irishtune.info Best Session Tunebooks - Irish Traditional Music Tune Index

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Best Session Tunebooks

These are the top 20 Irish traditional tunebooks (from the 67 included in the Bibliography) which offer, in one package, the largest number of current, worldwide session tunes. These books give you the most "bang for the buck" in terms of number of tunes played in traditional Irish music sessions around the world. I hope this list is useful to players who use books to help remember tunes already learned by ear.

Of related interest:

Bibliography: List of all books considered in this survey.
Top Session Tunes: The most popular session tunes.
Best Session-Tune Albums: Which albums offer the most session tunes?
Tips for Learning Irish Traditional Music

Rank	Book
1	Dan Cobb. Cobb's Music of Ireland. [available]
2	Phil Rubenzer. Midwestern Irish Session Tunes. Millennium Edition.
3	Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. [available]
4	Phil Rubenzer. Midwestern Irish Session Tunes. 3rd Edition.
5	Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. The Dance Music of Ireland. 1001 Gems. [available]
6	Miles Krassen. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. New and Revised. [available]
7	Martin Mulvihill. First Collection of Traditional Irish Music.
8	Lesl Harker. 300 Tunes from Mike Rafferty. [available]
9	D[avid] Bulmer and N[eil] Sharpley. Music from Ireland. 4 vols.
10	David Brody. The Fiddler's Fakebook. [available]
11	Terry Moylan. Johnny O'Leary of Sliabh Luachra. Dance Music from the Cork-Kerry Border. [available]
12	Dave Mallinson. 100 Essential Irish Session Tunes. [available]
13	Randy Miller and Jack Perron. Irish Traditional Fiddle Music. [available]
14	Francis Roche. The Roche Collection of Traditional Irish Music. 3 vols. [available]
15	Breandán Breathnach. Ceol Rince na hÉireann 1. [available]
16	Josephine Keegan. A Drop in the Ocean. Traditional Irish Tunes Collected by Josephine Keegan.
17	Alan Ng. Alan Ng's Transcriptions. [available]
18	Matt Cranitch. The Irish Fiddle Book. [available]
19	Breandán Breathnach. Ceol Rince na hÉireann 2. [available]
20	Pat Mitchell. The Dance Music of Willie Clancy. [available]

Rank

Book

Dan Cobb. Cobb's Music of Ireland. [available]

Phil Rubenzer. Midwestern Irish Session Tunes. Millennium Edition.

Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. [available]

Phil Rubenzer. Midwestern Irish Session Tunes. 3rd Edition.

Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. The Dance Music of Ireland. 1001 Gems. [available]

Miles Krassen. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. New and Revised. [available]

Martin Mulvihill. First Collection of Traditional Irish Music.

Lesl Harker. 300 Tunes from Mike Rafferty. [available]

D[avid] Bulmer and N[eil] Sharpley. Music from Ireland. 4 vols.

David Brody. The Fiddler's Fakebook. [available]

Terry Moylan. Johnny O'Leary of Sliabh Luachra. Dance Music from the Cork-Kerry Border. [available]

Dave Mallinson. 100 Essential Irish Session Tunes. [available]

Randy Miller and Jack Perron. Irish Traditional Fiddle Music. [available]

Francis Roche. The Roche Collection of Traditional Irish Music. 3 vols. [available]

Breandán Breathnach. Ceol Rince na hÉireann 1. [available]

Josephine Keegan. A Drop in the Ocean. Traditional Irish Tunes Collected by Josephine Keegan.

Alan Ng. Alan Ng's Transcriptions. [available]

Matt Cranitch. The Irish Fiddle Book. [available]

Breandán Breathnach. Ceol Rince na hÉireann 2. [available]

Pat Mitchell. The Dance Music of Willie Clancy. [available]