I started back in July of this year knowing 4 fiddle tunes (if I am very generous with the meaning of “know”). I have generally been keeping track as I’ve added new ones over the last months. Presented here is the list of tunes I know to date.* Some of the tunes have resource pages here on the site, so I have linked to them.
- Bag of Spuds
- Bonnie Tammie
- Soldier’s Joy
- Liberty
- Cold Frosty Morning
- Clinch Mountain Backstep
- Whiskey Before Breakfast
- Blackberry Blossom
- John Stinson’s
- Old Favorite
- The Wind that Shakes the Barley
- Goodbye, Liza Jane
- Bill Cheatham
- Old Joe Clark
- Cluck Old Hen
- Chinquapin Hunting
- Angeline the Baker
- Boil Them Cabbage
- Cripple Creek
As you can see, the list is not very large, but it is what it is. I have two initiatives – one underway and the other planned – to boost the amount of material in my tune vocabulary. During the month of December, I am doing a end-of-year tune and song sprint (which I will post about separately) to add an additional 12 tunes and 6 sings to my repertoire. Then next year, I have planned out a Tune of the Week, with a designated TOTW and a bonus tune each week (because I try to always learn at least two tunes a week). I also have a Song of the Week plan, with a SOTW and bonus song each week (because I am trying to increase the number of songs that I actually know the melody and lyrics to). There will be posts about the TOTW and the SOTW plans closer to the end of the month.
* I also know two or three Hungarian fiddle tunes from my book, but I can’t pronounce or spell their names, which really gets in the way of talking about them.
