What are the one hundred best session tunes? Ask a group of traditional musicians that question and you will provoke a great deal of thought, and, of course, end up with a completely different answer from each one.
 
There is such an amazing wealth and variety of tunes out there, constantly shifting as they pass from person to person, medium to medium; song tunes, dance tunes, marches, polkas, waltzes, love songs, ancient tunes, dirges, made up tunes, sad tunes...
 
Nick Barber has been part of traditional English music sessions up and down the country for many years. Recently he has been spotted playing melodeon, horn and recorder a bit less and asking about tunes a bit more. His copious scribbled notes have resulted in this tune book.
 
The tunes are accurately transcribed, referring to original sources wherever possible. Also included is information about each tune, with Nick’s choice of chords suitable for squeezebox and guitar players alike.
 
If you’d like to join in with the delights of sharing tunes with others in an English session, this book is a good reference point. Every tune is a gem, tried and tested not just by Nick on melodeon and his wife Mary on fiddle, but by generations of players who, over the years, have made the tunes what they are.
 
All the tunes in this book can be heard on two optional CDs, Bonny Kate (DMPCD0203) and Lovely Nancy (DMPCD0204).
 
Contents
 
Alexandra Park
All in a Garden Green
Anything for John Joe
Aye Me
Battle of Prague
Bear Dance
Beatrice Hill’s Three-Handed Reel
Bill Hall’s No. 1
Bill Hall’s No. 2
Black Nag
Bonny Kate
Captain Lanoe’s Quick March
Centenary March
Dark Girl Dressed in Blue
Doctor Fausters’ Tumblers
Dusty Miller, The
Enrico
Fair Jenny
Foul Weather Call
Four Seasons
From Night Till Morn
Ganglat fran Appelbo
Ganivelle
Gloucestershire Hornpipe
Grandfather’s Tune
Green Mountain Petronella
Gypsies’ Hornpipe
Harper’s Frolick
Herbert the Sherbert
Horses Brawl
Hunt the Squirrel
Iron Legs
Jamaic
Jeannet and Jeannot
Just as the Tide Was Flowing
Kerry Mills Barn Dance
Kershaws
King’s Polka
Last of June
Le Canal en Octobre
Lemmie Brazil’s No. 2
Lodge Roa
London Schottische
Long Odds
Lovely Nancy
Mad Moll of the Cheshire Hunts
March des Cabrettaires
Michael Turner’s Jig
Michael Turner’s Waltz
Midnight on the Water
Miss Richards’ Hornpipe
Mundess
Nipper
Old Lancashire Reel
Once I Loved a Maiden Fair
One More Dance and Then
Oscar Woods' Jig
Oscar Woods’ Polka
Pepper in the Brandy
Plane Tree, The
Portobello
Prince William
Quarter Brawl
Recovery
Redowa Polka
Rochdale Coconut Dance
Rogues’ March
Rufty Tufty
Scan Tester’s Polka No. 1
Scan Tester’s Polka No. 2
Schottis fran Idre
Serpentiner och Konfetti
Seven Stars
Sir Sidney Smith’s March
Sloe, The
Sonny Brogan’s Mazurka
Spaniard, The
Spirit of the Dance
Sportsman’s Hornpipe
Staffordshire Hornpipe
Steamboat Hornpipe
Sun Assembly
Swiss Boy
Centenary March
Three Around Three
Three Rusty Swords
Tip Top Polka
Varsoviana
Wals voor Polle
Walter Bulwer’s Polka No. 1
Walter Bulwer’s Polka No. 2
Waterloo Dance
Weavers’ March
When Daylight Shines
Will You Patch My Pants for Me?
Worcestershire Hornpipe
Young May Moon