Fasten The Leggin’ – Learn Irish Tunes

Fasten The Leggin'

Tips

Listen to the audio track first. It’s always good to have the melody in your head before you start.
In this lesson, I remind you that you don’t always have to do the rolls. Just because you
can, doesn’t mean you should. Let the tune breathe. Let it have space to breathe with
some long notes here and there.
A note on rolls: the notes within the roll aren’t important. It’s the timing of the rhythm,
where the emphasis lies - that is what is important.
Remember that you set your own pace. Try not to feel pressured into playing faster just to keep up.
What we're aiming for here is flow and feeling, and you can only hope for that if you're
totally relaxed, and totally comfortable.
So, don't play faster than you're ready for.
Set your own pace, slow down the audio track and play along with it.... Swing, flow, feeling.
Set of Tunes you can learn here on the website:
Wandering Minstrel
Fasten the Leggin
Coleman’s Cross

pair this tune with

Story Behind The Tune

This is an old jig, found in the Canon Goodman Collection of the mid 1800s, Ryans Mammoth Collection in of 1883 and in O’Neills Collection of 1907. It was first recorded on cylinder by piper Patsy Touhy in 1919, and later by Michael Coleman, who played it after The Wandering Minstrel, which is also available to learn here on the website. That was an influential recording as the two tunes are still frequently played together. A Leggin is a form of long boot or shin covering.

It is also sometimes called Fasten the Leg in Her, which is perhaps a reference to horse racing or urging a horse forward.