>... >| The tune is 'Mike Hoban's Air' and is located in a slightly separated >| manner at the bottom of the list of tunes on that page. > >It's a nice tune, and it's in A dorian. This is the most common >"minor" mode in traditional Irish and Scottish music, which is why it >probably sounds Irish to your ears.
To figure this out for yourself, first decide where the tonic is. In this case it's easy, since every line of the tune ends on a sustained A, and the tune spends twice as much time on the note of A as any other note. If you know the tonic is A and the key signature is one sharp, you can look up the mode in this table: Key Sig Major Minor Mix Dor Phr Lyd Loc Ionian Aeolian 7 sharps: C# A#m G#Mix D#Dor E#Phr F#Lyd B#Loc 6 sharps: F# D#m C#Mix G#Dor A#Phr BLyd E#Loc 5 sharps: B G#m F#Mix C#Dor D#Phr ELyd A#Loc 4 sharps: E C#m BMix F#Dor G#Phr ALyd D#Loc 3 sharps: A F#m EMix BDor C#Phr DLyd G#Loc 2 sharps: D Bm AMix EDor F#Phr GLyd C#Loc 1 sharp : G Em DMix ADor BPhr CLyd F#Loc 0 sharps: C Am GMix DDor EPhr FLyd BLoc 1 flat : F Dm CMix GDor APhr BbLyd ELoc 2 flats : Bb Gm FMix CDor DPhr EbLyd ALoc 3 flats : Eb Cm BbMix FDor GPhr AbLyd DLoc 4 flats : Ab Fm EbMix BbDor CPhr DbLyd GLoc 5 flats : Db Bbm AbMix EbDor FPhr GbLyd CLoc 6 flats : Gb Ebm DbMix AbDor BbPhr CbLyd FLoc 7 flats : Cb Abm GbMix DbDor EbPhr FbLyd BbLoc Phil Taylor To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html