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!

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2013.04.12 - Laride ("Gavotte") (Laride a six temps)

A change of country for today's tunes. We're heading over to France and introducing some Breton tunes. The first is a Laride in six - that is, there are 6 beats in the dance.

The Laride dance is a very simple arm swinging dance. For a Laride in six, you join hands in a circle and swing your bent arms back and forth twice, then once down. When you swing your arms down you step to your left. That's it. A Laride in eight you swing your arms down twice. Simple.

This tune is loosely associated with the Irish repertoire because the band Lunasa recorded this on their self-titled album (the first track after the Lord Mayo March). They called it Gavotte (hence the title in quotes) but it's not - it's a Laride.

The second tune isn't actually Breton but it's Breton-style. It was written by a local musician, Richard Wirdnam, and can be danced as a Laride in eight. Richard uses it in ceilidhs for a serpent dance. You can see Richard in his band Celtic Confusion playing the tune below.


X: 1
T: Laride ("Gavotte")
R: Laride a six temps
M: 12/8
L: 1/8
K: Ador
|: AEAB c2 LBc dc Az | AEAB c2 LBc dc Az :|
| ecA ecA Lc2 Bcdz | ecA ecA Lc2 BcAz :|

X: 1
T: Estampie
R: Laride a huit temps
C: Richard Wirdnam
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Ador
A3 B c2 d2 | c2 B2 A2 G2 | A3 B c2 d2 | c2 B2 A2 z2 |
A3 B c2 d2 | c2 B2 A2 Bc | d2 d2 c2 B2 | A2 G2 A2 z2 :|
K:Ddor
M:4/4
d3 d e2 d2 | c2 A2 B2 c2 | d3 d e2 d2 | c2 A2 B2 z2 |
d3 d e2 d2 | c2 A2 B2 Bc | d2 d2 c2 B2 | A2 G2 A2 z2 :|

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