Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 474 (Dawn)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Reel32AABBA Major
Transcription of first 2 bars of Dawn
 about these two bars

These two bars are the start of my transcription of how this tune was played – the first time through – on the recording JC (details in the Discography below).

Where do you get the tune titles?
Titles given to this tune in the sources listed below (plus notes of mine about this tune):
Dawn, The / Bánú an Lae / Miller's Reel / Miller's / Fáinne an Lae / The Dawning of the Day (also in G or D) (compare 1st part with 1st part of Twilight in Portroe #2851)
What do the "track#tune" codes mean?

cd Discography

Here are all recordings of this tune considering only the indexed recordings. I have discovered by careful listening that these sources are in fact musically the same tune, regardless of the tune titles they use, key changes, retuning, etc. They are listed in order of when they were recorded.

Year
Recorded
Track
#Tune
[Album code] Artist. Title. Primary musicians (instruments). Album details
and contents
192920#1[BFair] various. Ballinasloe Fair. Early Recordings of Irish Music in America. View album details
19472#1[GD] various. From Galway to Dublin. Early Recordings of Traditional Irish Music. View album details
19612.21#1[SltSdt] various. Seoltaí Séidte. Setting Sail. View album details
~196210#1[JC] Joe Cooley. Cooley. Joe Cooley (accordion).View album details
~19935#3[JKn 2] James Keane. That's the Spirit. James Keane (accordion).View album details
~20025#3[BCw 1] Brian Conway. First through the Gate. Brian Conway (fiddle).View album details

Bibliography

Here are all transcriptions of this tune under any title whatsoever – considering only the indexed books – listed in chronological order. I have discovered by careful comparison that these are very similar to this tune as played on the recordings listed above.

As tune #52 in volume 1 of [B&S] D[avid] Bulmer and N[eil] Sharpley. Music from Ireland. 4 vols.
On page 189 of [FF] David Brody. The Fiddler's Fakebook. [available]
As reel #29 in [MM] Martin Mulvihill. First Collection of Traditional Irish Music.
On page 15 of [M] Phil Rubenzer. Midwestern Irish Session Tunes. 3rd Edition.
On page 20 of [M2] Phil Rubenzer. Midwestern Irish Session Tunes. Millennium Edition.

If you are considering using the above transcriptions to help you learn this tune, I invite you to check these practical Tips for Learning Irish Traditional Music. See also: So why do you bother indexing books and abc?

Year of the oldest source for this tune, considering the recordings and transcriptions listed above (note that I concentrate on sources after 1900): 1929