fiddle and traditional music lessons

Please join our online zoom classes and sessions - all welcome - distance no object!

Free complimentary trial class and session to check if it is suitable for you - e mail Jill for the zoom link

Fee £10 per week for any/all classes and sessions - only pay if you attend

Classes - learn tunes and how to play them with rhythm and phrasing - open to all melody instruments, accompanists and percussion - so not just fiddle !!

Sessions - zoom in to the various sessions to play through the "Highly Strung Community Band" repertoire which includes English, Irish and Scottish tunes, plus an Irish tunes session. All welcome.

Morning Assembly - Free for anyone to attend -Tuesday and Thursday 9.10 am - 9.30am - play tunes from our 2021 list click here for timetable Non musicians are welcome to enjoy the company and the music. It's a great way to start the day!

Scroll down this page for the timetable.

Please email Jill jillyelliot@gmail.com for the single zoom code that you will always use for all classes and sessions. Simply click on the link I send you, follow the on screen instructions - and contact me (preferably before the class or session has started!) if you have any difficulty logging, on as I can invite you directly from the class or session via email.

Click here to visit the Tunes A-Z Index for recordings and visual aids

All classes and sessions are suitable for melody instrument and accompanists. Percussion instruments are welcome too.

You will be muted so you will only hear yourself and the solo fiddle or a recording of the band - so an opportunity to be free and more confident with your playing and inventive with harmony and variations. You will not be heard by other participants and they won't hear you playing - unmute to ask a question! You will quickly get to know the others in the group - there is always laughter!

Music is It is something you hear, feel, interpret and reproduce yourself on your instrument in your own unique way. Music is not something you read in order to play. All classes and sessions are suitable for anyone whether you can read "dots" or prefer to/wish to learn by ear. Learning by ear is the preferred method of learning a tune, but if you want to learn to read "music" you can do this too! - these are both valuable skills.

Classes

In the classes we learn tunes in the traditional manner by ear, phrase by phrase. This is by far the best way for a tune to stick in your head and you will start to appreciate your instrument and music in a different way. 25 years listening to the experiences of many people confirms this!

Classes for English, Scottish and Irish tune-learning are on Tuesday morning 9.30am, Wednesday evening at 7pm and Thursday morning at 9.30am. These are the tunes that will be included in the Highly Strung repertoire for 2021.

There are classes for learning Irish tunes on Tuesday evening at 7pm and Thursday morning at 11am.

See the timetables for each group from the links in the column with the dark green background down the left of your screen.

Sessions

In the sessions each person in turn asks for a tune or set of tunes with the aim of getting a lot of playing into the hour.

The Tuesday morning session at 10.45 will include tunes listed below in the current tune set list.

Tuesday evening Irish session at 8.15pm and the Wednesday evening "slow and steady" session at 8.15pm have their own specific selection of tunes, regularly updated - email Jill for the latest list.

Visual aids and recordings are provided in the A-Z index for all these tunes. Readers can join in immediately using the dots provided, with the advantage of playing along with the band to get the correct rhythm and feel. Non-readers can listen to the recordings and pick tunes up by ear - or come to a class to learn them.

Email Jill - jillyelliot@gmail.com 07515 904 707

Timetable of Zoom Classes and Sessions

There is just one zoom code which is used for every class and session. Email Jill for the link and save it so you can easily find it later. You can join without video if you prefer to be private, and when we are playing, participants will be muted. Jill will lead the tunes in the sessions on solo fiddle or together with a recording from the Perfect Cure Band. The fee is £10 per week regardless of the number of times you log in. If you wish to come to just one of the tune "session" and nothing else, it is £5. Payment is via bank transfer or Paypal. The morning assembly is free - log on from 9am to play from 9.10am - 9.30am.

Tuesday Morning Assembly - open from 9.00am and play from 9.10am-9.30am

Tuesday Morning Class moderate pace 9.30am-10.30am

Tuesday Morning Session 10.45am-11.45am

Tuesday Evening Irish Tunes Class moderate pace 7.00pm-8.00pm

Tuesday Evening Irish Session 8.15pm-9.15pm

Wednesday Evening Steady-Medium pace Class 7.00pm-8.00pm

Wednesday Evening Slow and Steady Session 8.15pm-9.15pm

Thursday Morning Assembly - - open from 9.00am and play from 9.10am-9.30am

Thursday Morning Slow and Steady Class 9.30am-10.30am - fee £10 to include the session

Your linked session is Wednesday Evening Session 8.15pm-9.15pm

Thursday Morning Irish Class moderate pace

Your linked session of Irish tunes is the Tuesday Evening Session 8.15pm-9.15pm

Thursday Evening Complete Beginners Class on Violin (Fiddle) - fee £10

If you are considering taking up the violin here's some helpful tips and have a go at the beginners tunes

This is the current "Highly Strung Community Band" tune set list. These tunes will be used in the morning assembly and form the basis of some of the classes and sessions. The tunes are in "sets". For example, 1st tune A Starry Night, 2nd tune Oyster Girl, 3rd tune Perfect Cure. See the A-Z tunes index for recordings and visual aids.

A Starry Night D	Oyster Girl G	Perfect Cure D
All in a Garden Green G	(and harmony)
An Comhra Don D	Green Castle G	Joe Bane's Schottishe A
Aunty Mary's Canadian Barndance D	Cotillion Des Dames G/D	Danse de Chez Nous G
Galop Hey D/D/G (48)	Redowa Polka G (48)
Galopede G	Petronella D
Hogmanay Jig G	Gobbie O (The) am	Stool of Repentance D	Biddy the Bowl Wife G
Jig of Slurs D/D/G e (64)	Athole Highlanders A (64)
Kelso Accordion and Fiddle Club G	Auld Brig O' Kelso A	Crown Point Cottage D
Le Tourment G	Maison de Glaces D	Early in the Year A
McHugh's G	House in the Glen D	Legacy G
Morgan Rattler D	Paddy Carey's G
Ned O'Connor Em	Prowling Fox D	Captain Bing G
Old Morpeth Rant G	Morpeth Rant D	Hesleyside Reel A
Out on the Ocean G	Plane Tree em	Rose in the Heather D
Pride of Petravore Em	Far From Home G	Minstrel's Fancy D
Stow Quickstep D	High Caul Cap D
Three Sea Captains G	Lady Mary Douglas D	News of the Victory G
Tich's Reel G	Pearl Wedding D	Nancy Taylor's Reel G
Woodland Flowers G	Uncle's Jig G