Tune archive
Tunes, with their passports
Every tune here gets the same treatment: what kind of tune it is, what key and time, the traditions that claim it, an ABC setting you can paste into any notation app, and a short, sourced history. No tune is “owned” by one country on this site — we note where it started and where it went.
| Tune | Type | Key | Traditions | Origin & travel |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soldier's Joy | Reel / breakdown | D major | Scottish, English, Appalachian old-time, Canadian | Scotland → England → Appalachia |
| The Braes of Mar | Strathspey | A major | Scottish, Cape Breton | Scotland (Aberdeenshire) · Cape Breton |
| The Kesh | Jig | G major | Irish | Ireland |
| Hector the Hero | Slow air (lament) | A major | Scottish, Scottish fiddle | Scotland (Monikie, Angus), 1903 |
| Niel Gow's Lament for the Death of His Second Wife | Slow air (lament) | D major | Scottish, Scottish fiddle | Scotland (Perthshire), early 1800s |
| Calum's Road | Strathspey | D major | Scottish | Knoxville Scottish Music Club binder |
| Jig of Slurs | Jig | D major | Scottish | Knoxville Scottish Music Club binder |
| NORWEGIAN M.T.B. SONG | Waltz | G major | Scottish | Knoxville Scottish Music Club binder |
| St. Kilda's Wedding | Reel | D major | Scottish | Knoxville Scottish Music Club binder |
| The Atholl Highlanders | March | A mixolydian | Scottish | Knoxville Scottish Music Club binder |
| THE ROPE WALTZ | Waltz | D major | Scottish | Knoxville Scottish Music Club binder |
Every tune page now renders the notation and plays it with a choice of synthetic session instruments (tin whistle first), with optional guitar accompaniment from the chord symbols, transpose, and print-to-PDF.
Play along · song sheets · engine preview
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The Banks of Newfoundland
Traditional packet-ship song (Roud 1812 / Laws K25), public-domain text · key of D. Chords over the words, capo and transpose, print to PDF — and a Studio editor to move the chords.
Open the song sheet -
Come A' Ye Kincardine Lads
as sung by Old Blind Dogs -- traditional (Stonehaven area), arr. Old Blind Dogs; album Fit? (2001); Roud no. not found · key of F. Chords over the words, capo and transpose, print to PDF — and a Studio editor to move the chords.
Open the song sheet -
Loch Lomond
The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond -- traditional, Roud 9598; versions: Peter Hollens; Hollens feat. Archuleta; The Ramparts; Ella Roberts · key of E. Chords over the words, capo and transpose, print to PDF — and a Studio editor to move the chords.
Open the song sheet -
Sailing Off to the Yankee Land
Irish emigration song, traditional (Roud 45708); as sung by Karan Casey and John Doyle, "Exiles Return" (2010), from Frank Harte · key of Eb. Chords over the words, capo and transpose, print to PDF — and a Studio editor to move the chords.
Open the song sheet -
The Lakes of Pontchartrain
Traditional American ballad (Roud 1836 / Laws H9), public-domain text; as sung in the Irish tradition (Planxty / Christy Moore / Paul Brady line) · key of E. Chords over the words, capo and transpose, print to PDF — and a Studio editor to move the chords.
Open the song sheet -
The Light Dragoon
as sung by Malinky -- Roud 162, traditional · key of D. Chords over the words, capo and transpose, print to PDF — and a Studio editor to move the chords.
Open the song sheet -
The Parting Glass
Traditional (Scottish / Irish), public domain text · key of G. Chords over the words, capo and transpose, print to PDF — and a Studio editor to move the chords.
Open the song sheet -
Twa Sisters
as sung by Emily Smith -- Child 10 / Roud 8, traditional · key of B. Chords over the words, capo and transpose, print to PDF — and a Studio editor to move the chords.
Open the song sheet -
Màiri Bhàn · Mairi’s Wedding
The decorative edition: one sample line in Gaelic with a rhyme-first guide to saying it (tap any word), the High Kings version, two recordings, and the story of the song. Full words for members in Drive.
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How to say it
Pronunciation guides for the languages and accents in the songs, explained by rhyme first. Scottish Gaelic is live; Irish, Welsh, Breton, Scots and the regional Englishes are coming.
Open the guides -
Kesh Jig / Leitrim Fancy
Slainte · 123 BPM · key of G major · beat-synced chord grid with capo, transpose and simplify. Analysed on our own machine from an openly licensed recording.
Open the player
Sample entries. Three tunes stand in for the archive while it is being built. The full archive is organised by type (reel, jig, strathspey, hornpipe, march, air, waltz, breakdown) and by tradition, with a settings index per tune in the style of The Session.
How to read the ABC
ABC is a plain-text way of writing music that any computer — and most phones — can turn into sheet music and sound. Copy the block from a tune page and paste it into a free tool such as the abcjs editor or EasyABC/DrawTheDots. The settings here are simplified “session skeletons”: the bones of the tune, without one player’s ornaments baked in.