See page headed ‘Tunes meetings up to December 2024’ for earlier material

The Goudhurst u3a tunes group meets at the Goudhurst Club at 10.30am on the first and third Monday of each month during the autumn, winter and spring. Contact Gavin Atkin at gmatkin@gmail.com for details.

Playalong tune YouTubes are listed here: Playalong tunes

If you haven’t got abc software installed and would like to try using abc coded tunes, There are various thinkwebsites that are good for playing tunes written out using the notation. The once I currently use when needed is michaeleskin.com/abctools/abctools.html (though I mostly use the free software EasyABC.)

The group’s collected tunes up to December 2024 are available for download in a pdf volume here: Goudhurst u3a country dance tunes group tunebook

Download the group’s tunebook Volume 2 here: Goudhurst u3a country dance tunes group tunebook Volume 2

7th April 2025: Percy Brown’s Polka and Squirrel in the Tree

– 7th April 2025: Percy Brown’s Polka and Squirrel in a Tree

abc files:
– Percy Brown’s Polka
– Squirrel in a Tree

YouTubes:
– Percy Brown’s Polka
– Squirrel in a Tree

3rd March 2025: Height of Cader Idris, The Leeds Polka

– 3rd March 2025: Height of Cader Idris, The Leeds Polka

abcs:
– Height of Cader Idris
– The Leeds Polka

YouTubes:

– The Height of Cader Idris
– The Leeds Polka

3rd February 2025: In the Toyshop, Hey Diddle Diddle, The Gloucester Hornpipe

pdf file:
– 3rd February 2025: In the Toyshop, Hey Diddle Diddle, The Gloucester Hornpipe

abc files:
– In the Toyshop
– Hey Diddle Diddle
– The Gloucester Hornpipe

YouTubes:
– In the Toyshop
– Hey Diddle Diddle
– The Gloucester Hornpipe

6th January 2025: The Britannia Two-Step, John of Paris, Cader Idris

pdf file:

– 6th January 2025: The Britannia Two-Step, John of Paris, Cader Idris

abc files:

– The Britannia Two-Step
– John of Paris
– Cader Idris

YouTubes:

– The Britannia Two-Step
– John of Paris
– Cader Idris

Some notes on playing style

This is dance music, so it goes without saying that the music we play should be solid and steady – even in sessions, it should not generally be so quick that dancing is impossible. Silly speeds are best used for effect, for example in the context of a party piece.

There are various tips and tricks that we can use to bring interest and life to tunes. Really effective country dance tune players find all sorts of ways of embellishing them and emphasising their shape and form and especially their danceable rhythm – and they all do it in subtly different ways, and I think one of the joys of this music is when we sit together listen to others and adapt our playing to fit with theirs.

An analogy I think of is the child’s colouring book picture. The written music is like the printed outline waiting for the crayon to fill in the colours, and the pencil strokes and colours used and any added details are what make the image individual.

Perhaps the most basic but also most important advice I can offer is this: generally keep notes considerably shorter than they are written, though also lending extra length (within the specified length) when the phrase seems to call for it. This is a great place to start with nearly all types of tunes used for dancing, including the waltz. (Though clearly less ss with slow airs or a slow retreat.)

I’ve listed out some ideas you might like to try using to add ‘colour’ to your playing below.

Phrases

Listening to the eight-bar phrases in the tunes, you’ll notice that there’s often a recognisable ‘call and response’ type of structure – perhaps two bars seem to make a statement and then the next two form a response, and then maybe you’ll recognise two or four bars where you can imagine the callers and responders are all together.

Consider playing the calls and responses slightly differently – say make the call louder and more clipped, and the response slightly softer or just a tad more legato.

Long notes

Where you have a long note, consider:

• inserting a lower note and going up to the higher
• changing the chord during the note (if you have a chording instrument), say from the most obvious chord to one a fourth or fifth above and back. This is something to experiment with: try different options and see which one works best
• playing a second open or double-stopped note if your instrument can do this
• breaking it up into two or more notes and playing the first short and sharp (this is also good wherever you have two notes that are the same, ditto three notes, which you might play short, short, long)
• using turns (one note up, one the same, one down, one the same ) or trills (quickly and repeatedly play the p and the note above)
• playing the long note short and very loud, and then leaving a space
• if you’re a fiddler or a brass or wind player, try adding a little vibrato at the end of some of the long notes (I’m not sure how traditional this is, but I’m sure the original owners of many of the fiddlers’ tunebooks that have come down to us were easily capable of using vibrato, as they clearly had considerable technique)
• again, with long notes, where possible play with a little pulse – that is, get louder and softer in time with the rhythm. This is particularly effective with waltzes. If pulsing isn’t possible on your instrument, try achieving the same kind of effect by repeated plucking on a mandolin or banjo, by using a little vibrato on a whistle or recorder, or perhaps by breaking the note up – though this may not work if you do it too much!

Repeated notes

As above, where you have repeated notes, consider making all the notes short /except/ for the last one.

Where you have repeated notes and you’re playing a chording instrument, consider changing the chord underneath, perhaps through a cycle of chords containing the same note.

For example, if the repeated note is a G, you might consider using the chords of C, Em, Am7 etc.

Dominant chords, perhaps with the 7th

Using a note or chord to add tension and ‘announce’ the next phrase. The last note of a tune is likely to be the key note – for example, if you’re playing in G, it’s likely the written music will end with a G note. (Ditto a C note when playing in C, or a D note if you’re playing in D. A good way to give shape to a tune and to ‘announce’ that the next phrase (say, the A music, B music or C music) is about to begin is instead of the key note to slip in the chord (even better the 7th chord) of the note that’s a fifth above.

This is called the dominant. So, for example, in a 4/4 tune in G, you might let the tune finish on a G notes with a G chord for two or three beats – but the last one or two would be a D or F# or A (all notes from a D chord) accompanied by a D or D7 chord. Ditto, an A or A7 chord when playing in D, of an F or F7 chord if you’re playing in C. It’s much easier and much more instinctive than it sounds! But be warned – it doesn’t usually work with waltzes!

Tune types

Thinking about different kinds of tunes, my take has been that in English sessions there seem to be broadly two kinds of tunes – lifting tunes such as polkas, jigs, hornpipes and schottisches where the emphasis is on the off-beat (oom-PAH, oom-PAH or oom-PAH-pah-PAH), and running tunes such as marches and reels where it is on the down-beat (OOM-pah-Oom-pah or OOM-pah-pah-pah). This is something to think about especially if you’re playing a chording instrument. In particular with guitars, I’ve found the ‘running’ tunes work best with all down-strokes across the strings, while the ‘lifting’ tunes work best with an alternating down (down-beat) and up stroke (off-beat). It’s especially cool if you can play the downbeat short (by damping on a guitar, or releasing the keys on a piano) and let the following chord sing a little.

Getting the emphasis that works best into a tune can bring real excitement to the tune itself and to a dance. If you have any questions about any of this, please email me at gmatkin@gmail.com and I will be pleased to try to help.