Category Archives: Meeting Tunes

Tunes from Kathleen Keane

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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)

Kathleen Keane's new CD

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


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


The tunes below are for the jam session and workshop. Each is played slowly, at first, then faster.

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.)

Tom Sullivan’s Polka

East to Glendart – Jig

Bruce Greene comes to Fiddle Club

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Friday April 15 at 8:30 pm
Atlantic Bar & Grill (5062 Lincoln)

Good fortune brings Bruce Greene to us in a few weeks. A sublime player, Bruce learned from senior players in Central and Eastern Kentucky back during his student days in the early 1970s. He deserves credit for discovering many of the old masters we cherish–such as John Salyer and Isham Monday–and for recording and disseminating some of our favorite tunes, like “Jeff Sturgeon,” “Betty Baker” and “The Lost Girl.” This is his first trip to the Old Town School since 1996, when he visited the Old-Time Ensemble.

Bruce Greene

Click the picture to see the Bruce’s entry in the Old-Time Fiddlers Hall of Fame.

Here are some tunes to learn before April 15.

Did You Ever See the Devil, Uncle Joe?

slow version


Paddy in the Morning

slow version

Click this link to register for the Fiddle Club of the World. You have to scroll down to April 15. Scroll a bit further and you can sign up for a workshop with Bruce at the Old Town School (4544 Lincoln)

Eastern Kentucky Fiddle Tunes with Bruce Greene
Saturday 04/16/2011 from 1:30 PM to 3:20 PM

Tunes from Charlie "Possum" Walden

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Press the arrows to listen or right-click the blue title to download and save on your computer.

Shenandoah Valley Waltz
“First heard this from Mr. Virgil Smith of Montgomery City, MO. He learned if from Vee Latty, a renowned fiddler from Fulton, MO, in Callaway County. Latty is what I call one of “The Ancients”, in other words a fiddler who taught the old timers I learned from. This waltz is also a popular Blue Grass song.”


Fever in the South
“This is another Latty tune that I learned from a home recording obtained from Latty’s son, Wayne.”

Vee Latty’s recording of Fever in the South


Quadrille in G
“One of many untitled 6/8 time pieces from the Missouri Valley Region. I learned this from Dwight Lamb and he likely got it from Bob Walters.”

Sunday February 20 at 6:30 pm
Old-time fiddling, Missouri style, in the back room of the Atlantic Bar & Grill (5062 N. Lincoln)

Click here to register.

Tunes from Mary Allsopp

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Mary AllsoppMary Allsopp is the long-time leader of Chicago Spelmanslag (Swedish musicians club) with an extensive repertoire of Scandinavian tunes and a deep sensitivity to the distinctive rhythms of old-time Nordic dancing. And she’s a great teacher.
Along with Tim Anderson on guitar, Mary will play a demonstration set in the back room of the Atlantic Bar & Grill (5062 N. Lincoln) on Sunday, January 16 at 6:30. Some of Tim and Mary’s friends will be along to demonstrate the nyckleharpa (keyed fiddle) and traditional Swedish couple dances. The concert will be followed by a jam session with some teaching time thrown in. This meeting is free.
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Here’s a selection of tunes to introduce to the marvelous world of Swedish fiddle music.
Press the arrows to listen or right-click the blue title to download and save on your computer.

A walking tune:
Gärdebylåten

Gärdebylåten slow


A hambo (a newer dance in 3/4):
Hambo efter Lasse i Svarven

hambo slow


A polska (an older dance in 3/4):
Polska from Ramsala

polska slow


A schottische:
Hast Schottis

schottische slow


A fun tune:
Hamburger

Hamburger slow

Tunes from Jim Lansford

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Jim Lansford hails from Galena, Missouri. He’s learned first-hand from some of the best Missouri and Ozark fiddlers of the late 20th century and has carried the traditional sound forcefully into the 21st. His wife, Kim, is an accompanist second to none.

Here are a couple of fine tunes from the middle of the U.S.
From Cyrill Stinnett of Braymer, Missouri.
Grey Eagle in C

Grey Eagle in C slow


From Uncle Bunk Williams, an Ozark fiddler
Daylight in the Morning fiddle & guitar

Daylight in the Morning slow


Jim Lansford

Jim & Kim Lansford will be performing at a Fiddle Club of the World meeting, 8:00pm on Friday, July 16 at the Leadway Bar & Gallery (5233 N. Damen) in Chicago.

Click here to register.

Austrian tunes with Rudi Pietsch

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Join us for a friendly concert and session on June 6 at 7:30 pm.
NOTE: This Fiddle Club meeting has been moved to the Old Town School of Folk Music (4544 Lincoln). We will meet in the Gallery on the 1st floor. The cafe may be open for beer sales. BYOB is also a possibility.

For the last few weeks, the Old Town School has been graced with a visitor from Vienna, Austria. Rudi Pietsch is an ethnomusicologist who is spending a quarter teaching at the University of Chicago and researching music in the communities of Central European immigrants in Chicago and the Midwest. In his spare time, he’s come by the School to learn a few American tunes. He also dropped in on Fiddle 4 Twin Fiddle class.
Maria McCullough & Rudi Pietsch

a yodel played on the fiddle in three voices

To hear all three voices, you’ll have to bring your fiddle and join in. Here’s Rudi singing one voice and playing another on fiddle.
yodel with fiddle


And here’s the same melody played as a ländler, a dance in 3.
yodel as a ländler


Here’s a polka, Der Einfache . . .
Der Einfache voice 1

add voice 2 (oops, the trio is missing)

Der Einfache played by Fiddle 4 class with Rudi Pietsch on piano


Der Einfache
(click to enlarge)

And a Zwiebacher, Die Bacherlmuhl, a dance mixing 2s and 3s.


(click to enlarge)

Tunes from Paul Brown & Mostly Mountain Boys

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Paul Brown

Paul Brown, from Washington DC, learned old-time fiddle directly from some of the great old masters of North Carolina and Virginia, such as Benton Flippen, Luther Davis, Kyle Creed, Tommy Jarrell and Fred Cockerham. Over the years he’s played fiddle with The Toast String Stretchers, The Bent Mountain Band (with Andy Cahan and Mike Seeger), and now The Mostly Mountain Boys.

Paul and the mostly boys will be part of the FIDDLEPALOOZA on Tuesday, June 8, 8pm at the Old Town School, along with the Polka Chicks. Here are a couple of tunes the Mostly Mountain Boys will help us through

Key of D. Can be performed with fiddle in standard tuning or with bass string tuned up to A. Inspired by Norman Edmonds of Hillsville, VA
Sugar in the Gourd

Sugar in the Gourd slow


Inspired by Luther Davis of Galax, Virginia
Shady Grove fiddle & guitar

Shady Grove slow


Click here for some tunes by the Polka Chicks.

Click here to register for Fiddlepalooza. (Steve Rosen’s Fiddle 3 and Paul Tyler’s Fiddle 4 students for this session are already registered.)

Tunes from the Polka Chicks

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A selection of tunes from the Polka Chicks, from Finland. Along with the Mostly Mountain Boys, they will participate in the Fiddlepalooza at the Old Town School on Tuesday, June 8 at 8pm. The next day, June 9, both groups will be on stage for World Music Wednesday at 8:30.

Press the arrows to listen or right-click the blue title to download and save on your computer.

“. . . a polska and a waltz, which are both traditional tunes from Swedish-speaking areas in Finland. The tunes are called ‘Bromarvin polska’ (Polska from Bromarv, situated on a cape by the southern coast of Finland) and ‘Viktors Vals’ (from a small village called Jeppo in Ostrobothnia, Finnish west coast).”

Bromarv polska

Bromarv polska slow


Viktors vals

Viktor vals slow


” . . . a traditional polka played by a horn orchestra from Hattula, a county in Häme-region which is situated kind of in the southern-middle Finland. The tune is called ‘Ampumakoulun polkka’ which means ‘Shooting school polka’.”

Ampumakoulun polkka

Ampumakoulun polkka slow


Click here from some workshop tunes from Paul Brown & the Mostly Mountain Boys.

Click here to register for Fiddlepalooza. (Steve Rosen’s Fiddle 3 and Paul Tyler’s Fiddle 4 students for this session are already registered.)

Tunes from Matt Brown

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A selection of tunes from Matt Brown, one of the rising stars in the old-time music firmament.

Press the arrows to listen or right-click the blue title to download and save on your computer.

Matt sez: “Roscoe comes to us from the great Kyle Creed of Surry County, North Carolina. The tune is named after guitar player Roscoe Russell. This one is great for dances!”
Roscoe

Roscoe slow


“This version of Fire On the Mountain is one of my all-time favorite tunes. And not enough people play it. Isham (pronounced “Ice-um”) Monday of Monroe County, Kentucky played this beautiful tune with lots of drones, and in a low cross-tuning. I’m in AEAE on this version, but you can get most of the notes (if not all of the drones) in standard tuning.”
Fire on the Mountain

Fire on the Mountain slow


“This is Burnett & Rutherford’s version of the classic Cumberland Gap. It’s sweet, simple, and in G.”
Cumberland Gap

Cumberland Gap slow


Matt Brown visits the Fiddle Club of the World meeting on Sunday, May 2 at 6:30pm at the Leadway Bar & Gallery (5233 N. Damen) in Chicago. Click here to register.

Tunes from Genevieve (Harrison) Koester

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A selection of tunes from Dear Old Illinois (both a place and the life work of Genevieve’s father, Garry Harrison). Gena plays with her dad in the New Mules, a band featured at the Old Town School’s Trad Fest in January 2008. The first of these tunes is from the David McIntosh collection of folksongs from Southern Illinois from the middle of the last century. The next two are tunes Garry collected from downstate fiddlers 30 years ago.

Press the arrows to listen or right-click the blue title to download and save on your computer.

Across the Plains of Illinois “Source version is unaccompanied ballad singing by Ollie Barnard of Cave-in-Rock, IL. . . . I’ll sing all the words when we all get together but it has a nice tune by itself too.”

Across the Plains of Illinois slow


Sally Johnson from “Otis Reynolds of Geff, IL. There are a million versions of Sally Johnson, and most of them are very note-y and embellished. This one is the opposite. :)” (Warning: not the version transcribed in Dear Old Illinois.)

Sally Johnson slow


Who’ll Cut the Britches? from Henry Soper of Mt. Vernon, IL. “The full title given by Mr. Soper was the verse:
Oh boy, who’ll cut the britches?
Daddy cut them out, and mammy sewed the stitches.”

Who’ll Cut the Britches? slow


Genevieve Koester will be the featured guest at the Fiddle Club of the World meeting on Sunday, April 18 at 6:30pm at the Leadway Bar & Gallery (5233 N. Damen) in Chicago. Click here to register.