Welcome back for a new term! We’ve been asked to do a performance for “That Spring Thing” on May 26th at More Music and we still have a booking at the New Hutton Institute on 30th November.(No we don’t!)… But Janet (fiddle and bagpipe player) has asked if we could do a ceilidh for the Forton School PTA on the 5th July? (Also no we don’t, but we’ll hopefully do something for them in the new school year)
If anyone would like to recommend us for more then please let me know and we’ll try to make it happen 🙂
29/04/24
A couple of great Scandinavian tunes tonight – a Sønderhoning (probably) from Denmark and a Polska from Sweden. Very similar dances, but with some important differences.
MIDI FILE: Poul PiesenTreble
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06/05/24
Here are a couple of great welsh tunes I learned from my father as a teen :). He learned them whilst living in Aberystwyth (I think).
MIDI FILE: Diferiad y CerwynTreble
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13/05/24
Here are a couple of mazurkas I wrote during lockdown. A little more challenging, but hopefully quite sweet…? They need to be played swung. If there’s time we’ll revise Mazurka des Ecoliers and the one after it…
MIDI FILE: Purple Mazurkle and Cen’s 60Treble
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Here’s a recording from my phone. Sorry it’s not better recorded, but should give you an idea!
Set List for the Spring Thing on the 26th May (in no particular order):
Djatchko Kolo (in G)
Waddington/Rochdale (for the maypole)
Midnight on the Water
Westmoreland
The Lilac
Moon & 7 Stars
Old Lancaster Hornpipe
Robin’s Waltz
Neil Gow’s
20/05/24
This week’s tune is a Niški čoček, a Romany dance found all over the balkans. Goran Bregovic (Bosnia)(see video), is a hero of this style with his lively band (check this out!). I understand that this Niški čoček is a trad. Serbian tune that he arranged, but am happy to be proved wrong 😉
MIDI FILE: Niški čočekTreble
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SUNDAY 26th May:
Djatchko Kolo (in G)
Waddington/Rochdale (for the maypole)
Midnight on the Water
Westmoreland
The Lilac
Moon & 7 Stars
Old Lancaster Hornpipe
Robin’s Waltz
Neil Gow’s
We’re on at 12:30 and 2:20… Arrive 12:15 at the latest (I know about a couple who will just arrive when they can – that’s fine, of course!)
What can you expect from this year’s free That Spring Thing event?
We have many drop-in activities for you to get involved in such as:
- Bulb Planting
- Willow Weaving
- Guys Guitar Clinic
- Bay Blueprint For Recovery
- Veggie Synth Jamz
- Hapazome Flower Bashing
- Meet More Music’s Green Team
We also have scheduled performances and activities taking place.
Find the full line up below:
12pm – Baybeat Streetband
12:30pm – Folk O’Lune with Maypole dancing
1pm – Ballad of the Selkie – a dance performance from Aimee Williamson.
1:30pm – Walk in the Woods
2pm – Bay Youth Voices
2pm – DoodleBug Movement Workshop
2:20pm – Folk O’Lune with Maypole dancing
2:50pm – Baybeat Streetband
3:10pm – Ballad of the Selkie
3.30pm – Live music from young performers
03/06/24
Hope everyone had a great week off! We have six weeks this time I think, breaking for summer after 8th July. NB. The PTA gig in Forton has been cancelled, but they’ll try to get us to do something in the Autumn.
Here’s a couple of jigs I’ve been playing since I was about 17yrs old! Great tunes 🙂
MIDI FILE: Cleveland Park by Ivan Drever of the band WolfstoneTreble
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10/06/24
Here’s a couple of great reels from North America. The Quebecois tune is a bit on the tricky side, but so satisfying to play… The US tune is played everywhere and is a common session tune in Americana sessions in the UK and US. Although they’re both “fiddle tunes”, I’ve heard both played by flatpicking guitarists and others to very good effect.
MIDI FILE: Dédicado à JosTreble
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17/06/24
Here’s a great Romanian/ Moldovan dance tune that I’ve been meaning to get around to for a while. No idea how authentic my harmonies might be considered, but I’ve given it a go! It’s an easy dance, so if there’s time… (or we may re-visit another tune!)
MIDI FILE: Hora MareTreble
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24/06/24
Here’s a wonderful “Jigg”/Quadrille (works nicely as an Air too), from the wonderfully named “The Third Book of the most celebrated jiggs, Lancashire hornpipes, Scotch and Highland lilts, Northern frisks, Morris’s and Cheshire rounds with hornpipes the bagpipe manner, to which is added the Black Joak, the White Joak, the Brown,, the Red, and the Yellow Joaks. With variety of whims and fancies of diff’rent humour, fitted to the genious of publick performers” – they knew how to do headlines in those days!!! We’ll have a re-visit of Black’s and Tom Mellins 3/2 Hornpipes too (Term 30) if there’s time. I’m struggling to find out anything about “Bess King”. some folks think it’s about Elizabeth I and others think it’s about one of her rivals – Rebecca (Bess) Hardwick. Could be about neither!
MIDI FILE: Bess King’s JiggTreble
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MIDI FILE: Black’s Hornpipe
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MIDI FILE: Tom Mellin’s
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