intro
Welcome to November Online!
Deep dive into Clare musicians.
- Keep Her Lit
- Jigs
- Week 1: Priest in his Boots
- Week 2: Kitty Lie Over
- Week 3: Paidhin O’Rafferty’s Jig (2025 September week 2)
- Week 4: The Sunday Set (Jigs)
- Reels
- Week 1: The Sunday Set
- Week 2: Clare Battering – Mick’s Banner
- Week 3: Clare Battering – $500
- Week 4: Clare Battering – Aidan
Week by Week
| Woodshed | Keep Her Lit | Speed & Craic | |
| Week 1 | 3 Paddy Fahy’s Jig/Sean Ryan’s | 5 Priest in his Boots The Sunday Set | 7 Martin Hayes (fiddle) Spotify |
| Week 2 | 10 The Galway Rambler, The London Lasses | 12 Kitty Lie Over / Kitty Lie Over as a Reel Clare Battering – Mick Banner Step | 14 Kitty Hayes (fiddle) |
| Week 3 | 17 Mick: Dance At Home from the Step for Sets video | 19 Clare Battering – Mick $500 | 21 Peadar O’Loughlin (flute) |
| Week 4 | 24 The Crooked Road / The Foxhunter’s Reel | 26 The Sunday Set (Jigs) Clare Battering – Aidan | 28 Paddy Canny (fiddle) |
playlist
On this tab you will find playlists for the music, sets and video lessons for the whole course.
- Spotify Playlist – music
All videos for this months course
week 1
Woodshed
Paddy Fahy’s Jig (also called Fahey’s Favourite, Paddy Fahey’s Jig #1), Sean Ryan’s Jig (also called Gallagher’s, The Lonely, Martin’s)
Keep Her Lit
Speed & Craic
- Martin Hayes – This is a page on Martin. You will find a link to the fablous article that I mentioned from Fiddlers Magazine (1994).
- Master List Improvisation and Step Creation Tools
This weeks elements
- Priest in his Boots
- jump hop shuffle
- tip cross
- side step
- hop shuffles
- kick
- circle
- grapevine
- The Sunday Set
- stamp
- connemara
- heel downs
- shuffle downs
- double shuffle with heel drop (Madness)
- toe toe heel
- cross movements (Ronan)
- Meave (heel and stab)
- Mick A & R – 123 | ball drop step | step shuffle drop step, ball drop drop
- Clare – floor shuffle
- Tricky – 12 movement, heel heel ball ball (extra beats)
- Hips
- Wille heel slap 12 | delay slap | 4/5 heels | Shuffle backs
- Jig elements
- 1 beat movements
- 2 beat movements
- 3 sound
- 4 sound
week 2
week 3
Woodshed
Mick’s dance at home step from the steps for sets video. Here are my notes for the Step for Sets video. I was playing around a bunch and found that this track was very nice with the step and slow. It’s a hornpipe, but it sounds great. Mary MacNamara The Humours of Tullycrine / Mikey Callaghan’s (hornpipes)
11-17-2025 Woodshed Zoom Class Video
Steps for Sets with Mick Mulkerrin and Mairéad Casey (link to notes)
- Steps for Sets with Mick Mulkerrin and Mairéad Casey
- Step 1 – Connemara Step
- Step 2 – Polka Advance & Retire Knocknagree, Cork (Sliabh Luachra)
- Step 3 – Clare Avance & Retire Simple
- Step 4 – Clare – Advance & Retire ending
- Step 5 – Clare – Advance & Retire coming back with double heels
- Demo – Steps 3-5 with music
- Step 6 – Clare Advance & Retire (Mick)
- Step 7 – Clare House at Home (Basic)
- Step 8 – Clare House at Home (“adding a couple of extra beats”)
- Step 9 – Clare Jig Step Advance & Retire (heel hit and double shuffle)
- Step 10 – Clare Hornpipe Advance Step
- Step 11 – Cavan Reel Step
- Demo – Sean-nós Dancing – Trip to Kilfanora
- Caledonian Set – for links to each figure click here.
Keep Her Lit
- Paidhin O’Rafferty’s Jig (I think we just did the $500 step)
- Clare Battering – $500
Speed & Craic
week 4
Woodshed
- The Crooked Road / The Foxhunter’s Reel – Martin Hayes
- Under the Moon – Whole Album
In this Zoom class we covered “The Crooked Road / The Foxhunter’s Reel” from Under the Moon by Martin Hayes. Edith noted that this track sits right around 126 bpm.
About the Album
“Martin returned to County Clare to record Under the Moon, gaining the accompaniment of his father, famed fiddler P.J. Hayes, and guitarist Steve Cooney. He is also joined by his American musical partners, accordion virtuoso John Williams and Portland guitarist/fiddler Randal Bays. This album contains all the spirit and eloquence of his eponymous debut and adds even more passion. No one can get inside a tune–be it barndance, jig, or reel–like Martin Hayes. Under the Moon is an album that stirs the heart and electrifies the mind!” – (Compas records)
No wonder the guitar caught my attention so much during class—it’s Randal Bays! He also plays guitar on Martin’s first album. It was a bit hard to hear the guitar clearly on Zoom, so if you can, go back and listen to the recording. It’s just gorgeous. Also I don’t have liner notes anymore and Steve is also on the Album but just from listening I’m pretty sure it’s Randal on that track.
A Note on Speed
Katrina asked a great question about tempo: Are we trying to get up to 120 bpm?
For my own dancing, when I’m at a session, reels are usually a bit slower—often 110–115 bpm. At a céilí, the tempo can be closer to 120 bpm, sometimes a touch faster depending on the musicians.
On stage, though—and this is where I personally get into trouble—the tempos can really take off. This often happens when I’m invited to hop in on the last tune of the night. The band is warmed up and flying, and if I’m not warmed up or haven’t been practicing at those higher speeds, I can find myself struggling.
So what I’m really saying is: I like to be prepared for those situations. I want to know what I can comfortably pull off before I’m standing on stage in front of a crowd. If I haven’t been dancing at those tempos for a few months, I can find myself in a bit of a pickle!
Keep Her Lit
- The Sunday Set (Jigs)
- Clare Battering – Aidan