Most-Cited Tune Books book

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This report ranks tune books by how many of their tunes are in my repertoire.

One way to use this interesting list is to find out which books get you the most "bang for the buck" in terms of number of tunes played in Midwestern sessions.

The last column ("Not in 1850") may be useful for determining which books are the most valuable for their uniqueness. "1850" refers of course to the "Bible" of Irish music, O'Neill's Music of Ireland. Note that the counts given here refer to the number of tune settings cited. Some books, especially M2, M, 1850, and IBPS, include multiple settings of the same tune.

For full bibliographical details on these books consult the Bibliography.

RankBook CodeBook TitleSession tunesSession tunes
not in 1850
1.Cobb Cobb's Music of Ireland [available] 454 283
2.M2 Midwestern Irish Session Tunes. Millennium Edition 266 166
3.1850 O'Neill's Music of Ireland [available] 217 0
4.1001 The Dance Music of Ireland. 1001 Gems [available] 206 26
5.MM First Collection of Traditional Irish Music 178 119
6.M Midwestern Irish Session Tunes. 3rd Edition. 176 103
7.Krsn O'Neill's Music of Ireland. New and Revised [available] 170 6
8.B&S Music from Ireland. 4 vols. 155 133
9.Raff 300 Tunes from Mike Rafferty [available] 147 96
10.JOL Johnny O'Leary of Sliabh Luachra. Dance Music from the Cork-Kerry Border [available] 138 91
11.RM Irish Traditional Fiddle Music [available] 122 90
12.R The Roche Collection of Traditional Irish Music. 3 vols. [available] 104 35
13.FF The Fiddler's Fakebook [available] 99 53
14.CRE 2 Ceol Rince na hÉireann 2 95 56
15.CRE 1 Ceol Rince na hÉireann 1 94 66
16.Ng Alan Ng's Transcriptions [available] 90 57
17.DM 1 100 Essential Irish Session Tunes [available] 89 61
18.JKg 3 A Drop in the Ocean. Traditional Irish Tunes Collected by Josephine Keegan [available] 83 57
19.Cr The Irish Fiddle Book [available] 82 51
20.WC The Dance Music of Willie Clancy [available] 78 35
21.DM 2 100 Enduring Irish Session Tunes [available] 64 39
22.A Allan's "Irish Fiddler" [available] 63 15
23.DM 4 100 Vital Irish Session Tunes [available] 57 28
24.FMH The Feis Musicians Handbook [sic] 55 24
25.IBPS Ireland's Best Polkas and Slides [available] 54 52
26.DM 3 100 Evergreen Irish Session Tunes [available] 49 29
27.LPTW Learn to Play the Tin Whistle [available] 45 26
28.L Alan's private loose music 45 36
29.FT The Fiddler's Throne [available] 44 28
30.HN Henrik Norbeck's Abc Tunes [available] 34 33
31.LM ? [available] 34 18
32.SIMB Sully's Irish Music Book [available] 27 21
33.LPUP Learn to Play the Uilleann Pipes [available] 25 8
34.LPF Learn to Play the Fiddle with Armagh Pipers Club [available] 25 14
35.SK Fifty Fiddle Solos [available] 23 6
36.TP Fifty Irish Fiddle Tunes [available] 21 11
37.P50 Play 50 Reels [available] 18 14
38.T Timber. The Flute Tutor. 2nd Edition [available] 18 17
39.CITM The Companion to Irish Traditional Music [available] 14 9
40.RW The Penny Whistle Book [available] 13 5
41.Ba Fiddle Tunes for the Violinist [available] 11 3
42.TOC Traditional Music in Ireland [available] 9 5
43.TS A Trip to Sligo. A Comprehensive Guide to the Art of Irish Fiddling, Sligo-Style 9 6
44.MR The Piper's Chair. A Collection of Tunes and Folklore from Micho Russell 9 5
45.D&M The Darley and McCall Collection of Traditional Irish Music [available] 6 2
46.IMM Irish Minstrels and Musicians [available] 5 2
47.SR The Hidden Ireland. The First Selection of Irish Traditional Compositions of Seán Ryan [available] 5 5
48.F The Irish Flute Player's Handbook 4 4
49.ER The Collected Compositions of Ed Reavy [available] 3 3
50.Sc Scottish Fiddle Tunes [available] 2 0
51.CRE 3+ Ceol Rince na hÉireann 2 2
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This page was updated on 8 February 2010.
© 2000–2010 Alan Ng, agng@facstaff.wisc.edu.