Description

Description

This isåÊthe 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 Railway

On Top of Old Smokey

Auld Lang Syne

The Back o’ Bennachie

The Lass o‰۪ Dallowgill

Penny on the Water

Leather Away the Whattle

The Rigged Ship

Marie’s Wedding

Bricks and Mortar

The Brown Banner

Scotland

The Big Ship

Nancy‰۪s Fancy

Lord Inchiquin

Till the Tide Comes In

The Tombigbee Waltz

The Frisky Jig

Captain Maguire

Babes in the Wood

The Stool of Repentance

Louis’ Waltz

The Feathers

The Nutting Girl

Auld Donald

Here’s to a Maiden

The Road to Lisdoonvarna

The Derry Boat

All the Way to Galway

The Shaalds o’ Foula

Greenholm

Green Mountain Petronella

Hewlet

The Star Above the Garter

Farewell to Whiskey

Teahan’s Polka

Seventy Second’s Farewell

Rattle the Cash

Bill Collins’ Jig

Sister Jean

Thursday Night

Bonnets so Blue

The Barnacle Redowa

The Boys of Wexford

Ward’s Brae

The Lass o’ Patie’s Mill

Liberton Pipe Band

The Minstrel‰۪s Fancy

The Grahaemsie Jig

Morgan Rattler

The Matelot

Lamshaw’s Fancy

The Hullichan Jig

Garryowen

The Boys of School Hill

The Lady of the Lake

The Saint Lawrence Jig

Lamb Skinnet

Paddy Whack

The Shepton Hornpipe

One More Dance and Then

Kitty McGee

O’Donnell Abu

Kate Dalrymple

Merrily Danced Quaker’s Wife

Elsie Marley

The Harmonica

The Kesh Jig

The Colosseum

The Pet o’ the Pipers

Morrison’s Jig

La Grande Chaine

Whinham’s Reel

Out on the Ocean

The Greencastle Hornpipe

Rory O’More

Bielbie‰۪s Hornpipe

The Wonder Hornpipe

The Breakdown

Strike the Gay Harp

The Lark in the Morning

The Liverpool Hornpipe

The Maid Behind the Bar

The Teetotaller

Pigtown Fling

Donald Blue

Jack Broke da Prison Door

Flowers of Edinburgh

Far from Home

The Bellingham Boat

Sally Gardens

Pig Ankle Rag

Angeline the Baker

Colored Aristocracy

The Devil Among the Taylors

The Random Jig

The Mason’s Apron

The High Road to Linton

The High Level Hornpipe

The New High Level

Ragtime Annie