How to use this Resource and Repertoire
How to use this resource
- Teachers and participants are encouraged to use these films as modular resources. There is no pressure to learn all of the sections and films can be chosen to suit each instrumentalist or group of musicians.
- Teachers and participants can pause and repeat sections from the films as much as needed to try out their own musical ideas and take their time learning the material.
- The film resources can be used in tandem with the supporting notes.
- There is a basic score of each tune at the end of the supporting notes as a point of reference, but we recommend you work entirely by ear.
- It is common in folk music for tunes to be adapted and played in other keys.
- EFDSS has also created a Folk Music Starting Points series. We recommend you watch the first film – Learning a Tune by Ear – before you teach or learn the Teri Meri and Mill in the Wod tunes.
About the repertoire and creative process
Bhangra music is a popular form of song and dance that has evolved in England since the 1980s. It is based on a dance and rhythm that folk troupes use to depict stories of mythological and historical characters to audiences at fairs (melas) in the Punjab in northern India.
Mill in the Wod is an instrumental dance tune from England. This interpretation is adapted from the version found in the Mittell manuscript from New Romney, Kent (1799).
In folk traditions in England, the Indian subcontinent and many parts of the world, tunes and songs are often passed on through oral (or aural) transmission – people teaching and learning by ear. In time, as the tunes and songs are passed between people and places, the tunes may change so you can find different versions of the same tune in different places.
Folk music is often used to accompany traditional dancing and you can also hear folk music at concerts, festivals, sessions and celebrations. Folk music is often traditional in origin, meaning that the music has been passed down the generations and the knowledge of who first wrote or played the tune has been lost through time. The tunes have lived on through being played and appreciated by musicians and listeners over the decades and centuries.
Today, folk musicians often learn tunes from other musicians, recordings, videos and manuscripts. There is now also a lot of folk music that is contemporary – the composers are known, and many are still living, composing and playing. Contemporary folk tunes, songs and dances may use the styles, forms and structures of the traditional material for inspiration, as well as being influenced by other traditions and other types of music.
The music and processes used in these films were developed by the musicians – Kuljit Bhamra, Sam Partridge and Grace Smith - working together during two dedicated days of R&D, as well as teaching together with the National Youth Folk Ensemble. The musicians agreed a shared framework and approach to apply to both tunes. They looked at the meeting points between folk and bhangra as well as recognising the distinctive qualities of each tradition. The films introduce features that are found in the two traditions, including creativity, collaboration, groove, playing by ear, and personal interpretation.
