The Great Canadian Songbook is designed for adults, kids, schools, musicians, choirs, and sing-a-longs at home, the cottage or the camp-fire.  Volume I fills a huge gap in the books of Canadian music.  Currently there are collections of music from different provinces and regions, by individuals and bands, music on some themes, old collections of folk music, and books with assorted music.  But there was no single volume that brought together national anthems, provincial anthems, the most famous historical pieces, the most popular traditional songs, songs about the whole country and its regions, and all the basic Canadian themes like love, the climate, war, immigration, the environment, and hardship, and the activities like fishing, ship-building, smuggling, the fur trade, farming, mining, railroads and trucking, travel, dancing and hockey.  This book includes music on all of these topics. It contains music by many of Canada’s best composers, Oscar Brand, Bim, Bruce Cockburn, Stompin’ Tom, Connie Kaldor, Lennie Gallant, Roy Griff, Wade Hemsworth, James Keelaghan, Darryl Landry, Gordon Lightfoot, Allister MacGillivray, Murry McLaughlin, Rita MacNeil, Jimmy Rankin, Stan Rogers, Alex Sinclair, Hank Snow, Stevedore Steve, and Ian Tyson, just to name a few and with apologies to the others.

The book includes: L’Acadie, Alberta Rose, Ballad of the Bluenose, Ballad of St. Anne’s Reel, Barrett’s Privateers, The Blackfly Song, Boom Gone to Bust, Canadian Pacific, Canadian Railroad Trilogy, The Canadian Trucker, Farewell to Nova Scotia, The Farmer’s Song, Forever, My B.C., Four Strong Winds, Donkey Riding, Going Down the Road, A Golden Age of Wind and Wood and Sail, Heading for Halifax, Hillcrest mine, Jack Was Every Inch a Sailor, the Log Driver’s Song, Manitoba Man, The Maple Leaf Forever, The Hockey Song, My Nova Scotia Home, Nellie J. Banks, North Country, Northwest Passage, Now That the Buffalo’s Gone, O Canada, Once a Canadian Lad, Rocky Mountain Suite, Prince Edward Island Shanty, The Red River Valley, She’s Called Nova Scotia, Something To Sing About, Song for the Mira, Squid-Jiggin’ Ground, Sudbury Saturday Night, Summer Wages, Saskatoon Moon, Teamwork, This Land Is Your Land, Train of Dreams, When the Ice Worms Nest Again, Will Ye Come Away, Woman of Labrador, and Workin’ on the Railway.

Canadian Fiddle Music Volume I was compiled and published in 1990 by Ed Whitcomb and re-published by Mel Bay Publications, Inc, in 1999. Canadian Fiddle Music Volume II was published in 2001 by Ed Whitcomb. The two volumes constitute the largest collection of original Canadian fiddle music available. Each volume contains an essay explaining violins, fiddles and bows, the origins of fiddle music in Europe, Scottish and Irish fiddling, and the different styles of Canadian fiddle music including French Canadian, Métis, Cape Breton, Down East, Central and Western Canadian styles, and a description of fiddle competitions.

The fifteen different types of music are explained, including the reel, jig, polka, schottische, hornpipe, march, two-step, and strathspey. Each book contains examples of all the different types of music, by many of the best fiddlers in Canada, organized by composer from sea-to-sea, plus biographies of all the composers and an extensive bibliography. Guitar chords are provided, and the names of most tunes are explained. Over 300 fiddlers, musicians, experts and supporters of traditional music volunteered their tunes, time, and ideas to create these books.

The Great Canadian Songbook , Volume I contains 50 songs about Canada, from all regions (from sea to sea!), on all the major themes, and by many of the most famous musicians. Price: $25.00

Canadian Fiddle Music, Volume I contains 444 original tunes, by 114 Canadian fiddlers, including all types and styles of fiddle music. The composers represent all regions of Canada, and each section is organized geographically from east to west, or ”from sea-to-sea”. Price: $49.95.

Canadian Fiddle Music, Volume II contains 350 tunes by 210 fiddlers from sea-to-sea. It also contains a French translation of the essay and a section with examples of piano chord patterns or styles by eight of the best pianists in Canada, plus one by Ed. Price: $39.95.

These two books contain music by many of the best Canadian fiddlers. That includes (with apologies to the other 200) John Arcand, Kinnon Beaton, Mac Beattie, Jocelyn Bourque, Yvon Cuillerier, Roddy Dorman, Johnny Durocher, Carl Elliott, Wilf Gillis, David Greenberg, Rufus Guinchard, Ed Gyurki, Brian Hebert, Ivan Hicks, Reg Hill, Matthew Johnson, Patti Kusturok, Ned Landry, Dan R. MacDonald, Howie MacDonald, Sandy MacIntyre, Doug MacPhee, Natalie McMaster, Don Messer, Victor Pasowisty, Conrad Pelletier, Don Pettigrew, Gerry Pizzaerillo, Frankie Rogers, Mike Sanyshyn, Louis Schryer, Pierre Schryer, Brenda Stubbert, Eleanor Townsend, Graham Townsend, April Verch, Calvin Vollrath, Richard Wood and Scott Woods.

CANADIAN FIDDLE MUSIC, VOLUME II

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