The CD accompanies the book

Only 14 notes are required to play all 404 tunes. Ideal for all traditional musicians.

The 404 tunes presented in the above four books represent the core repertoire played in English pub sessions. Each book has its own theme and identity as described by the title. Together they form a wonderful reference work, bringing the most popular tunes to your fingertips.

The tunes are suitable for every instrument associated with traditional music, and only 14 notes are required to play them all. They are eminently suitable for playing at country dances, ceilidhs, barn dances and hoe-downs and most have been recorded by notable bands and personalities.

To facilitate musicians identifying repertoire suitable for their current personal ability, the tunes in each book are presented in order of difficulty, and start and finish progressively harder throughout the series, in the order listed.

Introduction to the series

Because most traditional airs only require the fourteen notes D, E, F sharp, G, A, B, C, C sharp, D, E, F sharp, G, A and B, I decided it would be a good idea to continue the theme, meaning all the tunes can be played in the first position on the top three strings of the fiddle, all the notes are in the range of the wooden flute and tin whistle and all the music is within the scope of the D/G melodeon without accidentals.

Chord arrangements are more or less as played on the soundtrack, but nevertheless, are only suggestions. The dominant chords (i.e. D in the key of G, A in the key of D and E in the key of A etc.) throughout these books are noted as plain major chords, whereas many musicians prefer to play the seventh (D7, A7, E7 etc.). Feel free to play either type of chord as the mood takes you.

You’ll notice many of the tunes are not English. It’s the pubs, sessions, folk festivals, ceilidhs etc. that are English. In, what might be termed, a general English session, melodies from Northumberland, Ireland, Scotland, America, France and Scandinavia are to be heard alongside English airs, which tend to be associated with the more southern regions of the country

Hundreds of personalities, records, bands, books and sessions have, unknowingly, made tiny, almost imperceptible contributions to the settings and choice of the tunes found in these books (some of the more influential are listed below). They have also been moulded further by the limitations of my instrument, the D/G melodeon, and, of course, the fourteen note rule. All the settings are my own versions and every tune has, to a greater or lesser degree, my own personal stamp on it. But, I’m sure you’ll find all the tunes ‘session friendly’, you can learn them exactly as written and have a perfectly acceptable version. However, I consider it unwise to learn a tune from only one source and I would suggest strongly that, when learning a new tune, you pay heed to other books, recordings and live performances.

Take a look at The Eighth of January, it’s been given the ‘Mally treatment’ in a big way. Several tunes, usually played in A, have been dropped to G for the benefit of D/G melodeon players such as myself. They are: The Devil Among the Taylors, The Mason’s Apron, The Stool of Repentance, Babes in the Wood, The Pet of the Pipers, The Breakdown and Rory O’More. The Flop Eared Mule has been changed from D and A to G and D. Miss McLeod’s Reel is often played in A but G is the usual key for the Irish version given here. Madam Bonaparte is often played in A, but of course, the G setting is given here. Goodbye Girls, I’m Going to Boston has had the reverse treatment, I have moved it from the usual key of G to A because F natural is not allowed. The Fiery Clock Face was originally a G melody with an F natural but it has become so popular in sessions that it is now standard practice to play it in the melodeon friendly key of D. Elsie Marley has been moved to D for a similar reason. The normal key for The Munster Cloak is D, meaning the disallowed note of low C sharp occurs, but it works perfectly well in G. The third part of Horses’ Brawl should be played in G minor, rather than the major setting found here and, in my experience, always is; if your instrument allows, I would advise you to play all Fs natural and all Bs flat in the third part. The last note of bar 3 in the second part of Sir Sydney Smith’s March should be F natural, I have to substitute the C because my instrument doesn’t have this note, if you’ve the F natural, I would advise you to use it if you can. In Dorset Four Hand Reel No. 2, second note penultimate bar, is usually G sharp but here an E is substituted. The second part of Beatrice Hill’s Three Handed Reel is often played in the lower octave, of course it is shown here in the higher octave to avoid the disqualified low C sharp. For a similar reason the second part of Turkey in the Straw is written out an octave lower than usual. The low C sharp is often played in bar 3 of Teahan’s Polka; the E crotchet would be a dotted quaver followed by a C sharp semiquaver. In this setting it is omitted to keep within the rules. The more observant will have spotted this low C sharp in The Curly Headed Ploughboy, an oversight on my part. In the second bar, part two, of Durham Rangers, it is more usual to run down to the A note an octave lower than in this setting. The five notes preceding the A would change to F sharp, E, D, C sharp and B. Auld Lang Syne is hardly a session tune but make sure you know it, you’ll need to play it sooner or later. Exclude it from your repertoire at your peril.

English Country Dance Tunes English Pub Session Series : Dave Mallinson