We regard the Lewes Favourites as a sort of self-help session; none of us consider ourselves teachers. Although we have a selection of over 200 tunes available in printed and computer formats, anyone can turn up with a tune they've heard and introduce it to the group. We go round the table inviting everyone to choose a tune and, if they feel capable, to start it off at their preferred speed. This varies from slow to very slow.

We hardly ever count people in as that's not what happens in the wild and is more appropriate to the playing of formal arrangements. Someone starts the tune, occasionally with a few bars of introduction but more usually from the top of the first A music, and everyone else eases into it. We keep plugging through the tune until a natural close is reached: this is quite surprising, but it generally happens that everyone stops at the same time without having agreed how many times to play it. The speed tends to increase with repetition.

People who are proficient at one instrument occasionally bring a new instrument which puts them back to the beginner's level again. Others may try playing familiar tunes in unfamiliar octaves, which has a similar effect.

We all learn from each other. Invaluable benefits of these sessions are getting used to playing with other people at a steady speed, getting nerves under control, learning to play through mistakes, and learning to stop after falling off a tune and mug it when it comes round the corner.

Valmai (Lewes)