Steak And Ale mazurka

Forgive me for my sins. I’m still working on wedding marches and this just came out of nowhere. It reminds me of song sessions in England and Eire, but especially in England, and ‘early dance’, you know, the Playford sort. I’ve been neglecting that, but probably much to my wife’s and other’s joy. I love singing, but that doesn’t mean anyone else wants to hear it. I have had the pleasure of singing with some damn fine singers though who were kind enough not to turn my joy off or be too rude about any attempt I used to make at harmony. I did study sean nos too, but that’s not the same as doing it justice.

This reminds me of those singing sessions, almost begging for words, but I wouldn’t doubt that it has close ties to one of those songs. The first thing that came to mind was "That’s a very English tune." So initially I called it "A Very English Mazurka". I like that though, nothing bad meant by that, but a tune that is simple, repetitive, welcoming and having some element of joy and humour about it, a bit of Yorkshire in it maybe? ~ or Lancashire?

I think this would work well as a teaching aid, to get the strong 1 & 3 beats going in each measure. Part A & B both share the same last four bars, bars 5 - 8, but as usual I’ve given some slight variations where there are repeats.

It’s crazy, but I’ve been dancing to it and it just seems so ‘English’ to me. I’m sure there may be some ‘Irish’ jingo out there to say "That’s inappropriate to TheSesh!" ~ like a certain lovely Japanese gentleman I only know digitally, but appreciate despite the occassional embarrassment of having him with his foot-in-mouth. I am glad I’m not the only one that gets caught out that way. I don’t particularly like the taste of toe, give me sweet and sour dog anyday…

;-P

M: 3/4
L: 1/8
R: varsovienne
K: G Major
|: B>A G2 G2 | B>A G2 d2 | B>d g2 (3fgf | d2 D4 |
g>d B2 B2 | c>G e2 c2 | (3ded g2 f2 | g2 G4 :|
|: f>e d2 g2 | f>e d2 A2 | f>e d2 c2 | A2 d4 |
g>d (3Bcd B>d |c>A e2 c2 | d2. g2. f2. | g2 G4 :|