Hello,
My name is Robin Brück and I live near Leipzig, Germany with my partner Beth Fogleman. I´ve been playing music for about 35 years, starting on the violin and lately also have a renewed interest in aerophones, especially double reed instruments like shawms (ciaramella, piffero, Rauschpfeife,etc) but also single reeds (chalumeau, birbynė,etc) and flutes (sopilka). My favourite is the ciaramella molisana. Since I am a trained wood turner, I am also interested in making such instruments.
From 1998 until 2014 I lived in the USA, eight years in North Carolina, playing Southern Appalachian mountain music (Old Time) and other Southern tunes and then eight years in Louisiana playing Cajun Music. In 2014 Beth and I moved back to Germany where we soon joined a band that plays Sorbian Dance Music. Since then I developed a passion for Slavic traditional dance music with a focus on Polish and Ukrainian music. But I am also interested in other styles like Klezmer, Roma, Scandinavian, Italian and French. Lately I have a renewed interest in italian folk music and dance, so there will be more sheet music in that direction.
I used to be very much against sheet music in traditional folk music, but then I had to realize that sometimes there are good reasons to use them. While playing with our Sorbian Dance band, there was a need to write down all the tunes that we worked out and arranged, since there is no living musical folk tradition and barely any recordings to play along. Over the years we collected and transcriped so many tunes, that we decided to publish them in a session book. I also started to write down many of the tunes that I like to play outside the band.
In 2020 I decided to share all of this wonderful music, so that the many hours of hard work is not lost and with the hope that maybe some other musicians will learn those tunes, thereby help to keep this music alive.
I do not make any money with this website and I ask you to do the same. You may download the PDFs only for personal use.
About the music:
The tunes are roughly divided into Ukrainian, Sorbian, Polish, Scandinavian, German, Italian etc. Of course, in reality music traditions are much more complex. For example, in Poland and Ukraine there are many different cultural regions without clear borders. There was and is a lot of exchange between those cultures and sometimes it is impossible to say where a melody originated. A tune could be Klezmer but also Ukrainian or Polish or even German and vice versa. This history would make this website too complicated, and in the end, the most important thing is to have fun. I have categorized tunes based on the closest match.
The titles in the section Ukrainian (and some others) are often spelled wrong but I left it that way because that’s how they are on the recording.
This website is as simple and plain as possible. In each section you will find the titles in an alphabetical order. When you click on the name, a new tab will open with the actual sheet music in PDF format. Below the titles may be an audio file of me playing the melody, so you can hear how I interpret it. It will not always be exactly like what is written in the sheet music. Additionally, in “Links and Sources” there may be links to videos, websites and albums from bands and musician that play those tunes. Under “Lists” there may be different lists based on timing, keys and dances, when available.
Most melodies are written down by me, but some tunes from Serbska Reja´s “Lusatian Session Book” are transcribed by Gregor Kliem or Clemens Isensee as indicated. The “Lusatian Session Book” contains more information about the music and dances.
The chord progressions are just a suggestion. Back-up is also a matter of taste and playing style.
Regarding the melodies, they may not be perfect but please remember, it is also a matter of taste. If you do find an obvious mistake, especially with information and languages that I am not familiar with, or if you have an idea for the website, then please let me know.
For writing the sheet music I use MuseScore. Recordings are made with MixPad.
-Thanks to all musicians and bands that are the sources of these tunes.
-Thanks to Gregor Kliem and Clemens Isensee for their contributions
-Thanks to Serbska Reja for all the good times playing music.
-Also a big thank you to Beth Fogleman for helping me create this website, for adding many of the chord progressions and for playing all the tunes together with me.
You can write me at: “info@dancmelodioj.net” info@dancmelodioj.net
Music for dance 