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[brianread]

As part of the Chorley (UK, North West) Slow and Steady session that happens every 1st Saturday in the month we have now produced a couple of "tune books" for use by the attendees.  These have been produced by a group of us who run the sessions in our spare (?) time.

We have decided to license them in a free and open way, which means they can be downloaded from the website and used for whatever purpose you might wish. We'd like to know however....

Here is a link to the download page:

http://chorleytradmusicsessions.org.uk/#mozTocId212889

The first set are the ones we "do" every session, and in general are on the easy side.  The second set consists of what we believe to be essentially "English" tunes some of which are bit more challenging. One of the drivers behind this is we get quite a few musicians who come along playing fiddle, mandolin etc with an  exclusively Irish repertoire, and who are keen to hook into sessions which concentrate more on the English side.

We have a vague intention to do a "continental" set at some point.

I hope these provide a useful resource for players here, We'll be posting them around the various instrument based forums over the next few weeks, so you may come across them again.

[nigelr]

What an excellent idea.  Thanks for sharing.  N

[Martin P]

Most useful, although down here in Devon using sheet music in sessions is unspokenly frowned apon. I have tried several times to introduce Willy Taylor's High Tea in sessions but nobody seems to know it down here in the SW, apart from Ed Rennie who taught it to me. Cheers.
 

[Chris Ryall]

Song session in Wakefield last weekend about half the room were reading words off scripts, and I actually watched someone (young'n) singing off his iPhone at Whittlesey.

Dunno what that folk music be comin' to .. would never'v 'appened in my day .. 

.. having said that I've just uploaded a translation of Piaf's Accordéoniste to the web ... (just in case) 

[Theo]

I have tried several times to introduce Willy Taylor's High Tea in sessions but nobody seems to know it down here

Just keep playing it, eventually it will sink in.

[Martin P]

Continuing the theme of another thread about playing in sessions, it is really un-nerving when you start a tune and the whole room just watches you in silence! At which point the jitters set in.

[brianread]

Most useful, although down here in Devon using sheet music in sessions is unspokenly frowned apon. I have tried several times to introduce Willy Taylor's High Tea in sessions but nobody seems to know it down here in the SW, apart from Ed Rennie who taught it to me. Cheers.

Same here in "ordinary" pub based sessions, but we run a specific Slow and Steady in a community centre, and all who need (actually most  ) do read from the music.

We also have a go at encouraging people to try and pick up tunes by ear, so we introduce  tunes for which we DO NOT have music. It  works variably! Recent tunes were Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Jingle Bells.  I've used "The Spaniard" in the past and it's passed into the local repertoire now!

[JohnAndy]

Thanks for posting this. Your tunebooks look very useful.

I've downloaded them and will print them off and see how they go down with my local group.

[Rob2Hook]

+1

Thank you for the tunebooks.  I have downloaded them as many beginners ask for a few tunes to get them started and it saves the rest of us having to transcribe them all.  Mind you, I have given sheet music to sight readers who have looked at it, somewhat confused, and then said "But that's not what you play...".  It's true, you can write down exactly what you play, but it will only be a representation of your own interpretation.  Much better to have them, like these, giving the bare bones of the tunes without ornaments or variations - no matter how common those may be.

Rob.

[george garside]

Well done Brian!   If anyone is thinking of  attending ( and participating!)  in my sessions at Whitby Folk Week in August '' well known tunes at a steady pace''  they will find Brians  stuff  worth  having a go  at  as  we  usually play at least 70 or 80 percent of the tunes listed.

george

[Anahata]

Excellent idea.

Are you sure about those Em chords in the B music of Curly Headed Ploughboy?

Edit: wrong tune...

[brianread]

Are you sure about those Em chords in the B music of Curly Headed Ploughboy?

I'm not sure of anything! I usually do not worry about the chords when playing along with the crowd.  Nobody has complained about them, I'll try them myself tonight...

edited (later): Yes, Em on a c# seems a bit strange I guess on our instrument the A is better, I'll need to consult a guitar player to see what they might use there.

[brianread]

Over 80 downloads!   

Hope you all find them useful.   

[Anahata]

edited (later): Yes, Em on a c# seems a bit strange I guess on our instrument the A is better, I'll need to consult a guitar player to see what they might use there.

A is the obvious choice, but - though this might be outside the scope of simple "slow and steady" style of session - I actually got my box out and tried it, and what I'd do is play E bass, A chord, A bass, A chord, then the D bass & chord for the 2nd half of the bar, and then you've got the makings of a bass line!

By the way, I do think this is an excellent idea. I have a page on my web server where I can dump ABCs of tunes we play at our Sunday sessions, and by clicking on links you can either shows the dots on the screen or download a PDF for printing. The way it's constructed, I can just add new ABC files to the appropriate directory, and the server creates the rest on demand, so the contents can gradually change with our playing habits. See http://www.bizet.treewind.co.uk/session
It's by no means comprehensive or accurate, but it does give a visiting player a hint about tunes we'll probably know.

[brianread]

edited (later): Yes, Em on a c# seems a bit strange I guess on our instrument the A is better, I'll need to consult a guitar player to see what they might use there.

A is the obvious choice, but - though this might be outside the scope of simple "slow and steady" style of session - I actually got my box out and tried it, and what I'd do is play E bass, A chord, A bass, A chord, then the D bass & chord for the 2nd half of the bar, and then you've got the makings of a bass line!

Yes, that  fits - is the A bass and E chord Em7? - perhaps that is what guitarist might play there?

By the way, I do think this is an excellent idea. I have a page on my web server where I can dump ABCs of tunes we play at our Sunday sessions, and by clicking on links you can either shows the dots on the screen or download a PDF for printing. The way it's constructed, I can just add new ABC files to the appropriate directory, and the server creates the rest on demand, so the contents can gradually change with our playing habits. See http://www.bizet.treewind.co.uk/session
It's by no means comprehensive or accurate, but it does give a visiting player a hint about tunes we'll probably know.

That is a useful resource - bookmarked!!  I'm guessing its php - do you have php code for abc to dots?

[pikey]

I wonder, do some of our our Irish session colleagues do 'fast and frenetic' sessions?   

[brianread]

I wonder, do some of our our Irish session colleagues do 'fast and frenetic' sessions?   

I think that is the norm??

[Anahata]

That is a useful resource - bookmarked!!  I'm guessing its php - do you have php code for abc to dots?

Yes but it's very messy and doesn't do it as nicely as I'd like to.
I've installed abcm2ps and use ps2pdf from the ghostscript package, and invoke them from local shell scripts run via PHP exec() function. Also convert (from imagemagick) to make the PNG on-screen dots.
Also it reads the T: fields from the ABC files to produce the list of names.

It helps that I have a virtual machine to run the web site on. I can install any software I want if there's a Linux package for it.

I'd quite like also to install a generic service like concertina.net's tune-o-tron online converter but lack of round tuits has prevailed so far...

[brianread]

Yes but it's very messy and doesn't do it as nicely as I'd like to.
I've installed abcm2ps and use ps2pdf from the ghostscript package, and invoke them from local shell scripts run via PHP exec() function. Also convert (from imagemagick) to make the PNG on-screen dots.
Also it reads the T: fields from the ABC files to produce the list of names.

aha - yes I see - I've looked for php abc code once before and failed to find it.

Perhaps there is an opportunity....

[Jude]

Hi Brian,
Ok, this most likely will seem like a very dumb question to you, but here goes anyway.
While i am following the notes of the songs with my right hand, am i supposed to figure put what lefthand notes to play?i have a 21 button, B/C irish squeezeboz.
I am really new at this so please bare with me😁
Liz