Greenshoots

Welcome to Greenshoots Music Group

What Are We?

We are a small, amateur, music practice group, with origins in the folk tradition, but playing a wider range of music.

Where, When and How?

Greenshoots meets in the back room at the Red Lion at Whittleford near Cambridge (UK!) on alternate Monday evenings, from 8pm to 10:30. For location information and a map see here.

New players are always welcomed! Cost is zero! Contact details are at the bottom of the page.

What Instruments Do We Play?

Currently the group wields (mainly) two concertinas (one Anglo and one English), one accordion, three fiddles, two guitars, one bass guitar, one mandolin, two flutes, recorder, etc.

What Music Do We Play?

Over the years we have built up a large list of tunes to which we have the music. Most are folk music, particularly folk dance tunes. However there are many exceptions ranging from Nellie the Elephant and Lily Marlene, to American Patrol and Ashokan farewell. Here is a list of some tunes we have played. The majority are single line melodies with chord accompaniement, but we are increasing our use of harmony settings (mainly 2-part). Many of the tunes are now available in Paul Hardy's session tunebook, which is free as PDF to download and print, and also in abc format to play and manipulate.

What Is The Standard?

Variable! We are a mix of abilities and experience, but are all better than when we joined. We start new tunes *very* slowly, and then speed up gradually. We are not afraid of stopping and practicing difficult bits several times.

How Is It Organised?

We are a self-help group, with no single boss (a benevolent oligarchy?). Paul is the usual leader when he's there, predominantly because his concertina can be heard! Chris is the musical director. Mike handles the finances and Rose holds the master copies of our music.

Do We Perform in Public?

Rarely! We exist to play for our own pleasure, and to improve our playing. However, we normally do a carol session for charity each year before Christmas, and a couple of half hour spots at local folk events during the year.

Performing at the Red Lion folk day in July 2002
(We normally look happier than this - we are concentrating too hard!)

Current Music Session Contents

Sessions in 2008 are currently letting people choose tunes to practice on the evening, by going round the room to give everyone a chance to choose one they like (or dislike but want to practice!).

Previous Music Session Content

Sessions in 2007 were working through the alphabet:

Some previous programmes are available:

Other Info

Contacts

Webmaster: Paul Hardy, 15 Kentings, Comberton, CAMBRIDGE, CB23 7DT.
email paul at paulhardy dot net.
Secretary: Mike Rawlings  

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