The Young Folk Club: Traditional Tunebook
This collection of popular session tunes and lesser-known gems was originally created as a resource for The Young Folk Club online sessions but is a great set of tunes for any session, or to learn and play at home.
The Tunebook (PDFs and website content) can be used and shared free of charge for non-commercial educational use only. Permission must be sought from the authors and EFDSS for any other use of this material.
Many of these tunes were collected in England, but there are also some from Scotland and Ireland. All of them are traditional, meaning the identity of their composers has been lost over time.
The tunes are organised into sections based on time signature or dance style, so it’s easy to find a particular tune type.
There are several versions of the tunebook in various clefs and transpositions to help cater for different instruments. It’s possible a small section of a tune might not fit within the range of your instrument, but you could try changing the octave or slightly adapting a few notes - this is all part of the folk process!
Happy playing!
Acknowledgements
Designed and compiled by Rowan Collinson
Additional transcription by Finn Collinson
Further resources for young musicians interested in folk music
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