Virtual Greenshoots

Greenshoots Music Group

Greenshoots is an amateur music practice group, near Cambridge, UK. It has origins and focus in folk music, particularly British Isles traditional dance music, but sometimes playing a wider range of music. You might also think of us as a 'slow session', or a 'Beginners and Improvers Tune Session' (BITS). Find out More about Greenshoots.

Greenshoots uses tunes from Paul Hardy's Session Tunebook. This is free to download in PDF or ABC formats, or you can order a print on demand spiral bound copy.

Virtual Greenshoots

This page concerns a virtual version of Greenshoots, while the main meetings are suspended due to coronavirus. I don't think it is technically possible to run a live virtual music session between dozens of players online (let me know if you know otherwise). For the technical background and some possible workarounds, see my article on Virtual Music Sessions.

In the interim, I (Paul Hardy) have recorded versions of the tunes we had chosen to play in the first half of the first session cancelled due to Coronavirus/COVID-19, and will try and do the same number of new tunes each week. If any current Greenshoots members want to record other tunes from the tunebook in the same style, then have a go and let me know.

The following tunes are played as we would in Greenshoots - starting slowly for a couple of times, then speeding up. Play along!

Coronavirus Week 1

Three Around Three. An English country dance tune
Blackberry Blossom. An American bluegrass fiddle tune.
Nathaniel Gow's Lament on the Death of his Brother. A Scottish lament, also known as Gallowglass.
Cliffs of Moher. An Irish jig.
High Reel. An Irish reel.
Tombigbee Waltz. An American Waltz.
Top of Cork Road. An Irish Jig, also known as Father O'Flynn.
Willafjord. A Shetland fiddle tune.

Coronavirus Week 2

Anne Fraser MacKenzie. A Scottish Jig.
Angeline the Baker. An American bluegrass fiddle tune.
Hunsdon House. An English dance tune, from Playford.
Morpeth Rant. A Northeastern Rant - modern tune
Old Morpeth Rant. A Northeastern Rant - old tune
Shepherd and Shepherdess. An English March
Lark in the Morning. An Irish Jig.
Sweet Jenny Jones. A Welsh air. When you have got Sweet Jenny Jones up to speed (not very fast), it makes a good alternative to "Happy Birthday" to mentally play twice while washing your hands as virus killer!

Lockdown Waltz

We also have a contribution from Greenshoots member John McKenzie, who provides a recording of the Lockdown Waltz by Bert de Cock. Bert was asking for contributions for a virtual orchestra - see Bert's muzikids website, but we seem to have missed the deadline. It's still a nice tune, and John plays it solo slowly and then faster and adds the accompaniments. He also provides a version of the sheet music with chords added for the rhythm section.

Lockdown Waltz by Bert de Cock, Played by John McKenzie, with PDF score.

Go up to Greenshoots home page