TTA:Getting started/New Users

Find traditional instrumental music



New Users
New to the Traditional Tune Archive?.

Adding tunes
The Tune input form

Tune book
The Tune input form

Recorded sources
The Tune input form

Tune Annotations
Anecdotes, provenance, examples of associated lyrics and miscellaneous information regarding a melody.

Typesetting Guidelines
A minimum set of quality guidelines for newly typeset works

Public domain material
Public Domain made simple

Theme Code Index
An alternative Search method


The Traditional Tune Archive
The Traditional Tune Archive

TTA Navigation: Registered users can navigate the TTA for information in a number of ways.

  1. Search. The Search function is located at the top right, and can be used to search the entire index for any key word. See Search help pages
  2. Alphabetically by tune title. Under “The Index” on the SideBar on the left is All Tunes. Click on “All Tunes” to open up the list of tune titles in the TTA arranged in alphabetical order, 200 titles to a page. At the top of the page is an alphabetical breakdown that serves as a shortcut to pages. Clicking on any title will bring one to the music and tune fields. Once the tune appears, clicking “Tune Discussion” at the bottom of the page (below the notation) will open up the narrative information on the tune.
  3. Query the Archive. The “Query the Archive” function under “The Index” in the sidebar can be used to draw down reports from the TTA in either in single items or in a number of combinations. One might, for example, use a single item query to run a report in the TTA for a particular composer/core source. Clicking on the arrow at the right of the bar draws down a list of composer/core sources, or one may be typed in. For example, clicking on “Bill Pigg” and then the “Run Query” tab at the bottom left will result in a list of all compositions listed in the TTA that the Northumbrian piper either composed or is the core source for. Reports may also be run in combinations, as, for example, by selecting “William Marshall” as a composer/core source, “Three Flats” for the number of accidentals, and “Major” for the Key/Mode. This will result in a report of all Eb Major compositions of Scottish fiddler/composer William Marshall that are indexed in the TTA.
  4. Theme Code Index. All tunes in the TTA have been theme coded [1] according to the format successfully employed by Charles Gore in his Scottish Fiddle Index, and by the Folk Archive of North East (FARNE) site. The theme code query can be found in the “Query the Archive” function of the TTA. The easy-to-learn theme coding reduces the first two measures of a melody to numeric codes and is particularly useful in searching for tunes where a title is not known. “Gan Anim” tunes or tunes listed simply as “Jig” or “Reel” in manuscripts may be found by typing the theme code in “Query the Archive”. Note to theme coders: 2/4 tune have been coded in 4/4 time when they are like reels i.e. "notey" and full. Conversely, 2/4 time tunes such as some polkas and airs have been theme coded in 2/4 time depending on their complement of quarter notes. Its a judgement call.