Free Irish Sheet Music
The Minstrel Boy
Free Irish sheet music "The Minstrel Boy" with guitar tabs in two keys, and as a lead sheet in seven keys. (If you are interested in a fleshed-out piano accompaniment, go to this page where there is a beautiful piano arrangement.)
This lovely melody makes a very nice instrumental or vocal solo, and the words pull at the heartstrings.
Please scroll down the page for the download links.
They fought like warrior-poets
As when the voice-over at the end of Braveheart says "they fought like warrior-poets", this is a song about a warrior, a soldier, a harper.
I love the words the minstrel says to his harp, "Thy songs were made for the pure and free - they shall never sound in slavery!" Then he breaks the strings rather than allow the enemy to capture it whole.
Black Hawk Down
From the movie Black Hawk Down (true story of a horrendous incident in Mogadishu during Bill Clinton's presidency), here is an audio of The Minstrel Boy:
FREEDOM!!!
The love of country, and especially the heroism of men embodied in this song, remind me of other Irish songs.
Actually, an awful lot of Irish songs do seem to be about battles for freedom, and DEFEAT. This song is about the faithfulness of a young man, a bard, a warrior-poet, with the final words sung to his harp.
Here is page two of the version with guitar tabs, available (at the bottom of the page) in both the keys of C and D:
Please scroll down the page for the download links.
Try finger-picking the chords
Fingerpicking is particularly beautiful and well-suited to this free Irish sheet music.
The key of D is easier for young guitarists, perhaps, unless they have mastered the F chord (to go with the key of C), but even the Bm and F#m chords in the key of D are not difficult with practice.
With Irish music, you are going to end up using the Bm chord pretty early on, so get with it!
Flat-pick in 2nd position
If your student wishes to flat-pick the melody in D, this is a good opportunity to explain "2nd position" to him. That is, using finger 1 in fret 2, finger 2 in fret 3, etc.
Lead sheets in multiple keys
And here are lead sheets for The Minstrel Boy, in seven keys. If you are interested in a fleshed-out piano accompaniment, go to this page where there is a beautiful piano arrangement.
Please scroll down the page for the download links.
Listen to this bagpiper! He's great!
The links to the guitar tabs:
Download "The Minstrel Boy" with guitar tabs in the key of C
Download "The Minstrel Boy" with guitar tabs in the key of D
The links to the lead sheets:
Download free Irish sheet music "The Minstrel Boy" in key of A
Download "The Minstrel Boy" in key of Bb
Download Irish music "The Minstrel Boy" in key of C
Download Irish music "The Minstrel Boy" in key of D
Download Irish music "The Minstrel Boy" in key of Eb
Download Irish music "The Minstrel Boy" in key of F
Download Irish music "The Minstrel Boy" in key of G
The piano arrangement:
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Comments
Music has such power to move the heart... do you have a story or a question about this music?
About the Author
Hi, I'm Dana! (Say that like "Anna".) I'm the owner of Music-for-Music-Teachers.com, and a newer site, SingTheBibleStory.com.
Like some of you, I've been playing the piano since early childhood, and have added a few other instruments along the way, plus an interest in arranging and composing music.
You can find out more about me and the reason for this website at my About Me page.
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