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About VCP
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Who we are
Vashon Celtic Players is a group of people on Vashon Island, in Washington's Puget Sound,
who play Celtic music together.
It was started in the late 1990's by Kim Nelson and friends. We meet Sunday nights here on the Island,
and rotate among members' living rooms. We play mostly Irish dance music (jig, reels, polkas, etc), but also
some Scottish, Cape Breton, French Canadian, and New England contradance tunes. There is the occasional song, too.
We currently have over 70 members on the mailing list, and usually about a dozen show up for the session.
The atmosphere is friendly, and the tempo is usually moderate (a little shy of dance tempo).
We use the "round robin" protocol, where we take turns calling a tune or set of tunes. If the
caller has a specific tempo in mind, we try to stay with that. If you're a little nervous starting
the tune yourself, someone would be happy to start it for you. You can even pass, if you're new.
Beginners are welcome, although, especially with rhythm instruments, staying with the beat is of paramount
importance. Reading from sheet music is discouraged (you end up sounding like you're just playing the dots),
but if you're just starting out, you don't have much choice, and we do understand.
We have about 350 tunes on the website! I can't say we all know
all of them, for sure. But we could go for many hours from memory without repeating a tune.
Joining
Anyone can join. You can sign up for emails by sending an email to
vashoncelticplayers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
You won't be inundated with spam from us. Usually, we just announce where the next session will be,
or announce new website tune postings, and such. You can also send an email to the group as a member.