Suggestions for future Theme of the Month

If you have a suggestion for a future theme, please let us know by leaving a comment here! We'll maintain a running list below.

Region/Culture
Irish
Welsh
Scottish
Appalachian
Australian
French
Quebecois
Swedish
Cajun
Jewish
Klezmer
Russian

Tune Forms
Schottisches
Marches
Modern C&W ballads
Mazurkas
Jigs
Slip Jigs
Reels
Barndances
Duets

Style
Bluegrass
Classical
Baroque
Early music
Morris dance
Jazz standards
Children's songs

Time Period
Songs from the 60's
Popular music of the 30s and 40s

Subject
Songs about summer
Protest songs

Lullabies

Scale/Meter
Dorian
Mixolydian
Aeolian
Lydian
Locrian
Phrygian
Harmonic minor
Exotic scales
Unusual time signatures

Author
O'Carolan tunes
Stephen Foster

Tune of the Month for June 2013: Star of the County Down

You are cordially invited to our inaugural autoharp tune-of-the-month festivities! We're very excited to start working on this tune learning and sharing project with everyone who would like to participate. Here's how it works...

To start things off, we've selected the tune "Star of the County Down" as an enjoyable, fairly simple piece that many people know, and which is both diatonic and chromatic-friendly. We'll decide on tunes by poll in the future, but we were anxious to get started this time!

Star of the County Down is an old Irish ballad and exists in many different versions (and even different time signatures!), so if you search around on YouTube you'll find all kinds of possibilities. Bryan Bowers has a lovely version on his album "Bristlecone Pine." There's some additional information here on Wikipedia.

For those who don't yet know the tune, here's a video of the very talented Ryan Carr playing it:

Sheet music of two different versions is available here:

Josh Birch's version in Am (4/4) -- downloadable audio here
Josh Birch's version in Em (4/4)

Cathy Britell's version (3/4, Em)

You can post your recording using the "Comments" box below. For more information about the TOTM project, visit the main page! The YouTube playlist with all the submitted versions is here.

Poll: Theme of the month for July 2013

Thanks for visiting the Autoharp Tune of the Month Site!

While you're working on recording this month's tune, Star of the County Down, help us pick next month's theme! Between June 1st and June 15th, you'll be able to vote on one of four options for the July tune of the month. Once a theme has been democratically selected, we'll ask for suggestions of tunes to go with that theme.

To vote on the July theme, just select your choice in the poll in the right-hand margin! Feel free to post any thoughts, tune suggestions for your chosen theme, or anything else here as well.

To suggest other themes for future months, please visit the theme suggestion page.

Welcome to the Autoharp Tune of the Month Site!

The goal of the tune-of-the-month (TOTM) project is to learn new tunes, pick up new ideas and techniques, and be inspired! Each month we'll choose a new tune together; the idea is to learn this tune if you don't already know it, record yourself playing it, and post it back to this site some time during the month so everyone can learn from each other.

The best way to participate is by recording a video and posting it on YouTube with the tag "AutoharpTOTM". This makes it possible for everyone to see exactly how you're playing, and also for those unfamiliar to the autoharp to find your video on YouTube and be won over by it! If you'd like to participate but are unable or would rather not record a video, some alternative suggestions are here.

Some folks may be taking a personal risk by putting their playing on the line like this, so let's all please be kind and supportive, providing critiques only when specifically asked.

To join us in the current tune, click the link "This month's TOTM" in the Quick Links menu on the right. You can also vote on next month's theme or tune.

We can't wait to see and hear what everyone comes up with! If you have any questions about TOTM, feel free to contact us at totm@autoharp.org.