Boys of Bluehill -- mandola and mandolin

Boys of Bluehill -- mandola & mandolin
Boys of Bluehill is a pretty familiar and oft-played hornpipe -- perhaps some might say over played.
This is because it is considered "easy to play" and thus is often one of the first tunes most Celtic players learn and thus some feel it is "done to death". But one of the reason you hear it so much is that it is a great tune regardless of how often it is played! And it is a great favorite for dancers too.
It is often thought of as an Irish tune but I believe it came originally from Northumberland, the northern-most county of England. And of course it has many other names such as The Lads of North Tyne, or The Beaux of Oak Hill, or Mildew On My Mind and so forth.
Now as for those who think the Boys Of Bluehill is so easy (it is the fiddlers saying this) -- just for fun try it in the key of D on a mandola (or vilola) you'll get a much better work out I can assure you.
I am playing a mandola in this video -- and I am playing a long with a recording of the tune I made last year on the mandolin. I should have done it the other way around -- it is much harder to play in the key of D on the mandola compared to the mandolin so I had a hard time "keeping up with myself" LOL. The mandola part is an octave below the mandolin part.
Played at about 150 bpm on a 2009 Eastman MDA815 mandola with D'Addario J76 strings and a Wegen TF-120 pick and a 2007 Shue X-braced A-model mandolin with D'Addario J74 strings and a Wegen TF-140 pick.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Northumbian
• hornpipe
• Celtic
• fiddle
• tune
• Irish
• mandolin
• mandola
• Gibson
• Eastman
• Boys
• of
• Bluehill
• Blue
• hill
• Beaux
• Oak
• Hill
• ireland
• North
• England

[sayhelloALICE]

"like" you are great! <3kat

[Mandolin1944]

@sayhelloALICE And you are too kind!!! (<: Seriously thank you and I must say I was very impressed with you channel too!

[826loyd]

Incredibly beautiful, thanks for sharing this

brilliant piece. You're a great Mandolin player!

[Mandolin1944]

@826loyd For some reason I just noticed your comment and I certainly thank you for stopping by and for the compliment!! Not sure I did not see it before!

[fireflyxl5]

Great hornpipe, well played!

[Mandolin1944]

@fireflyxl5 Hi guys! Thanks so much. I have been living in our motor home the last two months and have not kept up with YouTube! Thanks for listening and it means a lot to hear from some great Celtic players like you two!!!

[fireflyxl5]

@Mandolin1944 Thanks for the kind words. Good to have you back! Please post more tunes soon.

[Mandolin1944]

@onewomanandsomesongs Thanks for listening and the complimentary comment Janet -- makes my day!!!

[onewomanandsomesongs]

Somehow, I missed some of your vids. This is just SO dang good! Love it. :) Janet

[sizefam4]

Nicely done Bernie! I was playing along with you! Fun stuff!