Virtual Greenshoots

Traditional folk tunes, played slowly to learn, then faster.

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.

While the regular Greenshoots meetings are suspended due to Coronavirus/COVID-19 (since 16th March 2020), I have recorded versions of the tunes we might have chosen to play, and made them available below. They are played as we would in Greenshoots - starting slowly for a couple of times, then speeding up, and then speeding up again. Play along! If any current Greenshoots members want to record and contribute other tunes from the tunebook in the same style, then have a go and let me know.

Go to Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6, Week 7, VE Day, Week 8, Week 9, Week 10, Week 11.

Virtual Live Sessions?

As well as the recorded tunes below, we are running Virtual Greenshoots limited sessions on Monday evenings during lockdown, using Zoom. This allows video chat, and one person at a time playing or leading a tune. Email me if you want to know more.

I don't think it is currently technically feasible to run a live virtual music session between a dozen simultaneous amateur players online, without specialist hardware and software that is hard to set up. Let me know if you know otherwise - I've tried JamKazam, and although it may work for some, It hasn't worked for my trials, and setup would stretch most amateur players. For the technical background and some possible workarounds, see my article on Virtual Music Sessions.

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.

Just those tunes are in a PDF. See Virtual Greenshoots Week 1 PDF.

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!

Just those tunes are in a PDF. See Virtual Greenshoots Week 2 PDF.

Contribution from Greenshoots member John McKenzie, of the Lockdown Waltz by Bert de Cock:

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

Coronavirus Week 3 (April)

Christ Church Cathedral. An Irish air by John Sheahan 1988.
Nantwich Fair. An English jig. Apologies for variations on the last three notes of penultimate bar - my fingers knew a different version and it took a while to get them under control!
Cobbler's Hornpipe. An English Triple Hornpipe (from Playford 1701).
Corn Riggs are Bonny. A Scottish air (words by Robert Burns), evolved to be an Irish/English polka.
Les Poules Huppées (The Crested Hens). A French Bourrée by Gilles Chabenat 1983.
Wind that Shakes the Barley. An Irish reel.
Young Collins. An English morris reel
Manchester Hornpipe. An English swung hornpipe.

Just those tunes are in a PDF. See Virtual Greenshoots Week 3 PDF.

Coronavirus Week 4

You get nine for the price of eight this week, as I've included a pair of polkas.

Earl Grey. A reel from Northwest England.
Farewell to Whisky. A Scottish air, by Neil Gow 1799. Because of the poor barley crop that year, Highlanders were prohibited from 'wasting' barley by making whisky.
Fête du Village. A French Bourrée.
Excuse Me. An English jig in Playford 1868.
Foul Weather Call. An English Hornpipe
The Railway. A Scottish Jig
Archibald MacDonald of Keppoch. Another Scottish lament. Archibald MacDonald lived 1678 to 1745.
Ballydesmond Polka 1. The first of two Irish polkas
Ballydesmond Polka 2. The second of two Irish polkas
Ballydesmond Polkas 1 and 2. Now you can play them separately, why not put them together as a set?

Just those tunes are in a PDF. See Virtual Greenshoots Week 4 PDF.

Contribution from Greenshoots member Jim Dalgleish:

Battle of the Somme. Last 2 bars as intro, then slow*2, medium*2 and faster*2. This was generated using Sonic Pi software on his Raspberry Pi credit-card-sized throw-away computer! As this computer version keeps a strict beat, it's a good test of your timekeeping through the Scottish snaps, to play along with it!

Coronavirus Week 5

Jamaica. A reel from Playford 1665.
Britannia Two Step. An English jig.
Abbots Bromley Horn Dance. A march in jig time. This is the haunting tune used in Thaxted, for a dance from Abbot's Bromley in Staffordshire using reindeer antlers at least a thousand years old.
Lord Zouch's Masque. Lord Zouch’s Masque is one of the oldest written English tunes apparently. Written by Giles Farnaby 1560 to 1640, and first published in 1599. The local Cambridge connection is that it is in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book of 1618.
Flowers of Edinburgh. A Scottish reel.
Albert Farmers Bonfire Tune. An English polka from Surrey.
Nancy Clough. A Northumberland tribute by Tom Clough to his wife Nancy.
Sadlers Balloon. James Sadler was the first Englishman to ascend by balloon, in 1784.

Just those tunes are in a PDF. See Virtual Greenshoots Week 5 PDF.

Coronavirus Week 6

More performance variety this week - just four from me on concertina as usual, but three from the Brind family with both rhythm and melody, three from Clive Quick on fiddle, and one from James Dalgleish on low whistle plus backing from a Raspberry Pi!

Sir Roger de Coverley. An English slipjig from Playford 1685.
Salmon Tails up the Water. A Northumberland reel (or rant)
Morgan Rattler. An English jig - possibly named after a smuggling ship, a stagecoach, a naval prison, or a cosh!
Sally Sloane's Jig. A jig, originally English but developed by Sally Sloane who was an Australian accordionist

Brind family contributions:

Ar Eirinn. An Irish air.
Breeches Full of Stitches. An Irish polka.
Foxhunter's Jig. Another English slipjig.

Clive Quick contributions:

Arran Boat. A Scottish air
Davy Davy Knick Knack. An English Polka
Ashokan Farewell. An American lament, by Jay Ungar, 1983.

James Dalgleish contribution:

Bonny At Morn. A Northumberland lullaby.

Just those tunes are in a PDF. See Virtual Greenshoots Week 6 PDF.

Coronavirus Week 7

(May) Eight tunes from me this week, plus one from John McKenzie, all on concertina in Greenshoots slow then fast style.

Pretty Maggie Morrisey. An English hornpipe.
Sweets Of May. An Irish jig, appropriate for the time of year.
Polly Put the Kettle On. An English reel, based on a children's song.
Staines Morris. An old tune (in Playford 1651)m, with later words about "Then to the Maypole haste away, for 'tis now our holiday".
Linnen Hall. An English jig.
Coilsfield House. A Scottish air by Nathaniel Gow, around 1800. Coilsfield House is the site of the grave of King Coilus (Coel Hen ap Tegfan, King of the Britons, died 420 AD), who gave us the nursery rhyme about "Old King Cole".
Weavers March. A Scottish 18th C march.
Captain Lanoe's Quick March. An English jig march.

John McKenzie contribution:

Si Bheag, Si Mhor. An Irish air in 3/4 time (apparently about big and small fairy hills!), by the blind Irish harper Turlough O’Carolan, 1691.

Just those tunes are in a PDF. See Virtual Greenshoots Week 7 PDF.

Coronavirus Week 7 VE Day Extra

As an extra for VE Day, here are a set of wartime marching tunes: It's a Long Way to Tipperary; Pack up Your Troubles in Your Old Kitbag; Goodby Dolly Gray; My Old Man, Said Follow the Van; Keep the Home Fires Burning.

See page 18 of my Sets Tunebook for these tunes on one page.

Coronavirus Week 8

Eight tunes from me this week, plus one from John McKenzie, all on concertina in Greenshoots slow then fast style. I seem to be stuck on tunes starting with "S".

Liverpool Hornpipe. An English 4/4 hornpipe, so swung.
Step and Fetch Her. A Morris march from Bampton.
Streets of Laredo. A song starting in Scotland (Banks of the Devon), and travelling via Ireland (Bard of Armagh) to the USA!
Steamboat, or the Good Natured Man. An Irish Hornpipe.
Strike the Bell. Written by Henry Clay Work in 1865 - he also wrote My Grandfather's Clock.
Stool of Repentance. A Scottish jig. Robbie Burns twice was banished to the Stool of Repentence for adultery, and wrote a poem with this title.
Da Slockit Light. A Shetland air by Tom Anderson, 1969, lamenting the fading lights of his childhood island, as the drift to the mainland cities emptied the crofts.
Stop The Cavalry. An English Polka

John McKenzie contribution:

Lord Inchiquin. An Irish air in 3/4 time, by the blind Irish harper Turlough O’Carolan.

Just those tunes are in a PDF. See Virtual Greenshoots Week 8 PDF.

Coronavirus Week 9

Eight tunes from me this week on concertina in Greenshoots slow then fast style. Lots of tunes starting with "F" this week

Waltz for the Valeta. As played in Suffolk by Percy Brown, for this well-known country dance.
The Wren. A French An Dro that travelled to the USA and back to England.
Fourpence Halfpenny Farthing. An English Jig.
Father Kelly's Reel. An Irish reel.
Floral Dance. A traditional processional tune from Helston in Cornwall, made known by Katie Moss in 1911 and Terry Wogan in 1978!
Flower of the Quern. A Scottish air by James Scott Skinner 1884.
Les Filles de Mon Pays. A slow march/song from the Morvan area of France, lamenting the girls left behind as the men march away to war.
The Flight. An English Jig, where the music goes up and down like the flight of some bird, or maybe a hot air balloon?

Just those tunes are in a PDF. See Virtual Greenshoots Week 9 PDF.

Coronavirus Week 10

Eight more tunes from me this week on concertina in Greenshoots slow then fast style. There were no hornpipes last week, so you get two this week! Plus we have an extra tune from Liz Revell, also on English concertina

Harvest Home, or the Cork Hornpipe. An Irish hornpipe, very common in English sessions.
Hector the Hero. A Scottish lament for Major General Sir Hector Archibald MacDonald, KCB, DSO (1853-1903), who was persecuted for being son of a crofter.
Tobin's Favourite. An Irish jig.
Fisher's Hornpipe. An Irish hornpipe.
Spootiskerry. A Shetland reel by Ian Burns.
Roslin Castle. A Scottish air.
Jack's Maggot. An English dance tune in Playford 1701
Jack the Horse Courser. An English march (or hornpipe).

Liz Revell contribution:

Goddesses. A Playford dance from 1651.

Just those tunes are in a PDF. See Virtual Greenshoots Week 10 PDF.

Coronavirus Week 11

Eight more tunes from me this week on concertina in Greenshoots slow then fast style. I seemed to get stuck on tunes starting with the letter 'O'! Plus we have an extra tune from Liz Revell, also on English concertina

Off to California. An Irish hornpipe, very common in English sessions.
Oh Joe, the Boat is Going Over. An English polka from East Anglia.
Oscar Woods Jig. An English jig, also from East Anglia.
Orange in Bloom, also known as the Sherbourne Waltz. An English waltz.
Trade Wind Hornpipe. An English hornpipe, used as theme music to the radio series "The Navy Lark".
Orlando's Return. An English march.
Over the Hills and Far Away. An English march or reel, used as the tune to various songs.
Oh Susanna. An American well-known song, used as old-time dance tune.

Liz Revell contribution:

Galopede, or the Yarmouth Reel, or Persian Dance. Collected by Cecil Sharpe in East Anglia, and common in English sessions.

Just those tunes are in a PDF. See Virtual Greenshoots Week 11 PDF.

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