What we’re about
This is a casual, social group for women who want to play folk and acoustic music together for fun (trans women and non-binary people welcome).
I play 5-string banjo and have a particular interest in Americana, old-time folk, country and bluegrass, so may be subjecting people to a lot of this kind of music. But I hope that women who play all kinds of folk or acoustic music feel comfortable to join and share whatever they want to play!
Why a women's group?
A note on why I am setting this up: I love playing music with anyone and have had the best time playing with both men and women in the past. But I have noticed that a lot of music groups like this are quite male dominated. Of course, there are plenty of incredible and confident female musicians around, but I think there are many reasons why a lot of girls grow-up doubting their abilities and feeling too shy to play in front of others.
Speaking as one of those shy girls who took a long time gathering up the courage to play in a group setting, I thought that a smaller, relaxed group like this might encourage more women to join and play.
The sessions:
I'm envisioning a weekly or fortnightly session somewhere private or semi-private (like a pub back-room), with a maximum sign-up number of 6-8 per event to keep sessions fairly small. This would work on a first-come basis. At the session, people would take it in turns to call a song or tune (any song or tune from any genre), and they would come prepared to talk the group through how to play along. This would be optional, so if you aren't confident enough to do this yet, no pressure! I could also suggest a few songs in advance and share the key/chords/recording.
Looking forward to seeing how much interest this gets!
Katie