The Traditional Tune Archive

Last updated
The Traditional Tune Archive
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PredecessorThe Fiddler's Companion
Founded2010 (2010)
FounderA. Kuntz & V. Pelliccioni
Country of originUnited States
Headquarters location Wappingers Falls
DistributionWorldwide
Key peopleA. Kuntz, V. Pelliccioni
Publication typesAnnotated tunes database
Official website tunearch.org

The Traditional Tune Archive (TTA) is a searchable digital library dedicated to traditional music from Ireland, Great Britain, and North America. It provides music in standard notation and ABC notation, annotations on historical and cultural context, and extensive bibliographic and discographic references.

Contents

The archive is structured as a Semantic Web Index, which organizes information to facilitate semantic queries and complex musicological research. The TTA contains over 50,000 annotated tunes and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

History

The Traditional Tune Archive originated from The Fiddler's Companion, an extensive project created by Andrew Kuntz between 1996 and 2010. This earlier project cataloged traditional melodies alphabetically and included descriptive and anecdotal information without discriminating rigorously between fact and speculation. [1]

As the project evolved, Kuntz, in collaboration with Valerio Pelliccioni, transitioned it into the more structured and analytical TTA, emphasizing accuracy, reliable sourcing, and clear distinction between factual information and cultural anecdotes.

Recognition and Usage

The Traditional Tune Archive is recognized as a valuable resource in musicological research and by communities dedicated to traditional music.[ citation needed ]

TTA's integration with Semantic MediaWiki has been noted for effectively structuring historical information, ABC notation, and cultural annotations, facilitating research and exploration of traditional tunes. [2]

Organization and content

The archive contains over 50,000 tunes. Each entry has:

Searchy

The TTA database allows searches through keywords, alphabetical listings, and semantic queries via its “Query the Archive” function.

Selected tunes highlighted by editors exemplify quality annotations and serve as models for contributors.

Mobile access

The archive provides a simplified mobile interface optimized for smartphones and tablets.

Licensing

The Traditional Tune Archive is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License.

References

  1. A. Kuntz, The Fiddler Companion, Introduction and premise.
  2. "The Traditional Tune Archive". Semantic MediaWiki.