How best to learn a traditional tune

General Tips on how Best to Learn Traditional Irish Music
By Caitlín Nic Gabhann

These tips are designed to help people learning to play traditional Irish music, but I'd argue they can be applied to any music  (Mardles editor)

Listen to Irish traditional music
Listen as much as you can to Irish traditional music; in the car, while you’re walking, at home … I can’t stress this enough. This is a vital part of learning and understanding traditional Irish music. You need to be able to feel it; the swing, the phrasing, the flow, the style. None of these can be notated properly. So listen as much as you can. Listen to Irish trad music CDs, vinyls, downloads, online archives, whatever you enjoy listening to. Listen to a variety of instruments and styles and from different eras of traditional Irish music if you can. Listen to Irish trad & folk music from 50 years ago. Who did your musical idols learn from? Who did they listen to growing up? Find recordings of these people and listen to them. Go back to the source. Listen to a variety of traditional Irish instruments. Growing up, I listened to Irish concertina recordings, but I probably listened more to accordion, flute and fiddle CDs. The more the music gets into your head, the better the music will be that comes out through your fingers. This music is for feeling, not for reading from a page. The more you have this music in your head and your heart, the more it will naturally flow out.

Read more: How best to learn a traditional tune

Hopping Down in Kent - Old Glory visit the Kent Treacle Mines

• Suffolk
• Morris

Perhaps not as much “hopping” as a Cotswold Morris side might have done but there was certainly plenty of stamping and on this occasion, it was “Stamping the Old Ground”, "Nelson’s Revenge" and "The Buck" which Old Glory Molly Dancers and Musicians had brought down to Kent.  They were the guests of Seven Champions Molly Dancers, famous inhabitants of the Kent Treacle Mines.  A strong side of dancers and musicians made the journey although some felt it was a bit too radical to stray outside the natural territories of East Anglia.

Old Glory and their hosts Seven Champions by the sea in Whitstable

Seven Champions had been to Suffolk in December 2018 and a return trip had been eagerly awaited.  It turned out that the Treacle Mines are located in the Whitstable – Faversham area and the first dancing spots were around the harbour in Whitstable.  The day was dry and sunny but a cold wind whistled through the docks.  A good crowd gathered for the first spot at the so-called Dead Man’s Stage and came with us to the Lifeboat Station but later thinned out as dusk approached.

Seven Champs led the way with their strange tales and precise dancing, weaving complex and precise patterns in twos and fours, sixes and eights and sometimes more. 

Read more: Hopping Down in Kent - Old Glory visit the Kent Treacle Mines

Hadleigh Weekend one French Music and Dance April 24-26

• Suffolk
• Bands

The weekend of 24-26 April marks the ninth Hadleigh weekend of French dance and music. This year we have the fabulous Cosmos Chocolat a young band from the south of France, featuring diatonic accordeons, hurdy gurdy, bagpipes and violin. 

Other participating musicians include Bof!  Corbeau,  Duo Mistral, and Dave Shepherd

The weekend programme
Friday evening: Bal with Cosmos Chocolat and Corbeau
Saturday morning and afternoon: Music and dance workshops
Saturday evening: Bal woith Cosmos Chocolat and Bof!
Sunday afternoon: Bal with Duo Mistral followed by a music session for all

More details here on  Hadleigh French Weekend 
BOOKINGS

Contacts:
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The lady in the third row…

The lady in the third row had noticed something on the wall, just above her head. It must have been quite interesting because she gazed at it for the best part of a song. Then she shifted her attention to the ceiling. Soon afterwards, something on the floor seemed to have attracted her attention.
Only very rarely did her restless eyes settle on the stage where I was playing a set, and those fleeting moments were probably the worst. The expression on her face as I sang was too intense to be described as bored, too filled with feeling to be merely resentful.

She really, really hated me. The way I looked. The way I sounded. My words. My pathetic jokes. My absurd attempts at melody. There was nothing that was happening on stage that she didn't absolutely loathe. If I had stopped mid-song and toppled over with a massive heart attack, I swear she would have stood up and punched the air with relief.

The professional, grown-up response to an undelighted listener is to ignore her, and play to the rest of the audience.

I am not that grown-up professional.

I played for the lady in the third row. I courted her with the eagerness of a young troubadour trying to win the heart of a beautiful maiden with his songs. And the harder I tried, the more infuriated the lady in the third row looked.
She won, of course. To sing words and music which you have written to a person who is unable to disguise her revulsion is a sort of personal torture. It is not just your songs that, with every note and syllable, are making her wish she was somewhere else; it is you. She has seen into your soul, and is recoiling.

Read more: The lady in the third row…

Golden Star seek wanderin' Starlets

• Norfolk
• Morris

In the Golden Star Public House in Norwich about 40 years ago it was thought to be a good idea to form a Cotswold Morris side, and so Golden Star Morris was born.  The precise date (and possibly year) are lost in the mists of time/alcohol (delete as appropriate).  To celebrate this and to cover most of the possible dates, Golden Star are having a number of events spread over about a year.  In June 2020 there will be a weekend at the Tibbenham Greyhound which will include a tour of South Norfolk on the Saturday.

Golden Star (and shadow side), April 2018; St Georges Day celebrations, Hundon

If you have danced, played or offered counselling to the side please join us for as much or as little of the weekend as you wish.  The dates are 12 - 14^th June.  If you would like details of the event please email; gsm40ish.gmail.com

Should you be in contact with other Golden Starlets please let them know about the fun filled future we are planning.

David Crease

Bagman, Golden Star Morris

Isle ‘ave a Shanty

• Bands
• Cambridgeshire

Isle ‘Ave A Shanty are a 6-piece A Capella male harmony group based on the Isle of Ely. They specialise in traditional songs from the sea and the country in a folk style as well as putting a folk twist on some modern classics! They are a rarity in being a sea shanty band from a landlocked county but they bring their own style to traditional songs and songs they made up themselves.

Their live show is all about camaraderie, fun and interaction. Be ready to sing along heartily and join in with the actions as they take you on a journey across the oceans, through the countryside and maybe a few songs about grog, noggins and even a drop of Nelson’s blood.

Their debut album Swinging The Lamp came out in March 2022

The band consists of Elliott Spray, Andrew Newton, Lee Harvey, Stuart Green, Tony Calladine & Kevin King.

They are available for bookings. See their website

 Watch the band in action