The Traditional Ballad Index
An Annotated Bibliography of the Folk Songs of the English-Speaking World
This page describes the new Ballad Index software introduced with Version 3.0 and substantially updated with Version 5.0.
A full PDF reference manual, with installation instructions, is available
here.
The Ballad Index software is a customized FileMaker database designed to allow quick and easy access to the features of the Ballad Index, including custom searches, formatted displays, and direct access to Steve Roud's Folk Song Index. This software is free for any supported systems. It runs on Windows, Mac OS X, and iOS (iPad only).
We strongly suggest that you read the instruction manual, but this is not absolutely necessary. Simply download the software for your platform, install it, and try things out!
Pick your preferred version from the list below:
- The Ballad Index for PC/Windows. Requires Windows 7 or higher. To install, simply move the file to where you want to install, decompress the .zip file, and run the BalladIndex program.
- The Ballad Index for Macintosh. Requires an Intel processor and Mac OS X 10.11 or higher. To install, simply move the file to where you want to install, decompress the .zip file, and run the BalladIndex application.
Note: This application was built with software that is expected to break on an upcoming version of the new ARM-based Macs. If the software crashes on launch, we can't fix it; Apple has discontinued the relevant software. But you can download the iPad index and run in the iPad/iPhone emulation system:
- The Ballad Index for iPad. Requires an iPad running FileMaker Go 14 or higher. (Free download from the iTunes store; get FileMaker Go 17 here).
Please see the installation instructions for iPad installation; you will need to install
FileMaker Go if you have not done so already, and you will need to unzip
this archive and then install the files it contains (BalladIndex.fmp12,
SONGINDEX.fmp12, RoudBiblio.fmp12, and SuppTrad.fmp12) onto your iPad using iTunes.
- The Ballad Index Software Instructions (PDF file). Contains instructions for installing the software and information on how to use it. The instruction manual also describes the types of information you can find in the Ballad Index.
Note: We also have Ballad Index software to run on a command line, although its features are very different (and, frankly, inferior). We are no longer supporting this
software, but you may still download it. Please read the instructions for your particular operating system before downloading the Ballad Index software! Also
note that you will have to load the
text version of the Ballad Index (and the Supplemental Tradition, if
desired) for the software to work.
- Macintosh
- Click here to go to the Ballad
Index Macintosh Command Line Software page (works on PowerPC Macs
and Intel Macs running OS X 10.3-10.5 but not newer Macs).
- IBM PC Family (DOS or Windows)
- Click here to go to the Ballad
Index IBM PC Software page (works on Windows XP).
- Unix-based Oses (including Linux)
- Click here to go to the Ballad
Index Unix Software page
Click here to access the online Ballad Index song list.
The Ballad Index is copyright © 2023 by Robert B. Waltz and David
G. Engle.