The Horsmonden Traditional Music Classes will continue for a few more weeks.

We have had to call off the First Sunday Tunes Session this Sunday because so many people are away at Morris and May Day weekend events… Have a great weekend everyone!

We’re delighted to have our great pal Rosie Davis as our featured performer at the Frittenden session on the 28th April.

Rosie has a distinctive and arresting way of putting over a song from whatever source. She’s also a great songwriter (the kind whose songs you can imagine other folks learning and singing) and of course an amazing dancer. All in all, she’s a class act and a great entertainer.

(Please note – this will be the last of this year’s season!)

Here’s a potted biography of Rosie we published a few years back:

Rosie Davis was born in Woolton near Liverpool, and has been singing and dancing from the age of three years. She became interested in folk music in her teens and developed an interest in Old Time Music and Bluegrass, playing and singing at home with her two older brothers.

Rosie has been instrumental in the development of freestyle Appalachian step-dancing in the UK from the early 1980s, performing and giving workshops at many high profile festivals here and in Europe. As a respected musician, as well as an entertainer, her love and understanding of traditional music underpins the way she teaches and dances.

Most recently she has been developing her interests in Southern English step dancing and European social dance, and singing for dancing.

Rosie plays and sings with string band Old Faded Glory in East Sussex as well as performing solo at folk clubs, with Dave Arthur and Pete Cooper, with Sisters Unlimited and Jig Jaw.

She has been a member of several celebrated Bluegrass bands and plays autoharp, banjo, bass and feet – not all at the same time and is in much demand as a dance caller. Rosie’s instruction book and music for dancing, Karaoke Cloggin’, is available on CD.

We have a programme! Click on the image to preview the programme for Saturday.

The Horsmonden Traditional Music Class in action

A great sing and some tunes at lunch time, a smashing concert in the afternoon, and a delightful dance in the evening… Why not join us?

Our day and evening out at the Bell & Jorrocks on the 6th April, Frittenden includes:

• a session from noon for two hours – this this is a mix of songs and tunes, and this year the theme for the songs is rural work and life
• a concert in the bar on the same theme from 2pm, featuring Alvar Smith and Roger Middleditch (from Suffolk), Peter Collins (from Sussex), Will Duke (ditto), Annie Dearman and Steve Harrison (from Yorkshire), and No Name Mummers (local). (The Grand National starts at 4.15pm so if folks are on for a session around then, it’ll be necessary to have a brief pause while the race is run – this /is/ a pub, but it won’t take long!)
• an atmospheric candle-lit evening dance to the Horsmonden Traditional Music Class with games and entertainments, led by Rosie Davis

The bar events are free (and will be fabulous) but tickets for the dance are £7 and £4 (concs), with all funds raised going to help fund further events. Contact gmatkin@gmail.com or 07985 522734 for information.

We’re delighted to be able to welcome our friend Michael Hebbert as our featured visitor at the February session at Frittenden on the 24th February – we’ve been hoping to bring Michael here for quite a while.

Here’s what he has to say about himself:

Concertinas are uncommon enough instruments and Jeffries duets are the most uncommon type of concertina – but Gavin Atkin plays one of these oddities, and so does this evening’s guest Michael Hebbert.

Michael was born in Glasgow, grew up in Blackburn, Lancashire, and began his performing career in Wallingford, Oxfordshire as a pub musician at a pub locally known as The Rampin’ Cat, and as a dance band leader.

He went on to contribute to Ashley Hutchings’s album Kicking Up the Sawdust (Harvest SHSP4073) and releases his own LP, The Rampin’ Cat (Free Reed FRR 009).

On the folk circuit he has a long-standing double act with singer Andrew Frank and his concertina classes and workshops have featured at Kilve, Witney, Swaledale, Bradfield and the English Country Music Weekend.

With a huge repertoire of tunes from many traditions, Michael shows the tremendous versatility of the Jeffries Brothers’s duet concertinas. A triumph of late Victorian craftsmanship measuring only 6in across, Jeffries squeezeboxes pack the essence of the music whether they’re blazing away like a fairground organ, punching a tango rhythm, or unfurling the long melody of an Irish slow air fit to break your heart.

We couldn’t have put it better. This will be a smashing evening at Frittenden, so don’t miss out!

Local singing star John Morgan will sing at the Frittenden session on the 27th January, starting at 8pm.

John has a fine style and an excellent voice, and specialises in traditional songs, frequently those of the South-East and often accompanied by his melodeon.

However, John also finds space for modern songs in his repertoire, many of which were written by friends – but when you realise just how many of the folk scene’s well known names are old friends that comes as no surprise.

Our sessions at Frittenden’s Bell & Jorrocks pub start at 8pm and are informal and free, with lots of old-fashioned and traditional songs and tunes, perhaps a little stepdancing and a big emphasis on variety, humour and entertainment generally.

If you liked your pub the way it was before the telly and the computer came, this is the event for you. You don’t have to be a performer in order to join us, but if you are, why not bring a song, a tune, a story or a poem yourself?

Peter Collins is our guest at the Frittenden Session from 8pm on the 27th December – and we’re greatly looking forward to it.

Peter’s an old and treasured friend who has a wonderful voice, an outstanding collection of songs and a style strongly influenced by singing alongside many of the great names in traditional singing in Sussex – Ron Spicer, Gordon Hall and Bob Copper were all great friends - and a genial, generous personality.

If you’ve heard him in the past, you’ll know that all of this is true!

Nothing blows away the post-Christmas cobwebs like a sing and a play down at Frittenden, so please come and join us on the 27th!

These photographs of the Horsmonden Traditional Music Class were taken by singer Annie Dearman  on Saturday night (24th November).

Our friend Kerry Fletcher of the English Folk Dance and Song Society’s folk educators group suggested I should write a few notes about what we’ve been up to, so here’s what I said:

I’ve long felt that compared with some other areas – such as Northumberland, Gloucestershire and Sussex – Mid and West Kent has not had as many strong players of traditional tunes. That’s not to say there weren’t any good players – just that if there were more of us to play in sessions we would all have that much more fun!

So a couple of years ago my wife Julie Atkin and I agreed that I should start a free regular twice a month class in a quiet room at the Gun and Spitroast pub, Horsmonden. The aim of the classes would be to help new players work up a good collection of tunes, build their confidence and get some experience of playing in sessions and for dancing.

I should explain that I’ve been playing regularly for dancing since the mid-1970s, and play many of the instruments most often used in traditional music, including fiddle, melodeon, mandolin, concertina and guitar.

With that background, we thought, I should be able to can help deal with problems in playing, and can advise on how to find ways of giving tunes lift and making them danceable.

We meet on the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month from September through to the spring, and at each class we work on three tunes, two of which we learn from written music and abc notation, and one of which we learn by ear.

When I get time I also try to put up YouTubes of the tunes, particularly the ear-learning tune. This is the link for the tunes etc:

http://www.singdanceandplay.net/free-traditional-music-classes-at-the-gun-and-spitroast-horsmonden/

The class includes a wide age range, and a wide range of abilities, and one or two experienced players also like to drop by to learn a few new tunes.

To give new players experience of sessioning and playing for dancing, we’ve also started a regular tunes-only session in the bar at the Gun & Spitroast on the first Sunday of the month, where the class tunes feature heavily.

Also, twice a year we organise a dance at the Bell & Jorrocks at Frittenden, at which the class get a chance to play for dancing, and at a proper dancing speed.

These events have proved to be enormous fun for everyone including the class, and we’re very grateful that our friends Rosie Davis and Chris Rose have been kind enough to call for them on different occasions.

How has it all worked out? As the geezer who has been leading this class I have to say it’s been challenging for me (it turns out that running classes requires far more preparation than I had anticipated!), but it’s also been great fun and very sociable.

I can’t pretend the numbers have been large – the biggest attendance we’ve had in an individual class was ten, the smallest was just one. However, many of the people who have been coming along assure me they’ve had a great time and learned a lot about playing, and I think we’ve had some real successes.

One example of this is my wife Julie – through the classes she has worked hard to become a really effective pianist for this kind of music (as the video shows!).

Our youngest player – still just 13 – keeps picking up new instruments and is coming on by leaps and bounds on all of them.

The new gallery photos come from the Harvest Hop dance we held a couple of nights ago, with the wonderful Rosie Davis calling and introducing turns from Annie Dearman and Steve Harrison, and Julie and myself.

Here’s a YouTube video taken by Annie of some dancing from the event to give you a flavour:

http://youtu.be/8y2QorqICPc

Some of you will notice Steve playing mouthorgan in the band, and also Tim Bull, a Frittenden villager who is well known for playing melodeon with the English ceilidh band Florida.

Many thanks for reading this far. If you’d like to find out more, see our website at http://singdanceandplay.net or call or email me at 07985 522734 or gmatkin@gmail.com

Gavin Atkin

Get ready for the Harvest Hop Barndance at the Bell & Jorrocks pub at 8pm on the 24th November, featuring our favourite dances, party games, surprise entertainments, raffle, and a great candle-lit atmosphere, with our own Rosie Davis calling, music from the Horsmonden Traditional Music Class and friends, and Frittenden favourites Annie Dearman and Steve Harrison adding to the general jollity.

Tickets are £6 and £4 (concs), with all funds raised going to help fund the Frittenden Old Fashioned Night Out day scheduled for the 6th April. Call Gavin on 07985 522734 to reserve your tickets now!

If you play English traditional music and would like to join the band for a few tunes, you’re very welcome.

We’re planning to have a list for the night, so if you’re not too confident about some of them, you’ll know when to dip in and play, and when to drop out and dance with your partner or go to the bar! Among the tunes we plan to use are the following:

• The Hundred Pipers (march)
• Cock of the North (jig)
• Haste to the Wedding (jig)
• Rig a Jig Jig (jig, natch)
• Strike the Bell (32-bar step hop)
• Off to California (32-bar step hop)
• The Sloe (polka)
• The Girl with the Blue Dress On (polka)
• Oh Joe the Boat is Going Over (polka)
• Donkey Riding (polka)
• Three Around Three (polka)
• Shave the Donkey (waltz)
• Sussex Cotillion (incidental tune, but I guess it must be a cotillion!)
• From Night til Morn (polka)
• The Famous Fiery Clockface (jig)

Classic session and barndance tunes, every one of them, and they’re all either on the class pages, or this YouTube page.

PS – Here’s a video showing what a great time we had!

PPS – And here’s another, this time from Annie and Steve’s YouTube.

Photo by Susan Bell

Proper old-fashioned Suffolk singer Alvar Smith is to be our visiting performer at the Frittenden session on the 28th October.

Both of his grandfathers were well known for their singing at the legendary Blaxhall Ship singing pub in years gone by (see a movie including both Charlie Smith and Bob Scarce here), and he still sings many of his family songs.

With Alvar as well as our regulars, we’re expecting a splendid, entertaining evening!

If you’re wondering what you missed – here’s a sample to be going on with until Alvar’s next visit: