This session is open to all fiddlers, players of kindred instruments, and appreciative listeners. No dues to pay for this meeting. No need to register.

Looking ahead, our next three meetings will be held in the back room at the Atlantic Bar & Grill (5062 N Lincoln Ave). The meeting time will be 6:30 on a Sunday evening. The dates are October 24, November 21 and December 12.

Vesta Johnson, a fine Missouri fiddler, along with her grandson Steve Hall, will be our featured guest. There’s a wood floor at the Atlantic. We might dance a few old-time Missouri squares. That will make Vesta feel at home.

Come join us.

Paul Tyler, convener

Starting this season, Fiddle Club is going to a (more or less) regular meeting schedule. We’ll get together on the third Sunday of each month, unless there’s a good reason to change to another week or another day. Looking at the Fall calendar, meetings will be held on Sept. 19, Oct. 24, Nov. 21 and Dec. 12.

Also, some meetings will be just for playing together, such as the meeting on Sept. 19. We’ve amassed quite a few great tunes from our featured guests. These tunes need to be played. So that’s what we’ll do on Sept. 19. Below are two sets of tunes worth working on. The first list is mostly old-time. The second list is more global. You can find recordings of all of these, including some at a slower tempo, on earlier posts. Or you can go to this list (just click), compiled by a loyal Fiddle Club member, with links to the 100+ tunes posted on this blog in the last couple of years.

I’m looking forward to playing these tunes with y’all in the coming months.
Paul Tyler, convener

Old-Time &c
Mississippi Palisades – Chirps Smith – April ’08
Chopique Two-Step – Will & Holly Whedbee – May ’08
Granny – Alan Jabbour – October ’08
Brushy Run – Dan Gellert – March ’09
Dad’s Reel – Pete Sutherland – October ’09
D’uo Viens – Dennis Stroughmatt – March ’10
Who’ll Cut the Britches – Genevieve & Smith Koester – April ’10
Fire on the Mountain – Matt Brown – May ’10
Sugar in the Gourd - Paul Brown (Mostly Mountain Boys) – June ’10
Daylight in the Morning – Jim & Kim Lansford – July ’10

Global &c
Kerry Slides (Irish) – Paddy Jones – March ’08
El Caballito (Mexican) – Felipe Valle – July ’08
Steffasgard (Rorospols) (Norwegian) – Karen Solgard – November ’08
Mäläskän kuoleman polska (Finnish) – Arto Järvelä – September ’09
Gone for His Tea (Irish) – Liz Knowles – February ’10
Der Einfache (Austrian) – Rudi Pietsch – June ’10
Viktor’s vals (Finnish) – Kukka Lehto (Polka Chicks) – June ’10
plus we have to add . . .
Koputus polkka from Arto Järvelä’s month long residency in 2009.

[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

Kenny Stone will join us at Fiddle Club of the World at the Leadway Bar & Gallery on Sunday, January 24 at 4 pm.

Mark your calendars. It’s on.

Paul Tyler, convener

1st place was awarded to Los Pichardos, a family band from Chicago and Oak Park, with Victor Pichardo on vihuela, his sons Yahvi on guitarra de golpe and Zacbe on arpa grande, and daughter Gabriela on fiddle. The lead fiddler is Juan Rivera, a native of the Tierra Caliente in the state of Michoacan, home of the style of music known as Son Planeco. The dancers were Serafin Guevara and his daughter, Andrea.

2nd Place went to Dr. Hojka’s Medicine Show with the Chicago Prairie Cloggers. The band featured Jordan Wankoff (of the Old Town School fiddle faculty) and Michelle Steinman on fiddles and Walter Hojka (also an Old Town School fiddle instructor) on keyboards. The Chicago Prairie Cloggers were organized for the occasion by Dr. Rebecca Unger from regulars at the Monday night dance sponsored by the Chicago Barn Dance Company.

3rd Place went to the Orpheus Hellenic Folklore Society. The three young fiddlers in the band included Itzaki Metropoulos, who took 1st in the Youth Division of our fiddle championship just a couple of years ago. The band also included a santur (hammered dulcimer) and a duf (a frame drum).

Here are links to more videos of the contest, all shot from the point of view of the emcee, who was on the stage. The sound is not so good. But it’s a great place to watch.

1st Los Pichardos

2nd Dr. Hojka’s Medicine Show

3rd Orpheus Hellenic Folklore Society

4th Anne Hatfield (of the Hatfield Sisters) & friends

5th The Fiddler & the Hoofer (Rick Veras & Reggio McLaughlin)

What talent we have in our city.
Paul Tyler, convener

And if you’ve been wondering the same about the Fiddle Club of the World, I’m glad to tell you that it has reawakened from its Winter-long slumber. Announcements of a three or four meetings with featured guest artists will be coming soon.

For right now, mark your calendars for Saturday, March 28. Dan Gellert will be in town to perform and jam at a meeting of the Fiddle Club. As soon as I nail down a site, we’ll get the registration information posted here at in the workshop listings at oldtownschool.org.

In the meantime, check out the new fiddle pages at oldtownschool.org/fiddle. Teachers are posting information and links in the Flog (Fiddle Students Blog). All tunes are accessible through the archive link. You will also find a jukebox version of the Hands On CD.

Check back early and often.

Paul Tyler, convener
Fiddle Club of the World
Chicago Chapter

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Also, check out the Fiddler’s Picnic this Sunday, June 8th. It’s hosted by the Folklore Society at the University of Chicago. The whole event runs from 12 noon till 6 in the Hutchinson Commons Courtyard. Here’s a map. Jam sessions are open to all players. The featured guest is fiddler and banjoist extraordinaire, Dan Gellert. No time posted for his concert, but the best guess is sometime around 3 pm.

The small stuff (not to be sweated).

The 6th Annual Midwest Fiddle Championship is fast approaching, and the online entry form has not yet been linked. IT promises me it will be there by this Friday (June 6). Paper registration forms can also be found at the Old Town School of Folk Music or at Seman Violins. Register by July 1st.

And IT is also promising to set a link on Fiddle Club website that will enable you to subscribe to an RSS feed. I’m not yet clear how that works (I’m not even sure if that’ the right acronym), but it will notify you when something new goes up on this blog. Stay posted.

Paul Tyler, convener

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Announcing the 6th Midwest Fiddle Championship.

Click the above link for rules and information about the Youth and Fiddle Team contests scheduled for 7 pm, Thursday, July 10th at Giddings Plaza in Lincoln Square. An online entry form will soon be linked to the information page. For more, contact me at ptyler@oldtownschool.org.

Youth and Fiddle Team winners will perform on the Main Stage of the Chicago Folk & Roots Festival 2008 at 12:55 pm, Sunday, July 13th in Welles Park.

Added this year is a division for Fiddle Bands with Dancers. Five specially invited fiddle bands will compete on the main stage. Immediately following, three of the bands will proceed to the Dance Tent so every one can dance to their music. There will be a brief instruction period before each band plays.

Visit this website regularly to learn tunes in preparation for the next jam session, and to keep up with Fiddle Club news and events.

Dues for the Fiddle Club of the World are $12 per meeting. To become a member register for the meetings by clicking this link for Workshops (the link on on the left sidebar also works) and search for the name of the featured guest. or You may also register by visiting the Old Town School of Folk Music at 4544 Lincoln Ave. or 909 W. Armitage in Chicago, or by calling 773.728.6000. or When you register for a workshop you become a member of the Fiddle Club of the World, and your name goes on a list allowing entrance to that meeting of the Fiddle Club.

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