About this collection

It started, somewhat unintentionally, when I sprained my wrist and couldn’t play for a while. To keep myself occupied, I began writing down tunes I knew, partly as a way to work on my (rather limited) music theory.

Before long I ran into a problem: I kept writing down the same tunes again and again.

At the same time, I realised something else — I was never very good at connecting tunes with their names. I could recognise a tune instantly when I heard it, but if someone asked for it by name, I often had no idea what they meant.

So I needed a system.

This site grew out of that need. It is both a personal notebook and a way of making tunes searchable — by title, by structure, by fragments of ABC notation, or by various bits of metadata like composer, rhythm, or origin.

What this is (and isn’t)

This is not meant to be a definitive or authoritative collection.

It is a working collection — shaped by what I happen to play, learn, or come across. Some tunes may exist in several versions, some details may be incomplete, and the selection reflects personal taste as much as anything else.

The scores here are best thought of as skeletons of the tunes.

Ornamentation is used sparingly in the notation, on purpose. In traditional music, that part is up to the player — shaped by style, context, and personal taste. The versions here are not exactly how I would play the tunes, but a way of remembering what they are, and how they go.

How to use it

If you know what you’re looking for, the search is the main entry point. You can search by title, or combine filters like:

• composer:"Ed Reavy"
• rhythm:"slip jig"
• origin:"Ireland"

You can also search directly in the ABC notation if you only remember a fragment of a tune.

If you’re not looking for anything specific, the browse page lets you explore by rhythm, origin, or composer — or just pick a random tune and see where it takes you.