Just a quick reminder that our regular Slow Session is on tomorrow, Sunday 4th June at 4pm, upstairs at the White House. The tune of the month is the lovely An Rogaire Dubh (and I heartily recommend Martin Hayes’s tutorial where I learned it).
I’ve made the brownies so come down and join us!
If you can’t make it, there is zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83433724118?pwd=NjZQY1FTUWFGZkN2SjhNcHBsQnEzZz09
(but no brownies via zoom).
I hope to see you soon!
Best wishes, suke
I’ve added two new tunes, a fairly easy popular Irish jig, Jimmy Ward’s favourite, and a lovely, trickier, mazurka, The Origin of the World.
And since this is a bank holiday weekend, there is not only the Euro-plus session at the White House on Sunday from 4.30pm, there is also a bandstand session from 3pm on Monday. End times are not fixed… but likely to be about two hours later. Tunes are also not fixed… for both of these sessions, it just depends on who turns up and what we can play together. Flo’s café, near the bandstand, will be open until 5pm, if you want an ice cream, cake or tea, or lunch beforehand.
And next weekend is our June Slow Session at the White House pub at 4pm (zoom included) Sunday 4th June.
Enjoy the sunshine!
An extra reminder that May’s Slow Session will be starting early at 3pm (and finishing early as a jazz band is following us).
3pm Sunday 7th May upstairs at the White House pub
and The Sails of Kittiwake is our tune of the month, written by our own sessionista Kitty!
If you can’t make the White House, you can join us on zoom (where you miss out on Brownies!): https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84688065324?pwd=VkVUdnNreWR2YWdIV3VVZkdPZ2ZPQT09
And Monday is another bank holiday, so come and join us for an anything goes session at Florence Park Bandstand from 3pm (if you need music, please bring your own or use a gadget and the website).
3pm Monday 8th May, Florence Park Bandstand (scroll down on How to Find Us page for info)
Bandstand Bank holiday sessions
And just to keep us busy, I’ve added another tune, quite often played in local sessions so you may know it already: If You Will Not Have Me, You May Let Me Go. A 3/2 hornpipe that is worth learning just for the title!
Hope to see you soon!
The forecast for May day is looking good… and if you haven’t collapsed with exhaustion after having danced in the early hours of the morning… come and join us for:
Bandstand Bank holidays!
3-6pm (earlier better than later) Florence Park Bandstand (scroll down on the How to Find Us page to see location).
Monday 1st May
Monday 8th May
Monday 29th May
It’s possible that we will continue into August (7th and 28th) but will confirm later.
And our May Slow Session is going to be EARLIER than usual as there is a jazz band following us. So we will start promptly at 3pm.
So Sunday 7th May will be at 3-5pm upstairs at the White House for the May Slow Session.
Despite Ray’s absence in America, the Euro-plus session is going ahead at the White House (upstairs or downstairs depending on the space). In practice, the Euro-plus session can be a Scandi, Shetland and French orientated session… but usually the tunes played simply depend on who shows up and what tunes we know. So if you fancy a session, come and suggest a tune or two!
4.30pm Sunday 23 April in the White House Pub
Also, James’s Bastard English session is happening a week early (5th May) so as not to clash with Sam Sweeney playing at the Holywell Music room on Friday 12th May.
5th May Bastard English session at the Isis River Farmhouse from 8pm
7th May Oxford Slow Session at the White House from 4.30pm
12th May Sam Sweeney on his solo tour at the Holywell Music Rooms
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/sam-sweeney-solo-at-the-holywell-music-room-tickets-601545387447
I recommend buying tickets in advance as Sam Sweeney is an amazing musician and it will be a great gig.
Happy sessionisting!
For the future, Moonrakers have asked me to let you know about their workshop:
Moonrakers Folk Orchestra
Saturday 15th July Folk Orchestra day event at The Corn Exchange, FARINGDON, Oxfordshire, SN7 7JA. From 10:30 to 16:30 with a lunch break. A course/workshop for intermediate/advanced players of all acoustic instruments. Music and videos sent in advance. Book early! £70 for the day (25% off for under-27s) www.benslowmusic.org 01462 459446.
There will be two professional tutors – Jon Bennett (guitar, bouzouki, mandolin, whistles) and Jacqui Johnson (cello, accordion, fiddle). The number of participants will not exceed 20. All the music is provided in advance but for those who learn by ear, a ‘slow jam’ video for each tune is also available.
Moonrakers (www.moonrakers.net) have been running these courses for many years and have a lot of material on YouTube, our own site and on www.ukuleleoxford.com. For any enquiries about this course, please contact us on 01865 769206.
The Oxford Folk Weekend starts today…
Lots of opportunities to hear great musicians, many of them for free and lots of opportunities to join in with lots of dancing and sessions too…
Folk weekend website: https://www.folkweekendoxford.co.uk/
Handy guide to sessions (this is my guide as of Friday, so FWO website may have changes after this):
Obviously I am hoping to see you on Sunday at 4pm at The White House pub upstairs for the Slow Session but there are lots of other things to do too!
And for more music making in the future… Sharon asks:
“The amateur orchestra I am in on Saturday mornings (in Yarnton Village Hall) would really like some more violinists to join…
Abingdon Strings – Cherwell Chamber Music“
Abingdon Strings
Sunday 26th March, 5.30pm
Ray says: “this Sunday’s EuroPlus session at the White House Pub (Abingdon Road) will take place as usual, but the White House inadvertently double-booked the upstairs room, so we will be playing downstairs this Sunday. Since it’s crowded downstairs, it’s best to figure on showing up at 5:30 PM to give the diners more time to clear out, rather than 4:30 as I originally suggested last Sunday. After this, we can try going back to 4:30.
We have been playing a lot of Scandi and French stuff, but I’m eager to get more Scottish and Shetland music in there, and SlowSessionistas can certainly help with that!”
Sunday 2nd April, 4.30pm
April Slow Session as usual at 4.30pm.
There are two Tunes of the month:
The Millhouse (easier than it looks as both parts have inner repeats)
and
The Lancashire (or Old Lancashire)
Also Zoom for those who can’t make it to Oxford: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85012504012?pwd=T1A5MFowL1VXS1BlcHVVWTdrdEJNZz09
Sunday 16th April, 4pm
An extra session as part of the Oxford Folk Weekend
The full session list is not yet available… but will be posted on this page when they are arranged.
Hope to see you soon!
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Dear Slow Sessionistas,
Happy March!
I’m afraid we are still at 4.30pm at present… but the lovely tune, Eade Road is our tune of the month.
I do hope you can join us upstairs at the White House (Abingdon Road) on Sunday 5th March at 4.30pm (tomorrow)
And
If not, you can use zoom:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86916805396?pwd=cFdGUVBkcjZGWVplQkJ6TmN2Zk0wZz09
Please do remember to say the tunes you want played (or write them in the chat in zoom).
I’ve made brownies for 5.30pm, and I expect we will finish sometime between 6.30 and 7pm.
The schedule for Oxford Folk Weekend is largely available now: https://www.folkweekendoxford.co.uk/
Although the timetable for sessions has not been published yet…
Hopefully we will have one on the Sunday afternoon – but time and place has yet to be confirmed (Sunday 16th April) but you might like to pencil one in… however, it will only be in person, not on zoom.
Looking forward to seeing you!
Best wishes,
Suke
I’ve learned Kitty’s own tune and added The Sails of Kittiwake to the website with a recording of Kitty playing it. I think we will have fun playing this one!
Louis’s session at the White House is on at 4.30pm TODAY (Sunday) according to Facebook…
And the Euro-session (also a pretty much anything goes session) is happening at 5.30pm on Sunday 26th February at the White House pub.
Our next session will be at 4.30pm on the 5th March with the lovely Eade Road, by our local musician, Jo Hamilton (Xogera), as the tune of the month. Hope to see you there!
The Slow Session has had to move to 4.30pm.
I know that 3.30pm is generally preferred but the pub’s Sunday lunch business has expanded so we have to accommodate to that too.
If this is a real problem, please do let me know (oxfordslowsession2014@gmail.com) and we could move to 2pm at the Old Fire Station or I could investigate whether we should return to The Jericho Tavern.
Hopefully in the summer we can have some extra sessions in the bandstand earlier in the afternoon!
Meanwhile, hoping to see you on Sunday 5th February at 4.30pm.
The tune of the month is the Swaggering Jig (also known as Give Us a Drink of Water)
I really recommend listening to the Spotify Playlist as a great way to remind yourself of some of the tunes. (https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5q2fcIro5AkXa8tctJ9mIm?si=b7a3808cbbaf4080). Spotify is free to listen to, you only have to pay to choose the order in which you listen to the tunes.
If you can’t make it, there is zoom, but it is more fun to come along!
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83886380335?pwd=eUU3MWgyQ3VocEwxSWQwRnZid1Budz09
Looking forward to seeing you soon!
Best wishes,
suke
Oxford Slow Session 