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A Brief History | |||
The Traditional Tune Archive originally began as an online index of fiddle tunes compiled and edited by Andrew Kuntz from 1996 to 2010, called The Fiddler’s Companion Tune Index. It listed tens of thousands of traditional and contemporary melodies from sources who were largely non-professional and who played in a ‘traditional’ vernacular, and catalogued them alphabetically by title into separate entries. Each entry included descriptive information about the tune, including form, structure, fiddle tuning, source information, and where it could be found in print and on sound recording. Andrew also made the decision to include contextual information whenever possible, to assist in imagining the tune in historical and contemporary use. Some of the entry information fell into the category of ‘lore’, where veracity was not the paramount objective, but which produced a contextual value where statements, sentiments or thoughts that became attached to the tune could be examined. Often it is the ‘lore’ of the tune, factual or not, that yields the best information about who played it, when, and why. | |||
Sixteen years after the inception of the Fiddler’s Companion, collaboration with Valerio Pelliccioni presented a solution to a number of organizational and retrieval issues, and allowed a more rigorous addressing of the contents. The search function was upgraded to a sophisticated and powerful platform. Key tune data points were identified and arranged in semantic format so as to make information retrievable in a variety of combinations (reports can be generated through the “Query the Archive” and “Drill Down” functions of the TTA). This makes the TTA a powerful tool to assist with the gamut between casual curiosity and academic inquiry. Would you like to know how many indexed strathspeys are in the key of D Mixolydian in Alexander McGlashan’s collections?, or which melodies are attributed to Turlough O’Carolan?, or how many jigs in the index have connections with Wales? The TTA can answer these, and more. | |||
Tunes and tune information has been reconfigured and enhanced to highlight tune origins and (in many cases) selected historical progressions, up to modern examples. Links to recordings and other information sources have also been provided for many tunes. | |||
In transforming the Traditional Tune Archive from earlier efforts, and with the inclusion of considerable amounts of new information, Andrew and Valerio addressed the entries with greater rigor for citations and source information, made distinctions between ‘lore’ and verifiable information, and set standards for curating entries to the index. | |||
Who builds the archive? Many people have, from experts to those with organizational or personal information to share. Some have the sustained interest to become editors. The TTA is not, however, a forum, and entries are curated and constantly reviewed for contents and accuracy. | |||
Revision as of 21:44, 24 October 2017
A Scottish puirt a beul (mouth music) song, with words that are bawdy in parts. The Gaelic title translates as "The skinny tailor's wife." The tune is the same as the strathspey "Lady Madelina Sinclair", printed by the Gows in 1792. Lyrics begin:
A' bhean a bh'aig an tàillear chaol, thug an taog an ceann dith;
A' bhean a bh'aig an tàillear chaol, thug an taog an ceann dith;
A' bhean a bh'aig an tàillear chaol, thug an taog an ceann dith,
Thug an taog na casan agus thug an cat an ceann dith.
A' bhean a bh'aig an tàillear chaol, thug an taog an ceann dith,
Thug an taog na casan agus thug an cat an ceann dith.
A Brief History The Traditional Tune Archive originally began as an online index of fiddle tunes compiled and edited by Andrew Kuntz from 1996 to 2010, called The Fiddler’s Companion Tune Index. It listed tens of thousands of traditional and contemporary melodies from sources who were largely non-professional and who played in a ‘traditional’ vernacular, and catalogued them alphabetically by title into separate entries. Each entry included descriptive information about the tune, including form, structure, fiddle tuning, source information, and where it could be found in print and on sound recording. Andrew also made the decision to include contextual information whenever possible, to assist in imagining the tune in historical and contemporary use. Some of the entry information fell into the category of ‘lore’, where veracity was not the paramount objective, but which produced a contextual value where statements, sentiments or thoughts that became attached to the tune could be examined. Often it is the ‘lore’ of the tune, factual or not, that yields the best information about who played it, when, and why. Sixteen years after the inception of the Fiddler’s Companion, collaboration with Valerio Pelliccioni presented a solution to a number of organizational and retrieval issues, and allowed a more rigorous addressing of the contents. The search function was upgraded to a sophisticated and powerful platform. Key tune data points were identified and arranged in semantic format so as to make information retrievable in a variety of combinations (reports can be generated through the “Query the Archive” and “Drill Down” functions of the TTA). This makes the TTA a powerful tool to assist with the gamut between casual curiosity and academic inquiry. Would you like to know how many indexed strathspeys are in the key of D Mixolydian in Alexander McGlashan’s collections?, or which melodies are attributed to Turlough O’Carolan?, or how many jigs in the index have connections with Wales? The TTA can answer these, and more. Tunes and tune information has been reconfigured and enhanced to highlight tune origins and (in many cases) selected historical progressions, up to modern examples. Links to recordings and other information sources have also been provided for many tunes.
In transforming the Traditional Tune Archive from earlier efforts, and with the inclusion of considerable amounts of new information, Andrew and Valerio addressed the entries with greater rigor for citations and source information, made distinctions between ‘lore’ and verifiable information, and set standards for curating entries to the index.
Who builds the archive? Many people have, from experts to those with organizational or personal information to share. Some have the sustained interest to become editors. The TTA is not, however, a forum, and entries are curated and constantly reviewed for contents and accuracy.