What I do with tunes I find in thesession.org

  1. Barbara Shultz
    Barbara Shultz
    I love www.thesession.org! From the home page, click on 'tunes' on the right hand side of the page. Then, from that page, click on the 'search' tab at the top of the page, and search for the tune. Once I find the tune that I want, I click the ABC tab, and copy the ABC. Then I go to http://www.concertina.net/tunes_convert.html and paste the ABC that I copied from thesession.org site. When the tune details comes up, I then click the 'PDF Sheet Music' Tab. That opens up a high quality PDF file, that I then print out. If you are going to print it out, make sure you do so from the PDF Sheet Music page, not the first page that opens up!
  2. CelticDude
    CelticDude
    Yes, thesession.org is a fun and useful website. I often start with it's version of a tune, and then tweak is some. For example, they have Merry Old Maid, which I pulled in, then edited to be closer to your version. (Of course, if I had been patient, I would have just used your posted music...)

    If you're going to work with abc files, I highly recommend ABC2Win. It is (was) free to try, and $20 for the full version (which allows you to print directly, rather than output a jpg, and then paste that into a word processor.) Worth every penny. I have all my band's music on it, plus other stuff.

    And no, I don't have any financial stake in it. I've just been a really happy user for the past several years.

    DWP
  3. Mike Romkey
    Mike Romkey
    I use Barfly, which is free. I'm on a Mac and not sure if there's a Windows version. Not sure about the other software, but Barfly will change the key if you want. There are a lot of good printed resources, too. The Fiddler's Fake Book is a must-have. It has most of the tunes mentioned in the song-a-week section. It has chords, too, which are helpful, though I don't always agree with what's written. Old-Time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes is supposed to be quite good. I don't have it yet. It's apparently only available in hardback and kinda pricey -- $45.
  4. Barbara Shultz
    Barbara Shultz
    The printed tunes books that I most often use are Fiddler's Fakebook, O'neil's Music of Ireland. I recently got great tune book, the New England Fiddler's Repetoir (25th anniversary printing).

    One good thing about hearing some versions of tunes, and then finding several different notations of the same tune, is that it gives you an idea of the options available.

    One thing I've noticed, is that you really have to be able to change up how you play a tune, on the fly, when you are playing with others. I'll learn a really cool variation of a tune I already know, but then, when I go back to my band, and try to play it with the version that THEY play, it doesn't work. That's why it's good to have an idea of the BASIC structure of a tune. When you are playing it with a new group of people (or along with a different recorded version), you can pretty quickly change up something you are doing, if you hear it doesn't quite go with the version!
  5. Mandophyte
    Mandophyte
    My preferred ABC software is ABCexplorer it's free, although a donation is requested. It has all sorts of tools and prints as pdf files. It will even play just selected parts of a tune, great for beating that awkward bit of a tune into your brain. (AS I discovered yesterday!


    For those that don't know about ABC see Guido Gonzato's Making Music with ABC Plus.
  6. CelticDude
    CelticDude
    Seems like I need to expand my ABC horizons some. I'll have to give these other programs a try.
  7. Don Christy
    Don Christy
    Barbara,

    I have the fiddler's fakebook and the New England Fiddler's Repertoire on order now. Thanks!

    You also mentioned O'Neill's Music of Ireland. I was going to buy it, but see that there are a number of books named this by different authors. Which one are you talking about?

    This one by Krassen

    An earlier version I saw mentioned by Daniel Collins (not on Amazon) or

    This Mel Bay version by James and Francis O'Neill

    thanks,
    Don
  8. Bertram Henze
    Bertram Henze
    Don, that James and Francis O'Neill version is it.

    Bertram
  9. Don Christy
    Don Christy
    Thanks Bertram!
  10. Barbara Shultz
    Barbara Shultz
    Don, mine is the one by Miles Krassen
  11. Bertram Henze
    Bertram Henze
    Now I'd be interested in what is the difference - does the Krassen version contain the O'Carolan tunes? Are equally-named tunes in both identical or are there variations?

    Don, maybe you should get both and win additional 1000 opportunities to get confused...

    Cannot rely on names or notation. I once learned a reel called "Eileen Curran's" written in the key signature of F on thesession.org and later found out it was identical to "Sailor's Return" in O'Neill's, written in the key signature of B with lots of accidentals... it doesn't get more confusing than that.

    Bertram
  12. Barbara Shultz
    Barbara Shultz
    Well, the Krassen book says 'over 1000 tunes' and the O'Neill says '1850 tunes'. If you look in thesessions.org (and other places) for other names of the tune, it's amazing how many tunes have so many names! Yes, Krassen has a section called 'Carolan tunes'.
  13. Don Christy
    Don Christy
    I ended up ordering the James and Francis version, based on Bertram's post and on a review of the Krassen book on Amazon, which follows.

    I suspect for fiddle and mandolin players, the Krassen book is fine. I know the James and Francis version has a lot more and higher reviews at amazon for what it's worth.

    Maybe I will end up with both after all!
    Don
    1.0 out of 5 stars Over-rated, overly-simplified settings of tunes., June 23, 2003
    By David Levine (Hopkinton, NH USA)

    The problem isn't only that a lot of tunes have been left out that were in the original edition offered by Daniel Collins. But Krassen has altered many tunes so that instead of presenting piping versions -- which the original offered -- we now have simplified fiddle-friendly versions. Many pipe ornaments have been lost. Krassen has lost much of the magic.
    O'Neill was a piper and many of the versions of tunes he saved came from pipers. This is also true of the earlier collections of tunes from which O'Neill drew for many of his tunes, such as Ryan's Mammoth Collection. In Krassen's version a lot of the classical, 19th. Century pipery flavor has been sacrificed for "cleaner," presumably "modern" versions. This is the last edition of O'Neill's one should consider buying. I play fiddle, flute, and concertina, I've lived in Ireland for years, and have been playing Irish traditional music for over thirty years. I know this sounds terribly opinionated. But even if you play fiddle and learn from the dots you should use a tune-book closer to the source than this. Get the big yellow Collin's edition or the slim white-covered "condensed" O'Neill's collection. You'll be happier in the long run.
  14. Barbara Shultz
    Barbara Shultz
    It would probably be interesting to have both and compare. When I got the Krassen book, it was VERY early on in my mandolin playing, and I didn't realize there were other versions! Barb
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