TomJoad - Posted - 03/14/2008:  16:16:02

Is there an old time equivalent to O'Neill's Music of Ireland--the well known anthology of Irish music which was an attempt to list the music notation for all known traditional Irish tunes? It has over a 1000 tunes in it.

I have got the Fiddler's Fake Book which contains quite a lot of old time tunes. Has there been a more comprehensive attempt to publish all known old time tunes in book form in either music notation and/or tablature?

"Play it again Sam."

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/drcce2001/

Edited by - Banjoman on 03/14/2008 17:02:37

Bill Rogers - Posted - 03/14/2008:  16:57:28

I've never seen or heard of one. Clare Milliner and Walt Koken are working on a major anthology--see www.mudthumper.com .

Bill

SteveK - Posted - 03/14/2008:  17:02:22

The Phillips Collection of Traditional American Fiddle Tunes has a lot of tunes. The versions are transcribed from fiddle players and are not the "basic" tunes. Volume I is still available but Vol II is not.

http://www.stacyphillips.com/fiddlebooks.html

Actually, reading on, I see that the original Vol II has been broken up into smaller books of waltzes, hornpipes, etc.

Edited by - SteveK on 03/14/2008 17:04:54

LyleK - Posted - 03/14/2008:  17:05:48

The nearest equivalent might be "Ryan's Mammoth Collection," but published in the 1880's so a bit out of date (good thing for old time!?). Anyhow, it is still available. Then there are the more regional recent collections such as Portland, Kentucky, and Illinois based ones. "abc" notation remains as a vast relatively untapped source. Also check out http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/index.html, especially the bluegrass (although lots of OT there) and Old Time sections.

LyleK
http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/1084/
tabs at: http://lylek.home.insightbb.com/

edit: oops, I forgot about Phillips. I have the main volume and the "Rags" one. They are very nice, but harder to "translate" because he gives every nuance, slide, etc.

Edited by - LyleK on 03/14/2008 17:09:11

SteveK - Posted - 03/14/2008:  19:04:29

Isn't Ryan's the same book as Cole's 1000 Fiddle Tunes? If so, I have never found it useful for old time fiddle/banjo music. The reels seem to be mainly Scottish or Irish. There's also a book of tunes collected at the Tractor Tavern which is somewhere on the West Coast of the US. It has very basic versions of quite a few tunes but certainly isn't comprehensive.

For tunes played at Irish/Scottish/Cape Breton/Quebec/Old time sessions such as the one I attend, I have not found O'Neill's to be very useful either. I have gotten a lot more tunes from the web that any book.

I agree about Phillips. It's sometimes pretty hard to get a good banjo version from that book.

LyleK - Posted - 03/14/2008:  20:38:56

quote:

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Originally posted by SteveK Isn't Ryan's the same book as Cole's 1000 Fiddle Tunes?

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TomJoad - Posted - 03/15/2008:  10:30:08

Many thanks for the replies.

"Play it again Sam."

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/drcce2001/

Don Borchelt - Posted - 03/15/2008:  16:08:36

I like the Portland Collection, Vol. I and II, which have a lot of the southern old-time tunes, as well as New England, Canadian, Irish and western tunes. They are basic transcriptions, without a lot of idiosyncracies, and so are a good reference point. Here's the web link:

http://www.theportlandcollection.com/

I like the Phillips collection, but I only have Volume I. I would recommend it, though. I used it this morning to check on the transcription of Betty Likens. First I slowed down the Henry Reed LOC American Memory recording to half speed and worked something up, then I checked it against the Phillips Collection, which has Alan Jabbour's reworking of the tune. I was surprised at some of the subtle differences between the Reed and Jabbour versions, as Jabbour was the collector who recorded Reed in the first place. The mark of a true artist.

You can order the Phillips Collection books directly from Stacey Phillips:

http://www.stacyphillips.com/fiddlebooks.html

- Don Borchelt


http://www.banjr.com

Edited by - Don Borchelt on 03/15/2008 16:09:46