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| If you've surfed to this page in order to find
recordings of traditional tunes or songs, you've made a big mistake!
(Although some links below are to small mp3 collections).
If, on the other hand you are looking for the raw material to enable you to learn and play the tunes, to learn and perform the songs or to take part in the dances, you've come to the right place. Only by by actually playing these tunes and/or singing these songs and/or taking part in the dances will these traditions be kept going. Time was when traditional musicians, singers and dancers had to rely on other like-minded people as a source for material, or else had to purchase hardcopy collections. Of course, the widespread availability of the Internet has changed all that. You now have virtually free access to many extensive traditional tune, song and dance collections from all over the world. But if you are a beginner at this (and perhaps not computer literate) it may all seem rather daunting. Which file format do you need, and how do you process it? Which internet sites do you use? The information on this page should answer these questions. - Mix. |
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| GT | Explanation of Generic Type | ||||||||
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Plain text. The most universal and
useful of these (for tunes) are those created using Chris Walshaw's .abc
music notation format. These files are very economical on space, and can
be created and/or opened on any type of computer/operating system
without the need for special software.
The main issue with .abc files is that they are quite difficult to read (visually) - particularly to the uninitiated. However, this disadvantage is more than offset by the the ability of being able to import .abc files into some music score editors, and also into other music software. Once imported into a suitable editor, it is then possible to transpose the key, add harmony parts, add guitar chords, create tablature, add lyrics - or whatever. You will then be able to print hardcopy music scores - either for yourself, or for fellow musicians or singers. Also, with suitable software, (including some score editors), it is possible to create midi (sound) files. These can useful for anyone who cannot read music. Another issue is that score editors and score generators can sometimes fail to import all of the data contained in the source abc, and will sometimes fail to import anything at all. If you experience a total import failure, open the abc file in a text editor, then proceed as follows:
Usually a posted abc file consists of a single tune, but sometimes it may contain a whole collection of tunes - either way, all you have to do is to download the required file. At other times though, there is no abc file - the abc code is just embedded in the text of a web page. If this should be the case, you'll need to copy the abc text of the tune that you need from the page and paste it into a text editor - then save it with a .abc file extension. If you are a traditional musician and/or singer, and are contemplating the purchase of a music score editor, don't buy it unless is has the capability of importing .abc files. Ideally, your chosen score editor should capable of exporting .abc files as well. Plain text files (and embedded html text) are also used for lyrics. Plain text is also sometimes used to set out tablature and bagpipe notation, and also for files formatted for input into typesetting software. |
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Graphics files. Mostly music scores - sometimes with lyrics and/or guitar chords and/or tablature. The most universally used formats are .gif, and .jpg, but .pdf is becoming increasingly popular. The trouble with these files is that they are pretty much "tablets of stone". Using a suitable graphics package, it is of course possible to do a certain amount of editing (e.g. adding guitar chords or lyrics), but operations such as transposing a key would be impossible. Handy though if you are primarily a sight-reader, and perhaps just want to try out a new tune. | ||||||||
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Sound files. Usually midi (.mid)
files. Useful for musicians who are
unable to read music scores. The drawback is that midi files use
computer-generated musical instrument voices, so the sound produced is
therefore regimented and "wooden". Another is issue is that
music is not always played exactly as scored - for example, dotted
hornpipe notation. Nonetheless, these files can still be useful to
"play/sing along with" for practice purposes. Tip: if you wish to avoid having to
constantly reopen a particular file, when practicing a tune or tune in this way,
set your media player software to operate in "repeat" mode.
With suitable software, it is also possible to convert .mid files into .abc format. However, because of complications involving multiple midi instruments, lead-in notes, repeats etc. the conversion rarely works perfectly, so the abc output file usually needs quite a bit of manual editing in order to be useable. A few collections include .mp3 or .wav files. With these, you will be able to listen actual performances, as opposed to computer-generated representations. These files are much larger (especially wav files) and so take longer to download. Another disadvantage is you cannot use them directly as input to generate music scores or lyrics. |
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Proprietary file formats. Used by various music score editors, sequencers etc.. You will need to buy the relevant application software if you wish to view or manipulate these files. Furthermore, if you use one of these editors to create your files, you will not be able to share your creations with others electronically - unless they are using the same software. Another issue is what happens if you have a large tune collection (created with your chosen score editor), and your editor ceases to function when a new operating system is introduced. For this reason, any editor that you choose should ideally be capable of exporting files to abc or other non-proprietary format. |
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| Ext | Gen | Meaning of File Extension | Software Required |
| abc | |
Notation in Chris Walshaw's format. | Any text editor. |
| bgp | |
Bagpipe | Pìob Mhòr (score). |
| bmp | |
Bitmap (raster graphic). | Any graphics software. |
| bmw | |
Bagpipe Music Writer. | Bagpipe Music Writer (score). |
| bww | |
Bagpipe Writer for Windows. | Bagpipe Writer for Windows (score). |
| emf | |
Extended (Enhanced) Meta File | Most good graphics software. |
| ep3 | |
Electric Pipes 3 | Electric Pipes Version 3. |
| eps | |
Encapsulated PostScript. | Most good graphics software. |
| gif | |
Graphics Interchange Format. | Any graphics software. |
| jpg | |
Joint Photographic Experts Group. | Any graphics software. |
| mid | |
Musical Instrument Digital Interface. | Any media player. |
| mez | |
MusicEase. | MusicEase score editor. |
| mp3 | |
MPEG Audio Stream, Layer 3. | Any media player. |
| mus | |
PrintMusic. | Finale PrintMusic score editor. |
| mwk | |
Music Write | Music Write 2000 midi sequencer. |
| mz | |
Mozart. | Mozart score editor. |
| niff | |
Navy Interchange File Format. | Mozart score editor. |
| nwc | |
NoteWorthy Composer. | NoteWorthy score editor. |
| pcx | |
Personal Computer bitmap graphic. | Paintbrush, other graphics software. |
|
Portable Document Format. | Adobe Acrobat Reader. | |
| pip | |
Bagpipe scripting language. | Pipewriter (score). |
| png | |
Portable Network Graphics | Most good graphics software. |
| ps | |
PostScript. | Most good graphics software. |
| sib | |
Sibelius. | Sibelius score editor. |
| sw | |
SongWright | Script used by the Digital Tradition. |
| tef | |
TablEdit File | TablEdit tablature editor. |
| tex | |
Text with macros for typesetting. | TeX Typesetting software (permissive). |
| tif(f) | |
Tagged Image File (Format) | Most good graphics software. |
| txt | |
Text. | Any text editor. |
| wav | |
Waveform audio. | Any media player. |
| xml | |
Extensible Markup Language | Any text editor. |
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|
Link |
Formats |
Notes |
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Abacci Music | mid (some gif). | Large collection of Irish, Scottish and other traditional music (some with tablatures), maintained by Abacci Music. |
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ABC Library of Morris Tunes | abc. | Collection of English Morris dance tunes, classified by village of origin. Maintained by Steve Allen. |
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Abc Tunesearch | (Links) | Abc "fuzzy match" tune search engine maintained by "Reverend Pete". Currently (04 Nov 2008) searches only thesession.org, but other sources and enhancements to be added later. |
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Abdulla's Turkish Music | mid. | Small collection of Turkish tunes, maintained by "Abdulla". |
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Ancient Music of Ireland | mid. | Early music, O'Carolan, dance music etc. maintained by P.Y. Bertrand. |
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Archive Folx | mp3 (plus some streaming videos). | Tunes from various artistes/groups from several national folk traditions. |
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Banjolin.co.uk - Tunes | abc, gif, nwc, pdf. | Collection of 370 + tunes (various traditions), and lots of other interesting stuff. Maintained by Paul Slater. |
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Bill Black's ABC Collection | abc. | Large collection (2160 +) of Irish tunes maintained by Bill Black. |
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Breizh Partitions | Variously, abc, bww, gif, jpg, mid, mus, txt. | Collection of 650+ Celtic tunes from Brittany, Ireland, Scotland, Galicia, Wales and Asturias, maintained by "Étienne" |
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Bristol Rapper Jig Library | abc, jpg, mid. | Small collection of jigs, suitable for rapper sword dancing. Midi files are configured to play at various dance speeds. Maintained by Mix O'Lydian. |
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Bruce and Emmetts Fife and Drum | abc, gif, mid. | Transcriptions of tunes from Bruce & Emmett's Drummers and Fifers Guide (1862), maintained by Chris Myers. |
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Cape Breton Collection of Scottish Melodies | jpg. | Facsimile of Gordon F. Macquarrie's "Cape Breton Collection of Scottish Melodies for the Violin" (152 tunes). First published, 1940. Maintained by electricscotland.net |
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Cliff's Tune Page | gif, pcx, some abc. | Small collection, arranged for hammered dulcimer. Maintained by Cliff Moses. |
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Cobb's Music of Ireland | abc. | Abc collection, with bulk download of abc tunes available for each tune category. Maintained by Dan Cobb. |
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Co. of Fifers and Drummers Vol 1 | abc, gif, mid. | Collection of (101) fife tunes maintained by Chris Myers (Vol 1). |
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Co. of Fifers and Drummers Vol 2 | abc, gif, mid. | Collection of (150) fife tunes maintained by Chris Myers (Vol 2). |
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Concertina.Net - Tune-O-Tron | abc, mid, pdf. | Large collection of (1100) tunes, maintained by Paul Schwartz. |
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Czech Area Concertina Club | pdf. | Collection of 100+ tunes with score and notation for Chemnitz concertina, maintained by the Czech Area Concertina Club, New Prague, Minnesota, USA. |
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Diatonic Accordeon in La Manche | gif, mid, tef. | Small (15) collection for diatonic accordeon (gif with score and tab and tef with tab), maintained by Jean-Marc Henry. |
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Donegal Fiddle Tunes | abc (within web text). | Small collection of Donegal (Eire) fiddle tunes, maintained by the Donegal Fiddlers. |
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English Dancing Master (1651) | pdf, png. | Facsimile of John Playford's "English Dancing Master", (1651 edition) - maintained by Greg Lindahl of SCA. |
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English Dancing Master (1651) | mid. | Midi files (zipped) created by Eric Praetzel. |
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Fiddle Tunes in ABC Format | abc (within web text). | Collection of tunes maintained by Stephen Klein. |
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Fiddlers Companion | abc (within web text). | Extensive collection of tunes from North America and the British Isles with detailed references maintained by Andrew Kuntz. |
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Fife and Drum Online | gif. | Facsimiles taken from books of sheet music, maintained by Fife and Drum Online. |
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Folk Tune Finder | mid, png. | Tune search-engine, with facility to search for tunes by clicking notes on a virtual keyboard. |
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Free Accordeon Tablatures | mid, pdf. | Small (20) collection for diatonic accordeon (pdf with score and tab) maintained by Dominique Gravouille. |
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Gotlandstoner | abc, mid, png. | Collection of tunes from the Baltic island of Gotland (Sweden), maintained by Erik Ronström. |
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Handbook of Morris Dances | abc. | The tunes as notated Lionel Bacon's famous "Black Book", maintained by the Morris Ring. Bulk download of abc tunes available for each village tradition. |
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Harding's All-Round Collection of Jigs, Reels and Country Dances | jpg. | Facsimile of Ed Harding's "All-Round Collection of Jigs, Reels and Country Dances for Piano, Violin, Flute, or Mandolin" (published 1922). Each one of the (200) tunes incorporates an accompaniment line, written on the bass clef. Maintained by ezfolk.com. |
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Henrick Norbeck's Abc Tunes | abc. | Collection of mostly Irish and Swedish tunes, maintained by Henrick Norbeck. |
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Henry Atkinson's Tune Book | jpg. | Facsimiles of the manuscript of 204 tunes (from North-east England) taken from Henry Atkinson's tunebook (1694-1675). Maintained by Farne Folk Archive North East. |
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Irish Flute Tunes | mp3. | Collection of Irish tunes, suitable for the flute. |
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James Aird 1782 Collection Vol 1 | abc. | Abc bulk file available for free download (200 tunes). Transcribed by Jack Campin, July 1999). |
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JC's Tunefinder | abc, eps, gif, pdf, png, ps, mid, txt. | Extensive tune index and retrieval maintained by John Chambers. |
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John Chamber's Scottish Country Dance Music | abc, eps, gif, pdf, png, ps, mid, txt. | Large Scottish dance tune collection (plus some songs and carols) maintained by John Chambers. |
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John of the Greeny Cheshire Way | abc (web text). | John Offord's collection of (86) Northern English "double hornpipes" (3/2 and 9/4), maintained by Steve Bliven. |
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L'Accordéon Diato des Amateurs | gif, mid. | Collection of Breton and other tunes (gif with score and tab), maintained by L'Accordéon Diato des Amateurs. |
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Lennart Sohlman´s Swedish Fiddle Site | abc, gif (some mid). | Collection of Swedish, Finnish and Norwegian tunes classified by region, maintained by Lennart Sohlman. |
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Lewes Favourites | abc, mid, nwc. | Medium-sized collection of mostly English tunes. Includes the Scan Tester's collection. Maintained by the Lewes Saturday Folk Club, Lewes, Sussex, England. |
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Manchester Klezmer | mid, mz, pdf. | Small collection of Klezmer tunes (traditional music of the eastern European Jews), maintained by Steve Landin. |
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Montreal Session Tunebook | abc, png, pdf, mid. | Interesting and varied collection of tunes (and some songs) maintained by Gord Fisch. |
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Music of James Scott Skinner | jpg (some mp3). | Facsimiles of James Scott Skinner's original manuscripts, maintained by the University of Aberdeen. |
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Nigel Gatherer's Tunes | Mostly abc, with a few gifs (score and tab). | Large collection of mainly Scottish, Shetland, American and Irish tunes, maintained by Nigel Gatherer. |
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Northumbria Traditional Music | gif. | Small collection of Northumbrian dance and song tunes. (Also a selection of mp3 and wma music recordings). |
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Nottingham Folk Music Database | asc, gif, mid, (some pdf). | Large collection maintained by Nottingham University, UK. |
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O'Neill's Music of Ireland | abc. | Music of Ireland ("1850"), Dance Music of Ireland ("1001") and Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody |
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Old Music Project | abc, gif, mid, nwc. | Complete O'Carolan collection, Allan's Irish Fiddler collection, "Catches, Rounds and Glees" collection and "English Madrigals" collection. Wow! |
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Pay the Reckoning | jpg, mid, and web text mandolin tab. | Collection of tunes written by Aidan Crossey in the traditional style and maintained by him. |
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Pub Scouts' Tune List | abc, some gif. | Collection of mostly Celtic tunes maintained by "Gentraige" of Chico, California. |
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Pub Session Tunes | gif, mid. | Collection of 260 tunes and songs maintained by Rod Smith. |
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Répertoire du groupe Termen | abc, pdf. | Small collection of mostly Breton tunes (pdf score and some with accordeon tab), maintained by Le Groupe Termen. |
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Richard Robinson's Tune Book | abc, png. | Collection of traditional tunes from a wide selection of countries, maintained by Richard Robinson. |
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Rosswell Session Tunebooks | pdf. | Tunebooks from recent sessions held at the "Harp" Irish pub, Rosswell, Georgia, USA. |
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The Session | abc, gif, mid. | Extensive collection, mostly from members' submissions. Also lively discussion forum and other features. Membership (free) is required if you wish to contribute or download. Maintained by Jeremy Keith. |
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Sessioneer | gif or jpg, (some mid). | Collection of tunes, mostly from members' submissions. Also whistle playing guide and forum. Registration (free) is required if you wish to contribute. Maintained by Mike Simpson. |
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Simple Gifts - Mandolin Tablature | mid, txt. | Small collection (the mandolin tab in text format) maintained by Elizabeth T. Knuth. |
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Skye Collection | abc. | Keith Norman MacDonald's historic collection of 400+ Scottish reels and strathspeys, transcribed by Ralph Palmer and maintained by John Chambers. |
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Sydney Scottish Fiddlers | abc, mid. | Collection of mainly Scottish tunes, maintained by Sydney Scottish Fiddlers, Sydney, Australia. |
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Tablatures - Accordéon Diatonique | abc, mid, plus either pdf or png. | Collection of mainly French tunes, with very nice midi arrangements! Maintained by Bernard Loffet. |
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Tablatures pour Accordeon Diatonique | gif, mid/mp3. | Small (30+) collection of Breton and other tunes (gif with score and tab), maintained by Yann-Fanch Perroches. |
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Technique and Style in Irish Traditional Music (Whistle) | mp3, png. | Small collection of tunes, maintained by Roger Millington Publishing. The music scores include suggested ornamentation. |
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Tin Whistle Tunes | mp3. | Selection of tunes (predominantly Irish) submitted by contributors to the site. |
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Tony's Celtic Music Pages | mid. | Small collection (including some own compositions), maintained by Tony Upton. |
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Torus | Text (titles). | Tunes Ordered Using Shape. Not a collection, but a possible means of finding the title of a tune without knowing the notes. Enter "u" for "up" and "d" for "down". Maintained by Thomas Bending. |
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Tune db | abc, mid, ps. | Extensive collection, with powerful facility to search by tune abc's. Maintained by woodenflute.com. |
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Tune of the Month | mp3. | Small collection as yet (began only March 2009). Each tune is played once through, then taken again step-by-step as a tutorial. Maintained by Matt and Shannon Heaton. |
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Ulster Scots and Scots Irish Music | "abc" (some mid and/or mp3). | Small collection of tunes for Lambeg and fife, maintained by the Luton and Bedford Drumming Club, England. |
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Vashon Celtic Players | jpg, mid. | Collection of (mostly) Irish tunes. JPEG scores carry well-considered guitar chords. Maintained by Vashon Celtic Players. |
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Village Music Project | abc. | Historic tune collections, many of which are available for bulk download in abc format. Maintained by the Village Music Project. |
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Welsh Traditional Music | abc, jpg, mid. | Collection of Welsh tunes and hymns maintained by "Dafydd" |
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Wikimusica | abc, mid, png. | Collection of Irish session tunes, Scandinavian tunes, songs and carols maintained by Tom Keays. |
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Wild Dismay Tunes | abc, gif, mid. | Small collection of tunes, very nicely set out on a visually-pleasing site. Maintained by Tom deLombarde and Bea Randall. |
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Winterbourn Down Border Morris | abc. | Small collection of tunes, maintained by Winterbourn Down Border Morris (Winterbourne Down, Nr. Bristol, England) |
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Link |
Formats |
Notes |
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20000 Volkslieder | web text, mid. | Very large (20,000+) collection of folk and popular songs (many German) but also from 45 other countries. Maintained by Frank Petersohn. |
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Bill Black's Websong Site | pdf. | Collection of (mainly) Irish Song lyrics, maintained by Bill Black. |
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Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads | gif. | Extensive (!) collection of broadside ballads (30,000), maintained by the Bodleian Library (University of Oxford, UK). |
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Ceol na nGael | web text (some mid or mp3). | Small collection of Irish songs, in Irish Gaelic (with English translations), maintained by Vivian and Jack Hennessey. |
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Captain Kidd Songs | abc text, mid. | Collection of (97) tunes that resemble the melody of the song "Captain Kidd" - maintained by David Kidd! |
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Contemplator | Web text and mid. | Large collection of English, Scottish, Irish, Welsh and American songs (Note: the midi arrangements embedded within the pages are a little irritating). Maintained by Lesley Nelson-Burns. |
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Copper Songs | Web text. | Collection of songs as sung by generations of the Copper family (of Rottingdean, Sussex, UK). Maintained by the Copper family. |
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Edwardian MusicHall Songs | Web text (some with mid, mp3 or wav). | Collection of English music hall songs - mostly from London, but some from Northern England. Maintained by P. Porter (as in "Oh, Mr. Porter", maybe?). |
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Ezfolk | Web text. | Collection of (mostly American) folk song lyrics, maintained by Richard Hefner. |
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Fabulous Songbook | Web text, pdf. | Collection of ( mostly American) folk and popular song lyrics with guitar chord letters. Maintained by Kristin C. Hall). |
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Folk Info | png score, text (tune with lyrics), abc (tune with lyrics), mid and pdf. | Large collection of traditional songs, transposition facility. Abc to postscript and abc to midi conversion utilities. Also events and forum. Membership (free) is required for full active participation. Maintained by folkinfo.org. |
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Gest Songs of Newfoundland and Labrador | Web text, mid. | Collection of (mostly) traditional songs from the Canadian provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador, but including some adopted from other regions/countries. |
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Irish Songs | Web text, mid. | Small collection, maintained by Ireland Information. Not all the "Irish songs" listed are Irish! |
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Mudcat Cafe and Digital Tradition | Web text. (some tunes mid). | Extensive collection (mostly from members' submissions) and discussion forum. Membership (free) is required if you wish to contribute. Maintained by Max D. Spiegel (Mudcat Cafe) and Dick Greenhaus (Digital Tradition - Camsco Music). |
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Public Domain Music (American) | Web text, mid. | Large collection of material (anon or out of copyright) - Civil War, blues, folk, hymns, minstrel, naval, ragtime, spirituals, sacred heart, American States songs etc. Maintained by Benjamin R. Tubb. |
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Songs of England | Web text (some tunes also mid). | Large collection of English songs, hymns etc., maintained by Richard Kopp. |
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Welsh Folksongs | Web text. (some tunes also mid). | Collection of Welsh folk songs and hymns, maintained by Richard Kopp. |
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Link |
Notes |
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Ceilidh Dance Instructions |  |
Small (20) collection of dance notations, maintained by Ian Brockbank. |
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Ceilidh Mor - the Caller's Guide | |
Small (20) collection of dance notations, maintained by Bryan Low. |
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Elements of English Country Dance |  |
Comprehensive list of dance figures (with a description of each one), maintained by Hugh Stewart. |
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Irish Set Dancing |  |
Study notes for 80 sets and 11 figure dances, maintained by Joe O'Hara. |
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Scottish Dance Archives |  |
Instructions for 200+ Scottish dances from the Donald Collection (held at the Central Library, Edinburgh). |
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Some English Country Dances | |
Small (16) collection of dance notations, maintained by Gerry Jones. |
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Welsh Folk Dances |  |
Small (20) collection of Welsh dance notations, maintained by Pete and Lorna. |
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Link |
Notes |
| ABC Primer | Abc primer by John Chambers. |
| ABC Music Notation | Abc tutorial by John Chambers. |
| Abc Users Group | Technical group on Yahoo Groups. |
| How to Interpret ABC Music Notation | Abc tutorial by Steve Mansfield. |
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Converter |
Provider |
Lic | Version |
O/S |
Input | Output | ||
| Win |
Mac |
Lin |
||||||
| ABassC | Norman Schmidt | - | Online | Y | ? | ? | abc | mid, png |
| ABC Convert -A - Matic | Concertina.net | - | Online | Y | ? | ? | abc | abc, mid, pdf |
| ABCedit | Joop Coolegem | F/W | 3.05 | Y | ? | ? | abc | abc, mid, pdf |
| ABCExplorer | Billig | F/W | 1.3.2 | Y | ? | ? | abc, mid | abc, bmp, jpg, mid, pdf, png |
| Abc Navigator | J.P. Martin | F/W | 2 | Y | ? | ? | abc | mid, (score) |
| ABC2Win | Jim Vint | S/W | 2.1 | Y | ? | ? | abc | (score) |
| ABC-Transposer | Jens Wollschläger | - | Online | Y | ? | ? | abc | abc |
| AbcMus | Henrik Norbeck | S/W | 2.0 | Y | N | N | abc, bmw, bgp, bww, sw | mid |
| LilyPond | GNU LilyPond | F/W | 2.10 | Y | Y | Y | abc, ly | (score) |
| Mid2abc (download here) | Bernard Parkin | F/W | 2.0.02 | Y | ? | ? | mid | abc |
| Licence (Lic): | F/W=Freeware | S/W=Shareware | COM=Commercial |
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|
Editor |
Version |
O/S |
Import |
Export |
P/B
|
GC |
FBL
|
||||
| Win |
Mac |
Lin |
abc |
mid |
abc |
mid |
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| Finale Print Music | ? | Y | ? | ? | N | Y | N | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Melody Assistant | 7.4.3 | Y | Y | ? | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Mozart Virtuoso | ? | Y | ? | ? | N | Y | N | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| MusicEase | 8.1 | Y | ? | ? | Y | N | N | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Music MasterWorks | ? | Y | ? | ? | N | Y | N | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| MusicTime | 3 | Y | ? | ? | N | Y | N | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Noteworthy | 1.75c | Y | N | N | N | Y | N | Y | Y | N | N |
| QuickScore Elite | Level II | Y | ? | ? | N | Y | N | Y | Y | Y | N |
| Score Writer | 4.1 | Y | Y | ? | N | Y | N | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Sibelius | 5 | Y | ? | ? | N | Y | N | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Noteworthy: 3rd Party abc2nwc converter (both ways) available online. |
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Key to the Above Tables |
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| O/S | Win=Microsoft Windows, Mac = Macintosh OS, Lin =Linux (or Unix). |
| Import | This is vital if you wish to import tunes (downloaded from free resources available on the Internet), rather than having to type them into your editor. Of the two file types, abc is the most important, as there are more traditional tunes available in this format than any other. |
| Export | This is vital if you wish to send tunes (electronically) to others who may not be using the same score editor as yourself. Also vital if you ever need to change to a different score editor, as you will need some means of transferring your tune collection to the new editor. |
| P/B | Playback It's easy to make errors when typing in music to an editor, especially if you are not a good sight-reader. It is easier to spot errors if your editor is able to playback the music that you have typed-in. |
| GC | Guitar chords. The ability to input (or import, via abc) guitar chords to be displayed above the music score. Guitar chords as letters is fine, but the option to have chord frame diagrams is also useful. |
|
FBL |
Force bars per line Most traditional music is in multiples of 8 bars (e.g. 16, 32, 48. 64 etc.). For many traditional musicians (who may not be good sight readers) its much better to have a score laid out in one of these multiples. Your editor should therefore allow you to choose the number of bars for each physical line on the screen, the latter number of course to be mirrored in the print output. |
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|
Editor |
Ver |
Input Formats |
Output Formats |
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| abc | bgp | bmw | bww | mid | pio | pip | abc | bgp | bmw | bww | mid | pio | pip | ||
| Bagpipe Music Writer | ? | ? | ? | Y | Y | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | N | Y | Y | ? | ? |
| CelticPipes | ? | Y | ? | Y | Y | ? | Y | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Electric Pipes | 3 | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Pipewriter | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Y | ? | ? | ? | ? | Y | ? | ? |
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Utility |
Provider |
Lic | Version |
O/S |
Function |
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| Win |
Mac |
Lin |
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| A P Tuner | Joseph Broms and Kevin Moore. | S/W | 3.08 | Y | N | N | Downloadable tuning software. |
| Amazing Slow Downer | Roni Music. | COM | 2 | Y | Y | N | Software to slow down the music without changing the pitch. |
| Printable Staff Paper | David Borrell. | F/W | - | Y | ? | ? | Staff paper in a variety of styles. |
| Tartini | University of Otago, New Zealand. | F/W | 1.2 | Y | Y | Y | Real-Time Music Analysis tool. |
| Licence (Lic): | F/W=Freeware | S/W=Shareware | COM=Commercial |
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Breton Dictionary (Freelang) |
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Cornish Dictionary (Cornish Language Fellowship) |
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Irish Dictionary Online |
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Scottish Gaelic (MacFarlane's School Dictionary) |
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Welsh Dictionary (University of Wales, Lampeter) |
| Dialect Dictionaries
Here are some useful resources for the translation of tune names which use dialects spoken in the British Isles: |
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Geordie Dictionary (NorthEastEngland.talktalk.net) |
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Shetland Dictionary (Shetlopedia) |
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Scots Leid Dictionaries (Universities of Scotland) |
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(Please notify any bad links found. Suggestions for suitable additional links welcome! - Mix).
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27 Jul 2008 |
18 Aug 2009 |
Webmaster: Mix O'Lydian |
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