Welcome back! A couple of dates for us this term if we’re up for it: Friday 21st March at More Music and a recording at some point too as well as a possible community festival… date tba
20/01/2025
Although it’s Burns night this weekend, we’ll do something suitable next Monday, as it’s closer to the day itself. In the meantime, here’s a lovely Finnish Vals. If there’s time we’ll re-visit Säkkijärven Polkka from Term 35, 2022.
MIDI FILE: AkuvalssiTreble
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27/01/25
Here’s a great fiddle tune from Shetland – I’m a bit Burns’d out after this weekend if I’m honest, but this is a great tune and not strictly anything to do with Burns! Michael Ferrie wrote it whilst playing with the teen fiddle group “Fiddler’s Bid” in the 1990s, but sadly died aged 21 from cancer.
MIDI FILE: Michael’s MazurkaTreble
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03/02/25
Here’s a great Freylekh or Sher from the Klezmer traditions. Has a lot of phrases and rhythms for both types of dance and would probably work for either depending on the backing…
A Freylekh is a frantic dance tune. Shers are square dances, whilst Freylekhs is more often a “snake” or circle dance, with a bouncy on-beat step. A Freylekh-Sher is a square dance.
N.B. As with many older traditional tunes the spelling of “Freylekh”, for example will vary considerably when written down!
MIDI FILE: Freylekh SherTreble
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Trombone
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10/02/25
Here are a couple of very jolly little tunes from Eastern Canada – presumably matching with their titles! The Nova Scotia can be used as a hornpipe, although it is more properly a Barndance or set-dance, meaning it has its own dance associated rather than a generic hornpipe-ish thing. The Cape Breton Jig I have very few ideas about – it’s been in and out of fashion for a very long time in sessions (possibly because of the “Jesus Christ Superstar” bit in the 2nd part!), but can be played in any number of ways, which makes it a popular tune for soloists.
The Nova ScotiaTreble
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MIDI FILE: Cape Breton Jig
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24/02/25
Hope everyone had a good half-term and got up to mischief! We’re back for another four weeks and will be doing some arranging and rehearsing towards the upcoming stuff (more in the session), but in the meantime I figured it was about time we came back to the North West for a couple of lovely tunes. The most famous of which, by far, is the Whitehaven volunteers – thought to be a local militia group set up during the Napoleonic wars. Whitehaven was an important commercial port at that point, after London, Liverpool and Lancaster. The tune is widely used as an alternative for the Gay Gordon’s dance.
MIDI FILE: Whitehaven VolunteersTreble
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03/03/25
With St Patrick’s day looming in a couple of weeks I thought I’d jump the gun a little and bring a couple of well known Irish reels that are played in sessions around the world 🙂
MIDI FILE: Bantry LassesTreble
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10/03/24
Here are a couple of Swedish Schottis tunes I learned recently. Not as obviously suited to the dance as some, but with a bit of practice they work quite nicely. We will be looking at an arrangement of Red House tonight.
MIDI FILE: TennangshottisTreble
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MIDI FILE: Penttis Schottis
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Here’s the arrangement we made for Red House:
1st time: Tony starts with a drone and Lewis plays the A, joined by Andrew on B and Rob on C
2nd time: Everyone in, but still relatively quietly. June plays harmony part
3rd time: Plucked strings play melody and/or chords together and everyone joins on C
4th time: Bowed and plucked strings play melody and everyone joins on C
5th time: Everyone in with gusto!
Next week we will take a look at arranging Akuvalssi
Also on the list are: Whitehaven volunteers and the Morgan Rattler, as well as the Lilac and Westmoreland. We will need one more… possibly something lovely and Klezmer like Papirossen; Shalom Aliechem or…?
16/03/2025
Unfortunately I’ve had to cancel tonight as we wait to hear back from the GPs about a last minute appointment for my youngest. Sorry for the inconvenience. Back next week
24/03/2025
So, as well as an arrangement of Akuvalssi, we will have a go at this lovely “thing” from Nicaragua. It’s a lovely dance, with elements of Spanish and African influences. The backing is very firmly in 3/4, whilst the melody is quite clearly in 6/8, which can be a headache to get into, but lovely once mastered! The dance uses a bit of each (of course!) – see video. Either way, it’s a lovely tune and traditionally played on marimba. I’ve heard some good versions on guitars too, since we have more of them these days ;). I’ve partially transcribed and partially made up the harmony parts. “Dance of the Blacks”:
“Among the most important places from the point of view of traditions in Nicaragua are the city of Masaya and the adjacent Laguna de Apoyo: a lake situated in a volcanic crater also known as the “mouth of hell”. This lagoon was the refuge of the ancient inhabitants of the current Monimbó (the most known district of Masaya). Here originated the first offensive for the liberation of Nicaragua with the Sandinista National Liberation Front (F.S.L.N.). The indigenous people of Monimbó manufactured the first homemade bombs and fought with their faces covered by the typical “sieve masks of Monimbó”. These fierce protests also resulted in music and dance through the “danza negra”: a ritual born in the colonial times, when indigenous women despised the men of Monimbó lending themselves to the Spanish invaders during dance parties. For that, the enraged men created this unique choreography: a dance performed by groups of eight men, four dressed as women including Spanish fans, and four dressed as men with their faces painted black and covered with sieve masks to keep their identity concealed.” from here
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Well that was a challenge! ha ha.
Janet: we didn’t do a new arrangement, but rehearsed the Lilac reel arrangement and will attack the other arrangements when we get back on 28th April.
Red house arrangements:
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