As a consequence of the Bal Minuscule having moved to Fourth Sunday afte rnoons and going monthly, which was our usual slot, Bal Minuscule has invit ed EuroPlus to merge in with them. Bal Minuscule meets starting at 2P M on fourth Sundays at the Isis Farmhouse https://www.theisisfarmhouse.co.uk/ . It's a wonderful place; you can get there by bicycle or walking on the Thames P ath, or starting from Donnington Bridge or the Iffley Locks. Though B al Minuscule starts at 2PM, the first hour are dance lessons, and for that they prefer to just have the "regular" musicians playing. Lessons end at about 3PM, and then others can join in to play.
This is not exact ly a "session," and somewhat less free-for-all than we have been running Eu roPlus, but apart from the repertoire, it's not really that different. ; The main ground rule is that the music has to be something that has a dan ce that goes with it. The repertoire tends towards French and French- adjacent (think Blowzabelle, Andy Cutting) stuff, but the danceable music o verlaps with a lot of what EuroPlus, and for that matter Slow Session, play -- waltz (both French and Scandi), schottisch, polska, mazurka, bourrée , and polka. We all know Motorway Mazurka, right? You don't hear much S cottish tunes at Bal Minuscule, but these days we have the terrific White H art Scottish session for that.
This is a great chance to play a long with some really fine musicians. The standard they set for playi ng is very high (maybe even a bit intinidating) but it's a friendly bunch, and while picking up the repertoire, you can always just play softly. Also, these guys know a whole lot of tunes, so chances are that if you sta rt a tune you know, they'll know it, too.
To subscribe to
the mailing list for this session, send email to
Any acou stic instrument is welcome A lot of players just learn the tunes by s howing up and learning from each other, but there is a growing tunebook you can get at by following the link on revontul i.uk, for those who prefer the dots.
For questions, more in
formation, or suggestions for additions to the tunebook, contact Ray Pierre
humbert at l