A Beginner's Guide: Playford's 'Dancing Master'. 3 songs to get started!

Whilst teaching myself to play the recorder over the past year-and-a-bit, i'd come across the odd piece of music from 'Playford's Dancing Master' in my beginner's compilation books. A few weeks ago I decided to check out the actual 'Dancing Master'... and it contained loads more pieces than I expected... hundreds! I didn't know where to begin.
That made me think it might be handy to go through and seek out a few pieces to concentrate on to start with. It took me three weeks or so to work my way through- reading the pieces, playing some, and listening to recordings of as many as possible. From that I made a shortlist of 35... which for this video I have narrowed down to three pieces that I think make a good starting point.
This is entirely my personal opinion; I tried to choose pieces with the most appealing melody, that were approachable for newer recorder player, and which have recordings available to hear on KZbin, for reference.
If you decide to play any, I hope you enjoy them!
Find all the music from John Playford's 'The Dancing Master' at this website:
playforddances.com
Links to take you directly to each piece I played in the video:
If All The World Were Paper: playforddances.com/dances/if-a...
Drive The Cold Winter Away: playforddances.com/dances/driv...
Grimstock: playforddances.com/dances/grim...
I have nothing to do with the above site, but think it is a brilliant source of music!
The recorder: Mollenhauer Denner soprano in pearwood.
Find me on Instagram: @claythorpemusic

[@humphreyclement580]

Thank you, these are lovely. I’ve been learning the lute and have learnt a couple of Playford’s tunes, my favourite being one called the Italian rant.

[@ianandmaureen9518]

Thank-you, I loved your take on Playford. My favourite dances are "Upon a Summers Day" "Nonesuch" "Newcastle" "Hole in the Wall" and "Mr. Beveridge's Maggot" In fact I love all the Playford dances and my husband and I attend many dances and costume balls. Wonderful.

[@emmelineburdett8537]

I did enjoy the video! My favourite melody from Playford is probably 'Portsmouth' 🙂

[@Michajeru]

I agree, John Playford's compendium is a wonderful collection early english dance music. You sound really good on your Mollenhauer Denner. I also wish to add that you have a most pleasing accent and sense of humour.

[@ClaythorpeMusic]

Thanks for the kind words 🙂 I didn’t really realise I had an accent until folks started pointing it out on KZbin, haha.

[@susanbrown8476]

Loved this bit of history and explanation along with your playing. More, please!

[@ClaythorpeMusic]

Thank you! There will be more, no doubt 🙂

[@cathy7382]

Very nice playing you have improved

[@freiheit3566]

Really enjoyed this little vid and your presentation (and naturally your humor). Much history and fun! Will be exploring Playford today - thanks!

[@881buddha]

You certainly made the last tune ROCK!!!!!

[@jtperreault8989]

All 3 songs are great, and I wanted to play Drive The Cold Winter Away myself. But I have a tin whistle, not a recorder, and D minor doesn’t work well on it. So I raised every note up one tone to E minor, where B is natural and F is sharp, and it worked very nicely. The first time I played in a minor key on my tin whistle.

[@momida1559]

Oh, I love Playford! It's so much fun to play (with) the melody and add some divisions and blips and blurps 😁... And since the melodies are folk dances, published in baroque style, they combine two of my favorite music styles. "Drive the cold winter away" is also my favorite. I also like "Newcastle", "The Begger Boy", "Sellenger's Round", "Black and Gray",... There are too many to choose 🤪

[@ClaythorpeMusic]

I can’t stop playing from Playford now! I really like Newcastle too… Argeers is probably my current fave 🙂

[@momida1559]

@@ClaythorpeMusic Argeers, yes! It's hard to stop with the tunes once you have started. Like trying to stop to eat sweets as long as there is still something left in the bag 😅 When you also like to listen, I really recommend you to check out "Les Witches" and their many Playford pieces. Love it!

[@ClaythorpeMusic]

@@momida1559 I will find Les Witches, thanks!

[@paintnamer6403]

I'm all for driving the cold winter away! Good weather can't get here soon enough!

[@yasdnilknarf1885]

Loved it

[@FrankDudgeon]

What a delightful video! Thank you so much for all the effort you put into researching these nifty tunes. And thanks for the web site info!

[@ClaythorpeMusic]

Thanks, Frank! Found it difficult to stop working my way through the site to actually make the video. It’s such a great resource.

[@FrankDudgeon]

@@ClaythorpeMusic Just noticed you're one away from 1,000 subscribers! Congratulations and well done.

[@mrcraven1739]

Great video. I used the website you mention for a while but in the end bought a book of the tunes so I can make notes. Parsons's Farewell is my favourite on the Alto but I loved If All the World Were Paper (which I hadn't found) and will be exploring that next as I am currently learning Soprano. If folks put Playford into Spotify search (other streaming services are available!) there are some interesting renditions of the dance tunes on the recorder.

[@ClaythorpeMusic]

Thank you! I’m trying my best to annotate sheet music on my screen so I don’t have to print everything out… but I’ve got to admit sometimes you just can’t beat a physical copy! You’ve prompted me to start using Spotify, thanks!

[@williamshipman550]

Enjoyable ! I hope that you will record more of the Playford tunes!

[@rcfokker1630]

'The Black Nag', and 'Jenny Pluck Pears'. It's also good to watch people dance to these tunes. Well, I think so, anyway! There are people from all over Europe and North America, who play this music and dance right along with it.

[@universe7761]

I like you talk about history and make an accent on old songs. 👍

[@stephielulu9096]

Nice one!

[@Jim-iw1yd]

Entertaining video. I started to watch this so I could come back and watch it later from my history tab but you had me hooked. Prolific work on the prolific man well done. Great tunes .

[@ClaythorpeMusic]

Thank you! I enjoyed making this one a lot. Trouble is I haven’t really put down the Playford stuff to move onto anything else since…

[@bcoffee161]

Thanks for playing the dances, you sound great. Good info and love your music stand.

[@ClaythorpeMusic]

Thanks 😊 Oh that music stand. It has revolutionised practice time from using my original metal one that liked to collapse without warning and be a pain to put back up… the wooden one is from Thomann and I think they are very good quality for the price, I recommend them 🙂

[@ArsLonga1967]

What a fantastic find... both you and Playford. New subscriber right here!

[@ClaythorpeMusic]

Thanks! Great to have you along 😀

[@wdashwor]

Good choices! 😊 I learned about Playford and the website awhile back, but have never gotten geared up to go through them yet. But there are two favorite ones I first encountered on the Arwen Acoustic channel and have subsequently memorized, and those are King of Poland and The New Bath. I'd be interested in a followup of some more favorites of yours.

[@Schattengewaechs99]

If I finish all of my chores and you finish thine, then tonight we're gonna party like it's 1699!

[@seymourpro6097]

Pre-covid there were several UK based Playford dance clubs where one could play and dance these dances, post covid some have restarted. Mr Playford used to take dances from travelling dancing masters and sell them the next new book. Sometimes a dance would be "for an event" such as a wedding and created by a dancing master.

[@ClaythorpeMusic]

I'm still really enjoying seeking out the tunes I like the best to play... don't think my two left feet and I will be welcome to dance them anytime soon though, haha!

[@annhinchliffe8314]

UK Playford dance clubs are really of two sorts. One is of people interested in 'historically informed performance' as it's sometimes called. Info about those: websites of the Historical Dance Society and the Early Dance Circle. The other sort has a mixture of Playford and later periods, including modern dances composed using some of Playford's figures. You might find that sort by Googling 'country dance club' and the name of the nearest town. I'm interested as a historical dance tutor in your remark about Playford and travelling dancing masters. Sounds quite possible: do you have any actual evidence or is that informed guesswork?

[@annhinchliffe8314]

@@ClaythorpeMusic Any Playford dance group will welcome anyone who wants to have a go. You might feel self-conscious to begin with but the fun of dancing usually takes over! I always coerce my musicians into trying at least ONE of the Playfords I'm teaching in a dance class. It is really quite illuminating for style, tempo and the surprisingly hard challenge of playing with what dancers call 'lift'. You do it well, though -- as several comments note.

[@silwen9412]

Мы танцевали много контрдансов под музыку из Плейфорда, но не под эти мелодии 🤔 О том, что Drive the cold winter away - это тоже Плейфорд, вообще первый раз слышу, а ведь песня очень известная. Спасибо за расширение кругозора!

[@gaynorandrews1684]

Looking for advice please. Did I see you playing with CD accompanying music with your recorder? Can you recommend or let me know what you've been using please. I would love the extra help that the accompanying music can provide. Also. I've been learning with some Disney and old pop songs and think a few classical would add more variety to the mix. What classical pieces can you recommend please? I also have a scales book that I'm practicing with . Keep posting. I'm loving your playing. 😊 thanks

[@gaynorandrews1684]

Do you think your choices here would be OK for beginner like me?

[@marklammas2465]

Playford. Brilliant! I play "Drive The Cold Winter Away" on my Basque txistu, which is a type of tabor pipe. Find the Mike Oldfield single recording which he did of "Argeers" (Argiers, as he spelled it). One of the most beautiful Playford tune arrangements, played by Leslie Penning on recorder. Played slowly, with tasteful ornamentation. I must do that one at the next folk session.

[@samo00oc]

hi :) where could I learn this dances?

[@palavoyz]

is this medieval songs? loving the sound on your pearwood soprano.

[@andrewwigglesworth3030]

No, they are early country dance tunes. Period: Early Modern, not Mediaeval.

[@albertogallardo5815]

Great resource. One question: Isn't the time signature a bit weird? Wouldn't it be simpler to write it in 6/8? To me it sounds like 6/8. In 6/4 the bpm must be at around 360 to fit the speed that you and other people play the song.

[@annhinchliffe8314]

Time signatures have changed in the centuries since Playford (and his successors) printed the Dancing Master. If the tune is played fast enough for dancing it has to be -- as you say -- what modern musicians think of as 6/8, even if printed in 6/4. If more proof is needed, a look at the dance moves is conclusive: one has to gallop virtually all round a long set of at least 4 couples, and that cannot be done at slow speeds! 'Claythorpe' (sorry, don't know the musician's name) plays 'Cold Winter' much slower than a dance musician would -- or an Elizabethan singer, come to that. Some modern recordings present the piece as 'ethereal' which seems to me odd and quite wrong for verses describing carousing, mumming and quaffing. More convincing is Passamezzo's version: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bGSkq2V-mduln5I

[@malcolmmyatt9092]

Very nice, but the recorder isnt in the same key as the sheet music? or is it the recording that's changed.

[@luckybarrel7829]

Interesting, reminds me of Der Fluyten Lust-hof kinda

[@momida1559]

Van Eyck took some of the popular tunes and remixed them :-) Coverversions were quite normal at these times. Even Playford was mostly the editor of these folk tunes, I don't know how many of them he composed himself

[@ClaythorpeMusic]

Yeah, same principle for sure. ‘Daphne’ that we all know and love from Der Fluyten Lust-hof also crops up in Playford’s collection.

[@luckybarrel7829]

@@ClaythorpeMusic Oooh that's so interesting. The British top 50 vs the Dutch top 50 of those times lol.

[@michaelassessments]

Ok. Not too cheesy at all. Mostly kind of brilliant.

[@ClaythorpeMusic]

Haha, thanks 😁

[@jaredwennerbom5803]

🌷 Promo-SM!

[@falkschmutzler4548]

12 mal? ich glaube nicht. 12 mal ist eine Tanzstrophe. Bei einer langen Gasse kannst du das Ganze locker mit 10 bis 20 multiplizieren! Damit bist du 120 bis 240 Wiederholungen. Viel Spass ... wird bestimmt nicht langweilig.😆 achso ... meine Lieblinge von Playford ist Kleingeld äh Fourpence Ha'penny Farthing , Wa Is Me, What Mun I Do und ein guter alter Gerstensaft (Juice of Barley)

[@535Salomon]

Lol I thought you were going to dance.

[@ClaythorpeMusic]

Maybe I’ll save that for a future episode… or maybe… not. 🤣

[@momida1559]

@@ClaythorpeMusic 😂

[@535Salomon]

@@ClaythorpeMusic lol, do it for the views.