Mandolin player Matt Norman did us a lovely session on Dartmoor tunes in the Pixie band style.

We worked on a tune called Redwing, an American tune that’s become popular in Dartmoor.

Here Matt’s Dartmoor style version, recorded in the Blackmore Gardens at Sidmouth on his banjo!

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You might notice there are more notes in Matt’s audio version than in the score. The score is what we started with, then we had fun adding turns, slides and other ornaments. To make it particualrly dancey, if there were any long notes on beats 2 & 4 with split those up (nn dugga nn dugga). Last of all we had a go making a simple bassline and using that “nn dugga nn dugga” rhythm in the accompaniment.