Fiddle 4 : Flog (Fiddle Blog)

Fiddle 4 (Mon) – week 5

Grab your sweetie for a waltz! (In the key of C)

Black Velvet Waltz by Chirps Smith of Lagrange, Wisconsin

Filed under: Fiddle 4,Paul Tyler by Paul | February 7, 2012 | Comments (0)

Fiddle 4 Old-Time (Mon) – week 4

We worked on the shuffle bow pattern–long, short short, or slur, saw saw–on this C tune. The versions linked below vary from the tune as we worked on it. A medium tempo demo version in the Tune Archive is close to how we learned it.

Billy in the Lowground by Clay Smith of Fairview Heights, Illinois

Billy in the Lowground by David Hall of Monticello, Indiana

Billy in the Lowground, by Lotus Dickey of Orange County, Indiana

The first Billy was recorded by Jim Nelson in 1992 on a visit to Mr. Smith’s home. I visited David Hall in 1979 and recorded Lotus playing the tune in 1986.

Filed under: Fiddle 4,Paul Tyler by Paul | January 30, 2012 | Comments (0)

Fiddle 4 Old-Time (Mon) – week 3

Here’s a recording of Lotus Dickey playing . . .

Dickey’s Discovery in the key of D.

Lotus Dickey (1911-89) lived on Grease Gravy hill south of Paoli in Orange County, Indiana. He thinks he learned this tune from Allen Downey, an older gentlemen who moved to Orange County around 1920 from Robinson, Illinois. Mel Durham, a fiddle born in Illinois, played the same tune as he learned it from his father, and called it King’s Lament.

Filed under: Fiddle 4,Paul Tyler by Paul | January 23, 2012 | Comments (0)

Fiddle 4 Old-Time (Mon) – week 2

Here’s a recording of Lotus Dickey playing “Greasy Strings,” not the version we listened to yesterday in class. This was a home recording from 1986. The sound quality is not as good, but his fiddling was stronger.

Greasy Strings

This recording is not in the Tune Archive, but on my web site, drdosido.net. I’ve started to tell his story here.

Filed under: Fiddle 4,Paul Tyler by Paul | January 17, 2012 | Comments (0)

Fiddle 4 (Monday) – week 1

It was January 9th, so we learned The Ninth of January, Bob Holt’s version of the Eighth of January. Bob’s version was learned from his father. It differs some from the more conventional melody of The Eighth of January. Bob started to call his version of The Ninth in recognition of distinction.

The Ninth of January from Bob Holt of Ava, Missouri

medium tempo

I passed out Abcs for the tune. Here is a short tutorial on how to use Abc notation.

Filed under: Fiddle 4,Paul Tyler by Paul | January 11, 2012 | Comments (0)

Old-Time Ensemble Graduation

will be Wednesday, August 10 at 8pm at the
Atlantic Bar & Grill
5062 Lincoln

Filed under: Fiddle 3,Fiddle 4,Old Time Ensemble,Paul Tyler,Steve Rosen by Paul | August 9, 2011 | Comments (0)

Fiddle 4 Cajun (Tue) – week 4

Bois Sec Ardoin called it the “Dans de Lac Charles,” or the Lake Charles Two-Step. Some think it is similar to a song “Two Step De L’anse À Paille.” or Straw Cove Two-Step.

These recordings were made for the Fiddle Club of the World (Chicago Chapter). The duet is played on fiddles tuned a step low. The slow recording is in standard tuning.

Lake Charles Two-Step Will & Holly Whedbee

slow solo version by Will Whedbee

Filed under: Fiddle 4,Paul Tyler by Paul | July 17, 2011 | Comments (0)

Fiddle 4 Cajun (Tue) – weeks 2&3

Week 2 was a two-step in A. Chord progression is ADDA AEEA (I IV IV I I V V I)

Allons a Lafayette by Hector Duhon (fiddle) and Octa Clark (accordion)

Allons a Lafayette skeleton version; more filled out in later retreats

Week 3 was another tune in A. This one a waltz, so popular it is sometimes referred to as the Cajun national athem.

Jolie Blon – medium

Filed under: Fiddle 4,Paul Tyler by Paul | July 6, 2011 | Comments (0)

Fiddle 4 Cajun (Tue) – week 1

‘Tit Galop pour Mamou, fingered in the key of A.

fiddle break by Dewey Balfa with the Balfa Brothers

double fiddle break by Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys

We learned the tune in the key of A in standard tuning. Many Cajun fiddlers tune all 4 strings down a full step (FCGD), so fingered in A sounds like the key of G. Think of the key as a fingering pattern, not the absolute pitch.

low tuning, slow

low tuning, medium tempo

standard tuning, medium tempo

Filed under: Fiddle 4,Paul Tyler by Paul | June 27, 2011 | Comments (0)