Description

Description

This is the CD to accompany the book of the same name.

The tunes are suitable for every instrument associated with traditional music, and only 14 notes are required to play them all. They are eminently suitable for playing at country dances, ceilidhs, barn dances and hoe-downs and most have been recorded by notable bands and personalities.
To facilitate musicians identifying repertoire suitable for their current personal ability, the tunes in each book are presented in order of difficulty, and start and finish progressively harder throughout the series, in the order listed.
Introduction to the series
A friend remarked at Sidmouth Folk Week, ‰ÛÏMally, I‰۪m going to recommend your Easy Peasy book to everybody, it‰۪s great! It reflects very closely the repertoire we play at our local session.‰۝ Another friend commented at Cleethorpes Folk Festival, ‰ÛÏMally, you do a gross injustice to some really good and useful tunes by labelling them ‰Û÷Easy Peasy‰۪, it gives the impression that they are only of any use to beginners to cut their teeth on.‰۝ ‰ÛÏVery true,‰۝ I thought, ‰ÛÏI play many of these tunes myself at dances, in sessions and for the morris dancers. Wouldn‰۪t it be a great to extend Easy Peasy into a series.‰۝ The idea was born, and soon developed into this set of four books which contain the most popular tunes that are played in English pub sessions, at folk festivals and by country dance musicians and morris players. Each book has its own theme and identity. Given average luck, with these tunes under your belt, you‰۪ll be able to join in most of the time.
Because most traditional airs only require the fourteen notes D, E, F sharp, G, A, B, C, C sharp, D, E, F sharp, G, A and B, I decided it would be a good idea to continue the theme, meaning all the tunes can be played in the first position on the top three strings of the fiddle, all the notes are in the range of the wooden flute and tin whistle and all the music is within the scope of the D/G melodeon without accidentals.
Chord arrangements are more or less as played on the soundtrack, but nevertheless, are only suggestions. The dominant chords (i.e. D in the key of G, A in the key of D and E in the key of A etc.) throughout these books are noted as plain major chords, whereas many musicians prefer to play the seventh (D7, A7, E7 etc.). Feel free to play either type of chord as the mood takes you.
You‰۪ll notice many of the tunes are not English. It‰۪s the pubs, sessions, folk festivals, ceilidhs etc. that are English. In, what might be termed, a general English session, melodies from Northumberland, Ireland, Scotland, America, France and Scandinavia are to be heard alongside English airs, which tend to be associated with the more southern regions of the country
Hundreds of personalities, records, bands, books and sessions have, unknowingly, made tiny, almost imperceptible contributions to the settings and choice of the tunes found in these books (some of the more influential are listed below). They have also been moulded further by the limitations of my instrument, the D/G melodeon, and, of course, the fourteen note rule. All the settings are my own versions and every tune has, to a greater or lesser degree, my own personal stamp on it. But, I‰۪m sure you‰۪ll find all the tunes ‰Û÷session friendly‰۪, you can learn them exactly as written and have a perfectly acceptable version. However, I consider it unwise to learn a tune from only one source and I would suggest strongly that, when learning a new tune, you pay heed to other books, recordings and live performances.

Contents

The Muffin Man

Johnny Come Down to Hilo

Kelly, the Boy from Killan

Planxty Irwin

Sheebeg, Sheemore

The Munster Cloak

The Man in the Moon

The Drunken Sailor

Saint Mary’s Polka

The Wren

A Starry Night for a Ramble

Napoleon Crossing the Rhine

Clee Hill

O‰۪Connor‰۪s Polka

Andrew Carr

Dennis Murphy’s Polka

The Officer’s Polka

The Tip Top Polka

The Ballydesmond Polka

The Ton

The Butterfly

Orange in Bloom

Sonny’s Mazurka

Because He Was a Bonny Lad

Dark Girl Dressed in Blue

The Quaker

The Sloe

Rig-a-Jig

The Evesham Stick Dance

Michael Turner’s Waltz

Church Street

The Seven Stars

Hexham Races

Rochdale Coconut Dance

The Heel and Toe Polka

Uncle‰۪s Jig

The Redowa Polka

Smash the Windows

The Gasp̩ Reel

The Kirkgate Hornpipe

Lemmie Brazil‰۪s Hornpipe

Upton upon Severn Stick Dance

Over the Hills and Far Away

Foul Weather Call

Waiting for the Federals

Scan Tester’s Polka No. 1

Scan Tester’s Polka No. 2

Foxhunter’s Jig

The Fiery Clock Face

Merrily Kiss the Quaker

Roxburgh Castle

Girl with the Blue Dress on

Old Joe Clarke

Bonnie Kate

Harper’s Frolic

John of Paris

Liberty

Family Jig

Enrico

Walter Bulwer’s Polka No. 1

Walter Bulwer’s Polka No. 2

The Little Burnt Potato

Mickey Chewing Bubble Gum

The Rocky Road to Dublin

The Lady in the Boat

The White Cockade

Soldiers‰۪ Joy

Hot Punch

The Boys of Bluehill

Tripping Upstairs

The Rakes of Kildare

Sleep Soond i‰۪ da Moarning

Saddle the Pony

Navvy on the Line

La Bastringue

Staten Island

The Redesdale Hornpipe

The Steamboat

Frost Is All Over

Off to California

Willafjord

Father O‰۪Flynn

The Eighth of January

Shandon Bells

The Irish Washerwoman

Speed the Plough

Harvest Home

The Tenpenny Bit

The Marquis of Lorne

The Belfast Hornpipe

The Trumpet Hornpipe

Rickett’s Hornpipe

The Blackthorn Stick

Woodland Revels

Athole Highlanders

Sir Sydney Smith’s March

The Fairy Dance

Drowsy Maggie

The College Hornpipe

Miss McLeod’s Reel

The Merry Blacksmith