Cooley's
Reel in E Dorian · difficulty 3 of 5
The story of Cooley's
Cooley's is named for Joe Cooley, the Galway box player whose wild, generous music made him a legend of the 1950s and 60s - though he almost certainly didn't write it. The strongest claim goes to Joe Mills, who played beside Cooley in the Aughrim Slopes Céilí Band and called the tune "Luttrell's Pass"; it has also gone by "The Tulla Reel". But Cooley played it so often, and so unforgettably, that the tradition simply renamed it after him.
That is how Irish music works: tunes drift toward the players who love them hardest. Today Cooley's is often the first big reel a learner takes on - dark, driving E Dorian, built from repeating patterns that settle into a whistle player's muscle memory faster than its speed suggests.
How to play Cooley's on tin whistle
Reels run in 4/4 with two big pulses to the bar. Keep the eighth notes even and let the emphasis, not extra speed, carry the drive.
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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