We can all often feel overwhelmed by one thing or another. Whether it’s coursework, problems in our personal life or we’re just having a bad day, sometimes we need to escape from the outside world for a while. One of the best ways to find that escape is through music. Music is all around us for much of our lives, it accompanies us to the gym, on our morning commute or in the club on a night out. Music is an excellent way to help us handle our emotions, happy songs can lift us up and make us feel fresh and renewed. Equally important, however, are the songs we turn to when we’re going through a rough patch and need to take some time to ourselves. Everyone has their own connection to music however, and we all respond to it in different ways.
For most of us in ‘TradSoc’, music is a vital part of our day to day lives. The folk and trad world is full of opportunities to perform, collaborate or just have a session with others. Going to a local session in a pub is an amazing way to disconnect from other, stressful parts of our lives. Not only does it allow a sharing of material between musicians, it’s also a great way to meet others with a shared common interest. During the first 30 days of ‘lockdown’, members of our society recorded short videos of themselves playing and we uploaded these to our society Instagram story as a way of giving us all something to look forward to watching each day, as well as some much needed motivation to learn some new tunes! You can watch our full 30 day challenge in the video below:
TradSoc is a music group that play Scottish and Irish traditional music. We welcome all musicians to come and play with us, whether this is something you have tried before or not. We aim to promote and encourage musical performance and to allow the traditional music scene at the University to blossom. We hold practice sessions on campus every Monday evening 8-9pm during term time and play in Speedwells pub every Tuesday night from 9:30 onwards with some Dundee locals. On top of our weekly sessions we regularly play for ceilidhs around Dundee and at University events on campus.
Find us on Facebook, on our Instagram, or send us an email at tradsoc@dundee.ac.uk with any questions!