If you are a member
of one of the musician groups, you may find extra instructions there (Musicians). For example, if there has
been a recent workshop, information about it may be posted there.
To
find a tune you can either identify its category (Tune Categories) or search
for it. When you look for it by category, you will see a list of the first
few measures of each part (typically there are two parts, but not always).
If you want to print a page of these incipits, setting your
printer to "landscape" works best.
The search tool looks for entire
single (or hyphenated) words or numbers, without special characters. All
the tunes which have special characters (non-English) in their titles
are searchable as though the accent marks were removed. For
example, you can search for "Rättvik" by
entering "Rattvik".
Each tune is numbered with a 4-digit
arbitrary identifier, starting at 1001. If you know a tune's number,
putting it in the search box is the easiest way to find it.
The search results appear in a popup window; if you suppress popups
in your browser, try holding the "ctrl" key down when you click the Search
button to make the window appear.
About 36%
of the tunes have a checkmark indicating that
an Adobe Acrobat PDF file of the whole tune can be viewed, downloaded,
or printed - just click on the checkmark. Of course, it would be
ideal for every tune to have a PDF version, but it may take a very long time for
that to happen -- like everyone else, I have binders full of multi-generation
photocopies. Identifying the tunes is a useful first step, and more
transcriptions of complete tunes will follow. If you would like to see a
PDF for a particular tune right away, please contact
me.
Tunes that originate from workshops may also have
a CD icon indicating that an MP3 of the tune
can be opened or downloaded - just click on the icon. Sometimes there is
a slow version as well. These recordings are produced with the
permission of the instructor(s) and are limited to non-commercial
use.
Transcriptions of tunes come from many hands, including mine,
and may contain errors. Sometimes the tune's name or context is not known
to the transcriber. Individual performers play the same tune differently
(often in the same performance), the tune itself exists in variants, and
ornamentation is individualistic, difficult to notate, and hard to read.
It is best to think of these tune transcriptions as skeletons of
the melody with much of the performance practice omitted -- there is
no substitute for listening to actual performances. (See this
excellent article by Matt Fichtenbaum on the limits of musical
transcriptions.)
Note: Scordatura tunes (non-standard GDAE
tuning for the violin) are generally notated as fingered not as
sounded, unless otherwise mentioned. See Special Tunings for more
information.
Look for the MAP link for tune categories that are
associated with a particular region - you will find it on the top right of the
page.
If you would like to suggest changes or additions to
these instructions, please contact
me so that I can improve them.
