ISBN 9781619117792.

While one of a kind is a hard rating to achieve at Mel Bay Publications, Kevin Allison has done it with The Ceilidh Dance Book. A ceilidh is a traditional Scottish gathering where people share songs, stories, music, and dancing that is very much alive today. In Scotland, there are hundreds of ceilidh bands, each of which has their own trademark tune sets, making it possible for a man in a kilt to make a living as a performing musician. This book not only provides 85 Scottish tunes in sets as they might be used in a ceilidh eventait also offers detailed, beat-by-beat descriptions of the dance steps for twenty-four dances! From The Highland Scottish to The Mooncoin Jig, with this book in hand, youall be able to both play in the band and step to the music with the locals. The kilt is optional. Arranged for mandolin or fiddle with suggested chord backup, in standard notation only.

ISBN 9781609742959. Most of the music in this book comes from editions or manuscripts from England in the late 1500ICOs. There are also a few French pieces. The cittern was popular in Italy, England and France. Aside from various tunings, there were two main kinds of instruments being played during the 16th and 17th centuries: the 4 course (four sets of doubled strings), and the 6 course cittern with several editions of music to go along with both. The pieces I have chosen for this book were all written for the 4 course instrument and fall into three main categories: dance music, song arrangements and free pieces. The free pieces are basically preludes that explore the melodic range of the instrument. As the title suggests these pieces can be played very freely and need not have a very strict tempo. The dance pieces are not really meant to be danced to, but rather take their form and rhythm from the popular court dances of the time. These can be played with a wide range of overall tempo, but once a tempo is chosen, should be strictly adhered to. The song arrangements are settings of popular songs of the time as well as more formal vocal settings. Care should be taken in making the melody clear and singing. Since the range of the cittern and mandolin are the same, John Holenko has kept the melodies intact. Because of the difference in tuning however, the voicing of the harmonies have been changed so as to fit on the mandolin.

ISBN 9781619117334.

From 1651 to 1728 John Playford, his son Henry, and John Young published multiple editions of the Dancing Master-collections of dance instructions and musical accompaniment. Over 500 distinct tunes were printed in these volumes and they give us one of the best pictures of English popular dance music in the 17th and early 18th centuries. This book presents 121 of these tunes adapted for the mandolin-all are written in standard notation and tablature, with chord symbols. Several pieces have been transposed into more mandolin-friendly keys. Suitable for use in teaching and performance, many of these tunes are still played by musicians today both for pleasure and dance accompaniment.

ISBN 9781619112728. Italian Folk Music for Mandolin is an enjoyable collection of pieces from various parts of northern, central and southern Italy. This anthology includes complete texts and translations of the songs with accurate accompanying arrangements for two mandolins, or violin and guitar. The selections include medieval and Renaissance instrumental folk dances, sixteenth-century Neapolitan Villanelle, work songs, lullabies, narrative ballads, prisoner songs, and popular dances including tarantellas, pizzica, Sardinian ballo tondo, quadrille, waltz and saltarello. The book includes an accompanying online audio of all the pieces presented.