Workshop Information

Recently, we have been trialling running a short tune-learning workshop at the beginning of each session. This involves spending 30-40 minutes learning a new tune by ear. The idea is to increase the confidence of the sessioners for playing tunes by ear and relying less on the music. After we have learned a tune, we will post notes about the tune we learned here.

The tunes here should all be shown as scores. If they're not then it could be your browser doesn't support the library used to draw the music. You can probably see the ABC notation used to generate the music. I'm trying to add PDFs to all the music so you can download that to see the score. Alternatively, use a new browser!

Select a date below:


2012.02.10 - Waiting for the Federals (American Reel)

This tune is also an old-time American tune that's made its way over to the Celtric repertoire. It's also known as the Seneca Square Dance and is associated with contra dances. As with the Pig's Foot, it's often written as a reel or a polka, it should be played in an old-timey way which is more like a polka but a bit more relaxed.

A great recording can be found by Aly Bain and Phil Cunningham (on a few of their albums) which starts very slowly, like an air, and then moves to be played much faster, like you'd hear at a session.

It's often played at Celtic sessions after the Pig's Foot, which is why we've taught it this month.


X:1
T:Waiting for the Federals
R:American Reel
L:1/8
K:G
"G"B4B2AB|d2B2BAG2|B4d3B|"D"ABAGE2G2|
"G"B4B2AB|d2B2BAG2|"C"ABAG"D"E2F2|"G"G4G4:|:
"G"g4gage|d2B2BAG2|"Em"g4gfga|"D"be2fe2f2|
"G"gabag2e2|d3ABAG2|"C"ABAG"D"E2DF|"G"G4G4:|

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