Tunes from Kathleen Keane

Posted on May 7, 2011 by Paul Tyler

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

Dance Band Practice

Posted on April 17, 2011 by Paul Tyler

Square & Ceilidh Dance – July 17

I’ll call and teach the dances. You, Fiddle Club players, will be the band. There are tunes to be learned. We’ll start working on them at the Atlantic on Sunday April 17 at 6:30p. Don’t worry. I’ll make sure everybody knows them.

Here’s a tune book I made.
Note: a revised and corrected edition of the tune book is coming soon.

And here are the tunes . . .

Old-Time tunes for square and ceilidh dances
Ten Cents Chirps Smith – April ’08

Streak o’ Lean Pete Sutherland – October ’09

Daylight in the Morning Jim & Kim Lansford – July ’10

Granny Alan Jabbour – October ’08

Who’ll Cut the Britches Genevieve & Smith Koester – April ’10

Fire on the Mountain Matt Brown – May ’10

Sugar in the Gourd Paul Brown (Mostly Mountain Boys) – June ’10

She Oughta Been a Lady Vesta Johnson – October ’10 (from the jam session)

Steppin’ in the Parlour Bruce Greene – April ’11 (recording from Bruce’s visit in 1996)

Couple dances
Koputus polkka Arto Järvelä’s – September ’09

Hast Schottis Mary Allsopp – January ’11

plus 3 more tunes on this earlier post.

Tunes for the Square & Ceilidh Dance

Posted on April 10, 2011 by Paul Tyler

Dance band practice April 17 and June 19. We’ll workshop some of the tunes and dances on June 19. The full dance is scheduled for July 17.

Here’s a fun video from Italy of the Tacco e Punta (Heel & Toe?) dance.

Tacco e Punta (aka Patacake Polka)

Raatikko a dance known among Finns, Germans and other Euro-Americans

Give these variants a listen, Ein Zwie Drie und a Fier, from Joe Altman & the Spaasmachers, a German band in St. Meinrad, Indiana and The Seven Step, by a Bohemian Polka band in New Braunfels, Texas.

The Seven Step, a different dance and a different tune in the key of G

I learned it in D from Wayne Satkamp of Stendahl, Indiana and Herb Wenning of Portersville, Indiana, who played it in G. Here’s a video of The Seven Step as danced by the Ukrainians and Métis of Manitoba.

And we have to play a schottische. One of the most fun dances ever.
Hast Schottische slow from Mary Allsopp (see Jan 16th meeting)

We’ve played the Hast Schottis before. Next time, we’ll have more dancers.

Paul Tyler, convener
Fiddle Club of the World (Chicago Chapter)

Bruce Greene comes to Fiddle Club

Posted on March 27, 2011 by Paul Tyler

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.

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

Posted on February 7, 2011 by Paul Tyler

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

Posted on January 11, 2011 by Paul Tyler

Mary 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.
&&

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

Posted on July 6, 2010 by Paul Tyler

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

Posted on June 2, 2010 by Paul Tyler

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

(click to enlarge)

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

(click to enlarge)

Tunes from Paul Brown & Mostly Mountain Boys

Posted on May 31, 2010 by Paul Tyler

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

Posted on May 15, 2010 by Paul Tyler

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.)