A better name for this site would be "Traditional and Popular Songs of England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales and America." Most of the songs are folk music, that is, music with a long oral tradition that has no known author (see the Folk Miniencyclopedia for a better definition). However, there are many that have a known author and therefore do not fit the academic definition of folk music. All of the songs are circa 1600 to 1922.
Accoustic music from the 1960s and later is also known as folk music. Anything created after 1922 is protected by the author's or publisher's copyright. Therefore I cannot put original songs by James Taylor; Peter, Paul and Mary; Andy Stewart; The Chieftans; The Clancy Brothers; Arlo Guthrie; Mary Black; etc. on my site. Unfortunately, World War II songs are also covered by copyrights. Popular songs such as Ashokan Farewell, Today, The Dark Isle, Kilkelly, The Queen of Argyll and many others are protected by current copyright. Although they sound as if they are old folk songs, they are not.
The quality of tunes varies. Part of this is the sequencer (the person who created the midi) and the state of technology when the midi was created. Unfortuneately, I don't have the ability to improve them. I'm looking into whether AI can assit me with this - if not now, maybe eventually!
I often get the Music Files and lyrics from different sources, so the tune may not always fit the lyrics exactly, approximately, or sometimes, much at all.
You may not alter the midis from this site and distribute them without permission from the person who created the midi - except for the single line melody tunes from the Carolan pages. That includes changing instruments, transposing or removing author credit and information from the Music File.
I will not send sheet music to people, no matter how worthy the cause - education, a wedding, etc. I have listed the resources I use on each information page with a link for purchase if it is available. All of the print sources, including those that are not available at Amazon, are listed in the bibliography. You can order them from a local bookstore or from a traditional music site on the web.
The tunes on this site are traditional tunes. Some were created by kind people who provided them for my site. Other songs are song I have scanned from sheet music that is now in thepublic domain. Arrangements of traditional tunes are copyrighted if they are dated after 1922. So when I discovered I could scan music in, I spent significantly on books with music printed before 1922. There are also a few based on the Library of Congress sheet music collection and the Lester Levy collection. A very few midis are sequences based on single line melodies to which I added the accompaniment. I'm very bad at this, so there aren't many.
However, if you are an author or company who discovers your music on this site, please email me at contact@contemplator.comand I will remove the arrangement from these pages immediately and create a midi from a public domain resource if the tune is in the public domain.
Please note that the author of the Music File is credited on the lyrics page. I am not the author of all of the Music Files on these pages. If the tune does not have a lyrics page the author is noted by the song. If a Music File has no credit it is only because I have no record of who sequenced the music.
If you are a musician or performer the Music Files and information are here as a resource for you to use and I'm delighted to share them. Those arrangements that are based on public domain resources may be used freely. Those that are not from the public domain I can, obviously, give no permission for. If you have a doubt about a specific tune, please create your own arrangements.
