We Found an Event for Young Trad Musicians ...

We picked this competition up at a trad music conference not long ago.  You'll have to be quick, but this is certainly worth a look if you're a trad musician under the age of 24!  It's promoted by St Albans folk music with support from Hertfordshire Folk Association.
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New Roots - An event for young musicians

"This annual event is for young performers of all styles of traditional or contemporary folk, roots or world music, whether you play traditional material or write your own. Categories are under 18 and 18-24."

Interested? We thought you might be!  Follow this link.

Library and Archive News from Friends at the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library

Trad musicians, do you subscribe to the newsletter from the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library at Cecil Sharp House in London?  We think you'd enjoy it!

Take a look at the latest online news.  And note, there's a broadside ballad day at the University of Strathclyde coming up in February 2019!

LIBRARY AND ARCHIVE NEWS from the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library.

Traditional Music Repertoire - A Question!

Are you a trad musician?  Here's a question for you:-

What goes through your mind as you choose tunes?

It's not a trick question - I'm just curious to know what kind of thing you're looking for, and what you're thinking about.

For example, if you're looking for songs, my trad muso friends tell me they're looking for poignant tales, strong women, difficult subject matter.  A good story, 'stark visual imagery' and strong emotions.  Even murder!

So that tells me the theme of the song is very important to you - which makes sense, especially if you're planning the programme for a gig. 

Looking for old dialect words in songs can help you work out where they might have originated, if the book itself doesn't give anything away.  (That's a helpful hint from one of our contacts!)

What about fiddle tunes?  Obviously the tunes are all-important,but I guess also a quirky title, maybe one that suggests the song's origins, might also catch your attention.  What about the key, or other features? 

If you're browsing a pile of song or tune-books, do you approach new or older collections differently?  What are you thinking about when you look at an early 20th century book? 19th century collection?  An 18th century one?  I'm going to be talking to our trad Scottish musicians about historic songbooks this week, and I'm really keen to know what people look for.  I can tell you what goes through my mind, but I'm starting from a slightly different place, so it would be informative to know how other people approach the books I've come to love so much.

 Tweet me @karenmca if you'd like to share your approach to repertoire selection.

Thank you!

British and Irish trad music online (the Peter Kennedy collection)

 British Library Sounds

Read about some of the unique, historic recordings collected by song-collector Peter Kennedy - they're now accessible online through the British Library.

Music in the British Library Blog - blogpost on the Peter Kennedy collection.

"28 January 2013

British and Irish traditional music online

150 hours of audio and almost 100 photographs from the Peter Kennedy Collection have been made available this week via the British Library Sounds website..."