New Year – new repertoire? Eight places to look for tunes

Did you notice how far we are into the new year?  And still I haven’t encouraged you to set goals, or intentions, or to pick a word for the year, or any of the other ways we get around to identifying what we think we should accomplish in the coming 365 days?  Are you wondering if I am ill or when the other shoe will drop and I’ll be getting on you to set some goals and make some resolutions?  It is January after all.

Well, the answer is – I'm not!  You already know that stuff and even if you didn’t, you hear it everywhere you turn.  And, if you recall, last year I suggested you skip it all together. Instead, let’s talk about something else – your repertoire.  Yup – repertoire. 

I am often asked where tunes come from.  Everyone knows that – the Stork brings them.

Ok, maybe not.

Your repertoire isn't a solitary thing.  It is the backbone of your playing.  It stands as a culmination of your work.  And whether you’ve been playing for 2 months (and have a tiny but well-practiced set of tunes) or playing for 1000 months (in which case you may have a large and varied repertoire consisting of tunes you learned at the beginning but never played, tunes you’ve been playing the whole time and tunes you just learned) your repertoire is certainly one measure of your work.  And you can always add to your repertoire - because there are so many tunes out there still!

But where do tunes come from?  Especially the tunes that are cool, or captivating, or just plain fun.  There are l-o-a-d-s of places to get music!  Tunes are everywhere!  You almost can’t not find new tunes.  Here are eight places you might look for tunes to play:

1. From your friends.  After all, what are friends for?  And what could be more fun than sharing tunes?
2. At Harp Circle you’ll have at your disposal a collection of tunes clearly suited to the harp (and you can either combine this with 1 (above) OR make a new friends and then (see 1, above).
3. At sessions there are continuous tunes – some of which you’ll know, but loads of others that you’ll have never heard before!  And remember, just because you’re at a session doesn’t mean you have to play all the time – sometimes you can just listen and find some stuff you’ll want to play later.  Those are the tunes you can capture in a notebook or record them so you can find them and learn them for the next time you are at the session.  If you session regularly, you could learn 12 – 50 tunes each year.
4. Books! Harp books are full of harp tunes – and are readily available online.  If you’re especially keen you can even buy a download of a book – instant gratification!  There are loads of places to find these – I usually get mine from Sylvia Woods Harp Center* or the Virginia Harp Center**
5. Pipe and Fiddle books capture tons of tunes – most of them playable, all of them worth at least reading through.  Fiddle books are pretty easy to read – after all, they only use one line!  Pipe books are conveniently full of tunes.  You might have to work a little harder to find the tune, what with the tiny print, the sometimes odd font (some are typeset to look hand written (or that actually are handwritten)), and the omnipresent ornamentation (which could be viewed as a playing and fingering challenge, but often is just kludging up the page for the rest of us).*** 
6. Published collections.  There are a number of collections that have been published including the Athole, the Glen, the Mackintosh, the Marshall, and the Lochnagar Collections.  I purchased a number of collections from Thistles and Things****. There’s nothing quite as grand has having a real-hold-it-in-your-hands book copy of the collections.  And I find that every time I comb through one of the books, like magic, tunes appear that I swear were not there before!
7. Online sources. You can search the web for all kinds of tunes.  Weather you trust The Session or you are looking for J. S. Skinner tunes in his own hand (from the University of Aberdeen Library), music is available online.  Not looking for traditional music?  You can also find non-trad music online.  Having trouble finding what you want?  Change up your key words and keep looking beyond the first page of google results.
8. YouTube/Spotify or other video/audio tracks. Ok, technically these are also online sources, but they’re different from finding sheet music.  This is a great way to find tunes by bands you already know, by bands you’ve never heard of, in varying presentations (harp, fiddle, pipes, didgeridoo, other instruments).  Again – just keep looking. You might have to use the English name, the native name (the title of the tune in Scots, Scots Gaelic, Irish Gaelic, French, Spanish, etc.), or multiple titles (e.g. I love the tune “Over the Hills and Far Away” – do you have any idea how many tunes have that title?  No, I was not looking for the Led Zeppelin version, but I found it!).

All these sources will help you find new tunes to add to your repertoire.  There are so many tunes out there – let’s find as many as we can…and keep ‘em in circulation!  I’m sure you have other sources – let me know what you have found in the comments below and we can share that here soon!

* Oh, come on, who doesn’t buy stuff from SWHC?!?  She’s got a number of books that might just have exactly what you need – usually in a very approachable way. This is not a paid advertisement – don’t freak out.   

** It’s my blog, I can tout my local Harp store.  And they have a knowledgeable staff and good stuff on the books racks. This isn’t a paid advertisement or product placement – please continue to not freak out. 

*** Let's be fair, the pipers do use all that ink, it is just a little intimidating when you first start to look at it! I have gotten a lot of lovely fiddle and pipe books from Skye Music Shop and lately from Duncans Highland Supply - both lovely people and very helpful.  If you'd done well so far, I'd urge you to continue to not freak out at this point.

****Just a shout out to my friend Patti Tillotson who’s run a great little shop from Harpswell Maine for a long time.  This is not any kind of paid advertisement – you've done well holding off so far, still, don’t freak out.  She’s got great stuff! 

I do not receive any kind of compensation for any of these links – they’re just places I go and sources I use.  Please don’t freak out - I'm not trying to sell you anything nor are these affiliate links. If you elect to visit my suggestions, I am confident you will receive good service and excellent source material.  If you happen to mention that you saw them here, then maybe they'll be glad - I know I will be!