Zooming into The Young Folk Club

Wednesday 1st of June 2022

English Dance and Song Summer 2022

This article appears in English Dance and Song, the magazine of the English Folk Dance and Song Society. The world’s oldest magazine for folk music and dance, EDS was first published in 1936 and is essential reading for anyone with a passion for folk arts. 

Rowan Collinson, Danny Marshall and Elye Cuthbertson of the English Folk Dance and Song Society’s Youth Forum talk about how they are connecting online with more of their peers.

The Young Folk Club aims to create a safe, welcoming space for young people to share and enjoy folk music together; to provide opportunities to connect and make friends; to appeal to a wide range of young people, including those new to folk music; and to cater for interests in playing, listening, performing and other areas of the folk arts.

We host regular free online events, run by young people for young people – with practical support and funding from the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS). We also invite guest artists to share their music and talk about themselves. 

The Young Folk Club moved online due to the pandemic and we’ve decided to remain on Zoom, as there are many benefits – we can reach young people across the country and beyond
and it’s also more accessible for people who might find in-person events challenging.

As members of the EFDSS Youth Forum, we set up The Young Folk Club to address several concerns:

  • Young people who like folk music are often isolated, particularly if they don’t have local youth folk provision.
  • Folk clubs aren’t always perceived to be welcoming to young people – as was demonstrated in a 2019 survey by EFDSS and Folk 21.
  • Not many young people attend folk gigs.
  • People aged 14 to 21 are often too old for children’s activities, but too young for adult opportunities.

We follow four main strands:

  • Listening club, where sharing tracks with each other is a great way to discover new music and sparks discussions and interactions.
  • Tunes sessions, where we take turns to share tunes, as a taste of what a live session is like. People can practice and experiment without pressure but in a communal environment.
  • Open mic, where we share performances in a safe and supportive atmosphere.
  • Themed events, which are masterclasses from folk practitioners focusing on a specific folk art such as playing, dancing, singing, art, storytelling and seasonal themes.

Guest artists have included Laura-Beth Salter, Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne and Archie Churchill-Moss.

We make great efforts to make the events as accessible and inclusive as we can by making them free and by taking careful safeguarding precautions. 

In addition to the events, we’ve been building online resources. We’ve made playlists of our participants’ shared tracks, which anyone can find at open.spotify.com/user/cecilsharphouse.

We’ve also created a shared repertoire for participants, with a tune book of 56 session tunes, including different clefs and transpositions, to which we are planning to add audio recordings.

We welcome everyone aged 14 to 21, and we can’t wait to meet you. For more information, visit efdss.org/the-young-folk-club