+AMDG+
Bill Black's
IRISH TRADITIONAL TUNE LIBRARY
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update 6/5/25
Please note that the ITTL format has been changed.
The "parent" file for individual tunes is now
www.capeirish.com/ittl/alltunes/
All tunes (~10,000) are now online in two formats:
- ABC-formatted text files
- as part of HTML pages
The text files (.txt) can be accessed and downloaded
for use in an ABC translator program like EasyABC.
They can also be loaded into ABC Tools. If the quality
of the playback sound file is important to you, I would
recommend using Tools. I find EasyABC handier for
visual uses (e.g. producing plain vanilla PDFs) but the sound
quality - at least in my older version of the app -
leaves a lot to be desired.
The HTML pages were created using Michael Eskin's
ABC Transcription Tools app, which allows for notation, sound,
and ABC to be contained in one file. Michael's app
does basically what my "Plus" PDF files were intended
to accomplish - i.e., visual, sound, and an ABC link in
one file - but it does handles the job a lot more smoothly
(in addition to providing other enhancements I wouldn't have even
thought of, much less been able to implement).
The HTML pages that contain the individual tunes are listed
alphabetically in their respective folders.
For example, the S folder contains HTML pages for
tunes beginning with SA, SC-SE, SH, SI, and so forth.
There's a linked directory page that shows the first and
last tune on each HTML page. You might find this
easier to navigate.
On opening the HTML file you'll see its tunes as
a list of content links. Clicking on any of these will open its ABC
Tools player. Once that page is open, you have access to the
notation and a sound file. The ABC file used to create the tune is
also readily available from the Player page (look for the arrows in upper
right hand corner). You can also create a PDF that has an
"embedded" link to the sound file.
You can use various tools that Michael Eskin has made
available in the app to help your learning process.
NOTE:
All these "improvements" will eventually replace the
spreadsheet Tune Search links (shown below).
These will remain online for the time being
(but without any updates - "no longer supported"
as the techies might say)
FOLDERS: The volumes of the Tune Library
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As of now, the organization of the tune folders, each of which
contains separate sub-folders for the ABCs, MP3 sound files,
and PDFs for the tunes contained in that folder, is
unchanged.
However since ABC Tools is able to combine these three
data sources in one file, it might make sense for me
to consider using it to reduce maintenance of the site.
Right now there are over 60 individual folders mainly
representing various printed tune sources (O'Neill,
Breathnach, Bulmer & Sharpley, etc.) Many of
these are out of print or not readily available.
The folders may also contain accessory information
regarding the particular volume. An example
of such information would be Paul de Grae's
fine explanatory notes on the Ceol Rinnce na hEireann
volumes (folder 18).
# Use this link to get to individual folders #
SEARCHING FOR INDIVIDUAL TUNES
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The Search links below will remain in place until 1 October 2025,
but note that no further additions have been made to those files
after 1 January 2025.
However, any ITTL tune that you may be looking for should be
available using the alltunes link.
SEARCH link (individual tunes)
HTML format
Excel format (sortable)