Below is a list of Celtic tunes (mostly Irish) with
sheet music and chords. These are JPG images, and you should be able
to display them in your browser and/or print them.
Just click on the name to see the page for that tune.
There are midi files, and a few mp3's, too.
The midis are pretty crude, of course, but will at least give you the general idea.
Please feel free to add a bit more lilt, backbeat, and other dynamics as you see fit.
A Note on the Chords
Assume you've put any number of backup players, with their instruments, in a locked room and given them their own selection of pistols.
Ten seconds after piping in the first strains of any given Irish melody, you'll hear
a variety of different chords, then a volley of shots, and
then, maybe, one player continuing on, playing the "correct" chords.
These tunes are shown with my own choice of chords. They're kept on the simple side, so feel free to embellish them,
or flat-out change them wherever you like. They're starting ideas only.
But don't forget that opening 'A' in Providence Reel, or I'm coming after you.
There's a compact list of chords for ALL the tunes, if you
want to make a cheat-sheet notebook. Okay, it may not have the very latest tunes,
but I refresh it once a month or so to add any new ones. It's sorted by tune name.
Feel free to contact me (Steve Austin) at saustin98(at)comcast(dot)net.
TradNL is a small, curated collection of traditional music organized in an
online, searchable database. The focus is on Newfoundland and Irish tunes
that are played at their local sessions.
This is a hoot. You're in a "virtual session" with some pretty good players in a pub.
You get to pick which 3-tune set you'll play, and you can play along with them.
It goes at a moderate pace, not too fast, not too slow.
It even shows the sheet music for whichever tune you're on.
Mickey Koth's site is a large collection of other tune collections (like this one). Expand your horizons!
Musician's Corner
This section contains more technical issues, aimed at the musician who wants to play these tunes well
(as opposed to sites containing tune collections).
It's unashamedly focused more on the Celtic dance tune style, but I'm sure there will be a bit of other
styles showing up from time to time. Feel free to send more links that you find interesting.
These are some great online tutorials on whistle and flute (and some guitar).
He does a great job of slowing down the ornaments, and still does a good job of playing them clearly.
I love this site. It's maintained by Dolmetsch, a company known most for its
fine recorders (the "whistle" kind of recorder, not a recording device). This
is a link to their music theory section. It's VERY readable for people of
all levels of ability, and a great place to start.
And never buy music staff paper again! They have a gazillion different free
printable staff papers.
This is a wonderful collection of old tunes, mostly for English Country Dance, but there's a lot more, too.
Paul's taken the trouble to score out many of the Playford collection in 3-4 parts,
and has done an excellent job at harmonization. If you're into ECD, go here!
