Pirate tunes

[Red Maria]

I'm looking for fiddle tunes pirates may have played for work or pleasure. If notation can be provided all the better.

Thanks :)

[Fox]

A good place to start might be "Playford's Dancing Master" (subtitled "plain and easie Rules for the Dancing of Country Dances, with the Tune to each Dance,

to be play'd on the Treble Violin") which is a collection of tunes published in the mid 17th century. An online copy with facsimiles of the original stave music can be found here

There are of course loads of other tunes which would be authentic but hopefully Playford will give you a good start.

If you want tunes with words then I can recommend no better starting place than The Contemplator which has words, midi files, and the history of a large number of tunes. It also has a page dedicated to songs of the sea.

[Red Maria]

Thanks Foxe. There's a facsimile copy(1651) in reference here and a1651, 1653, 1716 in rare books. I think it's easier to photocopy the facsimile The music notation is a bit hard to read. Barely resembles modern notation.

I've started to take fiddle lessons (to play in a band) and I want some insturmental tunes for myself or the band if need be.

[blackjohn]

You may want to try finding Pills to Purge Melancholy by Thomas D'Urfey.