Irish Music Sources www.thesession.org http://www.thesession.org Irish A comprehensive source of traditional Irish music very nicely presented. Easy to search for tunes by entering part of the title. Sheet music can be printed or downloaded in abc notation. Since it is user contributed, beware of errors. Hint: Check the "Comments" tab for corrections, feedback. Most of the Trinity Hall session tunes missing from Ken Fleming's site can be found here. www.ceolas.org http://www.ceolas.org A large site dedicate to Celtic music with music available for download in abc, pdf, and midi formats. The site has many other valuable resources and links. www.oldmusicproject.com/oneils1.html http://www.oldmusicproject.com/oneils1.html The entire O'Neals collection of traditional Irish music in abc, midi, and gif formats. www.nigelgatherer.com http://www.nigelgatherer.com A wide range of Irish, Scottish, American traditional music in abc and midi formats. www.norbeck.nu/abc/index.html http://www.norbeck.nu/abc/index.html Traditional Irish tunes in abc format, plus links. tunedb.woodenflute.comtunedb.woodenflute.com http://tunedb.woodenflute.com Richard Moon's TUNEdb - easy search for traditional tunes in abc format. trillian.mit.edu/~jc/music/abc/findtune.html http://trillian.mit.edu/~jc/music/abc/findtune.html John Chambers' ABC Tune Finder. Extensive, if not overwhelming. www.thewhistleshop.com/slow/session.htm http://www.thewhistleshop.com/slow/session.htm A nice beginner set of downloadable traditional Irish session music in jpg format, including mp3s of the tunes at slow and full speed. Hint: Scroll down a lot to get to the music links. Music Software Tools staffweb.cms.gre.ac.uk/~c.walshaw/abc/ http://staffweb.cms.gre.ac.uk/~c.walshaw/abc/ abc music notation homepage including tutorials, software for generating sheet music, sources for music in abc format. Abc notation has become the de facto standard for Irish music on the web. ABC Convert-A-Matic http://www.concertina.net/tunes_convert.html A geat internet-based tool for converting abc notation into high quality sheet music or midi files. Highly recommended as the simplest, fastest way to producing sheet music for single tunes from abc notation. Also, a great way to practice writting abc notation. But be warned, it is not good at providing explanations when there are errors in your abc. Sometimes, it quietly ignores parts of the tune it does not understand. Sometimes it fails to print anything. www.abc2win.com/preview http://www.abc2win.com/preview Music Notation A popular Windows program for converting abc music notation to sheet music. Use this instead of ABC Conver-A-Matic when 1) you need more control over formatting, 2) you need to print more than one tune per page, or 3) you need to manage a large file of many tunes. www.pdfill.com/pdf_writer_free.html http://www.pdfill.com/pdf_writer_free.html PDFill's PDF Writer is a free tool which allows you to print output to a pdf file from any program. This is how I generate sheet music pages from abc2win. Hint: When you download, you may get a message saying you need to update your java virtual machine. This is not necessary to use the free PDFill PDF Writer. Nor is it necessary to pay the $9.99 fee since you will not be using the PDFill Form Filler part of the download. Dallas, TX regional Irish Music venues, resources, performers www.trinityhall.tv http://www.trinityhall.tv Information about the Trinity Hall Pub in Dallas including music and session schedules. Ken Fleming and the Trinity Hall Session Players host a wonderful open session once a month. A good mix of beginner, intermediate, and advanced players. www.trad-music.com/sessions.htm http://www.trad-music.com/sessions.htm Specific information on the Trinity Hall Pub sessions from the Trinity Hall Session Players' site. Ken Fleming and the Trinity Hall Session Players host a wonderful open session once a month. A good mix of beginner, intermediate, and advanced players. www.irishtradmusic.org http://www.irishtradmusic.org Information about Dallas, TX area opportunities for learning to play Irish music. Includes information about the annual O'Flaherty Music Retreat. I highly recommend it. www.scmatx.org http://www.scmatx.org Southwest Celtic Music Association site with info on Celtic music and regional performers and performances. texcelt.org http://texcelt.org Texas Celtic Music Network - Regional performers, venues, links. www.tippinn.com http://www.tippinn.com Tipperary Inn, Dallas - hosts weekly open traditional Irish sessions. Very beginner friendly. [THIS SESSION IS NO LONGER HAPPENING.] www.jgilligans.com http://www.jgilligans.com J Gilligan's in Arlington - hosts weekly Tuesday night traditional Irish sessions. The session is hosted by members of Spriggan www.machenrys.com http://www.machenrys.com Irish pub in Ft. Worth with live performances of traditional Irish music. Tin Whistles www.thewhistleshop.com http://www.thewhistleshop.com Purchase low-to-high end whistles and tutorial books online. Lots of helpful information. I have ordered from them multiple times and am quite satisfied. In stock items shipped quickly - but beware, ordering "tweaked" whistles can take a LONG time (months). www.elderly.com/highlights/flutes.html http://www.elderly.com/highlights/flutes.html Order whistles and many other instruments online. Good prices. Fast, reasonably priced shipping. www.larkinthemorning.com http://www.larkinthemorning.com Not the cheapest place, but a wide range of "world music" instruments including whistles available for on line purchase. Watch our for exorbitant shipping charges on small orders. www.nigelgatherer.com/whist.html http://www.nigelgatherer.com/whist.html On line rudimentary whistle tutorial. www.rogermillington.com/siamsa/brosteve/index.html http://www.rogermillington.com/siamsa/brosteve/index.html Another on line whistle tutorial. www.thewhistleshop.com/catalog/tutorials/tutorialsets/essential/essential.htm http://www.thewhistleshop.com/catalog/tutorials/tutorialsets/essential/essential.htm Grey Larson's "The Essential Guide to Irish Flute and Tin Whistle. If you only get one whistle book, get this one. Very thorough. Very detailed explanations of ornamentation with fast and slow examples on CD. www.chiffandfipple.com http://www.chiffandfipple.com Self proclaimed "ultimate guide" to the tin whistle. www.rogermillington.com/tunetoc/index.html http://www.rogermillington.com/tunetoc/index.html Whistle tune sheet music, mp3's of traditional style, and commentary. Very nice. Contradance www.nttds.org http://www.nttds.org North Texas Traditional Dance Society home page - Mostly focused on contradancing, there are opportunities to hear and perform various styles of traditional music. And of course, there are dance opportunities in a beginner friendly environment. Dances held in Dallas on the first, third and 5th Saturday of each month. www.theportlandcollection.com http://www.theportlandcollection.com Web site for the popular "The Portland Collection" tune book of contradance music. Highly recommended along with "The Portland Selection" accompanying CD. Hint: You can also get these from amazon.com at a slight discount. North Texas ContraJam ../portland_jam/index.html A local group of beginner, intermediate, and advanced musicians meet monthly to learn and play contradance tunes - mostly from the Portland Collection. Now, What in the World is Contra Dancing?? http://www.art-rageous.net/Contradancing.html A good explaination of contradancing with music clips and photos. Dallas Area ContraBands http://home1.gte.net/darjon/index.html A nicely laid out site listing Dallas area bands playing contradance music. Includes bands, bio's, performance schedules, sheet music, and other interesting links. www.cdss.org http://www.cdss.org The Country Dance and Song Society (CDSS) is an association of people and groups with a common interest in English and Anglo-American folk dance, music and song. NTTDS is a local chapter of this organization.