8th Midwest Fiddle Championship
The Kid’s Contest is in the books. It was a competition for fiddle-led bands held on June 16 at the Old Town School’s beloved Armitage building. The First Place ribbon (and prize money of $150) was taken by the Hillions and Maddy.
[And proud papa suggests you also check out the band that won fifth place.]
The Open Division (called Team Division in the past) is back this year, scheduled for Thursday July 8 at 7 pm in Giddings Plaza in Lincoln Square. (Just a two-block walk up Lincoln from the School). It’s part of the Folk & Roots Festival preview sponsored by the Lincoln Park Chamber of Commerce.
All fiddlers are welcome to enter. It is highly recommended that you enter with a band of one or two accompanimists. Click here for more information (rules, prizes &c.).
An online entry form should appear soon at the above link. Or try this one that can be printed out and faxed or dropped off.
And again, the invitational Fiddle Band division will be held at the Chicago Folk & Roots Festival on Saturday, July 10 at 12:55 on the main stage in Welles Park. The top winners from the Kid’s Contest and the Open Division will also be there to play a tune.
The Midwest Fiddle Championship is presented by the Fiddle Club of the World (Chicago Chapter).
Paul Tyler, convener
Filed under: Fiddle Club,Reports,Video by Paul | June 23, 2010 | Comments (0)
Chicago is Fiddle World
Truly. What a few days we had at the beginning of June.
Rudi Pietsch from Vienna gave an intimate concert, joined by his friend Jürgen Schempp, from Swabia (that’s in Germany) on guitar. Your humble convener was quickly trained for second fiddle. For the proper Austrian style we lacked a kontra (chorded fiddle or viola) and a bowed bass. Here is a slow yodel followed by a fast dance tune.
Meraner Jodler-Ischler Schläunige
Two days later, the Mostly Mountain Boys and the Polka Chicks dropped in for two evenings at the Old Town School. On Tuesday night they did a workshop for several fiddle class and the Fiddle Club.
The Mostly Mountain Boys (Paul Brown-fiddle, Teri McMurray-banjo and John Schwab-guitar) hail from Winston-Salem, North Carolina and Washington DC. They started out with a twisty but fine version of “Fisher’s Hornpipe” they learned from Esker Hutchins of Dobson, North Carolina.
The Polka Chicks, from Helsinki (that’s in Suomi, aka Finland), are Kukka Lehto on fiddle and Tejia Niku on accordion. They started with song of poverty and sadness. The singer’s life is so sad that his parents don’t even care if he marries a girl in America.
unnamed song from northern Finland
Following this lovely introduction, Paul Brown taught us distinctive version of Sugar in the Gourd that he learned from Norman Edmonds of Hillsville, Virginia. And Kukka Lehto worked us through the haunting major and minor turns of Viktors Vals from Ostrobothnia, an area in western Finland with an especially rich fiddle tradition.
The following night, both the Mostly Mountain Boys and the Polka Chicks were on the stage in our concert hall for World Music Wednesday. A delightful performance.
Kukka Lehto & Teija Niku
(click to enlarge)
One morsel more. One of the oldest folk dance tunes from Austria, a ländler that was written down in 1702. Rudi plays a setting that imitates the dudelsack (German for bagpipes). Here’s another view.
My father’s day gift to all who are the child of a dad.
Paul Tyler, convenver
Filed under: Audio,Reports,Video by Paul | June 20, 2010 | Comments (0)
Austrian tunes with Rudi Pietsch
Join us for a friendly concert and session on June 6 at 7:30 pm.
NOTE: This Fiddle Club meeting has been moved to the Old Town School of Folk Music (4544 Lincoln). We will meet in the Gallery on the 1st floor. The cafe may be open for beer sales. BYOB is also a possibility.
For the last few weeks, the Old Town School has been graced with a visitor from Vienna, Austria. Rudi Pietsch is an ethnomusicologist who is spending a quarter teaching at the University of Chicago and researching music in the communities of Central European immigrants in Chicago and the Midwest. In his spare time, he’s come by the School to learn a few American tunes. He also dropped in on Fiddle 4 Twin Fiddle class.
(click to enlarge)
a yodel played on the fiddle in three voices
To hear all three voices, you’ll have to bring your fiddle and join in. Here’s Rudi singing one voice and playing another on fiddle.
yodel with fiddle
And here’s the same melody played as a ländler, a dance in 3.
yodel as a ländler
Here’s a polka, Der Einfache . . .
Der Einfache voice 1
add voice 2 (oops, the trio is missing)
Der Einfache played by Fiddle 4 class with Rudi Pietsch on piano
(click to enlarge)
And a Zwiebacher, Die Bacherlmuhl, a dance mixing 2s and 3s.
(click to enlarge)
Filed under: Notation,Session Tunes,Tunes by Paul | June 2, 2010 | Comments (0)
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