![]() ![]() The emphasis is on instrumental folk music (specifically, contra dance tunes), although some links also include other types of folk music or classical music. Search for specific tunes at John Chamber's excellent site ABC Tune Finder (or at the test site) Note: punctuation must be exact. Search results will differ when a comma or apostrophe is included or omitted. (Please consider donating to help keep this extremely valuable website up and running. Use the Paypal donate button on the site--I did!) See also Contra dance music tune books and Dance music from Charlie Seelig's most excellent contra dance links resource page. | ||
The fine print: Do not assume that any tune is in the public domain or is royalty free, not matter how old the tune is. Copyright is the rule rather than the exception, and tunes receive copyright protection instantly, with or without the © symbol. It is the responsibility of the person who uses a tune to: § determine the composer, if any, and the copyright status; § seek and receive the copyright owner's permission to use a tune for commercial purposes; § consult a lawyer if you need legal advice about copyright. This page and its content was created by and is maintained & copyrighted by Mickey Koth. Please send an e-mail to make comments, suggest additions, and/or report broken links. Thanks to everyone who has already done so! E-mails requesting legal advice about using tunes for commercial purposes or concerning copyright will not be answered, as I am not a lawyer. See Copyright basics from the Yale University Library for information (but not legal advice) about copyright. |
A | gif, jpg, pdf, png, tif | ABC |
Allan's Irish fiddler | gif | yes |
Amazon Creek (note: archived version of this website) | no | yes |
Greg Anderson's original contra dance tunes (note: archived version of this website) | gif | yes |
Apprendre à jouer...? Learning to play...? | no | yes |
Archive.folx.org (note: archived version of this website) | pdf, png | yes |
Atlanta Irish Music (note: archived version of this website) | no | |
Australian dance music (note: archived version of this website) | gif | yes |
B | gif, jpg, pdf, png, tif | ABC |
Banjolin traditional tunes list | jpg, pdf | yes |
Hill Country tunes by Sam Bayard (note: archived version of this website) | no | |
A big bunch o' tunes | gif | yes |
Big Round Band | yes | |
Rob Blakeley's Irish music | gif | yes (download) |
Blue rose Scandinavian folk music | pdf (some) | yes (some) |
Boe's Strings Celtic jam tune list | no | |
Harry Bolick's new timey fiddle tunes (note: archived version of this website) | yes | |
Breizh partitions | no | |
David Brinkman's fiddle tunes | no | |
Ken Brown session tunes (note: archived version of this website) | no | |
Ken Brown: The black book (note: archived version of this website) | no | |
Eddie Burke sets | no | |
Paul Butler scroll down a little to list of tunes; mostly medieval, renaissance, English country dance, and folk music | no | |
Clara Byom original contra dance tunes | no | |
C | gif, jpg, pdf, png, tif | ABC |
Calgary Folk Music prairie mountain fiddlers tunes | no | |
Cam-French tune collection | yes | |
Jonathan Cannon's tunes | other | no |
Carp Camp | no | |
Carp Celtic jam | yes | |
CeilidhSoc searchable by composer, key, meter, etc. | gif | yes |
Celtic Orbis | gif | no |
Fiddle tunes (in manuscript) from the Center for Popular Music | other | no |
Ceolas | gif, pdf | yes |
John Chamber's ABC music collection: contra | Irish | no | yes |
Chorley Traditional Music Sessions | yes | |
Cincinnati Open Band | no | |
Co. Champaign Irish Tune Coll. Online | no | |
Cobb's music of Ireland | no | yes |
Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, Harp of Tara Branch Kingston Irish session tune book | no | |
Séamus Connolly collection of Irish music | no | |
Contra Dan's tunes | yes | |
Contranella tunebook | jpg | yes |
Cooley-Keegan Branch of San Francisco tune list | gif | no |
Corvallis Celtic jam tune list and resources | yes | |
Cranford Publications | gif | yes |
Rich Crew's tune book | no | |
Tunes by Phil Cunningham | no | yes |
Czech Area Concertina Club | no | |
D | gif, jpg, pdf, png, tif | ABC |
Dallas Area Contrabands music archive | no | |
Delivery boys | no | yes |
Dennis' grab bag of gifs | gif | no |
David DiGiuseppe original compositions | no | |
E | gif, jpg, pdf, png, tif | ABC |
Evart hammered dulcimer festival music archive | jpg | no |
F | gif, jpg, pdf, png, tif | ABC |
Paul Fackler's Cape Breton collection (table of contents) | yes | |
The Fackler collection (original tunes) | no | |
Fiddle music of Donegal | gif | no |
Fiddle tunes for viola: fiddle tunes transposed into alto clef (and usually down an octave) to play on viola, in three formats: 1) a large format PDF (one to three tunes per page); 2) a small format PDF (usually three to five tunes per page); and 3) a free iPad app (the iPad app may be viewed at the Apple app store by searching for "fiddle tunes for viola"). The collection is copyrighted, but free of charge. All formats are free to share with anyone, the only restriction being that it always has to remain free--no one can profit from its distribution. If you are uncomfortable downloading a document from google drive, you can request the PDF from Ralph Palmer by e-mail | no | |
FiddleFork | gif or pdf | A-M | N-Z |
Fiddle-icious | no | |
Fiddler's companion | no | some |
Tunes from "The Field" (collection) from Michael Eskin | no | |
Folkets Hus Spillefold Collection of dance music (Danish) | gif, pdf | no |
The Folktune finder | png | yes |
Freds Folks Ceilidh Band music book | no | |
Free ABC format music sites, a long list of sites with ABC tunes (Some sites are already listed on this page) | no | yes |
Free Celtic scores for fiddle | gif | some |
Free traditional sheet music | gif, pdf | no |
G | gif, jpg, pdf, png, tif | ABC |
Nigel Gatherer's Tune Index | no | yes |
Paul Gitlitz's original tunes | yes | |
Gladys' Celtic corner | gif | no |
Kevin M. Goess fakebook | jpg, pdf | yes |
Kevin M. Goess Wassail! xmas fakebook | jpg, pdf | yes |
Good Parking (English contra dance band) | pdf: jigs|reels|waltzes/polkas | abc: jigs|reels|waltzes/polkas |
John Goodin's tunes | no | |
Sarah Gowan's tunes | yes | |
Original tunes by Sarah Gowan and Bill Quern | yes | |
Tune file from Le Grand Session de Manchester 153 tunes (mainly dance music from Central France) | no | yes |
Hope Grietzer's Tune of the month archive | no | |
H | gif, jpg, pdf, png, tif | ABC |
Ed Haley fiddle tune transcriptions | gif | no |
Hand me doon da fiddle by Tom Anderson and Pam Swing; reproduction of the 1981 edition | no | |
Paul Hardy's session tunebook | yes | |
Paul Hardy's Xmas tunebook | yes | |
Paul Haslem's tunes | yes | |
Hobart Session tunes | no | yes |
Seth Houston's contra-dance music | no | |
Mary Humphreys and Anahata most have ABCs and PDFs; titles not completely arranged alphabetically | yes | |
I | gif, jpg, pdf, png, tif | ABC |
Identitairs (Québécois repertoire) | jpg | no |
International music score library project (classical music in the public domain) | no | |
Tunes of The Irish Band of Columbia, Missouri (scroll down on this page for a list of the tunes) | no | yes |
Irish heather tunes | yes | |
Ithaca Irish Session tunes | no | |
K | gif, jpg, pdf, png, tif | ABC |
Kaubells tunes | yes | |
David Kaynor's tunes | some | |
King Street sessions tunebook | yes | |
The Kentucky Open Band contra tunes | no | |
The Kitchen Musician alphabetical list | by country of origin | gif | no |
Kiwi Folk | yes | |
Stephen Klein's Fiddle tunes in ABC format | no | yes |
Klezmer scores | no | |
L | gif, jpg, pdf, png, tif | ABC |
John Lamancusa's old time fiddle tune page | no | |
Lancaster Contra Dance | no | |
Launceston Youth and Community Orchestra Inc | no | |
Pete Loud's collection scroll down to the "freebies" section | gif | no |
Douglas M. Lowder scroll down to near the bottom of the page | yes | |
M | gif, jpg, pdf, png, tif | ABC |
McDermott's Handy | jpg | no |
Dougie MacDonald collection of fiddle tunes | some | some |
Natalie MacMaster's tunes from her CDs | jpg | no |
Maine Fiddle Camp | no | |
Larry Mallette's tunes | yes | |
Mandozine (under the category "coMandoList Tune of the Week (TOW) File") | no | yes |
Steve Mansfield posts collection of tunes originally posted to mailing lists and Usenet compiled into one site | no | yes |
Contra tunes & etc. by Dave Marcus & friends | no | |
McKennas Irish music site | no | |
Steve McNally's tunes | yes (for most) | |
Mendocino English Country Dance Tune book | Multipart tune book | no | |
Milwaukee Slow Session Tunes | no | yes |
Tunes from Mitchell's famous Irish session | gif | yes |
Montreal session tunebook | pdf, png | yes |
Richard Moon's TUNEdb | yes | yes |
Dan Mozell's music files | gif, pdf | no |
Dexter N. Muir, ABC tunes | no | yes |
Karen L Myers Scandinavian Folk Music | some (in progress) | |
N | gif, jpg, pdf, png, tif | ABC |
Nashville Old-Time String Band Association | no | |
NCFolk session tune book 1 and 2 | yes | |
New Mexico Folk Music & Dance Society abc archive | no | yes |
NIPS | no | |
Henrik Norbeck's tune index | no | yes |
North Atlantic tune list: dance & fiddle tunes from around the North Atlantic | gif | yes |
NOTBOK med låtar från Södermanland (Scandinavian) | gif | no |
Nottingham folk music database | gif | yes |
Nova Irish session sheet music | yes | |
O | gif, jpg, pdf, png, tif | ABC |
Paddy O'Brien's sets (collection) | here | |
Complete works of Turlough O'Carolan | gif | yes |
100 Jigs and Reels of the O'Flaherty Irish Music Retreat | abc | |
One Hundred More Tunes of the O'Flaherty Irish Music Retreat | abc | |
A dozen easy Irish tunes: from the 2008 O'Flaherty Irish Music Youth Camp | abc | |
A baker's dozen easy Irish tunes: from the 2009 O'Flaherty Irish Music Youth Camp | abc | |
Old-time jam tunes | no | yes |
O'Neill's | no | yes |
Ottawa Cape Breton session | no | |
Ottawa Fiddle Ensemble repertoire | no | |
Oves låtarkiv (polskas, schottishes, marches, polkas, waltzes, etc.) | no | |
Oxford Fiddle Group (note: archived version of this website) | yes | |
Oxford slow session | yes | |
P | gif, jpg, pdf, png, tif | ABC |
Pat's tune repository | yes | |
Chris Peterson's traditional tunes | original tunes | gif | no |
Fiddle and mandolin books from Petimar Press | no | |
Pinecone Beginners Irish Session: tunes book 1 book 2 | yes | |
The public domain song anthology : with modern and traditional harmonization (a compilation of lead sheets for works in the public domain); list of contents on pages xiii-xvii of the book or pages 15-19 of the PDF; see the website for more formats | pdf (393 pages) | no |
Q | gif, jpg, pdf, png, tif | ABC |
Bill Quern's tunes | yes | |
Original tunes by Sarah Gowan and Bill Quern | yes | |
R | gif, jpg, pdf, png, tif | ABC |
Fiddle Tunes of the Old Frontier: The Henry Reed Collection | yes, tif | no |
Tunes collected by John Relph | no | yes |
Riddell fiddles | no | |
Roaring Jelly (the one from the Southwest) music archive (note: archived version of this website) | yes | |
Richard Robinson's Tunebook | gif | yes |
Paul Rosen's original tunes | jpg | yes |
Roswell Irish session | no | |
Royal Scottish Country Dance Society tunes: book 51 | book 52 | no | yes |
S | gif, jpg, pdf, png, tif | ABC |
San Diego Contra Dance repository of printable sheet music | no | |
Paul Sater's abc tunes | no | yes |
Scottish Fiddlers of Los Angeles core tunes | no | |
The session | gif | yes |
Sessioneer (note: archived version of this website) | gif | no |
SessioNite | no | yes |
Shake The Dice (English ceilidh band) 86 British and French dance tunes | no | yes |
Shelta | jpg | yes |
Pete Showman's tunes | no | yes |
The Shropshire Tune Archive: 20 English dance tunes collected by John Kirkpatrick 2017 | no | |
Michael Shulman's tune list | yes | |
Siamsa session tunes | gif | no |
Slainte.web | yes | |
Sliding Scale Music Tunes from the Western Edge | no | |
The Sligo Creek Hedge's School Children's Irish session booklet | no | |
Slow session web page from The Celtic Arts Center of Southern California (note: archived version of this website) | gif | yes |
SlowPlayers music list | gif, pdf | yes |
Sonothèque ABC | no | yes |
Speledans (Scandinavian) | no | yes |
SPUDS: reels | jigs | couple dance tunes | sets | png or pdf | yes |
Andrew Swaine's tunes | yes | |
Swedish traditional music links | gif | no |
Sydney Scottish Fiddlers | no | yes |
T | gif, jpg, pdf, png, tif | ABC |
Three Bean Salad Carp Camp tune book | homework | extra credit | no | |
Tunes for the T.I.M.E.S. | v.1, v. 2 | v.1, v.2 |
Le Troubadour wallon (The Walloon troubadour): The Walloon Troubadour | yes | |
Traditional Music and Dance Wiki: tunes (note: archived version of this website) | yes | |
Traditional music database aka TUNEdb | png | yes |
Traditional music from France | Airs de Normandie | gif | no |
Tradition
music library: best known tunes | bluegrass | Irish part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | Old-time | Pub session tunes part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | Scottish part 1 | part 2 guitar tab (includes staff notation) |
gif | no |
Traditional-style tunes by Aiden Crossey, Gavin Atkin, Taz Tarry | no | yes |
Trinity Hall sessions (note: archived version of this website) | no | yes |
Bill Troxler's Celtic session tune bank | no | |
V | gif, jpg, pdf, png, tif | ABC |
Vashon Celtic tunes jam tunes (scroll about half way down the page) | no | |
Victoria Fiddle Society jam tunes (scroll about half way down the page) | gif, jpg, or pdf | no |
Violin Sheet Music (including a facsimile of Ryan's Mammoth Collection) | no | |
The virtual session (requires Flash player) | other | no |
W | gif, jpg, pdf, png, tif | ABC |
Charlie Walden's Missouri Fiddling tune transcriptions (note: archived version of this website) | PDF or gif | no |
Charlie Walden's sheet music downloads (one-time $10 donation suggested) | no | |
John Walsh's session tunes (collection) | no | |
Wandering whistler | gif | no |
Fiddle tunes from Bernie Waugh also 282 fiddle tunes (pdf only) | yes | |
The way of the fiddle: one fiddler's collection of old-time tunes | no | |
Glenn Weiser's Traditional Celtic, Irish, & old time tune book | no | |
Whole Hog Musical Revue | some | |
Wide web ABC index | no | yes |
Wild Dismay tunebook | gif | yes |
Wildfiddle from Ron Wild | gif | no |
Wongawilli Colonial Dance Club Australian traditional dance tunes | PDF 1, PDF 2 | no |
Brian K. Wood (some original tunes, some photocopied from the Fiddler's fakebook) | gif | no |
ABC tunes from the Woodenflute mailing list | no | yes |
XYZ | gif, jpg, pdf, png, tif | ABC |
Peter Yarensky's New Hampshire Old-Time Country Dance (scroll down past the 4th paragraph to get to the list of ABC arranged by format) | yes | |
Your Friends & Neighbors tunes | no |
This page and its content was created by and is maintained & copyrighted by Mickey Koth. Please send an e-mail to make comments, suggest additions, and/or report broken links. E-mails requesting legal advice about using tunes for commercial purposes or concerning copyright will not be answered, as I am not a lawyer. See Copyright basics from Yale University for information (but not legal advice) about copyright.
Last revised July 28, 2023 Designed for and best viewed on Mozilla Firefox