Acknowledgments

Many people helped me realize this project, to all of whom I owe a debt of gratitude and a sincere thanks. Gerard Manning hosted the Fiddler's Companion for many years on-line at his web-site Ceolas, and provided a much appreciated outlet for early versions. Thanks also to Jan Tappan at Fiddler's Crossing for early advice and direction. Lorna La Verne provided valuable advice, constructive criticism and helpful suggestions in the latter phases of the project, for which I am very grateful. Her cogent, clear and concise writing may be viewed in the "Fiddler's Companion Quick Start" file on the CD, which she wholly wrote and which was sorely needed. Thank you, Lorna. Bill Black allowed me to use all his abc formatted tunes from his fine tune book, one of my favorites. Thank you, Bill.

I have been, and still continue to be, greatly aided by patient staff at my local village library, the Grinnell, the New York Public Library, and at local university libraries such as Vasser and Fordham. Interlibrary loan is a wonderful thing, and I'm entirely like a kid at Christmas when I get a call that a long sought-after text has finally arrived. As Scrooge said: "I am as merry as a school-boy, I an as giddy as a drunken man."

Most of all I would like to thank those many enthusiasts who belong to the internet discussion groups Irtrad-L, Fiddle-L and Scots-L who for years have lent their expertise, constructive and creative comments, humor and thoughtful questioning to the process of exploring traditional music and performance. There are giants on these lists, whose selfless generosity in sharing their phenomenal expertise has immensely improved all our musical educations in general and The Fiddler's Companion in particular. Thank you Philippe Varlet, Paul de Grae, Nigel Gatherer, Kerry Blech, Joel Shimberg, Caoimhin Mac Aoidh, Charles Gore, Henrik Norbeck, Juergen Gier, Larry Sanger, Jeff Titon, Paul Wells, Bruce Olson, Dave Barton and the many, many others too numerous to name. Thank you to the many individuals on the lists who graciously agreed to allow me to reprint their abc's, including those listed above but also including Lorna La Verne, Jeff Myers, Dennis Gormley, John Chambers, Ted Hastings, Paul Tyler, Paul Kinder, Bill Shull, John Chambers, Toby Rider, Gary Chapin, Greg Taylor, Caroline Foty, Bill Reeder, Naka Ishii, Gilbert Bahn-Koepke, and Phil Sexton (...I'm sure I've missed important others, for which you have my apologies, although please believe it was purely inadvertent!)

Thanks also to those on the lists who by their humor, enthusiasm, creativity and good grace keep the lists fun: Jeffrey Erickson, Mike Dugger, Jim Coogan and Bill Black in particular.