Banish Misfortune
Jig in D Mixolydian · difficulty 4 of 5
The story of Banish Misfortune
The best-named jig in Irish music first appeared in print in P.W. Joyce's Ancient Irish Music (1873) as - of all things - "The Bag of Meal". It has also been "The Horse Under the Stairs". Where "Banish Misfortune" came from nobody can say: there are half-stories about Danes and Armada gold, none of them provable, all of them told anyway.
The tune earns its grand title. Three parts instead of the usual two, in D Mixolydian - major with a flattened seventh that gives it an ancient, weatherbeaten sound. It asks a little more of a whistle player than the beginner jigs do, mostly for its C naturals (the tab above shows the cross-fingering) - but learning it feels like being handed something old and slightly magic.
How to play Banish Misfortune on tin whistle
Jigs swing in 6/8: two lilting groups of three per bar. Get that pulse steady at a walking tempo before you push the speed.
The tab under the notes shows the whistle fingering for every note - filled circles are covered holes, and a + means the overblown octave. If you are new to stave notation, you can try reading the stave and tab together which gradually will make you learn the notation.
Start slow with a metronome getting the base melody right. As the fingers learn the tune, try adding some ornaments and gradually increase the tempo without losing control.
Notation is sourced from The Session, the community archive of traditional music.
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