Tune Books

[m3838]

In my search for tune books I ran into some frustration.

Too many tune book writers think that the more tunes they pack into the book - the better job they do.

As a result we have a book with 100 Irish tunes, or 300 Contra Dance tunes...

I'm of the opinion that it is better to have smaller collection, more diverse, well chosen, with variations (perhaps local) and arranged, so a player can concentrate better instead of surfing through 100 tunes, most of which may be there simply to make a number.

Included CD is, obviously, great help too, esp. for those, who are new to the tunes, and just reading them from the dots may not do them justice.

I'd say, 10 tunes with arrangements and a CD will do better than 100 single melody lines in a thick book.

No?

[Fiddlehead Fern]

I have a weakness for music books and CDs, and I've ended up with a sizeable collection.

I understand what you mean about lots of tunes, I have several like that. So far I've never found anything with different variations of the same tunes, although I have seen book and CD combos that have some different ornaments on the CD that aren't in the book. I think some of it is trying to encourage individual players to add their own ornament and/or style to the songs.

I often end up taking bits and pieces that I like of tunes that I find in different books and hear off of CDs and splicing togehter my own version of the tune.

 

I like to have a history of the song along with it, since it make life a bit easier when one is playing historical music with a certain time period in mind. Of course, that has nothing to do with the original topic!

[m3838]

I have a weakness for music books and CDs, and I've ended up with a sizeable collection.

I understand what you mean about lots of tunes, I have several like that. So far I've never found anything with different variations of the same tunes, although I have seen book and CD combos that have some different ornaments on the CD that aren't in the book. I think some of it is trying to encourage individual players to add their own ornament and/or style to the songs.

 

I think it's just simply a book, put together in unnecessary haste. Without musician taking care to play like it's written, or the writer explaning the track on the CD.

I like to have a history of the song along with it, since it make life a bit easier when one is playing historical music with a certain time period in mind.

 

That would be good too.

So far the best tutors/tune books are by french players and from Trad magazine. (Actually I just bought one. Will see if it lives up to expectations). All my accordion repertore is from Trad.

So it looks like despite of abundance of Tune books of every kind, the niche is still wide open for a thoughtful individula to offer something with more value:

A book that has a tune per page, with short history, several transcriptions, aplicable to different tranditional instruments, a few variations and a suggested arrangement or two. And a CD that closely matches the written, or if not, explanation and excercise is given. Something close to Dave Mallinson Accordion Method. Only Dave's books are tutors and they more centered on developing skills, rather than on tunes themselves.

Of course I'm talking about traditional, folk music. Classical adaptations is entirely different matter.

[bellowbelle]

In my search for tune books I ran into some frustration.

Too many tune book writers think that the more tunes they pack into the book - the better job they do.

As a result we have a book with 100 Irish tunes, or 300 Contra Dance tunes...

I'm of the opinion that it is better to have smaller collection, more diverse, well chosen, with variations (perhaps local) and arranged, so a player can concentrate better instead of surfing through 100 tunes, most of which may be there simply to make a number.

Included CD is, obviously, great help too, esp. for those, who are new to the tunes, and just reading them from the dots may not do them justice.

I'd say, 10 tunes with arrangements and a CD will do better than 100 single melody lines in a thick book.

No?

 

I have discovered that I only want to use spiral-bound songbooks or tune books, so the page I'm on will stay open without me hammering it open. And, I don't want too many pages to have to leaf through, since I usually have very sore hands and a huge book is too awkward and weighty.

 

And a CD with a book....that's a real plus.

[Chris Timson]

Of course, the newsletter of the ICA, which comes out 3 or 4 times a year, is always accompanied by a nicely produced music supplement. This has covered topics such as English session tunes, traditional music from Sweden, tunes of Will Atkinson, asorted classical arrangements and more. The next issue, due out this month, will have two sections: tunes by Anne Gregson (my partner, so I declare an interest) and Dutch traditional music, provided by Pauline de Snoo. We'll be putting recordings of all Anne's tunes up on our web site in the next few days, in time for the supplement.

 

The supplements build up over time to an interesting and very varied resource, and are a real benefit for ICA members. Credit to Jon McNamara in particular who puts a lot of time into their preparation and gets a very professional finish to the type setting.

 

Chris

[Fiddlehead Fern]

I don't have a lot of books that have CDs with them, I usually just use whatever recordings of the piece I like. I do have one accompaniment CD that is very precise in folwing the written music, but it sounds dreadful. I use the book a lot though, since it has a good history of the tunes, but painfully basic arraingements. I figure it's practice for ading ornaments.

 

Spiral books are nice, I am expecially grateful to them after trying to read something out of O'Neil's Dance Music of Ireland. Talk about hard to use! That one is hard to find tunes, hard to read and doesn't stay open. But I still use it because it has some good stuff in it.

[Leo]

I have a few PA books from when I played as a child, and a couple of tune books of general folk music from the 60's. Nothing else.

 

I've found the internet as good a resource for music as can be had anywhere and getting bigger every day. I've downloaded about 30 tunes I like in MIDI format, and can read the notes on the screen. A few sites have it in ABC, and I have the PDF or JPG file created by the sites and have that saved. At last count I have about 10 MP3's to hear how it's "supposed" to sound.

 

Once or twice I had a need to take it with me without my computer, so I printed 5 or 6 to take along.

 

There are 8 music videos saved from Youtube and the like, so I can see also.

 

All of it can be put on a CD, DVD, or MP3 player. Somehow the books are now gathering dust on the shelf and haven't been opened in a while.

 

Thanks

Leo

[m3838]

I have a few PA books from when I played as a child, and a couple of tune books of general folk music from the 60's. Nothing else.

 

I've found the internet as good a resource for music as can be had anywhere and getting bigger every day. I've downloaded about 30 tunes I like in MIDI format, and can read the notes on the screen. A few sites have it in ABC, and I have the PDF or JPG file created by the sites and have that saved. At last count I have about 10 MP3's to hear how it's "supposed" to sound.

 

Once or twice I had a need to take it with me without my computer, so I printed 5 or 6 to take along.

 

There are 8 music videos saved from Youtube and the like, so I can see also.

 

All of it can be put on a CD, DVD, or MP3 player. Somehow the books are now gathering dust on the shelf and haven't been opened in a while.

 

Thanks

Leo

 

 

What's good about the good book and bad about the good Internet, is that a good book is put together with an "idea" in mind, with good arrangement, and a method.

A good Internet provides tons of hap-hazard information. You never know if the transcription is right, if the arrangement correctly written, if it will fit the instrument. I have given up on tune books, I think most of them are tooth groundingly mediocre, and like you, use Internet for everything. But I have to sift through piles of dust with may be, 10% effectiveness.

As far as quality goes, Trad Magazine stands alone so far. I can recommend Bernard Loffett's website for many transcriptions and recordings of many very beautiful French tunes. It goes with tablature for C/G accordion, of course.

[Steve the beginner]

I'm on the same page as Leo.

 

It takes me about 5 minutes to make a .midi file from a piece of sheet music. Once this is done, the tune can be heard exactly as it is written. Occassionally I like one enough to bother with learning it.

 

The versatility of .midi means I can:

Transpose the tune into another key,

Improve/amend parts of the tune (eg, if the written arrangement I happen to have differs from a more popular or more familiar arrangement)

Speed or slow the tempo of the tune to taste.

 

Then I can listen to any/all variations, and

Print as staff notation the final (or any) version so I can learn the tune. (I keep them all, even if I HATE a tune, once the few minutes is taken to .midi it, it will be stored, not deleted.

 

I prefer to scan sheet music, keeping it all in computer as .png files in "my pictures". Then I can bring them up on the laptop screen as a slideshow anytime to read. Anytime I have my laptop, I have rapid access to what would be a pile of sheet music (cataloged by name/genre/favourite/however I like) and while I don't live my life with a laptop open in front of me, there is no hardship in anytime I am able to pull out concertina & practise, to also have the laptop open & read from it.

[David Levine]

There are plenty of good music books that don't "cram" tunes into the book - though I like having as many tunes as possible. Tune books should be used as reference points, not to give you The Definitive Version. If you don't have a solid grounding in traditional music then it's very difficult to play the tunes properly just from the dots. You should be listening to music and finding tunes that appeal to you, then augment your learning by ear by filling in the tricky parts by the dots. The more you do it the easier it gets.

The Armagh Pipers' Club publishes a wonderful short book.

Charley Lennon has a book with just his tunes. Each tune is presented by itself, with variations, and each tune is talked about.

Josephine Keegan has a book with just her tunes. Each tune is presented by itself (sometimes two to a page).

June Ni Chormaic has a wonderful flute tutor with accompanying CDs. Not many tunes, each played slowly and then up to tempo, and each tune comes with suggestions for ornaments.

Randy Miller and Jack Peron published a great collection (three short volumes, now in one) of traditional Irish fiddle music, available at Randy Miller's site.

 

I like to have as many tunes as my poor brain is capable of maintaining, so that I can play with anybody who might introduce a tune. But the great Jimmy Noonan says you only need to know three tunes, and know them well.

[Pete Dunk]

Too many tune book writers think that the more tunes they pack into the book - the better job they do.

As a result we have a book with 100 Irish tunes, or 300 Contra Dance tunes...

I'm of the opinion that it is better to have smaller collection, more diverse, well chosen, with variations (perhaps local) and arranged, so a player can concentrate better instead of surfing through 100 tunes, most of which may be there simply to make a number.

I couldn't agree more although I have to confess to being a sheet music junkie and have quite a large collection of tune books. Those I find most interesting are the reprints of old manuscripts that represent the repertoire of a musician or a collection of tunes from a particular area. Some, like The Lincolnshire Collection (which also contains two and three part arrangements), bring to light wonderful old tunes like the Cheshire Waltz which were long forgotten. These are brought out, dusted off, then given a new lease of life and are more widely known than they ever were.

 

Some tune books like 'Airs for Pairs' do offer arrangements and only contain twenty or so tunes, it's just a matter of being selective with your purchasing I suppose. The internet is a wonderful resource but it's easy to get sucked in to collecting as many tunes as possible regardless of accuracy of transcription or even interest in the tunes themselves, again it's a matter of self control and being selective.

 

I've used ABC quite a lot but not enough to know it thoroughly or often enough to remember all of the basic rules so I have to go back and refresh my memory before using it. The ability to write a simple text file and run it through a converter to produce a top quality printed sheet of music is a wonderful thing! The main drawback is that you have to proof read it very carefully because it's very easy to write the kind of musical nonsense that the error trapping in dedicated notation software prevents.

[Marien]

About a book with 100 Irish tunes, or 300 Contra Dance tunes... Most of those 400 tunes may still be nice (depends on the book).

 

I once collected traditional song and tune books. When I noticed that newer books tended to pick up the same tunes over and over again I tried to collect `original`sources, for whatever that is. And they keep printing new books with old tunes, which ones should you add to your collection? Who is going to tell there is something new in it? Meanwhile there may be more than 30.000 different songs and tunes in books or prints on my book shelf (and to be honoust, it is still growing). Many contain the same tunes. When I see a new small compilation with Irish fiddle tunes, it may be that I already have all the tunes in other books.

 

When I am searching a new tune for to play, it's not working to try out a tome of 3000 tunes or to play a several hundred tunes in a row. It makes you blunt for the real touch of the tune. Each tune or song needs some more attention, and maybe some time to play it the right way. Still (I think) I have found interesting tunes in very old sources. Just opening any of these books on a random page and try it out a couple of times, or to check out all the bourrees in a tome to see if one could make a nice set out of it.

 

Also it is good to have a resource for finding a tune if you know a title.

 

Nevertheless, more and more I tend to pick up music I heard playing by others, or made up by myself. It is good to write the dots out myself, not for having it on paper, but for not forgetting the tune.

 

To me, the best way to grasp new music is to hear a tune I like. I find it more easy to learn a new tune when I like it. Maybe you will find 25 tunes you like in this book of 400 tunes. What would you need more? If you will never play the rest of the tutorial, those other 375 tunes may well have been written for others who bought the same book, so who cares? Maybe it even helps that not every book owner will be playing the same tunes.

 

Maybe there will come a day that somebody is going to write a special tailor made tutorial for me with only the 5 ultimate tunes I personally like best.

 

Marien

[Jody Kruskal]

For those who want a tune book that will not duplicate any tunes in their collection, try my “Feet in the Clouds”. 50 original tunes for contra dance musicians. Reels, jigs, marches and waltzes - all guaranteed fiddle-friendly and dancer approved. I wrote ‘em all and every one is a gem. Though these are all composed tunes, most of them sound very traditional or refer to trad. styles. There are a number of tunes that have distinct flavors... English, Irish, Scottish, French Canadian, French, old-time, New England, southern US and more.

 

My thinking in writing out a tune is that a single published version should be simple with only the bare bones. I included only a few variations. However, when I play these tunes I rarely play them exactly as written but take great liberties with every aspect, melody, chords, rhythm, etc. That seems to be the right tack. I fear that too much information on the page would overwhelm the reader.

 

The 21 tunes on my solo cd, “Naked Concertina” cd, are all from the “Feet in the Clouds” book and were selected because they worked the best for my solo playing Anglo style. When I wrote the tunes I had to satisfy my fiddle playing friends so all 50 are also good on fiddle.

 

Check it out at: http://jodykruskal.com/buy_stuff/index.html where you will find links to listen to the cd and perhaps even purchase a copy of the book or cd for your very own... or just in time for gift giving!

Edited December 10, 2007 by Jody Kruskal

[Lester Bailey]

Check it out at: http://jodykruskal.com/buy_stuff/index.html where you will find links to listen to the cd and perhaps even purchase a copy of the book or cd for your very own... or just in time for gift giving!

Jody

 

Your link is broken needs .html on the ned but only has .htm

 

http://jodykruskal.com/buy_stuff/index.html

Edited December 10, 2007 by Lester Bailey

[Jody Kruskal]

Check it out at: http://jodykruskal.com/buy_stuff/index.html where you will find links to listen to the cd and perhaps even purchase a copy of the book or cd for your very own... or just in time for gift giving!

Jody

 

Your link is broken needs .html on the ned but only has .htm

 

http://jodykruskal.com/buy_stuff/index.html

Thanks Lester, all fixed now.