Tag Archives: English traditional music

Tunes from Folkestra

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Folkestra from England
Sunday, April 13, 7 pm
Seman Violins (4447 Oakton, Skokie)
This event is free.

Here are some tunes we can play together. (Click the arrow to listen, right-click the tune title to download.)

Rusty Gulley, an old-style hornpipe in 3/2
NB: In the Geordie dialect, a gulley is a long sharp knife.


Squirrel in the Tree, a jig in G


Here are the ABCs. Copy and paste a whole block into this online converter and turn it into music to read or play.

X:1
T:Rusty Gulley
M:3/2
N:cf Punchanello’s Hornpipe / Three Rusty Swords,
N:from John of the Greeny Cheshire Way
O:England
R:Triple Hornpipe
K:G
GABc d2 G2 B2 G2 | F2 A4 c2 B2 A2 | GABc d2 G2 B2 G2 | D2 G4 B2 A2 G2 ::
g4 f4 ef g2 | f2 d4 f2 e2 d2 | c4 B4 AB c2 | B2 G4 B2 A2 G2 :|

X: 2
T: Squirrel in a Tree
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
K: G
d edc | BBB BBB | B2A GAB | ccc ccc | c2d efg |
fff fff | fed cBA |1 GBd e2d | B2 :|2 GB/c/d b2a | g2 |:
B dga |bbb bbb | b2 a gfe | ddd ddd | d2c Bdg |
fff fff | fed cBA | GBd e2d |1 B2- :|2 G2 |

An evening of English Traditional Music

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Folkestra from England
Sunday, April 13, 7 pm
Seman Violins (4447 Oakton, Skokie)
This event is free.

Folkestra is 11 teenage instrumentalists and singers from Sage Gateshead, an Old Town School clone in Northern England. They are doing a week-long residency at the Old Town School of Folk Music, highlighted by a concert and ceilidh/barn dance at Global Dance Party on Friday, April 11. (That event is also free.) Their visit to Fiddle Club gives us a chance to hear more tunes, learn a couple, and play together.

I hope to be able to post some tunes to learn this week. But try out this pair.

New and Old Morpeth Rants by Our Northern Branch

Just added! A peek at Folkestra’s performance at the Old Town School of Folk Music’s Global Dance Party on April 11, 2014.

More tunes, and maybe some notes, to follow.
Paul Tyler, convener

Tune of the Week for April 23, 2012

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When thinking of English folk music, most folks probably picture foremost a variety of squeeze boxes–concertinas and melodeons–and with good reason. But Merry Old England did enjoy a wealth of master fiddlers, and the influence of English fiddle traditions upon American old-time music proved just as strong as that of the more celebrated “Celtic” traditions of Ireland and Scotland. This week’s tune is a tribute to the lively and driving traditional music that English folk have danced to for centuries, throughout the length and breadth of their land.

Albert Farmer
Albert Farmer		 English village band
English band pictured on Bocastle Breakdown

Albert Farmer, a butcher before heading off to fight in the second World War, returned home to find his shop was gone. In a career change, he added a drum to his melodeon and became a one-man band and street musician. Click this link for more of his story and the story of the bonfire as told in the Traditional Tune Archive.

And now for the tune . . .

Bonfire Tune, as played by Albert Farmer in 1964
(from a 1970s LP on the Topic Label, Bocastle Breakdown)


Albert Farmer’s Bonfire Tune, as played by the Bismarks, circa 2000
(from the CD Hardcore English)


The Bismarks are Nina Hansell (fiddle), Gareth Kiddier (piano) and Ed Rennie (melodeon).

X:17
T:Albert Farmer’s Bonfire Tune
M:C|
L:1/8
S:Albert Farmer
K:D
de | f3d A2F2 | G2GF G2B2 | edcA B2c2 | dffd A2de |
f3d A2F2 | G2GF G2B2 | edcA B2c2 | d2dc d2 ::
de | f2fd f2fd | gefd e2ef | gfed cABc | dffd A2de |
f3d A2F2 | G2GF G2B2 | edcA B2c2 | d2dc d2 :|