ON HIATUS
Contact Bev for updates
Hello from the Lancaster Irish Tunes Class and Slow Session! We hold virtual slow Irish sessions and classes using Zoom. Our sessions are an opportunity for you to connect with other musicians face-to-face, and play along at home. Because of the foibles of playing online, you will only be able to hear the person leading the tune (usually me), and not anyone else. Likewise, unless you choose to lead any of the tunes, no one will be able to hear you.
Our zoom sessions are friendly and safe places for you to play along, without any pressure. We intend them to be sociable, supportive and fun, and we love it when new people join us!
If you are a beginner/intermediate Irish musician on any instrument, and would like to join our next session (or be put on my invitation list for subsequent sessions), then contact me – Bev – by email: fluterbev@gmail.com
Our sessions:
Monday Slow Session
Our full two-hour Monday afternoon slow sessions take place every other week between 2.00 – 4.00 PM UK time, and involve us playing tunes together at a slow and steady pace. In advance of each session, I will designate a featured tune which we will aim to play at the session. I will also ask particpants which tunes they would like us to play to ensure everyone gets a chance to play something they know, therefore you should come along prepared to suggest one or two tunes you particularly like. Our tunes list is here, but we can also play tunes that are not on the list.
Featured Tune
Before every full Monday or Saturday slow session I will circulate the written music for a featured tune, plus a short video of me playing the tune for you to learn/play along to. Featured tunes will primarily be ones that I have previously taught at our Irish tunes class in Lancaster, and will be an opportunity for new attendees to learn our popular back-repertoire, and for our longstanding members to revisit our older tunes. We can then play these tunes together at our online slow sessions. You can find all our past featured tunes (which we still play in the session) on our tuition videos page.
Learn a tune!
On alternate Monday afternoons (ie the weeks we are not having a two-hour session) we will meet as usual, but instead of having a full two-hour session I will spend the first hour teaching a new tune. This is an opportunity for us all to increase our class repertoire in a sociable and supportive environment. We will then spend the second hour playing together in a slow and steady manner as usual. Some of the tunes recently taught can be found on our tuition videos page.
Slow session – Saturday edition!
Occasionally we have a Saturday night session. This is the same format as our full Monday afternoon sessions, in that we play tunes together in our usual slow and steady manner. I will circulate a featured tune before the session for you to revise/learn.
These evening sessions go on a bit longer than the Monday ones, from 7.30 pm to 10.00 pm UK time. This is to accommodate people who may prefer to attend earlier or later. You are welcome to come along whatever time you wish, and stay as long or as short a time as you like. You are also encouraged to bring along some liquid refreshment, if you wish! I aim for our Saturday night get-togethers to be as close as we can get to a pub session in these strange days, so there will be plenty of banter as well as tunes.
Our Repertoire
We can play any tune you like, as long as someone can lead it and we can find the music for it. We also play tunes from the list on our slow session website. This list is currently in the process of being updated with ABC cheat sheets/resources, but written music for most tunes can be found on The Session website if you can’t find what you need here. During the session I will always put written music up on the screen, either music I have prepared myself or the nearest equivalent from The Session website.
Of course we can also play whatever you like if you have other suggestions! Solos and songs are welcome too. And of course friendly banter is encouraged :-).
Cost
If you join us, contributions to my Paypal of £5.00 will be gratefully received. This helps me pay for my Vimeo and Zoom subscriptions, and also helps keep my business going: Paypal.me/BevWhelanMusic – OR contact me by email at fluterbev@gmail.com if you would prefer to use atomated bank transfer.
Get Zoom
You can set up your Zoom account (free) and download the Zoom app from this website.
Get in touch
Contact Bev Whelan: fluterbev@gmail.com to sign up for the next session, or if you have any questions.
Bev Whelan's Irish Tunes Class and Slow Session 