Scandinavian tunebook, released in 2024

My big Nordic tunebook, Give a Coin to the Fiddler, and its 5-album Scandinavian Fiddle Tradition series, are a labor of love and a culmination of my learning, teaching, playing and dancing over four decades. The book is 400 pages long, spiral-bound, with 350 photos and 13 maps. The text includes practice tips, style tips, stories about tunes and musicians, essays about dancing, fiddle technique, music theory, history, and Nordic culture, with extensive glossary, indexes, bibliography and discography (which you can use to create a fantastic playlist on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube).

I invite you to order the book, eBook, and/or albums below. The 5 albums are available as CDs and downloads (regular and instructional versions) here on my site, and to stream at Bandcamp.com.  Albums 1, 2 and 3 are also on Spotify, YouTube and other streaming services, and albums 4 and 5 will eventually turn up there as well. Related items and discounted bundles are also listed below. 

The book includes detailed transcriptions for fiddle, nyckelharpa, and Hardanger fiddle, including fiddle harmonies by riksspelman (National Swedish Fiddler) Stefhan Ohlström, and chords by my four other accompanists: Andrew VanNorstrand, Mattias Hammarsten, Bob Mills, and Gerd Stenlid. The tunes come from Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Denmark.

“Huzzah huzzah! Beautifully done, clearly written, and elegantly presented. I especially enjoy all the photos and stories of musicians and dance leaders. It creates a wonderful sense of community, as well as of living tradition.”
—composer, teacher, and Grammy-nominated fiddler Andrea Hoag
 
“The entire body of work—from the meticulous research and presentation of regional style and history, to the beautifully crafted albums—is a treasure.”
—dance fiddler and violin teacher Catherine Sloboda   
 
 
 

Here are the various formats & bundles from which you can choose.

NOTE! Shipping cost is added automatically for each item or bundle at checkout but is only accurate for the U.S. (USPS media mail).  If you live in another country, or if you are ordering several different physical items/bundles that I can box together for lower shipping cost, or if you want FedEx, express mailing or can pick up your items in Ithaca NY, you are welcome to contact me before you order so I can determine the appropriate shipping cost, or I may contact you after you order to avoid over- or under-charging you.
Print book: Give a Coin to the Fiddler
  • Print book: Give a Coin to the Fiddler

Print book: Give a Coin to the Fiddler

Printed tunebook, 400 pages with black & white photos, spiral bound to stay open on a music stand. Advantages over eBook: Best readability of the 8.5 x 11” full-page tunes and you can mark them up with pencil. Also the Read more

Printed tunebook, 400 pages with black & white photos, spiral bound to stay open on a music stand. Advantages over eBook: Best readability of the 8.5 x 11” full-page tunes and you can mark them up with pencil. Also the maps, glossary, appendices and cross-references within the text that are easier to access when you can flip to another page and quickly back again. See the first FAQ below for detailed comparison to eBook.

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$55.00
2 copies of print book: Give a Coin to the Fiddler
  • 2 copies of print book: Give a Coin to the Fiddler

2 copies of print book: Give a Coin to the Fiddler

Buy one for another musician or teacher with whom you’d like to play the melody and harmony parts or chords. $10 discount over buying separately, and save an additional $6 on U.S. shipping cost.

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$100.00
PDF eBook: Give a Coin to the Fiddler, $41
  • PDF eBook: Give a Coin to the Fiddler, $41
  • PDF eBook: Give a Coin to the Fiddler, $41

PDF eBook: Give a Coin to the Fiddler, $41

Fixed layout PDF, file size about 170 MB. Advantages over print book: no shipping cost, color photos you can magnify to examine, and text you can magnify to larger print if 10-point text is too small for you. Easy to carry Read more

Fixed layout PDF, file size about 170 MB. Advantages over print book: no shipping cost, color photos you can magnify to examine, and text you can magnify to larger print if 10-point text is too small for you. Easy to carry around. Caveat: for the notation you need a large screen. See the first FAQ below. The comparison photo (click on tiny image below green book cover), shows the size of full sheet of music on a 9.7-inch/24.5 cm iPad (measured diagonally), a 13-inch laptop screen, and the printed page. For my eyes, the music on both these screens is too small to read easily. Instead, I recommend a large monitor, or an 11- to 13-inch tablet, for readability. You can also print out the longer tunes as needed.

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$40.00
Custom 20-page PDF download from book
  • Custom 20-page PDF download from book

Custom 20-page PDF download from book

Not a fiddler? or does 400 pages sound like too much all at once? I can choose 20 pages for you if you specify a favorite Scandinavian country (Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark), or if you are interested in spooky stories, Read more

Not a fiddler? or does 400 pages sound like too much all at once? I can choose 20 pages for you if you specify a favorite Scandinavian country (Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark), or if you are interested in spooky stories, geography, history, Scandinavian languages, costumes, dancing, accompaniment, or a certain type of dance/tune (marches, waltzes, Dalarna polskas, telespringar etc.), or if you are at beginner, intermediate or advanced level and what instrument you play. After you order I'll contact you and we'll figure out which 20 pages would interest you most!

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$10.00
5-CD set in shelf-ready box + digital audio: DISCOUNT price
  • 5-CD set in shelf-ready box + digital audio: DISCOUNT price

Saves $30 over ordering CDs separately, and includes a digital download of each album as well.

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$30.00
Digital downloads of all 5 albums of the series
  • Digital downloads of all 5 albums of the series

Digital downloads of all 5 albums of the series

High-quality digital downloads in mp3 format. Contact me to request .wav files instead.

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$50.00
One-hour lesson on fiddle or other instrument
  • One-hour lesson on fiddle or other instrument

One-hour lesson on fiddle or other instrument

online or in person at my home in Ithaca, NY

In cart Not available Out of stock
$55.00
Hardanger fiddle experience
  • Hardanger fiddle experience

Hardanger fiddle experience

For advanced fiddlers/violinists: Try my Hardanger fiddle at my home in Ithaca, or have your first Hardanger fiddle lesson with me online using your regular fiddle, which may help you decide if you want to apply for the adult or child instrument loan program via Hardanger Fiddle Association of America, hfaa.org.

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$55.00
MORE REVIEWS from a few of my 70+ beta-readers, who each looked at 15+ pages of the text
 
“I found the historical and cultural information so interesting! All the research you’ve done to combine the photos and backstories with the music makes this so much more than a book of great tunes.”   
—fiddler Sara Hiebert Burch 
 
“This is a life’s work. I wish I’d had it when I began but I will have it now. I hope it gets lots of distribution and becomes a book Nordic fiddlers and nyckelharpa-players must have.”  
—nyckelharpist and watercolorist Catharine O’Neill
 
“This is fascinating, information-packed and well written. It shows your personal affection for the music and the people, while also communicating a lot of technical data and history—the scale is impressive. My hat is off to you for doing such a beautiful job of pulling this all together and then laying it out so professionally and attractively on the page.”  
—journalist Bill Chaisson
 
“It seems like an impressively thorough work—tons of info packed into just the few pages I've seen. I especially love having lots of boxes of contextual info and photos, and you've got some super-fun photo selections. [As I read] sometimes I think, ‘Oh yes, that is great supporting detail for people to know,’ and once in a while I think, "Oh, really?! Cool!” 
— fiddler, nyckelharpist and teacher lydia ievins

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