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“Health to the Ladies” (a.k.a. “Irishman’s Heart to the Ladies”) is a well-known Irish fiddle tune, but for whatever reason, I can’t find much about its origins or history.
It’s a jig that has been popular in North America since the late 19th and early 20th centuries, though as usual that doesn’t mean it originated on this side of the Atlantic. Most likely, the song as we know it evolved from a similar tune (or tunes) brought from the Old World. Name changes over the years make these things difficult to trace.
It is typically played in the key of A, though that gets transposed up to D on ukulele.
“Health to the Ladies” Playing Tips
This is a lovely, flowing jig that has very little breathing room, making it tricky for a beginner to play at higher tempos. When I play jigs, I’m typically focusing on what I like to think of as the melodic landmarks, the breaks in the triplet rhythm that serve as little landing zones before you launch into the next phrase.
Unfortunately, “Health to the Ladies” doesn’t have many of those. There is a single break in the rhythm at the end of each four-bar phrase, but that’s it. Luckily, while “Health to the Ladies” is technically a double jig because the final measure of each four-bar phrase is different, those four-bar phrases otherwise repeat. The tune structurally then is very similar to a single jig, which means less to memorize to master it.
If all of those unbroken triplets are too much for you at first, I’ve also created a simplified arrangement. It takes the rhythm of the final measure in each phrase and applies it to every measure in the song, creating a lot more empty space in the tune to hopefully keep you on track.
Click the link or the ‘Download’ button below to see the sheet music if your browser doesn’t display the embedded PDF. The simplified arrangement is the second download button. Happy picking
“Health to the Ladies” Low G Sheet Music Download
“Health to the Ladies (Simplified)” Low G Sheet Music Download
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