Bideford Folk Festival - truly traditional English Folk Tunes at the Joiners Arms

I'd met the cheerful and friendly landlady of the Joiners Arms at the beginning of the week and it was with much anticipation of her hospitality and excellent beer that I set off towards Bideford across the Exmoor National Park last night with my flute to join in an instrumental session of English folk music tunes.

The Joiners Arms has a rustic splendor and wonderful acoustics that makes it ideal for this sort of session. It is situated in the top right hand corner of the Pannier Market, Bideford, a wonderful place to sit on a sunny lunchtime and chat about the important things in the world ... well .... music.

The evening started off quite slowly with less than half a dozen players, mostly melodions and concertinas. Upstairs, away from the bar area, there was a rather sparsely attended 'singaround' with its host looked rather disappointed at the low attendance. Personally, I always like to have an audience for my music apart from the musicians I am playing with. It makes a big difference and the non-performing public in the bar were being very appreciative of us, applauding enthusiastically every set of tunes we played.

Gradually, the number of players grew and soon we were rocking and reeling in a splendid session of English Folk Tunes. I seemed to be the only woodwind instrument but there were three violins at one point, one of them manned by the excellent Rupert of the West Country singing band, Hearts of Oak, unless I'm very much mistaken. There was also a good mouth organ player (harmonica) who added a nice bit of variety.

It's true that not all the tunes were to my taste. Sometimes, English folk tunes seem to me to be over simple and uninteresting. Sometimes they seem to be just a few notes pulled together, designed as a rhythmic beat to accompany traditional folk square dance figures. Squeeze box players love them, though. It's also true that the English folk tradition has a wonderful repertoire of rants, reels and jigs that really can set the pulse racing, especially when played at speed.

Talking about speed, another thing that crops up at English folk tune sessions is that there is often a feeling that the music should be played at dance speed, which usually means a steady, fairly slow beat. Certainly, these tunes were largely designed for dancing but, when played in a session context, I often wonder whether we could have an occasional bit of flexibility in the interests of fun. The 'Morpeth Rant' sounds great when played really fast with its marvelous frolicking chordal sequences. On the other hand, it's also true to say that less experienced musicians often find the slower tunes of English traditional folk music more accessible which we would all want to encourage.

When I left the Joiners Arms at about 11pm, the musicians were still going strong and the packed bar audience was still appreciative.

It was a fun English folk tune session, set in a warm and friendly pub, full of rustic charm, in the ancient port town of Bideford and it has left me with good memories!


Relate Topics:

traditional folk music
traditional English folk music
Bideford, Devon
Bideford Folk
Bideford Folk Festival
Joiners Arms,
Pannier Market
England, UK
Exmoor National Park
instrumental session, woodwind. harmonica, mouth organ, singaround, melodions, concertinas, violins
dance, dance figures, square dance, traditional dance
rants, reels, jigs
.
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