Tune Sets
Cape Breton fiddle music is best learned by ear. Although detailed sheet music and sound files are provided here for learning the basics of a tune , be aware that the tune may sound different when played live. The sheet music provides the melody of a tune, and while some common ornamentation such as a 'cut' may be occasionally notated, in general the fiddler is encouraged to add to the sound with their own selection of ornamentation. In addition the rhythm pattern played may be slightly different than the dotted notes in the sheet music would have you believe. Here are the sets of tunes we commonly play at pub and house sessions with links to a PDF with notation for the set. A midi audio file is provided to help with learning sets. To hear what it sounds like when we play the set at a pub session click the MP3 link.
Left click a link to view in browser, right click and "save as" to download a file.
To learn more about each tune in a set go to the Tune Index page. There you will find detailed information and recordings of the tune played by Cape Breton artists. Beware: traditional music is very fluid, the notation we present here may not match note for note with every recording of the tune, or the way it is played by other session groups. We have tried to make our versions match the most common variations of a tune but there will be differences.
Details and recordings of tunes played by CB fiddlers.
Play-along backing tracks with melody and click tracks.
ForScore users: download all PDF files, cropped to fit on a small screen or tablet or in ForScore.
If you're just starting out, start learning in this order: 17, 1,2,3,4,7,18,21,6....
Fiddle Bill - Canada's National Fiddling Day Two Step MP3
Christmas Collection: tunes we often play during the Christmas season. Many thanks to Prairie Mountain Fiddlers for sharing many of their arrangements!
Download a midi player: The VanBasco Karaoke Midi Player is a great tool to play midis at your own speed for learning. PC only. For a similar software for Mac try QMidi.
Cape Breton Fiddlers Association Tunes
The Cape Breton Fiddlers Association also maintains a list of sets they play for concerts and events. It's a good place to look for new tunes to learn. Check it out here. If you join the association you'll also be supporting fiddling in Cape Breton, be able to play with CBFA at concerts, and have access to extra practice resources.
Index | Full Downloads |History
The Tune Index page contains a full index of all tunes in all sets. They are sorted by tune name, key, set and tune type.
Here is one great big file that contains all tunes from 1 to 54: Full Book . This file is set up to print two-sided, blank pages are included so that two page sets open facing each other. The full set list is included as a Table of Contents.
To see what has changed since the last time you downloaded tunes from the website you can use the Tune Page Change History. It contains a detailed list of what changed and when.
