Music in Public Parks - Canberra
Participation rather than perfection.
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Music we play.

For song ideas we commend The ToneWay Project web site http://toneway.com

BEST PRICE PRODUCT LINKS:
Family Tradition Songbook and Toneway Method  http://bit.ly/csfamilytradition

Get Started Core Book  http://bit.ly/getstartedcs

All CDs (except the 5 audio CDs) are available here: http://bit.ly/abbottkunaki

The SongClips CD is available now
http://bit.ly/abbottkunaki

All these products and the 5 Audio CD's are also available at the ToneWay Online Store at their retail price: http://toneway.com/products

Basic Lessons on Playing Music by Ear

The Toneway Project has FREE LESSONS and simple tips for playing music by ear.
We use many of them at the Jammalong. 

The FREE MP3 files of the songs and the FREE PRINT OUT option make getting the lyrics in big print easy as well.

These are useful to those starting out who have never played before.  Musicians just wanting to know our approach to playing will also benefit from looking through them.  

PLAYING MUSIC IS FUN - You don't have to learn music theory to play this way. Play it the way you feel it - being part of a group means the group will keep you on track by its own momentum and you can hide in the crowd if you make mistakes.

What sort of songs?

WE ARE WORKING TOWARD KNOWING A COMMON REPITIORE OF SONGS.

The list of songs below are the 100 core songs we are working on learning so we have a common repertoire.  

This also means people wanting to come can work on something in between jams if they like.   

By using this approach to the music we play people who come can easily pass information on to other musicians or friends.  ITS A WIN WIN!

JAMMALONG IN CANBERRA
is part of the TONEWAY COMMUNITY you can also join if you choose too:
http://toneway.com/community

Check out other events on TONEWAY or create your own at:
http://toneway.com/community/explore

Try it - click on a song in the list below

  • the embedded link will take you to the Toneway web site
  • you can see the lyrics
  • you hear ones you are interested in
  • learn to play by ear
  • FREE OF CHARGE

BUT I HAVE MY OWN SONGS YOU SAY!

No problem - bring them along and be prepared to teach them to other people.  You can bring photocopies to share if you like.  JAMMALONG IS ABOUT SHARING MUSIC WITH OTHERS SO THEY CAN JOIN IN AND PLAY ALONG WITH YOU.

Songs with easy chords and simple chord progressions work best.  Avoid hard chords and chord progressions.  The group plays medium and slower tempo songs well as everyone can keep up when the songs are new to some.

  • All the Good Times Are Past and Gone [core]
  • Angel Band [core]
  • Are You Tired of Me My Darling [core]
  • Banjo Picking Girl [core]
  • Banks of the Ohio [core]
  • Black Eyed Susie [core]
  • Bring Back My Blue Eyed Boy [core]
  • Bring Back to Me My Wandering Boy [core]
  • Bury Me Beneath the Willow [core]
  • Cindy [core]
  • Columbus Stockade Blues [core]
  • Corrina [core]
  • Cowboy Jack [core]
  • Crawdad Song [core]
  • Darling Cory [core]
  • Darling Nelly Gray [core]
  • Don't Let Your Deal Go Down [core]
  • Don't This Road Look Rough and Rocky [core]
  • Down Among the Budded Roses [core]
  • Down in the Valley [core]
  • Down in the Willow Garden [core]
  • Dream of a Miner's Child [core]
  • Drifting Too Far from the Shore [core]
  • East Virginia [core]
  • Fair and Tender Ladies [core]
  • Girl I Left in Sunny Tennessee [core]
  • Give Me the Roses [core]
  • Going to Georgia [core]
  • Ground Hog [core]
  • Handsome Molly [core]
  • Hard Times Come Again No More [core]
  • Hold Fast to the Right [core]
  • Hold to God's Unchanging Hand [core]
  • Hot Corn, Cold Corn [core]
  • I Am a Pilgrim [core]
  • I Never Will Marry [core]
  • In the Pines [core]
  • Jesse James [core]
  • John Hardy [core]
  • John Henry [core]
  • Johnson Boys [core]
  • Just Over in the Glory Land [core]
  • Late Last Night [core]
  • Leaning on the Everlasting Arms [core]
  • Life's Railway to Heaven [core]
  • Little Bessie [core]
  • Little Birdie [core]
  • Little Log Cabin in the Lane [core]
  • Little Maggie [core]
  • Lonesome Road Blues [core]
  • Lonesome Valley [core]
  • Long Journey Home [core]
  • Lord I'm Coming Home [core]
  • Man of Constant Sorrow [core]
  • May I Sleep in Your Barn Tonight, Mister? [core]
  • Meet Me by the Moonlight [core]
  • Midnight on the Stormy Deep [core]
  • Molly and Tenbrooks [core]
  • More Pretty Girls Than One [core]
  • My Home's Across the Blue Ridge Mountains [core]
  • My Native Home [core]
  • New River Train [core]
  • Nine Pound Hammer [core]
  • Oh Susanna [core]
  • Oh Those Tombs [core]
  • Old Joe Clark [core]
  • On Top of Old Smoky [core]
  • Palms of Victory [core]
  • Pass Me Not [core]
  • Paul and Silas [core]
  • Precious Memories [core]
  • Pretty Polly [core]
  • Rabbit in the Log [core]
  • Rain and Snow [core]
  • Red RockinChair [core]
  • Reuben's Train [core]
  • Rocky Island [core]
  • Roll in My Sweet Baby's Arms [core]
  • Roving Gambler [core]
  • Rye Whiskey [core]
  • Sad and Lonesome Day [core]
  • Sally Ann [core]
  • Shady Grove [core]
  • She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain [core]
  • Short Life of Trouble [core]
  • Sittin' on Top of the World [core]
  • Standing in the Need of Prayer [core]
  • Stepstone [core]
  • Swing Low, Sweet Chariot [core]
  • Take this Hammer [core]
  • This World Is Not My Home [core]
  • Water Bound [core]
  • Waves on the Sea [core]
  • When the Bees Are in the Hive [core]
  • Where the Soul of Man Never Dies [core]
  • Who Will Sing for Me [core]
  • Wild Bill Jones [core]
  • Will You Miss Me [core]
  • Working on a Building [core]
  • Worried Man Blues [core]
Click here to view the Toneway Project's entire list of songs.

About this list

These 100 songs represent some of the best and most commonly played mountain music songs.  They're featured on the Toneway Project songbooks and CD series that can be purchased if you want to go that way.

The songs here are variously called bluegrass songs, old-time songs, mountain music songs, folk songs which can be called people music.  They are old, pre-radio songs.  Many come from the rich musical traditions of 19th-century Appalachia and have a special “stood the test of time” quality to them.

While most are in the public domain, a few may not be - it can be very hard to tell sometimes.  Some are traditional songs with no known author, others were originally old parlor songs that have gone out of copyright.  However, they are all “traditional” in the sense that they have entered the oral tradition.

We use this list so people who don’t know each other have some common easily accessible material to refer to.  People can also bring their own material.  If you have print-outs of the songs you want to introduce to the group (with the chords and lyrics), that will help others to play along.  Alternatively, tell others what key the song is in and provide a brief explanation of the song structure and chord progressions.