Hola from sunny Hull,
This may be classed as sacreligious on an Irish tunes site, but here goes. At last nights session a chap played some lovely tunes on a concertina, it turns out they were ENGLISH. I would like to follow this up and learn a few, so, the question is where do I start? Know any good English tune sites?
A straight answer before the "fun" starts.
Generalising wildly, to my mind there are four broad strands to English tunes.
There's "Playford," named after the collection first published in 1651, often quite quirky and mysterious, sometimes archaic sounding, quite a lot of 3:2 time.
There's Morris Tunes. Used for guess what. ("Bacon" is O'Neills equivalent.)
There's the 19th century "melodeon" tradition, lots of polkas, fairly rumty tumty. This is what people often mean when they talk about English music. Probably strong German influence which may be why a lot of tunes are named after players. 19th century imports.
There's the Northumbrian tradition. Fairly separate, fiddle and smallpipes tunes. Close to Scottish as you'd expect. Again lots of 3:2s ("double hornpipes."
There's a handy collection available in various formats which covers the first three strands at least, plus some other stuff.
Thanks chaps. I see before me a lifetimes work just from the three messages posted so far! I have bought the yellow and green tune books produced by the NSP brigade, but there is obviously a shedload more to go at!
Cheers from sunny Hull.
I posted an 18c English dance tune (The Merry Girls of Bristol) here a few weeks ago http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display.php/5399. There are a couple of useful links in my comments.
In Bristol there are a number of players who are familiar with, and play, tunes in both the Irish and English traditions. I go to an English session regularly and probably about 25% of the tunes played there are Irish. Likewise, a fine session here in Bristol, advertised as "Irish", does have a fair proportion of non-Irish music, including English. Everyone enjoys the eclectic mix.
Can't think of any more sites at the moment, I'll have to go off and think.
English (like most, if not all, European traditions) features tunes from all over the place as well a home grown: so there will be Irish and Scottish tunes mixed in with other English classics like Jenny Lind (German), Michael Turner's Waltz (Mozart), LNB Polka (French - La Roulente). Some good English tune books to get are published by Dave Mallinson and available from his own web site or from Hobgoblin or The Music Room and compiled by Nick Barber or John Kirkpatrick.
Following on from other comments above I met an "English" melodeon player who used to go to Irish sessions in the NW of England who played well known Irish tunes but in an English style who got comments like "That was lovely, what's it called"!
There's an article on "English Country Music -- A Personal View" at http://www.concertina.net - plenty of MP3s to have at. I just downloaded them, haven't had a hear. Asaplive or FARNE or whatever it's called has lots of great Northumbrian music - it's the way to get recordings of piping, especially the great Billy Pigg. Those are streaming audio files, you can listen and if you want to record them there are programs that'll do that as well.
Not in the same class as Playford, but Robin Williamson's book, "English, Welsh, Scottish, and IRish Fiddle Tunes," has 37 tunes from the English repertoire. I can't vouch for how playable or common his settings are--he took some liberties with the Irish tunes in this book--but most sound reasonably close to other versions I've heard.
That doesn't surprise me, though I've frequently played or heard at sessions 21 of the 36 Irish tunes in his book--not a bad ratio. Then again, Williamson's settings of these tunes aren't really typical of sessions.
Thanks again everybody. Great links throughout. I have had a couple of books from Dave Mallinson, but I will look a little closer at his website now I know what to look for!!
Octave mandolins, the true path!
Good English tune site?
Good English tune site?
Hola from sunny Hull,
This may be classed as sacreligious on an Irish tunes site, but here goes. At last nights session a chap played some lovely tunes on a concertina, it turns out they were ENGLISH. I would like to follow this up and learn a few, so, the question is where do I start? Know any good English tune sites?
# Posted on February 1st 2006 by octopus
Re: Good English tune site?
I can't think of many but there are quite a few English tunes here. Also try Richard Robinson's site. He has tunes from everywhere.
http://www.leeds.ac.uk/music/Info/RRTuneBk/Alltunes/Alltunes.country.html#England
Here's another
http://www.cs.nott.ac.uk/~ef//morris.html
I know of some more but I've got to rush out just now. I try to post the links later, if no-one else does meantime.
# Posted on February 1st 2006 by John J.
Re: Good English tune site?
A straight answer before the "fun" starts.
Generalising wildly, to my mind there are four broad strands to English tunes.
There's "Playford," named after the collection first published in 1651, often quite quirky and mysterious, sometimes archaic sounding, quite a lot of 3:2 time.
There's Morris Tunes. Used for guess what. ("Bacon" is O'Neills equivalent.)
There's the 19th century "melodeon" tradition, lots of polkas, fairly rumty tumty. This is what people often mean when they talk about English music. Probably strong German influence which may be why a lot of tunes are named after players. 19th century imports.
There's the Northumbrian tradition. Fairly separate, fiddle and smallpipes tunes. Close to Scottish as you'd expect. Again lots of 3:2s ("double hornpipes."
There's a handy collection available in various formats which covers the first three strands at least, plus some other stuff.
http://members.aol.com/lewesarmsfolk/Lewesfav.html
# Posted on February 1st 2006 by TomB-R
Re: Good English tune site?
If you want to know more about Northumbrian tradition, the closest resource is Dow's profile:
http://www.thesession.org/members/display.php/4763
# Posted on February 1st 2006 by Janek
Re: Good English tune site?
Thanks chaps. I see before me a lifetimes work just from the three messages posted so far! I have bought the yellow and green tune books produced by the NSP brigade, but there is obviously a shedload more to go at!
Cheers from sunny Hull.
# Posted on February 1st 2006 by octopus
Re: Good English tune site?
Here's a couple of sites I find useful:
For the NE tradition:
http://www.asaplive.com/fnesearch/index.cfm
For fiddlers tunebooks from mid 18th century onwards:
http://www.village-music-project.org.uk/manuscripts.htm
# Posted on February 1st 2006 by Jeff Sayer
Re: Good English tune site?
I posted an 18c English dance tune (The Merry Girls of Bristol) here a few weeks ago http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display.php/5399. There are a couple of useful links in my comments.
In Bristol there are a number of players who are familiar with, and play, tunes in both the Irish and English traditions. I go to an English session regularly and probably about 25% of the tunes played there are Irish. Likewise, a fine session here in Bristol, advertised as "Irish", does have a fair proportion of non-Irish music, including English. Everyone enjoys the eclectic mix.
# Posted on February 1st 2006 by Trevor Jennings
Re: Good English tune site?
Can't think of any more sites at the moment, I'll have to go off and think.
English (like most, if not all, European traditions) features tunes from all over the place as well a home grown: so there will be Irish and Scottish tunes mixed in with other English classics like Jenny Lind (German), Michael Turner's Waltz (Mozart), LNB Polka (French - La Roulente). Some good English tune books to get are published by Dave Mallinson and available from his own web site or from Hobgoblin or The Music Room and compiled by Nick Barber or John Kirkpatrick.
Following on from other comments above I met an "English" melodeon player who used to go to Irish sessions in the NW of England who played well known Irish tunes but in an English style who got comments like "That was lovely, what's it called"!
# Posted on February 1st 2006 by Compo
Re: Good English tune site?
See his English books here:
http://www.mally.com/results.asp?CategoryID=2
# Posted on February 1st 2006 by Compo
Re: Good English tune site?
If you want good old-fashioned Sussex tunes, try the Lewes Tune Book (abc or on sale) at
http://members.aol.com/lewesarmsfolk/LFTunes.html
Personally, I don' t think you can beat the Northumbrian tradition - loads of brilliant books at
http://www.northumbrianpipers.org.uk/books.htm
# Posted on February 1st 2006 by geoffwright
Re: Good English tune site?
Here's the Playford 1651 collection of English country dance tunes:
http://www.ceolas.org/pub/tunes/abc.tunes/Playford.txt
http://www.ceolas.org/pub/tunes/abc.tunes/Playford.abc
# Posted on February 1st 2006 by tedium
Re: Good English tune site?
there are quite a few books - "Pete Loud's collection of northumbrian fiddle tunes" is probably the best I've come across.
# Posted on February 1st 2006 by flamin fiddler
Re: Good English tune site?
Although the tunes are handritten, there's a good selection at
http://www.greentrad.org.uk/
my nearest local session.
# Posted on February 1st 2006 by Cath
Re: Good English tune site?
There's an article on "English Country Music -- A Personal View" at http://www.concertina.net - plenty of MP3s to have at. I just downloaded them, haven't had a hear. Asaplive or FARNE or whatever it's called has lots of great Northumbrian music - it's the way to get recordings of piping, especially the great Billy Pigg. Those are streaming audio files, you can listen and if you want to record them there are programs that'll do that as well.
# Posted on February 1st 2006 by KLR
Re: Good English tune site?
What a helpful and civilised thread this is. Why should that be, I wonder.
# Posted on February 2nd 2006 by TomB-R
Re: Good English tune site?
Not in the same class as Playford, but Robin Williamson's book, "English, Welsh, Scottish, and IRish Fiddle Tunes," has 37 tunes from the English repertoire. I can't vouch for how playable or common his settings are--he took some liberties with the Irish tunes in this book--but most sound reasonably close to other versions I've heard.
# Posted on February 2nd 2006 by Will Harmon
Re: Good English tune site?
Some good tunes in Robin Williamson's book, but I've met very few of them "in the wild."
# Posted on February 2nd 2006 by TomB-R
Re: Good English tune site?
That doesn't surprise me, though I've frequently played or heard at sessions 21 of the 36 Irish tunes in his book--not a bad ratio. Then again, Williamson's settings of these tunes aren't really typical of sessions.
# Posted on February 2nd 2006 by Will Harmon
Re: Good English tune site?
Peter Barnes' book of English Dance Tunes is excellent. Its well worth the price. You can see it and buy it here:
http://www.canispublishing.com/
# Posted on February 2nd 2006 by John Culhane
Re: Good English tune site?
Thanks again everybody. Great links throughout. I have had a couple of books from Dave Mallinson, but I will look a little closer at his website now I know what to look for!!
Octave mandolins, the true path!
# Posted on February 2nd 2006 by octopus