Tunes from Arto Järvelä

Posted on February 13, 2012 by Paul Tyler

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 is a new super-link to all the tunes he taught in workshops and to classes during his residency at the Old Town School in September 2009: DrDosido.net.

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.

Viritä Viikon helmikuun 6, 2012

Posted on February 8, 2012 by Paul Tyler

Finnish for Tune of the Week for February 6, 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

Indrek Kalda & Tiit Kikus

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 January 30, 2012

Posted on February 2, 2012 by Paul Tyler

A little gem from Missouri
The Rhythm Rats on Marimac

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?

Ritmo de la semana para Enero 25, 2012

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Paul Tyler

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.

Cleofes Ortiz
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

Here are the ABCs. Note the key change to D for the B part . . .

Mélodie de la semaine pour les Janvier 16, 2012

Posted on January 18, 2012 by Paul Tyler

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 is 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 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.

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

Tune i ugen for Januar 9, 2012

Posted on January 12, 2012 by Paul Tyler

Danish for Tune of the Week.
From one of my all-time favorite CDs.
Gunner Friis, Kalejdoskop
(click here 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 ||

New for 2012, Tune of the Week

Posted on January 4, 2012 by Paul Tyler

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 ||

Michi Regier tunes

Posted on December 8, 2011 by Paul Tyler

The next fiddle club meeting will be
Michi Regier with Peasants Abroad
Sunday, December 11 at 6:30p
Atlantic Bar & Grill (5062 Lincoln)

Michi Regier started out with classical violin lessons (lessons that were well-earned), but soon went off in search of Gypsy fiddling on paths that took her into the worlds of Mariachi bands and renaissance fairs. Among other gems, Michi will perform her “Fiddle Tree” travelogue in fiddle, English and Ukrainian, highlighting the musical folklore of the Ukraine, which she studied first-hand in 2003 at the Lysenko Conservatory in L’viv. She also plays with the Milwaukee based Water Street Bridge.

Peasants Abroad is the Madison, Wisconsin duo of Ashli Fain on mandolin and percussionist Richard Miller. Both will also demonstrate some dancing to the accompaniment of Michi Regier’s exotic fiddling. A few simple dances will be taught to Fiddle Clubbers, including one of my favorite, the lovely and simple Setnja from Serbia.

Ukrainian folk costumes

Michi Regier with Ivan Andreiovich

Michi’s tunes, and what she has to say about them . . .

Hutsulky
“I learned it from a Carpathian mountain fiddler (Ivan, in the picture) who refused to let me take notes!”

Arkan-Fire Dance
“I learned this tune from Oksana Moshinsky, bandura player from Ukraine. I met her when performing at the Colorado renaissance festival, and her great cooking is responsible for my weekly visits to her house to learn Ukrainian tunes.” [a cd by Michi & Oksana available here.]

Little Stream
“This one I learned from Oksana Moshinsky – it’s a traditional Ukrainian tune also.
Here’s a fairly traditional sung version. I recorded an instrumental arrangement of it on my first cd Curved Space (It is out of print but I still have download cards which I will bring to the club).”

Notation for Little Stream

To register for Michi’s visit to the Fiddle Club, show up at the Atlantic Bar on Sunday with $15 in hand (it all goes to the artist). Or join fiddle club with a year’s subscription for $60.

-Paul Tyler, convener

Tunes from Lynn Frederick

Posted on October 6, 2011 by Paul Tyler

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.

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.

Tunes from Sule Greg Wilson

Posted on May 17, 2011 by Paul Tyler

Concert & Jam Session
(click above for more info about our featured guest)
Sunday, May 29, 6:30p
Atlantic Bar & Grill (5062 Lincoln)

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).

Sankofa Strings CD

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

Jalidong

The tunes below are for the jam session that will follow Sule’s concert.

Colored Aristocracy
(work on this one for the session)

Old Joe Clark from a Carolina Chocolate Drops performance in Arizona

Woyaya, an African song

Fiddle Club of the World

(Chicago Chapter)

Category Archives: Tunes