Fiddle Fun for the Fall

What a way to start a new session and new season! We have as a special guest for the month of September and extraordinary fiddler and musician from Kaustinen, Finland – Arto Järvelä. He’ll be sharing tunes with my Monday daytime classes and other weeknight and weekend fiddle classes. Also, he’ll be teaching a Finnish Ensemble on Wednesdays, offering several Finnish tune workshops on Sundays, and leading a Fiddle Club of the World meeting on Friday, Sept. 25.

One cool thing coming up this week is the the square dance at First Friday on Sept. 4, starting at 7:30. Arto will be there for half of the dance and will help us do an old-time Finnish quadrille (or square dance).

I got a chance to witness a performance of the quadrille, Finnish-style in Helsinki last summer. Here’s the opening and a later sequence on YouTube.

Part 1
Part 2

Arto Järvelä & dancers
Arto plays for the quadrille at the Kaustinen Folk Festival
(click to enlarge)

Filed under: General Interest, Paul Tyler by Paul | August 31, 2009 | Comments (0)

Fiddle 4 (Mon) – Week 1

Here’s this week’s tunes . . .
(Press the arrow to play or right-click the highlighted title to download and save.)

Celeya Polka by the Gu’Achi Fiddlers of the Tohono O’odham nation (aka the Papago)

Celeya Polka demonstrated by P. Tyler and Maria McCullough

Arto Järvelä is our guest teacher for the first half of the session.
Arto Järvelä
(click to enlarge)

Arto taught a wedding polska. Polska is an old-time dance popular in Finland. Polska tunes, in triple meter (aka 3/4) were stilled played by many senior musicians when Arto began learning the fiddle as a teen. A wedding polska was used to raise money for the newly married couple, as guests paid for the privilege of dancing with the bride.

Rahapolska played by Arto at medium and full tempos.

Arto’s source for the tune is Erkki Metsapelto from Vimpeli in the province of South Ostrobothnia. (Arto’s hometown of Kaustinen is in Central Ostrobothnia.)
Here’s Erkki’s version of Rahapolska

Used with permission from the Folk Music Institute in Kaustinen, Finland. A book and CD of Erkki Metsapelto is one of many available from the Kansanmusikii-instituutti (Folk Music Institute).

Filed under: Fiddle 4, Paul Tyler by Paul | August 31, 2009 | Comments (0)

Fiddle 3 (Mon) – Week 1

Arto Järvelä is our guest teacher for the first half of the session.
Arto Järvelä
(click to enlarge)

Here are this week’s tunes . . .
(Press the arrow to play or right-click the highlighted title to download and save.)

I taught Green Fields of America, as I learned it from Lotus Dickey of Paoli, Indiana. His way was very similar to one played by Stella Elam of Bond County, Illinois. This American tune is slightly different from an Irish tune of the same name.

slow

medium

Green Fields of America by Stella Elam of Bond County, Illinois

Pollonesa #8 from Maria Spoof

Arto learned this polonaise out of a music notebook from the 19th century.

Filed under: Fiddle 3, Paul Tyler by Paul | August 31, 2009 | Comments (1)

Learn to take a solo, play some waltzes

Hello Fiddlers,

If you haven’t signed up for a class this fall perhaps you’d enjoy studying with me. I’m offering two classes one waltzes and the other on improvising (just a fancy term for knowing what to do when a guitar-playing friend tells you to get out your fiddle). The details are below. To register call 773-728-6000 or go to oldtownschool.org.

Jordan

Fiddle 3 Improvisation–Saturdays at 2:30 Starting Sept 5th
Did you ever need to take a solo and not know how? This class will teach you! You’ll learn a “magic” scale where you can’t play a bad note, try new ways of phrasing, experiment with blue notes, and get ready to join a band or ensemble class.You’ll work hard but you will get to experiment with soloing in a totally accepting and encouraging environment.

Prerequisites–Fiddle 3 Improvisation works for people at many different levels. The minimum is the ability to play several tunes confidently and relatively in tune. There is no upper level. Many students with music degrees have taken and benefited from this class. The class is pitched to fiddles and mandolins, but if you are trained in viola or cello you could certainly benefit.

Fiddle Waltzes–Saturdays at 4:00 starting September 5t
Just waltzes for seven weeks and then a performance in week eight playing for real dancers. There will be lots of old time waltzes but we’ll try some cajun pieces and waltzes from other traditions as well. We’ll mix up the easy and difficult tunes according to who registers for the class.

Filed under: Fiddle 2, Fiddle 3, Fiddle 4, Jordan Wankoff, Old Time Ensemble, Uncategorized by Jordan | August 25, 2009 | Comments (0)