Tuneworks

Tuneworks is one of the most popular sessions we offer at Shrewsbury with sessions often being packed out by musicians of all levels and skills.

There are sessions for beginners and improvers and we also offer some focusing on specific instruments. If you want to take your first steps to playing with others or just enjoy a session, Tuneworks is for you. It now has its own dedicated website where you can download tune books – please visit www.tuneworks.co.uk

This year we will be providing workshops at various levels. It is important that you select the ones that apply to your level of playing. There will be some overlap so aim to do two and see how you get on. Don’t forget to practice in between! These are based on the levels of our session workshops – don’t worry if this is your first time at any of our sessions or workshops, we’ll fit you in! It would, however, be a good idea to come along to the Friday welcome session and ask staff for a quick assessment of where best to start! Typical lesson plans would be:

Just started – Lesson 1 will provide the basics and get you started on understanding scales and learning some tunes that you can play with others.

Been playing for a year (or two) – Lesson 1 will be a recap and may help reinforce the basics, Lesson 2  will get you playing a little faster, playing different tunes and thinking about simple ornamentation. If you’ve been working hard, have a go at the later lessons…

Comfortable in Tuneworks Beginners Session – Lesson 2 will be a recap, 3 will help your speed and learning process and 4 will get you thinking about ornaments.

Working on Tuneworks Improvers or Ceilidh/Session tunes – if you are comfortable playing a number of sets of tunes at improvers session speed then go for lessons 3,4 and 5. They will help your overall speed, ornamentation, learn a new tune (or two)

The type of exercises at each level depend on the instrument, and on flute/whistle and fiddle we have beginners as well as more advanced sets of 5 lessons but this will give you an idea:

Lesson 1 – Scales, basic instrument techniques, how to learn tunes.

Lesson 2 – Getting faster, playing from memory.

Lesson 3 – Basic ornaments, improving speed, playing by ear.

Lesson 4 – More advanced ornaments, playing faster, widening your repertoire.

Lesson 5 – Going deeper on some tunes from improvers/ceilidh session/tutor’s choice. Thinking about your personal style in terms of ornaments, dynamics etc.

Note: Please don’t be offended if the class is too advanced for you – we have lessons at many different levels and the tutor will aim to teach at the right level for the class. Everyone has a slightly different opinion on what makes you a beginner/improver/advanced player, but the tutor is in charge! On flute/whistle and fiddle, you have the option to change between the two levels of classes.

Friday 16.30-18.00 Beer Tent: Introductory Session with tunes from both the beginners and improvers books. A chance to meet the tutors and get into some early festival tunes. Beginners tunes will be at a speed to suit everyone with improvers tunes going a bit faster.

Saturday 16.30-18.00 Berwick Bar: Improvers Session – tunes from our improvers book. Features a good range of popular session tunes played at a relaxed speed for players with a bit of experience.

Sunday 14.45-16.15 Berwick Bar: Beginners Session – tunes from our beginners book. Played at a very steady speed.

Monday 11.00-12.30 The Hub (upstairs): Full Speed Session – playing tunes from the improvers session book, tends to be about “Ceilidh Speed”. A great chance to get some tunes in on the last day!

Workshops: Saturday 14.30-15.30, The Hub (downstairs), Sunday 13.30-14.30, Berwick Bar, Sunday 17.30-18.30, The Studio.

Family Ceilidh: Sunday 18.45-19.45 The Studio.

If you haven’t attended this series of workshops before, it’s a great way to get playing with a big ceilidh band led by local legends This Way Up. Working on some local tunes as well as session standards you will then be able to attend the ceilidh as a player, backed by This Way Up! Bring your friends who can enjoy a dance with you and the rest of Tuneworks providing the music!

Taster Session – Saturday 12.15-13.15 Berwick Bar, Full Session – Monday 14.45-16.15 Berwick Bar

Since introducing these sessions in 2015, they have really gone from strength to strength. Our proximity to Wales means that there is a strong local community of traditional Welsh tune players. The taster and full session give you a chance to play some brilliant tunes in great company! Led by Charlotte Goodwin.

Beer Tent, Saturday and Sunday 20.00-23.00

Led by Vince Jordan and his family who are members of the Reel Note ceili band based in Birmingham. Vince is a widely respected piano accordion player and ambassador for Irish music, having been world president of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann. The sessions are held in typically relaxed style.

Beer Tent, Saturday and Sunday 20.00-23.00

Led by Vince Jordan and his family who are members of the Reel Note ceili band based in Birmingham. Vince is a widely respected piano accordion player and ambassador for Irish music, having been world president of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann. The sessions are held in typically relaxed style.