Alan learned all these tunes from Henry Reed (1884-1968) of Glen Lyn, West Virginia.
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West Virginia Highway (aka Ebenezer)
Used with permission from Learning Old-Time Fiddle Appalachian Style with Alan Jabbour.
Go to Alan Jabbour’s transcriptions of these Henry Reed tunes.
Alan Jabbour will be performing at the Fiddle Club of the World‘s meeting on Wednesday, October 29 at Paddy O’Splaines. Click here to register, or call 773.728.6000.
Ken learned these tunes from fiddlers on Prince Edward Island.
Medley: The Brae Reel & The Miramichi Fire
Used with permission from Ken Perlman, from his Island Boy CD.
Go to Ken Perlman’s transcriptions of these fiddle tunes.
Ken Perlman will be performing as part of a fiddle-banjo summit with Alan Jabbour at the Fiddle Club of the World‘s meeting on Wednesday, October 29 at Paddy O’Splaines. Click here to register, or call 773.728.6000.
Here are some tunes played by Frank Ferrel, a Yankee fiddler from Maine.
Tripping to the Well & Galway Belle
These tunes are from Frank’s earlier CDs, “Boston Fiddle” (Rounder) and “Fiddledance.” You should buy them (see Great Meadows Music).
Frank Ferrel will be performing at the Fiddle Club of the World‘s meeting on Saturday, October 4 at Chief O’Neills. Click here to register, or call 773.728.6000.
Recordings used by permission of the artists. Click on their names or photos for links to their websites or info on their CDs &c. (Tom, Brad & Alice)
Tom Sauber
Los Angeles, California
Brad Leftwich
Bloomington, Indiana
Alice Gerrard
Durham, North Carolina
Recorded by Lynn Garren at the Bluff Country Gathering in Lanesboro, Minnesota on May 17, 2008.
Return to Bluff Country Gathering post and link to more recordings.
Las Chaparreras.
A simple huapango in the style of Son Huasteco.
slow version of Las Chaparreras.
El Caballito
A more complicated Son Huasteco huapango.
Felipe Valle & Juan Rivera are the featured guests for the Fiddle Club of the World’s meeting on Sunday, July 20 at the Leadway Bar & Gallery (5233 N. Damen).
Go here to register.
Maria McCullough, a charter member of the Chicago chapter of the Fiddle Club of the World, represented the Fiddle Department on an exchange program that sent five Old Town School teachers and two administrators to Newcastle, England and Helsinki, Finland this past spring. Armed with a video camera and sound recorder, Maria digitally captured some fabulous folk music moments.
You can visit the Old Town School Connect blog to read Maria’s comments and peruse some of the footage. I highly recommend the videos of the Rapper Sword Dance, performed in a pub in Newcastle, and the demonstration of the Jouhikko, an archaic bowed lyre now being taught to students at the in the Folk Music Department of the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki.
The Sibelius Academy parallels the Old Town School in many ways, including offering ensemble classes dedicated to traditional folk music. Maria got to participate in one such class taught by Olli Varis. A mandolinist and guitarist, Olli is a veteran of some of Finland’s best known professional folk music groups, including Koinurit, Värttinä and the Helsinki Mandoliners.
Olli Varis
Here’s a three-part tune taught by Olli.
And here’s the ensemble class wailing away at the tune. The Old Town School’s Steve Levitt joins in on guitar on the right. What is the one major difference between this class in Helsinki and Old Time Ensemble at the Old Town School (I mean besides the fact that the students are reading music off the stands in front of them)? These Finnish students are receiving college credit for learning their old time music!
For more of the flavor of folk music in Finland and England, peruse Maria’s comments on the On the Road blog. For a taste of fiddling in northern England, try her recording of a lesson with fiddler Ruth Ball. The tune is the “Dunstanburgh Rant.” Here’s a shorter clip of the full tune at a moderate tempo. (Rants are like reels. They should played pretty fast.)
Keep fiddling.
Paul Tyler
In fiddle classes at the Old Town School, we seldom get around to teaching tunes in the key of C. That’s a shame. There are so many good ones. Larry Warren, a gentleman I met on FIDDLE-L, posted a private page of sound clips of C tunes contributed from fellow FIDDLE-L subscribers. Here’s my contribution of a few gems (IMHO) that I don’t think made it to Larry’s page.
I learned this nearly 30 years ago from Hector Phillips, of Petersburg, Indiana. I made this recording ten years ago for a FIDDLE-L compilation CD. Rhys Jones is on guitar. Hector Phillips can be seen and heard in “Tough, Pretty, or Smart: A Portrait of the Patoka Valley Boys,” a film by Dillon Bustin and Richard Kane.
Even longer ago, I learned this one from Paul Gifford, who was then living in Ferndale, Michigan. He learned it from Merritt Olsen, from the nearby Detroit suburb of Birmingham. I heard Merritt play once–he also played a button box accordion–and greatly regret that I never went to visit him. Of course, at that time I could barely scratch out an identifiable tune.
And this one I learned in 1979 from Donald Duff of Lizton, Indiana. He learned it from Mr. Harmon, an older local fiddler who helped Mr. Duff get started when he was a kid. Jimmie Campbell of Dolan, Indiana played the tune as well, and called it “Old Bob.” Same name, different tune from one Garry Harrison collected.
Just so the record is straight, I am the fiddler on all these recordings. Any clunkers are mine and mine alone. Enjoy the tunes, and maybe we can play one of two of them at the upcoming open session of the Fiddle Club on July 15.
Paul Tyler, convener
This mp3 is about 6 minutes long. Here’s an abridged mp3 (two times through the tune).
shorter recording
Played by Frank Hall (fiddle), Lena Ullman (banjo) and Paul Tyler (guitar). Recorded October 2007 when Frank and Lena were visiting from Ireland. Frank, a long-time resident of Bloomington, Indiana, learned the tune from Lotus Dickey. Note the chord changes in the B part (Em & B7).
And here’s an example of Lotus playing the tune in a medley with “Weller’s Reel” and “Green Fields of America,” recorded at the Indiana Fiddlers Gathering in 1982, with Dillon Bustin (guitar) and Linda Handelsman (hammered dulcimer).
The Fiddlers Gathering (aka Battle Ground) is coming up the last weekend in June.
The Tippecanoe Battlefield in Battle Ground, Indiana is a 2 1/2 hour drive from Chicago.
The setting is a beautiful setting. The folks are friendly. The jam sessions are lively.
Paul Tyler, convener
Note on the recordings: Following customary practice, the tunes are played on two fiddles tuned a full step lower (F-C-G-D). One fiddle plays the melody, and the second fiddle plays chords with some harmony and counterpoint. The slow versions are played on a single fiddle in standard tuning (G-D-A-E), to make it easier to learn the tunes without having to retune. For the jam session with the Whedbees, we’ll all tune down a step.
Choupique Two-step
A tune recorded by Nathan Abshire, played in the style of the Balfa Brothers.
slow version of Choupique Two-step
Kathleens Waltz
From Dennis McGee (1893-1989), who recorded in the 1920s and ’30s with Sady Courville and Ernest Fruge on second fiddle, and with Creole accordionist, Amédé Ardoin. He recorded again in the 1970s with Sady Courville.
slow version of Kathleens Waltz
Lake Charles Two-step
A tune by this name was recorded by Creole musicians Bois Sec Ardoin, an accordionist, and fiddler Canray Fontenot. Will & Holly’s version, learned from the Balfa Brothers, is also known as “Texas Two-Step.”
slow version of the Lake Charles Two-step
All tunes recorded by P. Tyler at Whedbee home in Chicago on April 21, 2008
Will & Holly Whedbee are the featured guests for the Fiddle Club of the World’s meeting on Saturday, May 10 at the Leadway Bar & Gallery.
Ten Cents
From Jim Reed of Benton, Illinois.
slow version of Ten Cents
Bob Walter’s Hornpipe
From Bob Walter (1889-1960), who played on the radio in Shenandoah, Iowa and for many dances on the Central Plains.
slow version of Bob Walter’s Hornpipe
Leonard Finseth’s Polka in G
A Norwegian-American fiddler from Mondovi, Wisconsin.
slow version of the Polka in G
All tunes recorded by P. Tyler at Chirps’ new country home in LaGrange, Wisconsin on March 30, 2008
Go to Paul Tyler’s transcriptions of these Chirps Smiths tunes.
To hear the first batch of Chirps Smith tunes.
Chirps Smith is the featured guest for the Fiddle Club of the World’s meeting on Sunday, April 20 at the Leadway Bar & Gallery.