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Where can I find tunes online?

Tunes frequently played at the Tranzac: Thanks to Bob Jones for maintaining this list!

TheSession.org has an excellent library of user-added tunes. Click on the "Search" tab to search by title, type of tune or key. Click on the "Advanced" tab to search for a tune by entering a fragment in ABC format.

Sessioneer.org is also created by musicians for musicians. Click on "Tune Archives: Home" in the lefthand menu to look for or browse tunes.

Where can I find tunes offline?

There are 3 great books I'd recommend, esp for fiddle players but NOT limited to them, since all the tunes in all 3 books work for all instruments....but in the first the actual bowing is marked up for fiddlers [an important aspect of learning]:

1. The Irish Fiddle Book, by Cork musican and teacher Matt Cranitch. A CD of all tunes he plays [and that are notated in the book] is also available and highly recommended. Crantich takes the beginner fiddler from the basics to playing reels. All tune types are covered: airs, slides, polkas, jigs, set dances, etc. The important thing is both the musical examples [on cd]; his explanation of common ornaments, some music 'theory', discussion of Irish music and learning tunes etc. For beginner fiddlers Crantich's suggestions on bowing patterns is a MUST. This is a great book for all beginning/apprentice Irish musicians with a wealth of great session tunes. Available from OssianUSA [Ossianusa.com].

2. Irish Session Tunes -- the "Blue Book", plus cd. A great selection of common session tunes put together as SETS and played [one time thru for each tune] with and without ornaments at a reasonable speed. The Blue Book contains mostly reels. Published again by Ossian [in Cork Ireland] and put toether by Brid Crantich, Matt Crantich's wife. The CD is really a must to go with book, because otherwise the dots [notes] won't make much sense for most beginners. Both book and CD relatively inexpensive -- around $16 U.S. each.

3. Irish Session Tunes -- The "Orange Book". Same as above but with less reels and more jigs, plus some slides and polkas. Again, buy the cd to go with it. Published by Ossian [OssianUSA.com] a great source for both Irish trad cds and books by mail [don't worry, customs seems not to charge any duty these days on items ordered from U.S.]. All tunes arranged in sets of either 2 tunes or 3 tunes each.

4. Kevin Burke's Fiddle Tutor book and tape/cd. Available from Homespun Tapes.