Melbourne Tune collection
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Miss Katherine Fitzgibbons
by Pria Schwall-Kearney When I was young, I went on a dancing competition to Tasmania. On that trip, an eleven year old dancer went down a slide and managed to break her ankle in the worst way I’ve ever seen. She had to go to hospital, then they couldn’t do the surgery in Tasmania so Continue reading
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The Merry Dancers
by Andrew Cooper The Merry Dancers is a description of the Northern Light by John Muir, a Scottish environmentalist. I was given a book about John by some friends around the same time I went on tour with some friends. We didn’t have a name for this tune (well we didn’t have a flattering name), Continue reading
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Merry
by Regina McDonald I wrote this tune around the time I was playing Celtic music and the influence of that crept into my tune making. Continue reading
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Merri Creek Set
by Meredith Beardmore I moved to Coburg at the end of 2017 and quickly discovered the charm of the Merri Creek. I seemed to cross it or walk or ride alongside it all the time and it never ceases to enchant me. Composed in 2018. Continue reading
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The Marrickville Leisure Palace
by Naomi Matthyssen This tune was written after a spontaneous, very rainy trip to Sydney where the lovely Clodagh Schofield and her epic housemates warmly opened their home to me. During my stay I found out that the house was fondly nicknamed the ‘Marrickville Leisure Palace’ and this tune fell out on my return to Continue reading
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Mackenzie’s Jig
by Mackenzie K This tune was originally nameless. During the transcription process, it was simply known as ‘Mackenzie’s Jig’ and that name stuck. Continue reading
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The Leith Walks
by Jean McConnachie I wrote this shortly after my first visit to Leith. I’d met someone there at the Book Festival and had a spare day so we walked along the Water of Leith Walk from Charlotte Square to Leith. It was a lovely, happy day just roaming around Leith. I called it The Leith Continue reading
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Kathi’s Jig
by Louisa Wise Written for an old friend in WA. Composed in 2018. Continue reading
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Hot Jam Doughnut
by Thomas Kendall I wrote this tune with my 4 piece bluegrass/old time band ‘The KnottFamily Band’ in mind. I envisaged it as having a contemporary string band style arrangement, but it would probably adapt well to other genres. It wasn’t a deliberate act of composition, rather the product of some errant melody hunting one Continue reading
About Melbourne Tune collection
Melbourne Tune Collection records and publishes original folk tunes and songs from around Australia.
I started this project after realising that I barely knew any Australian folk tunes, even though I’ve been playing the fiddle for almost two decades. It wasn’t that Australians weren’t writing tunes, it’s just that there was limited publishing opportunities for them.
I thought maybe if I collect these tunes and put them together, they would have a better chance of getting played. So in early 2019 I set off with my camera and recorder, first around Melbourne, then across Australia.
This site is the result of these travels. Its purpose is to make Australian folk music as accessible as possible and promote the incredible music that’s being written today. I genuinely believe that there’s something special happening in the Melbourne and Australian folk music scenes right now.
I hope you enjoy playing through these tunes as much as I have!
Katherine Oleinikov
Melbourne Tune Collection 