While one of a kind is a hard rating to achieve at Mel Bay Publications, Kevin Allison has done it with The Ceilidh Dance Book. A ceilidh is a traditional Scottish gathering where people share songs, stories, music, and dancing that is very much alive today. In Scotland, there are hundreds of ceilidh bands, each of which has their own trademark tune sets, making it possible for a man in a kilt to make a living as a performing musician.

This book not only provides 85 Scottish tunes in sets as they might be used in a ceilidh event—it also offers detailed, beat-by-beat descriptions of the dance steps for twenty-four dances! From The Highland Scottish to The Mooncoin Jig, with this book in hand, you’ll be able to both play in the band and step to the music with the locals. The kilt is optional.

Arranged for mandolin or fiddle with suggested chord backup, in standard notation only.

Gay Gordon’s Set 1
Canadian Barn Dance Set 1 
St Bernard’s Waltz Set 1 
Boston Two Step 
Dashing White Sergeant 
Scottish Waltz Set 1 
Haymaker’s Jig 
Pride of Erin Waltz 
Strip the Willow 
Gay Gordon’s Set 2 
St Bernard’s Waltz Set 2 
Virginia Reel 
Britannia Two-Step …
Canadian Barn Dance Set 2
Scottish Waltz Set 2
Circassian Circle 
American Circle Dance 
Cumberland Square Eight 
Eva 3-Step 
Highland Scottishe 
Lomond Waltz 
Orcadian Strip the Willow 
Military Two-Step