For some time now I've had people asking about sheet music for the tunes that I've written or some sort of tune book. So what I've decided to do for the present to make some music available here. You will need a small program called scorch which you can download for free from: http://www.sibelius.com. This program will not only allow to view the music as I've written it out but also will play it back for you to listen to. You can adjust the tempo by moving the slider bar at the top of the page, you can even print out the music or transpose it to a different key if you want to.

I've had a few email's asking me to put the guitar chords for the tunes in the music. I've been resisting this mostly because my philosophy is: that is one of the ways that you make the music your own. Whenever I've taught at festivals I've always encouraged people to take the basic melody and play with it.... perhaps you'll play it faster or slower, with more ornamentation, or jazz it up with a fancy chord structure. Part of the fun for me as a composer is hearing how others interpret my music. So if you think you've done something interesting please, let me know or send it along.... maybe we'll start another page with other people's recordings of my tunes. The most important thing here is to have fun!

The Elora Gorge 

The Wilderness Lament
Originally recorded on the1993 Dulcimer Traditions cd, In 2008 I re-recorded this tune for the Back to Basics cd and added a new part and introduction.

French River Flight

Conestogo Waltz

Sandy's Fancy

The Misty Morning Waltz

The Redheaded Girl  (Between Two Worlds)

St. Jacob's Ramble
I usually play this tune as a medley followed by The Road to Listowel which is played in straight reel time or sometimes with Sandy's fancy if I want to keep that hornpipe rhythm going.

The Road to Listowel

Jivewalk
this was recorded 1st on Step Out of Time as Jivewalk, recorded later on New Celtic Moon as Dance of the Sidhoeg

Morning Chimes
a nice Christmasy type tune.

Pete's Prance
a new tune to celebrate the little sheltie pup that we got recently.

The Fordwich Jig
I first wrote and recorded this tune for the Dulcimer Traditions cd

Tapestry
The inspiritation for this piece of music came from the wonderful tapestry of fall colours where I was performing in the Niagara region of southern Ontario one year. I've recorded this tune twice, a slow live version on Looped and Delayed and a more up tempo version on Back to Basics.

Walking the Trail
the opening track on the Back to Basics cd, it should be played with a nice hornpipe style swing

Spring March
another tune from the Back to Basics cd. In my mind I could almost imagine a disneyesq type of scene with all the flowers marching in formation across the lawn

The Owl and the Bear
For those who don't know me well, Joanna is the owl and I am the bear. This is a lively tune that celebrated our life together.

Riverbank Slide
On the Back to Basics cd I recorded a few fiddle tunes written by a local musician named Bert Pepper. One of those was a tune called The Singing Frogs Jig. I had written this little jig that seemed to fit really nicely tagged after that tune so I named it to fit as well.

Gambolling Dogs
not to be confused with that famous painting of the dogs playing poker, this is gambolling which would be dogs being frisky and playing with each other. It's on the Back to Basics cd but had an earlier incarnation on the One Winter's Eve recording and was called The Swaggering Cat

Taking Flight
this needs to played fast, it should feel like it's almost out of control... at the very edge of coming apart. Recorded on the Back to Basics cd as part of a medley with a fiddle tune by Bert Pepper called Call of the Swan's Jig

Into the Night
the final tune on the Back to Basics cd. It should be played with a relaxed jazzy feeling.

Heather's Waltz
This is a pleasant little waltz, one of those tunes that I almost always default to when someone asks me to play a little something, the kind of tune that brings a smile to peoples faces. It should be played with  a swing feel as though the eighth notes were all in tuplets. It was recorded on the Spirit of the Land.

Over the Garden Wall
Here is another one of those sweet little waltz tunes that I recorded on the Spirit of the Land cd. The inspiration was from my old Grandmother from Ireland who used to tell me fantastic stories of fairies and wee people who lived just over the garden wall behind the house.

First Snow
I originally wrote this tune back about 1992 while on tour in northern Ontario. It was in the fall and the leaves were gone and we had that first snow fall of the season, with big fluffy snowflakes. The landscape seemed stark, black and white and yet very beautiful.

The Rabbit's Reel
This was written back in '92 when I was doing a lot of performing in schools and libraries. In my performance I was telling part of the story of velveteen rabbit and would play this piece of music with it. The A & B parts were recorded on the Dulcimer Traditions cd the C & D parts were added later on. It should be played fairly quickly but try not to let it sound rushed.

Tony's Dream
This is another fast reel from the Spirit of the Land recording it was done as a medley with Dancing with Sunlight. You can see my arrangement of the two together here.

Dancing with Sunlight
On the Spirit of the Land recording this was the second part of a medley, but is a nice tune on it's own as well. this should be played quite fast with a certain abandon, imagine one of those little whirlwinds that happen with the dust motes catching the sunlight or perhaps a twirling dervish.

Maitland River Hornpipe
The Maitland River flows through the village where I live, mostly it's just a stream and some parts of it move quite fast. When you play this picture that fast water crashing and bubbling around the rocks and you'll get the feel for what was in my mind. It's a hornpipe and so should have that nice hornpipe swing to it. On the Spirit of the Land recording I coupled it with a traditional Canadian fiddle tune called Mosquito on the Iceberg. from out east. I've never been able to find the origins of that tune, but it's a great melody and a wonderful title.

The Swirling Snow
Written in the depths of winter back in 1997, it was recorded in '98 on the Spirit of the Land cd. It has an odd little rhythmic thing going on in the B part where it shifts from 6/8 time to 7/8 time. Try it.... you might like it.

Walking Stick
Back in the summer of 1996 I did some touring in Cape Breton. While I was there I hiked many of the trails in the hills above the sea. It was majestic and the images will stay with me for a lifetime. This music was written with that in mind, it should be played with great feeling trying to capture some of that beauty and majesty.

Spirit of the Land
This is the title track from the Spirit of the Land recording and is a longish relaxed feeling tune. It was also a favorite tune on the "One Winter's Eve" recording. I especially like the bassoon and flute that interweave around the melody on the recording. Give it a listen and perhaps you can find someone to improvise around the melody for you giving you a similar effect.

The Children's Lament
This was a very early tune that I wrote on the dulcimer, back around 1990. It was originally written to be recorded on a friend's recording (Dave Hosler, Volume I Too Good for Words). Later on I recorded the tune as the second part of a medley with "The King of the Fairies" on the Step out of Time recording.

Raincoat
Another one of the early tunes that I wrote, this one was written one fall. I was doing a tour playing in schools and libraries in northern Ontario and was crossing Georgian Bay on the Ferry going to Manitoulin Island from the Bruce Penninsula on one of those stormy fall days. Playing around on the dulcimer, I wrote this little tune.

In the Barrel
a little short tune that I wrote initially to tag on the end of a traditional tune called Over the Waterfall. In the medley I start with the B section but when I play it as a stand alone piece I play it as I've written out here. You can find it on my Step out of Time recording.

Sliding Off the Roof
When my children were small we had this old garage, well really just an overgrown shed and one fall day they had raked up this huge pile of leaves and were climbing onto the roof of that garage and leaping into the leaves! Probably dangerous but still great fun. The tune should be played with that sort of exuberance in mind. You will find this tune recorded on the Step out of Time recording.

Waking the Bear
A tune that I wrote in the mid '90's after a long personal ordeal. I told a friend at the time that I felt as though I was waking from a long hibernation. I recorded this with Sugo records and the name was changed to Donal and the Fairy Folk and the arrangement was also changed around considerably, but this is how I originally wrote the tune and will someday record it.