Cheeky of me, I’ll admit, to have renamed this book ‘The Barnes Book’, such appellations usually being applied posthumously. But given the formidable metaphysical difficulties of doing this after I died, I’ve opted to get it over with. Besides, there were two other compelling reasons. The previous name ‘English Country Dance Tunes’ was undeniably accurate, but had all the uniqueness and charm of a box of cereal named ‘Cereal’. (I remember trying to come up with a suitable name for the collection ten years ago. ‘Classics of English Country Dance’? Too dry. ‘The Physical Snob and Other Favorites’? Too obscure. ‘Portabella and Her 300 Friends’? Too flippant. And so on.) The other reason is that everyone else but me calls it ‘The Barnes Book' (or simply ‘Barnes’) already. Just to be sure, I put out a general query on the internet and the responses were unanimous - all three of them went enthusiastically for the idea. So there it is.

‘Why rename it at all?’ you might ask. Basically because it’s a different product. This new edition contains all the same material that the original did, but also has several important changes:

I’ve added over 100 new pieces. I’d begun to notice that the original was drifting into obsolescence as new favorites emerged and previous hits became passé. I was tempted (and urged by many) to drop a few of the more obscure pieces that found their way into the original and are now widely viewed as ‘clutter’ (for example, does anyone anywhere dance Monk’s March With the Wanders or Dr. Fauster’s Tumblers?). But no, who knows that these dances are not in some obscure corner of the universe the very dances locals look forward to most after a hard day’s work? I picture some bashful lad on a Saturday night in East Somewheresville stammering ‘Oh Jenny, would you, might you dance The Beadle of Grubb Street with me?’ So I’ve only added not subtracted, an approach coincidentally analogous to my waistline. Among the new pieces are glaring omissions from the first collection, other melodies that have become popular in the last ten years, several long-overdue additions from the works of Pat Shaw, and other recent compositions from such notables as Fried de Metz Herman, Colin Hume, Brian Jenkins, Charles Bolton and many others.

I have re-chorded all of the tunes (so we all can look at some fresh errors instead of the same old ones), added a sturdier binding (the old one had a disturbing tendency to unravel in a hot car) and typeset all of the music on a computer. It was a bit of a wrench to abandon the original pages, constituting what is probably the last handwritten music publication in America, but while a computer is really no faster than pen and ink it certainly excels when corrections have to be made. My days of trying to write a sixteenth-note over three layers of correction fluid are over. I’ve also added an appendix on accompaniment tips and, with the help of Alan Winston of Stanford University, added a publications cross-reference of dance instructions for the tunes.

Please note that the suggested chords are just that - suggestions. Alternate chord ideas appear in parentheses. Also, the 'number of times through' note on some tunes may refer only to one variant of the dance, not every instance of it.

It has been instructive for me to discover the wide extent of enthusiastic and knowledgeable assistance available if I only take the trouble to ask. Many people have helped me arrive at the final form of this revised edition, to whom I am most grateful. For much needed advice on improving and expanding the first edition I gratefully thank Helene Cornelius, Sharon Green, Jacqueline Schwab, Fried de Metz Herman, George Fogg and Scott Higgs. Thanks also to Alan Winston for his labors in compiling the listing of dance references, and to Brad Foster of the Country Dance and Song Society for his introductory remarks. For cheerfully and generously giving me permission to use their (or their relatives’) compositions I would like to thank Fried de Metz Herman, Charles Bolton, Colin Hume, Brian Jenkins, Fred Grimshaw, Claudio Buchwald, Roger Davidson, Marge Scott and Christopher Shuldham-Shaw. For various favors, encouragements, technical camaraderie or editorial assistance I thank Bill Tomczak, Earl Gaddis, Neil Kelley, Frances Worrell, Mary Lea, Rich Jackson and Jeanne Morrill.

And for inspiration, sustenance, tolerance and ten thousand happy memories, I affectionately thank the musicians, teachers and dancers of the Boston Country Dance Society.

- Peter Barnes

June 15th, 1995