Beginners' Melodeon Tunes and Techniques Book - Dave Mallinson

This fine collection of traditional music introduces dance tunes from various regions of Britain, Ireland and North America They are all excellent tunes, well-known and popular, but not over-played, hackneyed or obscure. Most of the tunes can be heard on recordings by notable bands and personalities, they are all currently in use by traditional musicians and are regularly played at concerts, dances and pub sessions. All of the tunes introduce some aspect of melodeon playing, and they are all presented in their normal keys. Learn 75 traditional tunes from England, Scotland, Wales, Shetland, Orkney, Ireland, France, Flanders, Canada and America. Morris and Playford tunes. Reels, jigs, hornpipes, polkas, slides, mazurkas, waltzes, barn dances, marches, rants, slip jigs and triple hornpipes. The tunes are perfect for pub sessions, country dances, ceilidhs, barn dances and hoedowns.

"Welcome to my melodeon book. It's full to bursting with useful ideas, hints, tricks, tips, techniques and great tunes to improve your playing style, speed up the learning process and to give you a better understanding of the instrument. It's been a massive project, but it's been well worth it, I've learned such a lot by writing it. When I got my first instrument there wasn't a single D/G tutor book on the market, and even now, fifty years on, you'll be lucky to find a dozen, so acquire every book you can. If you are new to the instrument, use this book in conjunction with simpler tutors. The lessons start at rock bottom, but the degree of difficulty rises steeply. Above the music, in addition to the fingering instructions, there are icons with names you might find corny and mildly amusing. However, they are essential to describe the fingering patterns, and a useful handle to help you apply them to other tunes.

You might think this book is a bit too complicated to be called “Beginners”. Yes, that may be so, but if you want to become proficient, you must practise, and without guidance you can easily find yourself practising unsound techniques. It's no use waiting until you've formed bad habits before you think you are ready to tackle these lessons. Once you've learned a tune thoroughly, it can be very difficult to change the way you play it, after discovering a superior fingering pattern. Presented in this book is knowledge that has slowly trickled in during half a century of study. It's my hope and desire that it will inspire players, boost their progress, propel their playing to excellence, and spur them on to perform with far greater skill, dexterity and aplomb, than I have been able to achieve.

Instant Melodeon, Absolute Beginners and Tunes and Techniques are three melodeon tuition books designed to be used simultaneously, not in any particular sequence."

• Foreword by Saul Rose
• Introduction
• The D/G Melodeon
• The Treble and Bass Layout
• Supporting and Playing the Melodeon
• Musical Notes
• Musical Time
• The Musical Ladder
• The Circle of Firths
• The Circle of Fourths
• Full Diamond
• Hal Diamond
• Quick Cross
• Snappy Bellows
• Changing Hand Position Along the Row
• Changing Hand Position Using Row Crossing
• The Bass Buttons
• Chords
• Creating the Harmony Line
• The Chord Symbols
• Playing the Accompaniment
• Overcoming the Limitations and the Missing Minors
• Traditional Music
• TUNES
• Country Gardens
• Little Brown Jug
• Polly Wolly Doodle
• The Market Rasen Quickstep
• Not for Joe
• The Leeds Polka
• Percy Brownʼs Polka
• Albert Farmerʼs Bonfire Tune
• The Morisco
• Moston Rushcart
• My Love My Love
• One More Ribber
• The Rogueʼs March
• Captain Lanoeʼs Quick March
• Whose Jig?
• The Squirrel in the Tree
• Burning Bridges
• The Lollipop Man
• The Rose Tree
• Lord of the Dance
• Mount Hills
• Dark Girl
• Up and Away
• Fred Pidgeonʼs Polka
• Iʼll Go Enlist for a Sailor
• Jack Robinson
• Owenʼs Jig
• The Hills of Glenorchy
• Paddy Carey
• Tripping to the Well
• The West Kerry Polka
• Many a Wild Night
• The Scartaglen Slide
• Moyglass Fair
• Joe Cooleyʼs Jig
• The Blackthorn Stick
• Up Leitrim
• The Streets of Laredo
• The Cumberland Waltz
• Séamus McManusʼs Waltz
• Red Haired Mary
• Fairlop Park
• Sir Philip McHugh
• The Dusty Miller
• The Rusty Gulley
• The Old Lancashire Hornpipe
• Rig-a-Jig
• The Spirit of the Dance
• The Farmersʼ Jamboree
• Woodland Flowers
• Postmanʼs Knock
• The Little Burnt Potato
• The Bodmin Riding March
• Moonshine
• Colored Aristocracy
• The Yarmouth Hornpipe
• Valentine
• The Auvergne Mazurka
• The Old Donegal Mazurka
• Much Wenlock Stick Dance
• Jennyʼs Bawbee
• Marching Through Georgia
• MacNamaraʼs Band
• If There Werenʼt Any Women
• The Stack of Oats
• The Shannon Waves
• Glise de Sherbrooke
• Durham Rangers
• The Hesleyside Reel
• Monaʼs Delight
• The Old Polka
• The Portheinon Whim
• Sheehanʼs Reel
• Da Mirrie Boys oʼ Greenland
• Three Jolly Sheepskins