Introduction to playing folk music: working with intermediate and advanced players new to folk music

Written by Rob Harbron

In January 2016, Miranda Rutter and Rob Harbron spent four sessions working with the Reading String Orchestra – the senior string ensemble of Berkshire Maestros, the Berkshire Music Hub. In addition to Rob and Miranda’s experience of playing and teaching folk music, they were also able to draw on their previous experience of working with classical players, as well as personal experiences of classical music training and ensemble playing from their own teenage years.

This pack presents advice on working with musicians not familiar with the folk idiom. It also presents some exercises, and three traditional tunes.

Hopefully this resource pack will be helpful to folk musicians who have the opportunity to work with intermediate and advanced players with no previous experience of folk music.

Audio recordings of all the tunes and exercises presented in this resource are freely available for download from the Audio tab at the top of this window.

In addition to the ideas presented in this pack, Rob and Miranda also devised a musical interpretation of a heritage resource – a threshing machine within the collection of the Museum of English Rural Life. The exercises and processes used are presented in an additional resource which can be found here.

Digital Archive records related to this item

Note that these links take you to the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library website which holds the full archival details of the material. Material on the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library website is not censored or expurgated and may contain material considered offensive by modern standards.

Maps on the Full English site related to this item

Note that these links take you to the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library website which holds the full archival details of the material. Material on the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library website is not censored or expurgated and may contain material considered offensive by modern standards.

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