Hello everyone, hello September and welcome to another SDFS ‘at home' session.
With our usual haunts and gatherings closed to us we must continue to
sit tight ‘at home’ until we find other places safe enough to gather together
to sing. Unfortunately, nothing yet considered meets this safety requirement.
Socially distanced small groups and the open air are known to be safer than
crowds and indoors, so to keep such options open as the evenings darken and
for whenever the risk levels and rules allow (hopefully before next Spring) we
may need to consider a temporary move to meeting in the daytime, possibly at a
weekend, and to meeting in small groups. No solution to this frustrating and
worrying situation will be easy or convenient to all, but above anything else
it must be SAFE. (If you have any comments or ideas to add to this discussion
– or if you’d like to host a Zoom session as an alternative interim option –
do let us know by emailing to the SDFS address.)
For now, here are some songs to choose from and enjoy for September.
Country Life always makes for a cheery start and describes the cycle of the seasons. Then,
with the prematurely autumnal weather we’ve had in mind, a few songs for their
various references to stormy winds ands gales! On Sussex Hills, Where
Stormy Winds Do Blow, Song Of The Sussex Downsman.
Life of a Man describes the falling leaves and The Brisk Young Ploughboy, All Among
the Barley and Tommie speak of other seasonal changes and harvests.
The Stedham Oysterman's Donkey is the tale of one man's effort to gather his crop
– perhaps needing a Gooch's Beer and an Ale Glorious Ale at the end of
it!
Two more old favourites to cheer us, Rolling in the Dew and
Green Grow The Laurel, finishing again with Thousands or More.
(Our Burpham sessions CD and this website can again provide help and company for
your singing. Many thanks again to Tina for her recordings supplied with the
Lewes group notices, and to Keith for the extensive collection he
has assembled on the New Songs and Lyrics and Recordings pages.)
Henny
Welcome to our website for singers who want to learn and sing traditional and new South Downs folk songs, sung in the traditional way. "Put another barrel on, landlord, and pull a pint for me! The ale here in Sussex is the best we all agree!"
Monday, 31 August 2020
Monday, 17 August 2020
Lewes Virtual Session – Tuesday 18th August 2020
Hello again singers in Lewes (or wherever you may be). Hope you’re well and
surviving the heatwave/storms as well as the overall situation. Still
no clear idea of when pubs may be fully open again, so we are still
“virtual” and these are my suggested songs for this month. I will send
something round separately about trying out an additional Zoom session.
As usual, some old songs, some newer, with recordings of starting notes,
first verse and chorus, and some harmonies here.
Tina
- To warm up let’s start with the well-known West Sussex Drinking Song and A Smuggler’s Song.
- A couple of fun extras next – the 15th century Sussex round Sing You Now After Me and the distinctly un-Sussex Finnish reindeer yoik song Ole Leloila. We learned these to sing with other groups at the Southdowns Folk Festival Big Sing in 2019 (sigh, we hope to return there in 2021) and they are useful pieces for warming up and to encourage singing out and blending voices together. Both songs are recorded in full as they don’t really have “verses”.
- Two of our more reflective songs follow – Kipling’s My Boy Jack (again the whole song is here) and Old Adam (first verse and the last verse which is slightly different from the others).
- To round off our first half, two songs about nature – apple scrumping with Tommie and the many uses of Oak, Ash and Thorn.
- Welcoming you back from your virtual drinks and comfort break, we kick off again with the working lives of the jolly Turmut Hoer and the blacksmith in Twanky Dillo.
- Two love songs next – the suggestive Three Maidens (with its “bird in the bush”) and the more sedate Sussex Wedding Song (where once again they are married the very next day!).
- We will finish with old favourites Thousands Or More and Pleasant and Delightful (see previous sessions for recordings including harmonies).
Tina
Monday, 3 August 2020
Worthing Local Group “At Home” Session – Wednesday 5th August 2020
Hello! Below is another set of songs suggested for you to enjoy at home at
this month’s session – and for the time being this will continue to be
the way we manage our monthly ‘meetings’.
The heightened risks of singing in the company of others have been well documented and are still being researched. The SDFS committee, group leads and some singers have shared thoughts and ideas about this, with general concern, frustration and sadness about the difficulties we face in wanting to sing together in person outside our household ‘bubbles’. In conclusion, at this time, we can find no way sufficiently safe for us to resume our usual get togethers to sing. Sad as that is, the safety and health of us all remains the priority, so for the immediate future we will bide our time and continue to monitor the research and guidelines in the hope of safer times ahead. In the meantime we’ll keep in touch through our website at least, maintain our songs at home to keep them fresh, and keep our strong South Downs spirits up!
(There have been some inquiries about using ZOOM for our sessions. Although difficulties and frustrations with this approach have been reported, it is nonetheless a way to see each other which can add to the fun! So if there are any Zoom fans out there who want to host an ‘at home’ session for smallish clusters of singers, do have a go if you’d like to. Maybe you have already? Drop me a line (on the SDFS email) if you’re interested in taking this on or if you’re already doing so.)
Songs suggested for this August session – plus any others in addition or instead, as your mood and fancy take you! (Any requests for September please let me know...) The high summer months, the beauty of the Sussex landscape, fond memories of our visits to sing at Kipling’s home “Bateman’s”, and Mr. Belloc’s 150th birthday recently, have all influenced this selection....
Let’s start with an old favourite (!) – Twanky Dillo – from the smithhy’s workshop to mark the hottest day of the year so far last Friday.
Then Rudyard Kipling’s Oak, Ash and Thorn, celebrating the richness of our woodlands, and his The Bee-Boy’s Song to remind us of the ever-busy bees buzzing in the undergrowth and canopy.
Summer garden blooms and crops feature in Valiants All, and The Turnip Hoer.
Memories of Bateman’s bring memories of My Boy Jack in honour of Kipling’s son and others lost to us.
Home Lads Home is also sad in mood but soothed by images and evocation of the southern English landscape in late summer.
Sussex is vividly described in Song of the Sussex Downsman and The Run of the Downs, and although a month or two behind Rosebuds in June is never out of date for this season.
Mr. Belloc gives us his perspective on the joys of Sussex with the good old West Sussex Drinking Song and On Sussex Hills.
Last but not least, Sussex’s Copper family favourite, Thousands or More, to once again count our blessings and end on a positive note.
Gollier!
Henny
The heightened risks of singing in the company of others have been well documented and are still being researched. The SDFS committee, group leads and some singers have shared thoughts and ideas about this, with general concern, frustration and sadness about the difficulties we face in wanting to sing together in person outside our household ‘bubbles’. In conclusion, at this time, we can find no way sufficiently safe for us to resume our usual get togethers to sing. Sad as that is, the safety and health of us all remains the priority, so for the immediate future we will bide our time and continue to monitor the research and guidelines in the hope of safer times ahead. In the meantime we’ll keep in touch through our website at least, maintain our songs at home to keep them fresh, and keep our strong South Downs spirits up!
(There have been some inquiries about using ZOOM for our sessions. Although difficulties and frustrations with this approach have been reported, it is nonetheless a way to see each other which can add to the fun! So if there are any Zoom fans out there who want to host an ‘at home’ session for smallish clusters of singers, do have a go if you’d like to. Maybe you have already? Drop me a line (on the SDFS email) if you’re interested in taking this on or if you’re already doing so.)
Songs suggested for this August session – plus any others in addition or instead, as your mood and fancy take you! (Any requests for September please let me know...) The high summer months, the beauty of the Sussex landscape, fond memories of our visits to sing at Kipling’s home “Bateman’s”, and Mr. Belloc’s 150th birthday recently, have all influenced this selection....
Let’s start with an old favourite (!) – Twanky Dillo – from the smithhy’s workshop to mark the hottest day of the year so far last Friday.
Then Rudyard Kipling’s Oak, Ash and Thorn, celebrating the richness of our woodlands, and his The Bee-Boy’s Song to remind us of the ever-busy bees buzzing in the undergrowth and canopy.
Summer garden blooms and crops feature in Valiants All, and The Turnip Hoer.
Memories of Bateman’s bring memories of My Boy Jack in honour of Kipling’s son and others lost to us.
Home Lads Home is also sad in mood but soothed by images and evocation of the southern English landscape in late summer.
Sussex is vividly described in Song of the Sussex Downsman and The Run of the Downs, and although a month or two behind Rosebuds in June is never out of date for this season.
Mr. Belloc gives us his perspective on the joys of Sussex with the good old West Sussex Drinking Song and On Sussex Hills.
Last but not least, Sussex’s Copper family favourite, Thousands or More, to once again count our blessings and end on a positive note.
Gollier!
Henny
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