I'm proud to present the much-awaited (by me, mostly) sequel to my first publication of English Country Dance Tunes. This book hopefully will address the yawning gap between the repertoire of the first edition and the flood of newly composed, discovered and reconstructed dance tunes that have become popular in the last decade or so. This gap manifested itself through the symptoms which prompted me to produce the first volume - musicians carrying around tens of small books and mimeographed sheets, and callers listing dance programs with "N.I.B." (Not In Barnes) written beside an ever-increasing number of dance choices. I'd like to have named this book "The Barnes Edition of Not In Barnes Tunes", but the innate logical contradictions of such a move stymied this scheme.

The product you hold in your hands is a tangible result of an effort to hit a multitude of moving targets: a fix on what's current and popular in the English traditional dance scene in the United States (and to a certain extent, England), the needs and preferences of the musicians who play this music and the callers they work with, and the amount of time I personally can devote to a labor-intensive product while also trying to survive a third decade as a freelance folk-musician (the very phrase seems a synonym for certain failure, yet I persist). Not to mention the elusive target of short, concise sentences.

English traditional dancing in the United States is thriving: more and more towns and cities are holding dance events, ever-increasing numbers of musicians are playing this widely varied and beautiful music, and composers and choreographers are busier than ever coming up with new dances and tunes to combine with the older repertoire. Herein lies one of my larger problems. Does a new composition have 'legs' - is it the rage now but fated to be three inches of wasted space in five years? Will this dance that the West Obscuresville dance group finds so alluring have appeal beyond its provincial borders? Do I really have to include this tune that my bandmates and I find insipid just because the dance is a proven winner? (I usually did.) In the end I went with titles that kept cropping up as we played for dances around the country, consulted a lot with people more knowledgable than I (not hard to find), and, rarely, threw in a tune or dance which was just too beautiful to exclude.

Also on my mind are the various needs of musicians. Many people would like me to sell the book in three-ring binder form, for the easier adding of new material. I don't do this because of the additional bulk (I only have so much room in my garage qua stockroom, and I, like you, have to carry many things around when I play), the extra expense (considerable) when balanced against durability (not great), and the greater ease with which the collection could then be illegally duplicated, a huge headache these days for independent artists of all sorts. Another never-ending controversy is about chords. Do they go above or below the staff? I have in my bookcase numerous examples of both choices - usually popular music and jazz lead sheets go for above while more folky collections go for underneath. I opted for above because it seemed easier for the rhythm players in the band, and my heart is always with them in the long run (my apologies to the country of England, where "chords on the bottom" seem to be the standard). And why for heaven's sake did I put an X chord above a measure that clearly indicates Y? Well, it may indicate Y to you, and my response can be nothing but this - play it the way you like. My priorities were ease of use and common cadences. I have also included a few popular Morris tunes in the book, but only as rough guides to the melodies, as repeats, tempi and parts used all will vary depending upon what tradition is being danced. There have also been calls for larger print (we're all of us getting older, aren't we), issuing a transposed version for the players of clarinets, trumpets and other transposing instruments (a clarinettist friend of mine in Iowa, Linda Lieberman, is actually doing this independently), selling a digital form of the book (see illegal duplication, above), publishing a half-sized, more portable edition or combining both this volume and the first into one large collection. Ah, had I but world enough, and time.

Which brings us neatly to the third moving target, finding the open stretches of time to work on this book. Succinctly put, it ain't been easy. I apologize for the vast stretch of time between my first calls for suggestions for this collection and the present, but the rent, the groceries, the gig always had to come first (not to mention the move to a new house, umpteen recording projects, oboe reed-making and general Weltschmerz). I have been, luckily in these times, busy enough. I have also learned a few things in the twenty years since the first book came out, among them that it's a lot easier to undertake a grand project when you don't know what's involved.

I owe mountains of gratitude to a number of people who have assisted me with this publication. First, my generous and sharp-eyed pals Earl Gaddis and Mary Lea spent untold amounts of time checking these pieces for errors and consistency as well reading from proofs of these tunes at dances (in a kind of unpaid real-time editing capacity), and have made many much-needed corrections and practical suggestions (despite these precautions, experience has taught me to become resigned to the fact that as soon as I open the freshly printed book a stunningly obvious error will be staring me in the face). A huge thanks also to Robert Moir, who put together lists, references and copies to ensure that many dances popular in British circles were represented here. Many thanks to Helene Cornelius, who has provided me with many tunes as well as suffering my presence at her house one long day gathering pieces from her extensive collections. My dear associates Gene Murrow and Jacqueline Schwab generously allowed me to borrow their personal collections of "Not In Barnes" tunes, which were invaluable to making this collection more complete.

I also owe a debt to the fine work of Andrew Shaw and his research into Nathaniel Kynaston's dances, and to the prolific choreographers Fried de Metz Herman, Gary Roodman, Philippe Callens, Brooke Friendly and Chris Sackett, whose creations and helpfulness have also added many pieces to this book.

Thanks again to Gene "no-end-to-his-list-of-talents" Murrow for writing the foreword to this edition, and many thanks to Paul Ross for the Herculean labor of cross-referencing all of the associated dance titles with their sources and dance formations, an extemely valuable resource for leaders.

Heartfelt thanks for their generosity to Bo Leyden, Bob McQuillen, Bob Pasquarello, Brian Jenkins, Brian Wedgbury, Charlene Thomson, Charles Bolton, Chris Rua, Dan Lanier, Dave Bartley, Dave Wiesler, Debbie Jackson, Dudley Laufman, Edith Farrar, Geoff Mendham, Jay Ungar, John Austin, John Kirkpatrick, John Stapledon, Jonathan Jensen, Kathy Talvitie, Leslie Lasseter, Orly Krasner, Pat Disque Wexelblat, Paul Machlis, Tom Siess and Terry Willetts.

For helpful suggestions, contributions and information thanks to Bruce Hamilton, Hugh Stewart and his marvelous dance database, Graham Christian, Sharon Green, Brad Foster, Pat MacPherson, Dave Langford, Sylvia Miskoe, Stuart Dean, Judi Rivkin, Andrea Larsen, Colin Hume, Ann Appleing, Carl Friedman, Paul and Victoria Bestock, Marian Phillips, Robin Hayden, Mary Kay Friday, Yonina Gordon, Bob Archer, Linda Nelson, Liz Donaldson, Emma Rushton, Susan Lorand, Leslie Lasseter, Mike O'Connor, Catie Geist and Joe Bowbeer.

A valuable resource for me in tracing down composers' addresses and other information has been Alan Winston's ECD list at www-ssrl.slac.stanford.edu/~winston/ecd.htmlx - a big thanks to all of it's contributors!

I dedicate this collection to my wife Jeanne Morrill, whose fine qualities could fill a book all of their own.

- Peter Barnes

December 8th, 2004