I love composing tunes in the traditional style. I often write music to commemorate poignant, or funny, or important events or people–it’s one of my responses to stuff the moves me.
I’ve included original tunes in my Irish music method books, my albums with Matt Heaton, and in a few published tune collections. And now in the year of the rabbit, I plan to compile all of my tunes in one place. By revisiting a handful every month, I’m aiming for a complete collection by December 2023!
My friend Clayton Cook helped put together this table for presenting (and searching for) all the tunes–each links to videos, mp3s, sheet music, and notes. Many thanks to Clayton for his support and creativity of this project, and of the Virtual Guided Session (for which he built and maintains the VGSDB )
| Tune Title | Tune Type | Key Signature |
|---|---|---|
| Against the Grain | Jig | G Major |
| Knit the Collar | Jig | D Modal |
| In Tune With Reality | Reel | D Modal |
| Leather Apron | Reel | G Major |
| Blue Dress Waltz | Waltz | A Major |
| The Anniversary Reel | Slow Reel | D Modal |
| Zoom Twins | March | E Major |
| Misty Moors of Medford | Slip Jig | E Minor |
| Green Velvet Chair | Hornpipe | A Major |
| Little Wooden Spoon | Jig | A Minor |
| The Luthier’s Bench | Hornpipe | D Major |
| F-Stop | Reel | E Minor |
| The Kink in the Stream | Slide | A Major |
| The Laggy Chat | Slide | E Minor |
| The Rambunctious Window | Slide | A Minor |
| Frog in a Bottle | Jig | C Major |
| Grenadilla Seas | Jig | D Modal |
| Foot of the Hill | Jig | C Major |
| Last Days of Fourth Grade | Waltz | G Major |
| Chicken Dinner | Reel | D Major |
| Saturdays Soup | Hornpipe | G Major |
| Bag of Rolls | Jig | D Major |
| 40 Watt Waltz | Waltz | B Minor |
| Bunch of Basil | Jig | B Minor |
| Where is my Tukata | Jig | D Modal |
| Carriage Return | Reel | G Major |
| Fetch the Charger | Polka | E Minor |
| Waltzing on Wash Day | Waltz | E Minor |
