All the music societies your heart desires: Warwick Folk and Piano

Second to last in our ‘All the music societies your heart desires’ series, we introduce Warwick Folk and Warwick Piano.

WARWICK FOLK

As well as putting on Ceilidhs (dance nights to live music, a bit like barn dances) and running our dance club and rapper (sword dancing!) team, Warwick Folk are the society for anyone looking to make folk music. We welcome all instruments, vocalists abilities and musical backgrounds to join in. We love that music at Warwick is run purely for fun and is highly inclusive and our vision is to continue that. We are running our Freshers Ceilidh as a sober event for freshers fortnight in association with the SU and welcome those with disabilities to all of our events. We are planning “accessible folk” workshops for this year to encourage everyone to enjoy taking part in what we do.

Freshers Ceilidh – a sober event for Freshers fortnight Image: Warwick Folk

In our band rehearsals we learn tunes from sheet music, and play them at our ceilidhs and external gigs. In sessions we bring along tunes to teach each other by ear and jam – often in the pub! For more info see our website or check out our Facebook page.

WARWICK PIANO

Warwick Piano society is a place for piano enthusiasts to meet, perform and share their interest for the instrument and the general culture around it. We aim to create a space inclusive of our members’ different preferences and abilities, our main objective being sharing and promoting piano music at the university and creating a community around an otherwise often quite solitary instrument.

Image: Warwick Piano

In this way, we hold several public concerts each term, varying from classical to contemporary styles, some of which are organised in liaison with other societies at Warwick. We also run a voluntary mentoring scheme whereby our more experienced members offer one-to-one or group sessions to those wishing to learn to play or to brush up on their skills, and hold several free workshops with the senior piano tutor at the Music Centre for those looking for professional advice ahead of performances or exams. We also meet at our themed ‘Piano Chillouts’ which substitute the usual rehearsals and allow for members to get their hands on a grand piano and listen to others play in an informal and relaxed atmosphere. These are held three times per term and are usually followed by dinner. Following our aim to make piano playing a more social and communal process, we have also set up our chamber scheme this year, which will hopefully lead to more exciting collaborations and ensembles amongst musicians at the university. In addition, the society organises trips to attend professional recitals and piano events in the local area and London, and holds regular movie nights and socials at the Leif Tearooms and Piano Bar and Bedford street in Leamington. You can stay updated on these via our Socials and Events Facebook group, and follow our concerts and receive general updates from our official Facebook page and on Twitter.