Oxford Slow Session

Michael is organising sessions at 3.30pm at the Florence Park bandstand for the next three Sundays… so do come along and pass the message along…
Best wishes, Suke 

On 9 June 2021 at 14:24:51, Michael Gross (michaelgrr@yahoo.co.uk) wrote:

Dear All, 

the weather forecast is looking glorious for this Sunday, so we could use the Florence Park bandstand for shadow rather than shelter … 

Let’s have a session from 3:30 onwards again, on the theme of anything goes, just come and share your tunes. On the Bank Holiday Monday we played Scandi, French, Galician and Slow Session tunes – the latter two can be read from sheet music I have in my bag. 

Weather permitting I am also aiming to have sessions on the remaining two Sundays in June, 20th and 27th. To save electrons and the patience of list members, I will only send out reminders for those dates to those who have taken part or expressed interest. 

best, 

michael 

Alex is organising a Bank Holiday session starting at 3pm Monday 31st May 2021 in South Parks and he’s hoping that lots of the Slow Sessionistas might be able to join. The weather forecast is good so we should make hay while the sun shines!

Alex has provided this pic of the approximate location… (and here’s in a link to the same place on Open Street Map)

https://osm.org/go/eutD7j9E?layers=N&m=

Jane Griffiths (who has helped me so much from transcribing tunes and teaching me how to play them) has her first gig in over a year… and it moves!

The Owl Light Trio will be playing, courtesy of Towpath productions, on a boat up the canal. They start at 3pm on Saturday 29th May at Bridge 240 at Aristotle Lane and the weather forecast is finally improving!

The gig is free. Hope to see you there! (I’m believe they will move south, so if you’re late, text me on +447709352834 and I’ll let you know where we are)

Planxty’s version of Merrily Kissed the Quaker inspired us to learn it and play it. I hope you enjoy it too.

And if you have a chance, you might enjoy our playlist on YouTube. It hasn’t every tune, but most of them!

Hope to see you in June, either at the Bandstand (do come early) or on Zoom (link on website) and crossing fingers that it will be warmer by then!

Do come and join us. It is definitely more fun playing together in person than over zoom… but zoom will also operate too (password – if required = slow), so you can join either way. The bandstand gives good rain cover and plenty of fresh air. Do put your contact details on the Covid precautions page if you can come. We look forward to seeing you in person or on screen.

This weekend we have the Folk Weekend on in Oxford. Unsurprisingly the concerts are all online but in a variety of forms: lots for free and some paid for.

The sessions are mostly online too… except the Oxford Slow Session which is hybrid: so you can choose. You can come and join us at 2pm in the Bandstand in Florence Park or you can join the zoom session instead (password slowly), whichever suits you better.

The amazing Jane Griffiths is playing with Owl Light Trio as the opener for the Saturday afternoon concert (fortunately just after our session) and there are many other gigs to choose from. The Zoom concerts require payment although you can largely choose how much to pay. There will also be free concerts on the Folk Weekend’s Youtube channel which you can access later, and live concerts on the Folk Weekend’s Facebook page (also free).

Hope you see you this Saturday 17th April at 2pm in one form or another!

It’s been a long lockdown in the winter of 2021, so I’ve found learning new tunes to be very therapeutic.
The Soor Milk Cairt was such a joyous tune that it was very uplifting and
Bronwyn Jenkins is another great tune from Jane Griffiths. I hope you enjoy them too.

WordPress has updated and “retired” the theme which was the basis for the Slow Session website design… Unfortunately the old maxim “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it” no longer applies and I had to find a new theme.

After much searching I am hoping that this one is bearable and that you find you can navigate the pages and find the tunes you are looking for… but if any links are not working or any pages looking particularly ropey, please could you tell me: oxfordslowsession2014@gmail.com and I will endeavour to fix it (although my skills are limited) and I will appreciate your help in spotting problems. Fingers crossed it works ok…

Ray has made a video out of a recording of McCrea’s Delight that he’s put together of me (suke), Tess and himself that we all recorded separately in lockdown! If you would like to record yourself playing along and be added to the recording on the website, please get in touch. Meanwhile, enjoy this one!

Hope to see you either on Zoom or in the bandstand in Florence Park on Easter Sunday!

A new tune for the new year: I’ve managed to learn McCrae’s Delight… but in G rather than in D.

It’s a beautiful tune written by Iain MacCrimmon and played by Anna Massie and Mairearad Green (the second of these two Retreat Marches). I hope you like it as much as I do.

In lockdown, I recorded myself playing it and sent it to Ray who has worked out the chords and also recorded an accompaniment (on three different accordions) and so I’ve added the ensemble recording to the page. If you fancy recording yourself playing along, please email me and we can add your recording to the ensemble!