Learning Resources

Six Folk Arrangements for Youth Ensembles

by Laurel Swift

This resource contains arrangements of six traditional English folk tunes that were created for use on the English Folk Dance and Song Society’s youth programme, from 2012 to 2015.  This includes the Get Your Folk On! holiday courses and London Youth Folk Ensemble, funded by the National Foundation for Youth Music. 

These arrangements have a traditional melody, with a composed harmony, bass line and suggested chords. They were arranged by Laurel Swift, or Laurel Swift and David Delarre. Each arrangement has been created to be taught by ear to a group of young musicians of mixed ability and instruments.  Ideas for developing each arrangement into a performance piece are also included in this resource.

At the end of the resource, there are some suggested exercises to use with youth folk ensembles to develop understanding and skills in playing folk music and playing as a group.

Accompanying recordings of the arrangements are available using the tab above.

Thanks to our musicians, Laurel Swift (fiddle and double bass), Nick Hart (melodeon), Esbjörn Wettermark (clarinet) and David Delarre (guitar).