My first video about the Bible and theology. This is a careful study of John 6, focusing on the question whether certain verses in John 6 constitute "proof texts" for the doctrine of transubstantiation, i.e., that the real body and blood of Christ are found in the Eucharist (Communion, Lord's Supper). I maintain that, so far from being proof texts, when put in their proper context, the strange and cryptic statements Jesus makes in the chapter have a purpose directly contrary to the doctrine. Catholic, Orthodox, and Lutheran believers need to take full account of the statement that "the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing" (v63). In context, what does this say about "the body and blood of the Lord"?

First ChatGPT-4 said there’s no evidence Margaret Sanger (no relation! At all!) was pro-abortion later in life. Then I added an custom instruction telling GPT to tell me the answer straight up first, then contextualize. Next, I opened a new chat (so this instruction would be followed) and asked the same question. It gave me a different answer, implying that she warmed to abortion later in life; and it gave the earlier answer a “B” for accuracy!

Playlist coming soon

Playlist coming

More session tunes. Five reels now reasonably close (but not always the same) to the settings in Bulmer and Sharpley’s tunebook Music of Ireland, vol. 1.

Paddy Canny’s
The Bunch of Keys
The Morning Dew
The Yellow Tinker
The Trip to Durrow

Tunelist coming

Tunelist coming

Why you should check out three mobile apps—Tecarta Bible, YouVersion Bible, and Bible Hub. I explain what's good about them. I use all three quite often. Explained for a Bible study group, but many people might find these useful.

The Devil's Dream (reel)
McConnell's (barndance)
John Byrne's (single jig)
The Glory Reel
The Mad Jig

Here are some tunes from Donegal fiddler James Byrne's classic Claddagh Records album, "The Road to Glenlough." Taught/played at three speeds as usual:
Con McGinley's (reel) - slow med fast
Paddy Hiúdaí’s Slip Jig (aka James Byrne's) - slow med fast
Paddy Hiúdaí’s (aka Darby Gallagher's March) - slow med fast
The Fickle Lad (double jig) - slow med fast
Muineál A’ Bhardail (aka The Drake's Neck; reel) - slow med fast
The Road to Glenlough (waltz) - slow med fast

Three reels that play around the low E:
Bowe's Favourite (Brendan Mulhaire's):
Sandy Jones' Reel:
Beare Island Reel:

Here's an unusual 7-part tune, that is more or less a hornpipe, but apparently the music for something called the "sand jig," danced in 19th century minstrel shows by the eponymous Kitty O'Neil. Not sure how Tommy Peoples got the title "Kitty O'Shea's." I learned this from his 1995 "Iron Man" CD.

Three unusually great slip jigs, played at slow, medium (or "dance"), and faster speed. They are:

Up and Down: slow | med | fast
Ride a Mile: slow | med | fast
The Humours of Whiskey: slow | med | fast

Well, you don't have to agree with me that they are "unusually great," and I am very highly disposed to find most slip jigs unusually great, but these are all great even for slip jigs, in my opinion. The first two are tunes I believe I learned as much from sheet music as anywhere else, and are given more or less in "my own" approach here. Probably I found "Up and Down" in O'Neill's or Ryan's Mammoth Collection, and I probably picked some features of "Ride a Mile" from the playing of Andy McGann, if I'm not mistaken. As to the third tune, this setting of the popular Donegal tune "The Humours of Whiskey" mostly comes from Francie Dearg Byrne.

Neat slip jig I stumbled upon in Cole’s 1000 Fiddle Tunes (later reprinted in O’Neill’s 1001). Deserves a wider hearing, in my opinion.

Three reels learned from Altan’s great album, “The Red Crow.”

Reels: Yellow Tinker/Lady Montgomery/The Merry Harriers
Single jig: Con Cassidy’s / Slip jig: Dusty Miller

Learned from Altan’s “The Red Crow”

Dark Corners - The Blossom Of Ballisland - The Kings Inn

Three beautiful jigs, compositions of master fiddler James Kelly, from whom you can get lessons online. I took a lesson from him myself, in Alaska in 1997 or so, though I doubt he remembers that. Remember the beginner who was into Donegal fiddle, James? I played a hornpipe fast and you told me to slow it down. That was me.

I play the jigs here with James’ eponymous CD, which you can get directly from the man himself at JamesKellymusic.com.

The book is also published more recently under the name Ryan's Mammoth Collection. I recorded these last year and just never got around to editing the rather long video. But here it is. These are mostly tunes I haven't heard from elsewhere so you can hear what is pretty my own style as opposed to my "takes" on the styles of other people.

Tunelist
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Reels:
The Witch of the Wave - slow 1:30 med 2:32 fast 3:54 faster 4:58
Jenny Danged the Weaver - slow 6:11 med 6:59 fast 8:10
The Jolly Seven - slow 10:39 med 12:30 fast 15:05
The Seven-Up Reel - slow 17:12 med 18:43 fast 20:44
Jenny Nettle's Fancy - slow 23:13 med 24:04 fast 25:12

Double jigs:
The Morgan Rattler - slow 27:11 med 28:27 fast 30:10
My Pretty, Fair Maid - slow 32:58 med 33:58 fast 35:10
Three-jig set:
Bottle of Brandy - slow 37:47 med 43:08 fast 48:18 (version of "The Leg of the Duck")
Little Brown Jug - slow 39:10 med 44:38 fast 49:54 (unrelated to the song)
Bully for You - slow 41:17 med 46:43 fast 51:29 (also a version of "The Leg of the Duck")
Puss in the Corner - slow 53:37 med 55:12 fast 57:51

Slip jig:
Jack on the Green - slow 59:57 med 1:01:07 fast 1:02:18

Hornpipe:
Jinrikisha - slow 1:04:37 med 1:06:21 fast 1:08:29

The first two are reels from Josephine Keegan, titled "Ronnie Cooper" and "The Gates of Mullagh." I still don't know what the names of the jigs are (anyone? Brid??).

First of two recordings of tunes learned from an old radio program of Brid Harper’s playing. She’s one of my favorite players. Hi Brid! (She’s on YouTube.)

These are:
Shamrock Hill (reel, comp. Sean Ryan)
The Old Road to Garry (reel, comp. Paddy O’Brien of Tipperary)

Tailor’s Twist (hornpipe)
Unknown hornpipe

The last Two of a bunch of reels, mostly, that James Byrne recorded for me about 20 years ago. Played with a recording of him, then taught slowly.