Just wondering: does anyone know of a good compilation of Breton tunes?
Here’s one: http://www.amazon.com/Traditional-Breton-Dance-Tunes-Breizh/dp/0786682752/
And John Skelton has a book/CD set called ‘Some Breton Tunes’.
a good compilation of Breton tunes
http://www.celticscores.com/origin/Brittany/ … this any good to you ?
And there’s David Surette’s book "Traditional Breton Dance Tunes ‘Fest Breizh’ "
And you might check http://thesession.org/discussions/4405/
Best wishes.
Steve
Dave Shepherd of Blowzabella did ‘the Breton dance and tune book’ with the publishers Dragonfly Music - out of print but you might find a second hand copy or some old stock somewhere.
The ultimate collection is Toniou Breizh Izel, 1800 tunes compiled by Polig Monjarret - by far the biggest music book in my collection, makes O’neill’s 1001 look thin by comparison!
I have a collection called ‘Soniz’za Sonerion : airs populaires Breton pour Biniou et Bombarde’ by Jef le Penven. It’s from my spell with the biniou kozh during the mid 1970s and I bought it in La Baule or Lorient around 1975. . There are 150 tunes in it. I couldn’t say how it compares to other collections.
Jeepers Peter. The biniou kozh. That is some skeleton to have in the closet. 
You’ll be tellin me now that you have a couple of All Irelands on the Piano Accordion.
John
The biniou kozh. That is some skeleton to have in the closet.
Hehe. I still have it too. And a decaying hurdy gurdy. I busked with them during the seventies. Skeletons from my late teenage years (and early 20s).
The biniou kozh. That is some skeleton to have in the closet.
People really gave you money for playing the dreaded biniou kozh?? 
Best wishes, but glad I wasn’t within earshot,
Steve
Not really a compilation, but if you want to hear breton music and learn by ear, you can listen to the last 3 months of selection albums by Louis “Nozbreizh” here :
http://nozbreizh.fr/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=229:en-ecoute-decembre-2013&catid=24:titres-en-ecoute&Itemid=2
http://nozbreizh.fr/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=232:en-ecoute-janvier-2014&catid=24:titres-en-ecoute&Itemid=2
http://nozbreizh.fr/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=229:en-ecoute-decembre-2013&catid=24:titres-en-ecoute&Itemid=2
While exploring this site, you can find other material, for example, to listen to 30 seconds of each track of a lot of albums, follow this :
http://nozbreizh.fr/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=18&Itemid=35&page=1
For the dots, go here :
http://www.vitrifolk.be/partitions/partitions-france.html
http://www.breizh-partitions.fr/
http://www.cadb.org/archives.htm (oriented boxplayer)
http://yves.belotteau.pagesperso-orange.fr/Musique/repertoire.htm
etc…
You will want to know that the great majority of breton tunes are in Bb or Eb, and written in those books as is, ie to play let’s say a Bflat on a Bflat whistle you will have to finger this note as a D (all holes closed), which does not meet the usual standards… Except perhaps for the Highland pipes players…
Thanks very much for those. Some great tunes there. And thanks also for the Bb/Eb caution.
Best wishes.
Steve
Please excuse my ignorance about Breton music. Does this mean that flute players either have to play an Eb or Bb flute or have a keyed flute and play chromatically? Or, if playing with a group, does the group adapt to a D flute?
Thanks and best wishes.
Steve
No, many fiddle and flute players have put the tunes into flute-friendly keys. It’s just that the bombarde and biniou are traditionally pitched in Bb. Skelton’s collection is entirely playable on a keyless D flute, and it looks like a good number of the tunes in the Surette book are, too.
To figure out what I want to say, let’s take an example :
X:1
T:Laridenn (Krac’h)
S:Tonioù Breizh Izel, vol.2, p316
Z:Polig Montjarret
T:4/4
K:Eb
E/2D/2E Bz Az G2 | EB A>F GA G/2F/2E | E/2D/2E Bz Az G2 | GB G>E FD E2 
:
ED/2E/2 Gz Az F2 | E>F GE DE F2 | ED/2E/2 Gz Az B>B | AF G>E FD E2 | :
K:Gmaj
M:4/4
G/2F/2G dz cz B2 | Gd c>A Bc B/2A/2G | G/2F/2G dz cz B2 | Bd B>G AF G2 :|:
GF/2G/2 Bz cz A2 | G>A BG FG A2 | GF/2G/2 Bz cz d>d | cA B>G AF G2 :|:
I transcribed the dots from the book from the key of Eb then transposed it to G.
You can of course play with whatever flute/whistle you want the first setting in Eb, except it will be particularly uneasy to finger certain notes. On the other way, playing the 2nd setting in G will be very simple and thus on whatever transposing whistle/flute, in particularly Eb to be in tune with a “biniou bras” player (biniaouer in breton language, pronounce bee-nia-ware).
So the solutions to play music from Tonioù Breizh Izel vol1 & 2 on flute/whistle/uileann pipes are : playing halfholing which can reveal not being very convenient (and I am not sure it is possible on the pipes), or transpose by sight the key of Eb, or Bb, in the key of G or D, no matter what tonality your instrument is (as far as a read D is fingered XXX XXX), or use your favourite software to transpose the dots written in ABC from Eb (or Bb) to D/G. In my example the transposition in D gave a C which is not in the tessiture of a standard whistle/flute (and not very relevant when octaviated).
Ouch ! This is the end !
I like your username…