To become a great Morris musician, the best way to go about things is to dance first, so as to get the feel for the rhythm and the interaction between musicians and dancers. I have danced and played for over 10 years and cant really explain the difference in rhythms between tunes / dances, but it seems to become intuitive when I play!

Don't practise tunes too fast, as it is more difficult to slow down a tune you have learnt to play fast than to speed a tune up. I made that mistake for the first few years of playing!

The main thing is to enjoy yourself, dont take yourself, the team or 'the tradition' too seriously, do make mistakes and dont give a damn about them! It works for Bampton!

Playing morris tunes in sessions is fine - playing Shepherd's Hey for 20 mins always winds up the uptight ones, always a bonus.

And finally - dont play a piano accordion!