dozen for $10. See also the related “Kiltycreen” and “Turnisky Lasses.”
