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Author Topic: Ceilidh tunes suggestions  (Read 3586 times)

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Steve Fox

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Ceilidh tunes suggestions
« on: October 12, 2011, 02:46:27 PM »

I have just taken over responsibility for the Ceilidh Band at the school where I work.  We have about a dozen gigs a year.  I have never played in a Ceilidh Band before myself and my teaching subject is not Music.  The band has an established repertoire, but the personnel changes from gig to gig and most of the senior members have recently left, so we have a number of younger musicians who are not familiar with the existing material.  Given that a lot of this material is not particularly appealing anyway, and some of it too difficult for the personnel we have, now seems to be the perfect time to revise what we play.  Could you give me a hand and suggest some jigs and reels that are Ceilidh classics, fun tunes and not too difficult to play? abc's would be an added bonus!  Not too much to ask, then!
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Stiamh

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Re: Ceilidh tunes suggestions
« Reply #1 on: October 12, 2011, 02:56:26 PM »

Dance gigs? If so, the first thing to do would be to ask the caller what dances he or she does and then start looking for suitable tunes.

Strigulino

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Re: Ceilidh tunes suggestions
« Reply #2 on: October 12, 2011, 03:08:47 PM »

I utterly love Maid Behind the Bar.  I have no idea how easy it is to play but I just love it.
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The Strig

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Lester

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Re: Ceilidh tunes suggestions
« Reply #3 on: October 12, 2011, 03:48:42 PM »

Attached is my abc file of band tunes FWIW. I've renamed it as a .txt so will need changing to a .abc

Theo

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Re: Ceilidh tunes suggestions
« Reply #4 on: October 12, 2011, 03:56:28 PM »

I used to run a school ceilidh band, and I also was not a music teacher.   I think it is really important to choose tunes that were easy enough so that the band could enjoy playing them and not have too many notes to worry about.   From memory some of the tunes we used were:

Jigs: Out in the Ocean, Oyster Girl, Lamb Skinnet, The Fair Maid of Whickham (because we were at Whickham School)
Reels (more like polkas really) Jamie Allan, Salmon Tails, Winster Gallop, Maries Wedding, Britches full of Stitches (easiest in A on fiddles), The Bog down in the Valley, Eyam Polka (specially written by Alistair Anderson for children)

Most of these are well known tunes,  I'll try and dig out the dots.   Please remind me if I don't!

Dance gigs? If so, the first thing to do would be to ask the caller what dances he or she does and then start looking for suitable tunes.

I would agree if the the band are all confident musicians, but for young band of inexperience players I would tend to choose tunes that the band could enjoy playing and ask the caller to choose dances that would work with those tunes.

Also there is no need to play a set of three tunes for each dance,  one tune for a dance can work well, and you can even try playing one tune in different rhythms. 

The most important thing is that the youngsters playing have a great time and want to do it again.   If they are having a great time then the dancers will be too!
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Re: Ceilidh tunes suggestions
« Reply #5 on: October 12, 2011, 03:58:18 PM »

The most important thing is that the youngsters playing have a great time and want to do it again.   If they are having a great time then the dancers will be too!

Wise words!

howard mitchell

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Re: Ceilidh tunes suggestions
« Reply #6 on: October 12, 2011, 04:06:22 PM »

I like to have sets of Jigs, Reels, Polkas, Hornpipes etc. along with some named tunes for dances of the same name.

This sort of classification appears in Eric Foxley's database at -
http://www.cs.nott.ac.uk/~ef/music/database.htm

As he says, these tunes were originally the band book for Freds Folk Band.

Howard
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Strigulino

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Re: Ceilidh tunes suggestions
« Reply #7 on: October 12, 2011, 04:13:13 PM »

Perhaps it might be an idea to give the kids MIDI files or similar to listen to and then pick the ones they enjoy the most?  Always easier to play something if you actually enjoy playing it.

Also from my own experience of being in a youth music group, it often engages the older and more experienced players if they can do a more complex tune by themselves as a little subgroup, as a performance piece.  Then they don't get bored of playing the same old stuff that they can do with their hands behind their back, they feel a bit special, and their Mums can preen a bit.  Gives the other kids a short break too.
« Last Edit: October 12, 2011, 04:17:03 PM by Strigulino »
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The Strig

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Marje

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Re: Ceilidh tunes suggestions
« Reply #8 on: October 12, 2011, 04:34:54 PM »

Have sent you a PM with a link.
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Marje

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Re: Ceilidh tunes suggestions
« Reply #9 on: October 13, 2011, 01:14:23 AM »

Have sent you a PM with a link.

any reason the link can't be made public ??
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Steve Fox

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Re: Ceilidh tunes suggestions
« Reply #10 on: October 13, 2011, 07:48:06 AM »

Thank you, everyone, for your suggestions so far.  Keep them coming!
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Steve from Wakefield

Marje

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Re: Ceilidh tunes suggestions
« Reply #11 on: October 13, 2011, 09:32:23 AM »

Summerstars: I've sent you a PM explaining why the link can't be made public. Sorry to be so mysterious, guys, but it belongs to a group who want to restrict access to some of their notices, photos, etc to members, and I don't feel I have the right to publicise it.
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Marje

Strigulino

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Re: Ceilidh tunes suggestions
« Reply #12 on: October 13, 2011, 10:12:28 AM »

Ah, the fabled Dark Morris... ;)
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The Strig

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george garside

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Re: Ceilidh tunes suggestions
« Reply #13 on: October 13, 2011, 01:44:34 PM »

buffalo girls, nick nack paddywack (give teh dog a bone), In & out the windows,, Skip to my Lou, Here we go round the mulberry bush,Muffin man  .Blaydon races

I would recommend the book 'join the band' ( a selection of folk dance tunes for beginners) publihed by EFDSS. it contain;s simplified second parts for tunes. As far as I know it is still in print and available online from efdss shop.

from the blurb at the front of the book " the tunes have been selected & arraanged so that young people of all levels of musical development can take part without too much teaching and preparation. Those who are already skilled at playing instruments should be able to play  the tunes at speed quite easlily.  Those who have only mastered a few notes or who wish to play percussion instruments can take advantage of the suggestions for second parts or rhyth;mic accompaniments.

the book contains 63 tunes set out in a very easy to read  way without embelishments or complications!

george
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Mcgrooger

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Re: Ceilidh tunes suggestions
« Reply #14 on: October 13, 2011, 02:44:33 PM »

If it helps, the headings under which our band have tunes are:
32 bar polkas / 32 bar jigs / Step hops (or hornpipes) / Schottisches / Rant tunes (which could usually also be used for a polka type dance) / 48 bar jigs / 48 bar polkas / Reels (of which we only have 2 sets! ( :|bl) / Waltzes / Slip Jigs / Marches(one set only) / Mazurkas (one set only)
Then we have pre-determined sets to go with certain dances like Cumberland Square Eight, Dashing White Sergeant / La Russe / Gay Gordons / Swedish Masquerade. Quite a few of the old staple dances like Swedish Masquerade rarely come out now.
We've got a set of 3/2 hornpipes which we tend to use to start the night and a polka which we often keep for a free form end of night dance.
By far our biggest categories are 32 bar polkas and jigs - one of each of the rest would usually be sufficient for most callers. And when we began back in the mists of time, we had way less tunes and categories, used to hack 32 bar tunes into AABBAB or whatever to turn them into 48 bar ones, replay a set later in the night and whatever else was necessary to get by.
Thought this might help rather than give you specific tune titles. Our band's been in existence for 30 years so the individual tunes in the categories have changed over the years as we get fed up of one tune or set and replace it with another.
In respect of individual tunes, I'd agree that you want to keep it simple and make it fun! You don't need a huge repertoire to start going out to play for dances. There are some tunes which are such good fun to play that I'm sure they'd easily pass from one generation to the next. Have fun!  :||: :|||: ;D
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jonm

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Re: Ceilidh tunes suggestions
« Reply #15 on: October 13, 2011, 05:01:13 PM »

Echo all the above. About 30 years ago, I was asked to lead a kids' folk dance band for a couple of dance evenings with about three weeks from zero to first performance. I found the EFDSS publications most useful (my dad had them all, I was 15 at the time).

Not just Join the Band, but also the Community Dance Manuals, which contain all the common dances and "specials" which used to be around, with loads of tunes and give you an idea of speed, style etc. if you are then looking for a simpler version. There's also Airs for Pairs, which gives two-part versions of some tunes, so you can either find an easier part for less experienced musicians or a challenge for more expert ones.

I think they're all still available.
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