Here you'll find sources for folk dance sheet music and related items. Let us know of other sources we should add.
Sheet Music
Dunav, "the sharing place for Balkan music and dance," has many musical scores to accompany the song lyrics in Dunav Song Lyrics, Volume 1, which you can order from their web site (www.dunav.org). The scores were transcribed by Lyuben Dossov, Dean of the Department of Music Folklore, Choreogaphy and Fine Arts at the Academy of Music, Dance and Fine Arts in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, and donated to Dunav to help promote Balkan music and dance.
A database of ethnic music transcriptions and discographic data, with emphasis on Eastern Europe and the Balkans. The primary audience is musicians, but the large Balkan discography may also be useful to others, such as, singers, dancers, disc jockeys, researchers, and music lovers generally.
The Pinewoods International Collection
Nightshade Productions has released the second edition of the Pinewoods International Collection, with over 400 traditional dance tunes and songs from Bulgaria, Romania, Macedonia, Serbia, Greece, Turkey, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Russia, France, England, America, Canada, Israel, and other countries and cultures.
The new second edition has been rearranged, redesigned and reset. In addition to all the original material, the volume now includes extensive commentary on the music, rhythm, ornamentation, tonality, improvisation, and regional performance practices, as well as song lyrics and translations.
Please visit the website to learn more.
The Village & Early Music Society
The society offers four collections, all edited by Richard Geisler.
Each collection includes a Foreword that presents information and a general description of the music contents; care and use of the music for practice and performance; other collections available; sources of information about folk dance, records, tapes, and periodicals; an ethnographic/cultural listing of the music; an alphabetic listing with pagination. The individual pieces include information on instrumentation, vocals and orchestration. In addition to this, the Bulgarian, Yugoslav, and Balkanalian Collections include maps to locate places of origin of the dances. Also, a pronunciation guide
to the Serbo-Croat-Bulgarian languages is provided.
The collections are attractive, artistic and scholarly. They offer unique music and are thorough in their presentation of sources and information of interest. Each individual title contains all the information necessary for playing the tune: metronomic marking for tempos, chords and rhythms for chording and drumming, key changes, play patterns, lyrics in translation and transliteration, harmony and rhythm parts. Instrumentation and orchestration are noted or suggested for many tunes. Unusual or interesting bass lines are written out.
- BULGARIAN COLLECTION (35 tunes, $25)
- YUGOSLAV COLLECTION (40 tunes from Serbia, Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia- $25)
- BALKANALIAN COLLECTION (40 tunes from Greece, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia, Romania - $25)
- INTERNATIONAL COLLECTION (55 tunes, $35)
Richard Geisler
Telephone (530) 477-2293
To send e-mail to Richard, enter < richgeis (at) jps (dot) net >.
Danish Folk Music
Sheet music for such dances as Ålborg Polka, Rheinlæder, Festvalsen, and more.
Metronomes
Computer Metronomes for Balkan Rhythms
Beat sequencer for Mac OS X -- a versatile drum machine application.
Doggiebox
David Johnston's smallest, most versatile metronome software available -- for PC only, but it's free!
Weird Metronome