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Top 10 fiddle tunes please
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Subject: RE: Top 10 fiddle tunes please From: GUEST,fiddler Date: 16 Aug 07 - 07:05 AM they are TUNES not songs! |
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Subject: RE: Top 10 fiddle tunes please From: GUEST,Lillian Date: 16 Aug 07 - 01:16 AM I'm just a beginner and I love these songs and all you fiddlers out there! Rakes of Mallow Nonesuch Colonel John Irwin Lucy Farr's Barn Dance La Valse Des Jonglements Pride of Petravore Si Beag Si Mohr Whiskey Before Breakfast St Anne's Reel Ash Grove |
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Subject: RE: Top 10 fiddle tunes please From: MissouriMud Date: 18 Apr 07 - 12:59 PM I would have to qualify my answer by saying that first it will be country specific(US in my case)- and possibly even region specific (midwest/ozarkian); and second it attempts to include a few tunes from each of the three primary fiddle tune keys - D, A and G. We dont do much fiddle work in the key of C at the basic level here. Finally I am making the assumption that you are looking for tunes to teach a beginning fiddler or at least someone new to the genre. These are all tunes that any experienced fiddler in these parts would have to know (and would probably be sick and tired of). With that in mind, our little school here teaches a number of tunes in its lower level fiddle classes - among which the most repeated seem to be, albeit in no particular order other than key: Key of D Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss (Hop High Ladies, Susannah Girl etc) Angeline the Baker (or Angelina Baker) Eighth of January (Battle of New Orleans) Robinson County Soldiers Joy Key of G Chase the Banshee (we have Banshees in Missouri) Miss McLeod's Reel (Did you ever see the Devil Uncle Joe?) Red Wing Seneca Square Dance Going Down To Cairo (Good Bye Liza Jane) Key of A Old Joe Clark Cripple Creek Horse and Buggy Greasy Coat (got to have some of the modal tunes in there) Cluck Old Hen (ditto) That's 15 not 10. Those arent my necessarily personal favorites and I am not a fiddle player, but they seem to be the ones that are most used for basic teaching here so I assume they are good for that purpose. If we were to have our young fiddlers put together a program for a 3 hour square/contra dance, most if not all of those tunes would be on the list. We probably teach simple versions of some of these tunes - so I am assuming these are tunes which either have a simple base melody to start with or seem to permit simplification of a more complicated base melody without losing too much. Obviously good players play all of these tunes in a manner that would be over the head of a learner. I have not included any waltzes - while we play them and teach them here, I don't treat them as being "fiddle tunes" as we normally use that term here, but some good ones have been mentioned in the thread above. Of course if you're really dealing with total beginners, the Old Town School in Chicago teaches everyone Go Tell Auint Rhodie the first day, but I dont consider that a fiddle tune either. |
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Subject: RE: Top 10 fiddle tunes please From: GUEST, donald Date: 18 Apr 07 - 10:30 AM Bonnie Kate Jenny's Chickens Bonnie Mulligan Mason's Apron Dionne Mouth of the Tobique Rakes Of Kildare Calliope House Canyon Moonrise Neil Gow second wife Cooley's Drowsy Maggie ok that's a dozen, but it's 10 in base twelve! |
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Subject: RE: Top 10 fiddle tunes please From: Mike Miller Date: 18 Apr 07 - 02:39 AM Belfast Hornpipe The Downfall of Paris Georgia Camp Meeting Chicken Reel The Rakes of Kildare Orange Blossom Special (Still smokin' after all these years) Anything Johnnie Gimbel played, anything at all. |
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Subject: RE: Top 10 fiddle tunes please From: Guy Wolff Date: 17 Apr 07 - 06:38 PM As a banjo player I have found these some of my faverites to play along with a good fiddler.They all have a lot of depth .Some I learned in North Carolina some in New England and some in the north of England .. all the best ,Guy Bill Cheatum Staton Island Red Haired Boy Sally Anne Solger's Joy Old French Rickets Hornpipe Jefferson and Liberty Cluck Old Hen Jamie Allen Sony Brogan |
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Subject: RE: Top 10 fiddle tunes please From: open mike Date: 17 Apr 07 - 01:18 AM "St. Anne's Reel is a French-Canadian fiddle tune that has been very popular over the years."--this is a quote from a web page...so it MUST be true..actually that is what i have always heard, too. another great book source for tunes is O'Niel's 1,000 fiddle tunes book. |
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Subject: RE: Top 10 fiddle tunes please From: GUEST,Scoville at Dad's Date: 16 Apr 07 - 08:49 PM I've always seen St. Anne's attributed to Canada. Not that that means I'm right, only that I've known it my entire life and never seen it ascribed to any other country. A few more: 1. Eight Days in Georgia [C] 2. Ballydesmond Polka [Am] 3. Where the White Lilies Grow [D, two-step] 4. Princess Royal [the version I know is in G major] 5. Seneca Square Dance [G, known by several other titles] 6. Tennessee Wagoner [C] 7. Pa Janvier [Dm, a morose Cajun waltz] 8. Red Hills Polka [D, an Illinois tune as far as I know] 9. Spotted Pony [D] 10. Kingdom Coming [aka Year of Jubilo, we also played this in C to go with Dixie] |
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Subject: RE: Top 10 fiddle tunes please From: GUEST,dax Date: 16 Apr 07 - 08:45 PM Cross post there Jack. It was made popular in the English speaking world by Don Messer. |
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Subject: RE: Top 10 fiddle tunes please From: GUEST,dax Date: 16 Apr 07 - 08:43 PM French-Canadian |
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Subject: RE: Top 10 fiddle tunes please From: Jack Campin Date: 16 Apr 07 - 08:41 PM The two places it seems to be most played are Quebec and Shetland. Since Catholic saints don't get a great deal of notice in Shetland culture it seems a good bet it's French-Canadian. |
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Subject: RE: Top 10 fiddle tunes please From: GUEST Date: 16 Apr 07 - 08:24 PM My favourite is St. Annes reel. Anyone know of it's origins? Scottish, Irish? |
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Subject: RE: Top 10 fiddle tunes please From: greg stephens Date: 16 Apr 07 - 12:22 PM The original enquirer was from England, so it should be pointed out that the Fiddler's Fake Book, fabulous collection that it is, is pretty useless as regards English tunes. And its comments on the subject of English fiddle music are, to say the least, ill-informed. But, having said that, iot's a must-have collection. The traditional English tunes that everybody, but everybody, knows (in England, that is) are Winster Gallop(very easy) and Soldier's Joy (not so easy). |
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Subject: RE: Top 10 fiddle tunes please From: Jim Lad Date: 16 Apr 07 - 11:24 AM My wife still stops me dead on my tracks when she plays "The Burning of the Piper's Hut". Hector the Hero & Roisin Dubh are another couple of favourites. |
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Subject: RE: Top 10 fiddle tunes please From: open mike Date: 16 Apr 07 - 11:19 AM Ashokan Farewell St. Anne's Reel Soldier's Joy Whiskey Before Breakfast Red Haired Boy (Little Beggar Man) Liberty Maggie Brown's Favorite Jig Caledonian Laddie Hornpipe Dance (King?) of the Fairies Rosetree o.k. i guess that is 10 so i have to stop now.. But I might add ..... Round the Horn Smash the Windows Swinging on a Gate Ground Hog Arkansas Traveller Turkey in the Straw Golden Slippers Star of the County Down--with lyrics sung Midnight on the Water (Waltz) 8th of January (in 1814 we took a little trip..Colonel Jackson...MS) Tennessee Waltz Beaumont Rag ROAD to California...(diff. from Off to CA) |
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Subject: RE: Top 10 fiddle tunes please From: wilco Date: 16 Apr 07 - 09:40 AM Top ten in my east tennessee fiddle jams and music store: Angeline the baker, arkansas traveler, soldiers' joy, lost indian, over the waterfall, st. anne's real, blackberry blossum, bonaparte's retreat, forked derr, billy in the lowground, leather britches, mississipii sawyer, red haired boy, ragtime annie, sail away ladies, whiskey before breakfast. |
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Subject: RE: Top 10 fiddle tunes please From: GUEST,Bill Cheatam Date: 16 Apr 07 - 03:26 AM The Real List..........Spokane, WA Sally Johnson Say Old Man Dusty Miller Sally Goodin Tom and Jerry Wednesday Night Waltz Purple Velvet Waltz I Don't Love Nobody Cottonpatch Rag Beaumont Rag |
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Subject: RE: Top 10 fiddle tunes please From: John Hardly Date: 27 Feb 07 - 03:39 PM In Northern Indiana ten fiddle tunes that would stand you in good stead... 1. Arkansas Traveler 2. Red-Haired Boy 3. Blackberry Blossom 4. St Anne's Reel 5. Jaybird 6. Sandy Boys 7. Old Joe Clark 8. Temperance Reel 9. Rock The Cradle, Joe 10. Over The Waterfall She left Ireland and now works for NASA at launch time. She's the star of counting down. There it floated in the bay, covered with writing. I couldn't make out a single word. Then a little boat paddled by bearing this sign: "Read Here -- Bouy". |
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Subject: RE: Top 10 fiddle tunes please From: skarpi Date: 27 Feb 07 - 03:29 PM Hallo I dont play fiddle but Calliope House Ashokan Farewell Road to Lisdoonvarna Moudbawn chapel King of the fairys Bonde og byfolk ( Norway Hardanger fiddle tune ) all the best Skarpi Iceland. P.s in my band we use both fiddle and Hardanger fiddle |
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Subject: RE: Top 10 fiddle tunes please From: Scoville Date: 27 Feb 07 - 03:21 PM Okay, I've gotten so many different reports on "Off to California": GUEST Kathleen above says it's a schottische. Somebody else told me it was a polka. I was told that an alternate title is "Whiskey Hornpipe" and have always played it as a hornpipe on both fiddle and Appalachian dulcimer (on which it's pretty easy to tell the difference among the three since they use different strums). What the Hell is it? |
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Subject: RE: Top 10 fiddle tunes please From: Beer Date: 27 Feb 07 - 03:15 PM Big John McNeil Old Man an Old Woman |
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Subject: RE: Top 10 fiddle tunes please From: GUEST,Kathleen Date: 27 Feb 07 - 03:11 PM The Blarney Pilgrim (jig) Banish Misfortune (jig) Dan Ryan's (Polka) Off To Califormia (schottishe) The Banshee (reel) Ragtime Annie (reel) Bill Cheatham (reel) Festival Waltz Midnight On The Water (waltz) Morpeth's Rant (reel) Cold Frosty Morning (reel) The Wizard's Walk (reel) Neil Gows Lament for his 2nd Wife The Growling Old Man & Grumbling Old Woman (reel) La Bistrangue (French Can. reel) St. Annes Reel Rory O'Moore (jig) Fisher's Hornpipe Colored Aristocracy (cakewalk/reel) East Tennessee Blues Florida Blues Turkey IN The Straw Arkansas Traveler Temperence Reel (teetotalers) Petronella (reel) Chorus Jig (its a reel) Road to Boston |
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Subject: RE: Top 10 fiddle tunes please From: JohnInKansas Date: 02 Jan 07 - 04:11 PM The Fiddler's Fakebook mentioned above is probably the most commonly seen collection in my area. It includes probably most of the most common tunes people have cited. It also includes some information on performers/performances for most tunes. My observation is that it contains "performance arrangements," i.e. the way the tunes are played for "listening audiences." (i.e. the selection is a bit "blue A collection I've found more "likeable" is the Portland Collection. This nice little book is produced by the Contra Dance folk in Portland Oregon, and includes danceable tune selections and arrangements. I've not gotten around to ordering the new edition(s) with the CD that's now available, but those who've got it indicate that the CD is good. It appears in Amazon listings so it would be presumed that it could be ordered through mudcat for the kickback to the 'cat. While any tune of interest to a beginning player can probably be found somewhere on the web, most will probably want at least one or two "collections" just to cut down on the time wasted searching them out. (Look less, play more.) Most "folk collections," including "fiddle collections," tend to be quite repetitious, including very similar lists of "best tunes" without adding much to the repertoire. The above two, so far as I've seen, include the best basic sets of tunes in forms actually useful to most beginners - at least until they settle on a "style" they like and are ready to look at more narrowly defined collections. But everything is just an opinion. John |
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Subject: RE: Top 10 fiddle tunes please From: GUEST Date: 02 Jan 07 - 01:48 PM From m-w.com: hoedown One entry found for hoedown. Main Entry: hoe·down Pronunciation: -"daun Function: noun 1 : SQUARE DANCE 2 : a gathering featuring hoedowns ---------------------------------- So, a hoedown is a fiddle tune appropriate for a square dance. |
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Subject: RE: Top 10 fiddle tunes please From: open mike Date: 02 Jan 07 - 12:20 PM i consider a hoe down to be a tune in 2/4 or 4/4 time...more like a reel |
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Subject: RE: Top 10 fiddle tunes please From: Scoville Date: 02 Jan 07 - 11:27 AM What I can play right now: Amelia (Bob McQuillen) D Where the White Lilies Grow D Cora Dye G Booth Shot Lincoln A Ducks on the Pond A Santa Ana's Retreat A/Am Creek Nation C West Fork Gals D Red Hills Polka D Riding on a Load of Hay Em To what I aspire: Salt River Am Natchez Under the Hill A Dixie we played this in C Billy in the Low Ground C Elzic's Farewell Am Shag Poke (from Dwight Lamb) G Chincopin Hunting (from Art Stamper) G? Indian Ate a Woodchuck (crappy title, great tune) D? Echoes of the Ozarks (from Lee Stoneking) D Cherokee Shuffle A |
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Subject: RE: Top 10 fiddle tunes please From: Cruiser Date: 02 Jan 07 - 11:12 AM Hey ladies, fiddle is simply folk violin, a style of playing. A fiddle is a violin and a violin is a fiddle. Therefore, you can play concertos on a fiddle or a fiddler can play a hoedown on a violin. Furthermore, any tune played on a fiddle or violin is a fiddle tune in the strictest definition. I remember Isaac Pearlman calling his violin a fiddle during an interview. Violinists are often stuffy and fiddlers ain't. The instrument is the same, but the hands of the fiddler, his bowing patterns, and adherence to structure and musical notation or not, changes the style from a violin piece to a fiddle tune. Mark O'Connor epitomizes a violinist/fiddler that is superb in both violinistic worlds. |
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Subject: RE: Top 10 fiddle tunes please From: Sorcha Date: 02 Jan 07 - 10:33 AM Ah, Pauline, NOW I think I understand what you mean. I 'suppose' that a 'fiddle tune' means a dance tune. I could be all wet here but in a Fiddle Contest a waltz, hoedown and tune of choice which is neither must be played. The choice can be a polka, blues, aire, etc. And don't ask ME what a 'hoedown' is.....I've tried for years to get someone to define it for me including contest judges. I gather that a hornpipe is not hoedown but a jig is. So, in that light, Home on the Range isn't a fiddle tune. Neither is the tune to Star Spangled Banner (Ancreon). I have found though, that a lot of people refer to a fiddle tune as any tune/song that the fiddle can lead on, which leaves it wide open. And in light of a fiddle tune being a dance or danceable tune, yes, all the tunes in the Fake Book/Oak by Brody are fiddle tunes. So are the ones in Coles 1000 Fiddle Tunes. A 'country' fake book on the other hand would be mostly tunes/songs that are NOT 'fiddle tunes'. Over to Malcolm. |
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Subject: RE: Top 10 fiddle tunes please From: Pauline L Date: 02 Jan 07 - 01:40 AM Sorcha, would you please elaborate on your comment about the definition of "fiddle tune"? Can you give me an example of something folky that is not a fiddle tune? |
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Subject: RE: Top 10 fiddle tunes please From: Cruiser Date: 01 Jan 07 - 10:11 PM That is a beautiful lament. Thanks Guest. Here is a link to other music on that site: Some Great Tunes and MP3s |
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Subject: RE: Top 10 fiddle tunes please From: GUEST Date: 01 Jan 07 - 09:58 PM This one was mentioned in an early post. A beautiful slow lament from Scotland's greatest composer. The mp3 and sheet music are free. http://www.cranfordpub.com/tunes/Scottish/LamentNielGow2nd.htm |
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Subject: RE: Top 10 fiddle tunes please From: Cruiser Date: 01 Jan 07 - 09:10 PM Thank you Cap't Bob, an excellent site. Wild Dismay Tunes |
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Subject: RE: Top 10 fiddle tunes please From: Cap't Bob Date: 01 Jan 07 - 07:26 PM Check out the following web site for some very good fiddle tunes: http://www.blackflute.com/music/tunes.html Lots of good stuff to try. Cap't Bob |
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Subject: RE: Top 10 fiddle tunes please From: Tootler Date: 01 Jan 07 - 06:43 PM How about Winster Gallop Jamie Allen Salmon Tails And He Was a Bonny Lad Davy, Davy Knick Knack Hesleyside Reel Oyster Girl 93 Not Out Proudlock's Hornpipe Redesdale Hornpipe All popular Northumbrian Session tunes. |
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Subject: RE: Top 10 fiddle tunes please From: The Borchester Echo Date: 01 Jan 07 - 06:29 PM Persian Ricardo and Galopede are the same tune. |
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Subject: RE: Top 10 fiddle tunes please From: The Borchester Echo Date: 01 Jan 07 - 06:22 PM I likely would not purchase it unless I could hear sound clips of all the tunes What? All 99? They're all on the CD that comes with it, some in alternative keys. It only costs 11 squids FFS. How mean can you get? The bloke's a working musician, not a charity. |
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Subject: RE: Top 10 fiddle tunes please From: Cruiser Date: 01 Jan 07 - 05:40 PM Thanks Jon, more books available to purchase! |
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Subject: RE: Top 10 fiddle tunes please From: Cruiser Date: 01 Jan 07 - 05:36 PM No ma'am, Kesh Jig is not in The Complete Irish Fiddle Player as I referenced above. After listening to some of the tunes on the English Fiddle Tunes, I have to say I likely would not purchase it unless I could hear sound clips of all the tunes. I need both aural cues and notation to learn a tune, especially one with embellishments/ornamentations. Out of the sound files you linked, I especially liked: Persian Ricardo, The Galopede, and the hornpipe. |
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Subject: RE: Top 10 fiddle tunes please From: GUEST,Jon Date: 01 Jan 07 - 05:30 PM For Irish Session Books, Sully's ones at least used to do the rounds a fair bit. Also, Mally's - saw one of those in a session a couple of weeks ago. |
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Subject: RE: Top 10 fiddle tunes please From: The Borchester Echo Date: 01 Jan 07 - 05:22 PM Pete Cooper published English Fiddle Tunes last year and it is not especially surprising that the Kesh Jig wasn't in it. This tune may well, however, be in his Irish Fiddle Solos or The Complete Irish Fiddle Player. |
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Subject: RE: Top 10 fiddle tunes please From: Cruiser Date: 01 Jan 07 - 05:06 PM I have this book/CD set published in 1995. Mr. Cooper gives a lot of background on the tunes and explains the meaning of reels, jigs, hornpipes and musical structure. Surprisingly, the Kesh Jig, my favorite Irish jig, is not included. I highly recommend this book. It cost me, about 10 years ago, $15.00 for the book and another $15.00 for the CDs as a set. Now it is $39.00, but still worth it. Mel Bay's Complete Irish Fiddle Player I have many of the Mel Bay fiddle books if anyone is interested in any recommendations. Great CDs, DVDs, and books are also available from Homespun Tapes. Homespun Tapes Fiddle Music |
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Subject: RE: Top 10 fiddle tunes please From: The Borchester Echo Date: 01 Jan 07 - 04:04 PM MIDIs, including a few of the tunes mentioned. Reminds me too that I forgot to list Galopede. |
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Subject: RE: Top 10 fiddle tunes please From: The Borchester Echo Date: 01 Jan 07 - 03:57 PM It's only £10.99 for notation of 99 tunes AND a CD. Pete Cooper has an online shop.. |
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Subject: RE: Top 10 fiddle tunes please From: Sorcha Date: 01 Jan 07 - 03:56 PM I just finally had to stop buying tune books. |
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Subject: RE: Top 10 fiddle tunes please From: Cruiser Date: 01 Jan 07 - 03:36 PM Thank you for that link countess. Now if we just had midis or sound clips of each of those tunes, so we all could learn them. A quick aside: I might be getting dyslexic in my old age, but I always "see" your name as countLess Richard, certainly not indicative of your often-demure, informative postings. Late onset dyslexia may also explain why my fiddle notes do not always flow with the melodic contour of the written notation on the staffs/staves! On the other hand, it could be I just do not sight-read music as well as I thought I could. |
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Subject: RE: Top 10 fiddle tunes please From: Sorcha Date: 01 Jan 07 - 03:14 PM OK, Don't have that one. |
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Subject: RE: Top 10 fiddle tunes please From: The Borchester Echo Date: 01 Jan 07 - 03:08 PM Sorcha, nearly all of them are in Pete Cooper's English Fiddle Tunes. |
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Subject: RE: Top 10 fiddle tunes please From: Murray MacLeod Date: 01 Jan 07 - 02:44 PM #1 = Ashokan Farewell followed by hundreds of others in no particular order ... |
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Subject: RE: Top 10 fiddle tunes please From: Sorcha Date: 01 Jan 07 - 02:11 PM Me too! I never heard of any of countess' list! Margarets Waltz is nice too. I have sheet music for it if no one does and wants it. |
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Subject: RE: Top 10 fiddle tunes please From: Cruiser Date: 01 Jan 07 - 02:01 PM Guest asked: "If you were to learn or recommend your top 10 favourite fiddle tunes what would they be please?" We all have favorites, correct? She did not ask for the best, most requested, etc., she asked for recommendations of "your top 10 favorite..." My favorites are different than someone else's so keep them flowing... This is a valuable thread because I have learned names of many fiddle tunes I had never heard of. |
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