| This is your chance to take a more active part in the festival, as it’s not all about listening! Musicians bring your instruments and singers bring your voices along to the “Family Room” at the front of the pub. Listeners, naturally, are very welcome, too – you don’t have to be a performer to come in!
Here you can join in a large variety of sessions, some which are themed and others informal and open to any type of music. So, if you’re particularly into Ballads, or Blues, this is a unique opportunity to indulge yourself with an hour or so of your favourite music.This is the pattern of session for Wittfest 2009:
Saturday 27 June
12.00 Folk with Lucy
Here we consider “folk is what folk do” so we welcome anything from traditional to contemporary, Sixties, to self-penned.
12.30 Shackleton with Lucy
At the “Plough” Ernest Shackleton is our Number One Hero. Come and hear some of the wonderful array of songs we’ve written about him!
1300 Jazz and Blues with Paul
Paul Cleverley leads this great session. Expect some wonderful harmonies on old standards from the 30s and 40s. Come and join in with some mean Blues!
1400 Ballads with Caroline
I don’t know of any other festival that provides a session exclusively for ballads. This is yiour chance to hear the big narratives, stories of love and hate and piracy and much more, and to sing us your own particular favourites. See if you can come up with one that Caroline does not know!
1530 -1625 Session break
There’s no point in trying to run sessions when local star Pete Orton is on in the marquee. Take a break to dash up to the marquee to hear (and watch!) him. If you’ve never see him before, go and find out why he’s so unmissable.
16.30 Age Concern Singing Group (Witney) with Rachel
This is one of our designated Charities this year, and we’re delighted that one of their local groups has come over to show us what they do. This session is a first for Wittfest and we’re looking forward to it.
Sunday 28 June
12.00 Tunes with Geoff and Linda
Bring out your guitars, fiddles, banjos whistles, shaky eggs or anything else and come and play some great tunes with talented local musicians Geoff and Linda, who will also be on later in the marquee.
13.00 Informal session (unthemed) Anything goes!
14.00 Shanties with Short Drag Roger
Come and warm up your vocal chords with Short Drag Roger. I challenge you to remain silent once they get singing - - you’ll lose!
Informal sessions
Outside these times there are no special themes. Just come along to the Family Room and join in with whatever’s going on. And if there isn’t a session going on, Start One!
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