Tunes : Fiddle Club of the World

Tune of the Week for March 19, 2012

Let’s stay on the Irish theme for one more week. Here’s one of my favorite jigs, one we can play on Friday, March 23 with Deirdre Ní Chonghaile visits Fiddle Club. This was the first in a set played by Kevin Burke & Michael O’Domhnaill in Bears Back Room in Bloomington, Indiana in February 1982.

I was there. It was heavenly.

The Frost Is All Over

Note: Kevin didn’t give a name to this tune. I learned it from one of the first recordings of Irish traditional music I ever owned. The great piper, Seamus Ennis, played it in a medley with The Hare in the Corn and one more jig. He sang a bit of lyric with it.

“The praties are dug and the frost is all over,
Kitty, lie over, close to the wall;
How would you like to be married to a soldier?
Kitty, lie over, close to the wall”

I can’t find that record any more. Maybe Deirdre can help us through The Hare in the Corn.

X:12
T:The Frost Is All Over
M:6/8
L:1/8
R:Jig
S:Kevin Burke
K:D
AFD DFA | B2d BAF | ABA F2D | FEE EFG |
AFD DFA | ~B3 BAF | ABA F2E |1 FDD d2B :|2 FDD D2e |:
fdd dcd | fdd d2e | ~f3 def | gag e2g |
fed Bcd | ABd F2G | ABA F2E |1 FDD D2e :|2 FDD d2B ||

Filed under: Tune of the Week,Tunes by Paul | March 22, 2012 | Comments (0)

Tune(s) of the Week for March 12, 2012

Deirdre Ní Chonghaile, Guest at Fiddle Club of the World
Friday, March 23, 7:30p, Old Town School East

We’ll have an Irish session, with some craic and ceili (stories, talk and fellowship). This will be an easy-going introduction to the world of Irish tunes. Here’s another set of dance tunes that can be learned quickly. The first one is Sullivan’s, not the same tune as Tom Sullivan’s polka that Kathleen Keane taught us last year. Many of you already know the second tuneBritches Full of Stitches. In this video, they’re played by Jackie Daly on accordion and Seamus Creagh on fiddle.

And here’s another performance of the same two tunes ending a set of four polkas played by Kevin Burke and Michael O’Domhnaill in 1982, in Bloomington (Indiana)’s beloved Bears Back room.
set of 4 polkas

Filed under: Meeting Schedule,Tune of the Week,Tunes by Paul | March 15, 2012 | Comments (2)

Tune(s) of the Week for March 5, 2012

It’s that time of year when many of us wish we were Irish. That was one of my life goals when I was 15, due in part to a vague notion I had then that traditional Irish music might be found along my pathway to satisfying and exciting future.

A few years later, at the end of 1969, I made first and only journey to Ireland, including a boat ride out to the Aran Islands off Galway Bay in the West. During my few days on Inishmaan, I tried to attend a dance or find a fiddle player, with no success, due to my own social clumsiness. I did hear a few sean nos (old style) songs at night, sung in Gaelic by one or another old man in an Aran Sweater, while we all nursed a pint in the island’s pub. Meanwhile, the young folks–most home for the holiday from work in England–were having a fine old time dancing away the darkness.

Last fall I had the great pleasure to meet Gaelic scholar, Deirdre Ní Chonghaile at an American Folklore Society meeting in Bloomington, Indiana. We played some tunes together with our fellows, and I had a chance to dance a bit with her. And since, Deirdre is from Inishmore, the largest of the three Arans, I finally fulfilled my 40-year-old quest to dance as they dance on the Aran Islands.

Here is a set of two tunes commonly played together on the Arans for a couple copy. The recording is taken from a YouTube video of a kitchen session in County Mayo with Caomhie Donlon on fiddle, her father Larry on banjo, and Cormac Gannon on pipes. The first tune is a common hornpipe, The Stack of Barley. Deirdre calls the second tune Some Say the Devil is Dead and Buried in Killarney.

The Stack of Barley-Jenny Will You Marry Me

Deirdre Ní Chonghaile, Guest at Fiddle Club of the World
Friday, March 23, 7:30p, Old Town School East

Filed under: Tune of the Week,Tunes by Paul | March 11, 2012 | Comments (0)

Tune of the Week for February 27, 2012

(click to enlarge)

I was taught this tune by Patrik Wekman on my visit to Finland in 2009. Later that year, Arto Järvelä taught it a workshop on archaic Finnish tunes at the Old Town School. Two years later, we had a magical session with the tune in my Fiddle 4 class when Arto and Kaivama dropped in. You can hear it on this earlier post.

Matti Haudanmaa was a master fiddler from the Ostrobothnian district in western Finland. An early Finnish folklorist made field recordings of his playing in the first half of the 20th century, thus preserving this wonderful tune for us to play in the 21st.

X:9
T:Minuet after Matti Haudanmaa
M:3/4
L:1/16
S:Arto Järvelä
K:G
FE | D3G {Bd}B2G2 {Bd}B2G2 | F3A {cd}c2A2 {cd}c2A2 |
D3G {Bd}B2G2 B2d2 | d2AB AGFE DCB,C |
D3G {Bd}B2G2 {Bd}B2G2 | F3A {cd}c2A2 {cd}c2A2 |
ABce d2c2 B2A2 | ABcA G4 G2 ::
Bd | g3g g2g2 g2ga | a3a a2f2 d4 |
e3d c2B2 c2e2 | d2c2 BcdB G2AB |
cBAB c2d2 e2c2 | BdcA A4 G2 :|

Filed under: Tune of the Week,Tunes by Paul | March 1, 2012 | Comments (0)

Notes for Arto Järvelä Tunes

Arto returns for another good tune session
His first visit to Fiddle Club in September 2009 was a memorable night. He’d like to play some of those tunes again. I’ll post some links later this week. He also sent us a few new ones, which were posted earlier.
Listen to the tunes, first and often, while learning to play them from the following notation.

Abc Notation. Free software to read, print and play the Abcs is available here. And a short tutorial on Abc notation for fiddlers can be downloaded from the Old Town School’s Tune Archive using this link.

X:5
T:Wikström Vals
M:3/4
L:1/8
S:Arto Järvelä
K:Am
A2 | d2d^c de | f2e2 d2 | d2^c2 cc | ^c4 A2 |
A2^cd ef | g2f2 e2 | f2dd d2 | d4 ::
c2 | f3e fg | a2g2 f2 | e3d ^cB | A4 A2 |
Ad2^c de | f2e2 d2 | ^c3A ce | a4 g2 |
f2e2 d2 | ^c2A2 c2 | e2d2 d2 | d4 :|

X:6
T:Starc 44
T:Stare 44
M:3/4
L:1/16
S:Arto Järvelä
K:D
d2A2 F2A2 d2f2 | {fg}f2ed c4 A4 | d2ef g2{fg}f2 e2d2 | dcBA B2B2 A2(3ABc |
d2A2 F2A2 d2f2 | {fg}f2ed c4 A4 | d2ef {ga}g2eg {fg}f2df {ef}e2ce d8 ::
a2f2 f2d2 d2A2 | b2f2 g4 e4 |d2ef g2{fg}f2 e2d2 | dcBA B2B2 A2(3efg |
a2f2 f2d2 d2A2 | b2f2 g4 e4 |d2ef {ga}g2eg {fg}f2df {ef}e2ce d8 :|

With the Starc polska, I tried to notate it roughly the way Arto played it, with suggestions for ornamentation. Here is a starker (pun intended) published notation for Starc 44.

Answers to questions I’ve been asked about Fiddle Club. If you have a yearly subscription, you do not need to register. We welcome everyone who wants to hear and/or learn some Finnish fiddling. It would be great if you register online, but you can also pay at the front desk on Saturday night.

Filed under: Tunes by Paul | February 28, 2012 | Comments (0)

From Joe Thompson: Tune of the Week for February 20, 2012

R.I.P.
Joseph Aquilla Thompson
December 9, 1918 – February 20, 2012
From Mebane, North Carolina, Joe Thompson was a gentleman, a family man, a fiddler and a saint. He started playing for house dances with his brother before his legs were long enough to reach the floor from the chair in which he sat while he fiddled. In the late 1970s, he was convinced to start performing again, teaming up with his cousin Odell on banjo.

Twenty years ago, I got to see him perform in Philadelphia, many cultural miles away from his home district of small tobacco farmers. A dozen years ago I got to dance as he called an old-time frolic (ie, square dance) from the family and community tradition he grew up with. In 2005, I attended the Black Banjo Then and Now conference in Boone, North Carolina, where Joe was received as an honored elder (and where the Carolina Chocolate Drops got their start). A couple of times in the following years, I got to see him play in Chicago, once at the Old Town School in an afternoon program sponsored by the Center for Black Music Research at Columbia College. Afterwards, I sat beside him at a jam session in the back room of the Grafton as he tried to teach us to play Georgia Buck.

Georgia Buck, Joe & Odell Thompson, 1987

The notes are simple. The rhythm and ornaments are complex. The form and variations are fluid. The tune has two parts (what we normally call ‘A’ and ‘B’), but they are played with a logic different from the regular progression of repeated alterations. The transcription that follows is roughly taken from the last three times through the performance recorded above. It is meant to give you an idea of some of the variations use. The slides are more important that the actual starting pitches indicated by the grace notes. The Bb is more bluesy and not a tempered Bb. Listen to the recording a lot, as you learn to play the tune.

X:8
T:Georgia Buck
M:C|
L:1/8
S:Joe & Odell Thompson
K:G
“A” ^A-| B2dd G2AA | BAGG E2GG |”slide” {^A}B2dd G2B=A | G2GG E2GG |
“slide” {^A}B2dd G2B=A | D2EE DEGD | G2G4 G2 | G2DD E2G2 ||
“B slide” {^A}B2dd d2ee | =f2fA G2GG | “slide” {^A}B2dd d2B=A | G2GG E2G2 |
“slide” {^A}B2d4 e2 | =f2GG EGGE | G2G4 G2 | G2AG E2GA ||
“A” _B2dd B2AA | _BAAG E2GG | “slide” {A}_B2dd d2=BA | G2GG E2GG |
“slide” {A}_B2dd d2eA | G2AG EGGE | G2G4 G2 | G4 G2z ||

Filed under: Tune of the Week,Tunes by Paul | February 22, 2012 | Comments (2)

Tunes from David Greely

Here are a couple of Cajun classics we can all play together with David Greely, when he makes his appearance at the Fiddle Club of the World, on Friday, February 24.

The first tune is a fiddle version of a tune made famous by the great accordionist, Iry Lejeune (1928-55) from Pointe Noire, Louisiana.

Lacassine Special, a two-step

Lacassine Special, a two-step

And here’s a bluesy waltz from the playing of one of my favorites, Creole fiddler Canray Fontenot (1922-95) of L’Anse aux Vaches. The song was penned by Douglas Bellard.

Barres de la Prison, a waltz in 3/4

Barres de la Prison slow

For notes for these tunes, click here.

Dues for the March 3rd meeting are $15 – you can register here (02/24/12).
Save money with a yearly subscription of $60. It gives you admission to all Fiddle Club events.

Filed under: Tunes by Paul | February 16, 2012 | Comments (0)

Tune of the Week for February 13, 2012

Some island fiddling from the Indian Ocean

From a record of field recordings from Seychelles Islands, Danses et Romances de l’Ancienne France, from the great series of field recordings on the Ocora label from Radio France. The inhabitants of the Seychelles are a Creole people, whose culture has roots in Europe, Africa and Madagascar. A map locating the Seychelles and a short description of the music and the band can be found by clicking this link to a pdf.

The tune given here is a tropical rendition of a 19th-century social dance in 3/4, the mazurka, that originated in Europe. The distinctive Kamtole band sound of the Seychelles was used for dances, especially to celebrate Christian weddings. In the word of one anonymous internet author: “There was a time when Seychellois married couples came out of the church with their guests and they all left in a procession with musicians- two fiddles, a guitarist, an accordion, a drummer and a triangle.”

Mazok by the Anse Boileau Kamtole Band

Filed under: Tune of the Week,Tunes by Paul | February 15, 2012 | Comments (0)

Tunes from Arto Järvelä

Arto Järvelä is the first Fiddle Club of the World guest to make a return appearance. Along with Kaivama, a duo from Minnesota, he will be perform at the Fiddle Club meeting on Saturday, March 3rd at 7:30pm in room E324 in Old Town School East (4545 Lincoln). He’s looking forward to another good jam session after their concert. Here are some tunes to work on.

Kesäkuun Polkka, a polka in 2/4

Masurkka Eräjärveltä, a mazurka in 3/4

Wikström’s Vals, a waltz in 3/4

An ancient polonaise or polska in triple time that Arto learned from a 1806 manuscript collection kept by Adolf Frederik Starc (or Stare) in Turku, the old capital city of Finland.
Starc No. 44

Stare No. 44 stemma, a 2nd voice

For notation to some of these tunes, click here.

You might also want to check out the tunes Arto gave us for his last Fiddle Club appearance in September 2009. Click here. Plus, here are two links to all the tunes Arto taught during his month-long residency: weeks 1 & 2, followed by weeks 3 & 4.

Dues for the March 3rd meeting are $15 – you can register here (03/03/12).
Save money with a yearly subscription of $60. It gives you admission to all Fiddle Club events.

Filed under: Tunes by Paul | February 13, 2012 | Comments (0)

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).

Tune of the Week for March 19, 2012

Tune(s) of the Week for March 12, 2012

Tune(s) of the Week for March 5, 2012

Tune of the Week for February 27, 2012

Notes for Arto Järvelä Tunes

From Joe Thompson: Tune of the Week for February 20, 2012

Tunes from David Greely

Tune of the Week for February 13, 2012

Tunes from Arto Järvelä

Viritä Viikon helmikuun 6, 2012

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