Tunes : Fiddle Club of the World

Viritä Viikon helmikuun 6, 2012

(Finnish: Tune of the Week for February 2, 2012)

I first heard this tune as the Priazhan Katrilli on the first Arto Järvelä album I ever heard, some 20 years ago. It’s a great European square dance tune. Here is the recording, by Pinnan Pojat. It can be found in the Old Town School Tune Archive.

Austrian fiddler Rudi Pietsch, another guest featured by the Fiddle Club of the World, also played the tune. What follows are recordings from Swedish, Finnish and Estonian musicians.

Finnjorka, a 1917 recording by Swedish-American artists Hugo Johnson & Fritz Aase

Frank Hietala with folklorist Elli Köngäs Maranda
(click to enlarge)

Indrek Kalda & Tiit Kikus
(click to enlarge)

Vinkerska, a 1960 recording by Frank Hietala, a Finnish immigrant living in Virginia, Minnesota

Vengerick, a circa 2000 recording by Indrek Kalda & Tiit Kikas, Estonian fiddlers from Viljandi, Eesti

NB: Arto Järvela with Kaivama will be featured guests at a Fiddle Club of the World meeting on Saturday, March 3 in room E324 in Old Town School East (4545 Lincoln).

Filed under: Tune of the Week,Tunes by Paul | February 8, 2012 | Comments (0)

Tune of the Week for January 30, 2012

A little gem from Missouri

From the Rhythm Rats 1994 cassette on Marimac Recordings. It has been reissued on CD by 5-String Productions (click for the catalog). The band featured fiddler Kenny Jackson with Whitt Mead on banjo and Paula Bradley on guitar. Sometime in the 1980s, Kenny Jackson and Brad Leftwich learned this tune on a visit with Ed Sutherland, a Missouri fiddler. Kenny’s fiddle on this recording has the G string run up to an A (ADAE).

Note: this is not the more famous Indian War Whoop recorded by Hoyt Ming & his Pep Steppers circa 1930 and reprised by David Holt in O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Indian War Whoop

Filed under: Tune of the Week,Tunes by Paul | February 2, 2012 | Comments (0)

Ritmo de la semana para Enero 25, 2012

Here is a simple, but lovely dance tune from Cleofes Ortiz, taken from a cassette album recorded in Bernal, New Mexico in 1986 by Jeanie McLerie & Ken Keppeler.

(click to enlarge)

The album due to be reissued on CD by Ubik Sound. Until then, a CD is available from the webite for Bayou Seco, Ken and Jeanie’s band. There you will find this biographical sketch of Señor Ortiz, and more.

“Cleofes Ortiz was born in 1910 on Pajarito Plateau near Rowe, New Mexico. When he was eight years old, he made his first fiddle from a lard bucket, with screen wire strings. He learned most of his tunes from his cousin, Emiliano Ortiz, a well known fiddler who taught him both the local dance traditions and tunes he had picked up in lumber camps throughout New Mexico and Colorado. When he was 14, Cleofes began to play for local bailes and continued until his marriage, and a growing family of nine demanded all of his time. Around 1975, He resumed his violin playing, performing at weddings, funciones (feast days), festivals and senior centers in his area.”

Valse de los Paños is a waltz danced with handkerchiefs. A description of the dance from the early 1900s can be found in a book by Aurora Lucero-White, Folk-dances of the Spanish-colonials of New Mexico.

Valse de los Paños

Filed under: Tune of the Week,Tunes by Paul | January 25, 2012 | Comments (0)

Mélodie de la semaine pour les Janvier 16, 2012

In the summer of 1982, I attended Northern Week of the Fiddle and Dance Workshops in Ashokan, New York (better known ‘Root Camp’) in part to study French Canadian fiddling with Lisa Ornstein. She taught a number of crooked and straight tunes with compelling melodic turns and interesting bowing. One of the simplest, but loveliest, was Sheepskin and Beeswax, a short modal tune from Eric Corrigan from a little town in Quebec called Stoneham. Even though Mr. Corrigan was of Irish ancestry, he culturally Quebecois.

Sixteen years later, I met Mr. Corrigan at another fiddle camp across the continent in Port Townsend, Washington. He and fellow fiddler, Eddie Whalen, had traveled from Quebec to lead workshops at the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes sponsored by the Centrum. So here’s their version of the tune of the week. Isn’t that just the coolest name for a tune? I wish I knew the story behind the name.

Sheepskin and Beeswax by Eric Corrigan & Eddie Whalen

The whole medley played by Mr. Corrigan and Mr. Whalen can be found on my Dr.Dosido.net website. The page also contains a link to Lisa Ornstein’s performance of the tune, recorded in 1982.

Filed under: Tune of the Week,Tunes by Paul | January 18, 2012 | Comments (2)

Tune i ugen for Januar 9, 2012

From one of my all-time favorite CDs

(click to visit CD Roots catalog)

This CD was put together in honor of Gunner Friis‘ 60th birthday in 2005. He is a highly-respected dance fiddle in Denmark. This wedding march, 1 of 2 in a medley, was learned from Jens Frederiksen, who I assume was a fiddler from the previous generation.

Brudemarch fra Himmerland 1

Gunner Friis on fiddle with Ben Melvij Nielsen on harmonika, a variety of pump organ.

The Abcs are below. A simple tutorial on Abc is can be downloaded here.

Paul Tyler, convener

X:2
T:Brudemarch fra Himmerland 1
S:Gunner Friis efter Jens Frederiksen
M:6/8
L:1/8
K:G
D | GBD GBd | g2B BAB | c2A AGA | B2G G2D |
GBD GBd | g2B BAB | c2A def | g2g gag |
e2c c2e | edc B2d | dcA def | g2g gag |
e2c c2e | edc B2d | dcA def | g2g g2 ||

Filed under: Tune of the Week by Paul | January 12, 2012 | Comments (0)

New for 2012, Tune of the Week

Happy New Year to all you Hoss-Hair Pullers and Friends

And my resolution is to provide you all with a rare and interesting Fiddle Club Tune-of-the-Week. Here’s the first one for week of January 2, 2012 . . .

Sleeping Giant Two-Step

By Andy De Jarlis (1914-75), a Métis fiddler from Canada’s Red River country, one of two hundred or so tunes he composed and recorded. Some people give him credit with popularizing “Whiskey Before Breakfast,” a tune that started out in the mixed Native and French communities of Western Canada. Many other Andy De Jarlis tunes can be found on YouTube.

Sleeping Giant

As played by Glenn Berry of Seabeck, Washington. I met and recorded Mr. Berry in 1998 at the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes in Port Townsend, Washington.

At the bottom of this post are the notes for “Sleeping Giant” in Abc notation, a good tool to learn and use.

And now a word from our sponsor. The new session of Old Town School classes starts next Monday (January 9). It’s important that you don’t wait until the last day to sign up. Low enrollment classes will be cancelled 3 days before the first class. My Fiddle 4 Old Time class on Mondays at noon still needs a least one student, as does my Fiddle 4 Cajun class on Tuesdays at 8pm. Other fiddle classes are on the bubble, so don’t wait only to find out the class you wanted to take was cancelled. They are listed here.

Paul Tyler, convener

X:1
T:Sleeping Giant Two-Step
S:Andy DeJarlis
M:C|
L:1/8
K:D
A2d2 | f3g f2d2 | A4 F4 | G3G G2F2 | E4 E2F2 |
G3G G2F2 | E4 D2E2 | F3G F2E2 | F2F2 A2d2 |
f3g f2d2 | A4 F4 | G3G G2F2 | E4 E2F2 |
G3G G2A2 | c2A2 B2c2 | d4 d4 |1 d4 :|2 d2d2 c2=c2 ||:
B4 d4 | g6 g2 | f3g f2d2 | A4 d4 |
e4 e3f | e2c2 B2A2 | d2A2 F2G2 | A2d2 c2=c2 |
B4 d4 | g6 g2 | f3g f2d2 | A4 G2F2 |
E3F E2F2 | G2A2 B2c2 | d4 d4 |1 d2d2 c2=c2 :|2 d4 ||

Filed under: Tune of the Week by Paul | January 4, 2012 | Comments (2)

Tunes from Lynn Frederick

These tunes were originally collected by the late Jeff Goehring in the 1980s from traditional fiddlers in south and central Ohio. Jeff and Lynn played together in the Red Mules String Band. Many of Jeff’s field recordings are available on CD from the Field Recorder’s Collective, including albums featuring Lonnie Seymour, Jimmie Wheeler and John Hannah mentioned below. Also available are CDs featuring Cecil Plum, Arnold Sharp and Ward Jarvis. All can be found at www.fieldrecorder.com.

The guitar accompaniment heard on the recordings below is by Beth Braden, who was also a Red Mule. (Click the arrow to play and listen; right click the blue link to download mp3 to your computer.)

Two tunes from Lonnie Seymour of Chillicothe, Ohio. Lonnie’s playing can be heard on Field Recorders Collective CD FRC403.
Tomahawk in A

Tomahawk slow

Log Chain in D

Log Chain slow

A tune from Jimmie Wheeler of Portsmouth, Ohio (FRC401) . . .
Cauliflower

Cauliflower slow

. . . and one from Estil Adams of Washington Courthouse, Ohio
Putner’s Run in G

Putner’s Run slow

Here’s a tune from John Hannah, a native of West Virginian who moved Columbus (FRC405).
Daddy Whipped the Baby in G

Daddy Whipped slow

This one is from Missouri fiddler Bob Holt. Lynn learned it from Jeff Goehring.
Blue Mule in G

Blue Mule slow

Lynn Frederick with Fred Campeau will guest at the Fiddle Club of the World meeting onSunday, October 23 at 6:30p at the Atlantic Bar & Grill (5063 Lincoln). More info here. Single meeting dues are $15. Register here by date (10/23/2011). For yearly dues of $60-which covers all meetings for the next 12 months–click here.

Filed under: Tunes by Paul | October 6, 2011 | Comments (0)

Tunes from Sule Greg Wilson

Concert & Jam Session (click for more info about our featured guest)
Sunday, May 29, 6:30p
Atlantic Bar & Grill (5062 Lincoln)
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To register, click one of these options.
Single meeting dues of $15, register by date (05/29).
Yearly subscription of $60 gives you admission to all Fiddle Club events (usually the 3rd Sunday)

For your listening pleasure, here are a couple of tunes from Sule Greg Wilson from the Sankofa Strings (aka Carolina Chocolate Drops) CD, Colored Aristocracy
Johnny Too Bad

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Black Eyed Daisy

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The tunes below are for the jam session that will follow Sule’s concert. Press the arrows to listen or right-click the blue title to download and save on your computer.

Colored Aristocracy (work on this one for the session)

Old Joe Clark from a Carolina Chocolate Drops performance in Arizona

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Woyaya, an African song

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Filed under: Tunes by Paul | May 17, 2011 | Comments (3)

Tunes from Kathleen Keane

Concert & Jam Session (click for more info about our featured guest)
Sunday, May 15, 6:30p
Atlantic Bar & Grill (5062 Lincoln)
&&
To register, click one of these options.
Single meeting dues of $15, register by date (05/15).
Yearly subscription of $60 gives you admission to all Fiddle Club events (usually the 3rd Sunday)

For your listening pleasure, here’s a tune from Kathleen Keane’s new CD, Where the Wind Meets the Water (2011) . . .
The Gypsy Reel / The Quarter Inch Wick

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And from her eponymous first CD (1999) . . .
Unknown / The Ships Are Sailing

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The tunes below are for the jam session and workshop. Each is played slowly, at first, then faster. Press the arrows to listen or right-click the blue title to download and save on your computer.

Cuz Teahan’s Polka (Terrence “Cuz” Teahan was a notable concertina player and teacher in Chicago’s Irish community in the last decades of the 20th century.)

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Tom Sullivan’s Polka

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East to Glendart – Jig

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Filed under: Tunes by Paul | May 7, 2011 | Comments (0)

Dance Band Practice

Square & Ceilidh Dance – July 17

I’ll call and teach the dances. You, Fiddle Club players, will be the band. There are tunes to be learned. We’ll start working on them at the Atlantic on Sunday April 17 at 6:30p. Don’t worry. I’ll make sure everybody knows them.

Here’s a tune book I made.
Note: a revised and corrected edition of the tune book is coming soon.

And here are the tunes . . .

Old-Time tunes for square and ceilidh dances
Ten Cents Chirps Smith – April ’08

Streak o’ Lean Pete Sutherland – October ’09

Daylight in the Morning Jim & Kim Lansford – July ’10

Granny Alan Jabbour – October ’08

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

She Oughta Been a Lady Vesta Johnson – October ’10 (from the jam session)

Steppin’ in the Parlour Bruce Greene – April ’11 (recording from Bruce’s visit in 1996)

Couple dances
Koputus polkka Arto Järvelä’s – September ’09

Hast Schottis Mary Allsopp – January ’11

plus 3 more tunes on this earlier post.

Viritä Viikon helmikuun 6, 2012

Tune of the Week for January 30, 2012

Ritmo de la semana para Enero 25, 2012

Mélodie de la semaine pour les Janvier 16, 2012

Tune i ugen for Januar 9, 2012

New for 2012, Tune of the Week

Tunes from Lynn Frederick

Tunes from Sule Greg Wilson

Tunes from Kathleen Keane

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