Notes and Tunes from Our European Correspondent

Posted on June 18, 2008 by Paul Tyler

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.

Suden Rita

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!

Sibelius Ensemble Class

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.)

Dunstanburgh Rant

Keep fiddling.

Paul Tyler

More Announcements

Posted on June 5, 2008 by Paul Tyler

From the Department of Redundancy Department:

Let’s play our tunes together!
Sunday, June 15, 6:30-9:30
Leadway Bar and Gallery 5233 N. Damen, Chicago

It’s free. Just let me know you’re coming. (ptyler@oldtownschool.org)

Also, check out the Fiddler’s Picnic this Sunday, June 8th. It’s hosted by the Folklore Society at the University of Chicago. The whole event runs from 12 noon till 6 in the Hutchinson Commons Courtyard. Here’s a map. Jam sessions are open to all players. The featured guest is fiddler and banjoist extraordinaire, Dan Gellert. No time posted for his concert, but the best guess is sometime around 3 pm.

The small stuff (not to be sweated).

The 6th Annual Midwest Fiddle Championship is fast approaching, and the online entry form has not yet been linked. IT promises me it will be there by this Friday (June 6). Paper registration forms can also be found at the Old Town School of Folk Music or at Seman Violins. Register by July 1st.

And IT is also promising to set a link on Fiddle Club website that will enable you to subscribe to an RSS feed. I’m not yet clear how that works (I’m not even sure if that’ the right acronym), but it will notify you when something new goes up on this blog. Stay posted.

Paul Tyler, convener

Some C Tunes

Posted on June 5, 2008 by 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.

Blue Buggy Bounce

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.

Postuns Jig

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.

Walter Harmon’s Hornpipe in C

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

Meeting June 15th & Announcements

Posted on May 22, 2008 by Paul Tyler

Let’s play our tunes together!
Sunday, June 15, 6:30-9:30
Leadway Bar and Gallery 5233 N. Damen, Chicago

It’s free. Just let me know you’re coming. (ptyler@oldtownschool.org)

Announcing the 6th Midwest Fiddle Championship.

Click the above link for rules and information about the Youth and Fiddle Team contests scheduled for 7 pm, Thursday, July 10th at Giddings Plaza in Lincoln Square. An online entry form will soon be linked to the information page. For more, contact me at ptyler@oldtownschool.org.

Youth and Fiddle Team winners will perform on the Main Stage of the Chicago Folk & Roots Festival 2008 at 12:55 pm, Sunday, July 13th in Welles Park.

Added this year is a division for Fiddle Bands with Dancers. Five specially invited fiddle bands will compete on the main stage. Immediately following, three of the bands will proceed to the Dance Tent so every one can dance to their music. There will be a brief instruction period before each band plays.

A tune (or two)

Posted on May 22, 2008 by Paul Tyler

Oyster River Hornpipe

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).

Oyster River Hornpipe medley

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

Ten Strike strikes again!

Posted on May 14, 2008 by Paul Tyler

When Chirps Smith visited the Fiddle Club of the World, he played a tune called “Ten Strike” that, well, struck a chord. A Club member requested that the tune be posted to this blog. It already has, on the report of the April 20th meeting. It’s still worth taking a closer look at “Ten Strike.” (Here it is again.)

Ten Strike by Chirps Smith

Chirps learned the tune from the playing of Les Raber (1911-2000), a lifelong resident of Michigan. We both heard Les play the tune on numerous occasions. On this example, I am seconding on guitar and Paul Gifford is on hammered dulcimer. It’s February 1998, and we’re getting Les prepared to perform that summer at the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes in Port Townsend, Washington. The scene is the cozy living room of Les and Rosemary’s farmhouse outside of Hastings in rural Barry County.

Ten Strike by Les Raber

Properly speaking, the tune is for the 4th figure or change of the Ten Strike quadrille, as printed in Gems of the Ballroom, compiled circa 1890 by Geo. B. McCosh of Dekalb, Illinois. Les also played the tunes for both the 1st and 3rd changes. (In fact you can hear both on this CD: Come Dance With Me . . . Again.)

(click to enlarge)

When I first met Les in 1981, Paul Gifford had, at my behest, brought him along from Michigan to Battle Ground to perform at the Indiana Fiddlers Gathering. Les had just acquired a copy of the first violin edition of Gems of the Ballroom, had polished up his music-reading skills, and was working his way through book while sitting under the shade of a tall oak that had witnessed the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811, a full century before his birth.

Here’s how, over ten years ago, I wrote down what Les played.

There is some debate whether Geo. B. McCosh’s “Ten Strike, No. 4” is the source for “Oklahoma Rooster,” a tune associated with old-time fiddler Uncle Dick Hutchison. You can judge for yourself.

Oklahoma Rooster

Paul Tyler, convener
May 14, 2008

Fiddle Club meeting coming up May 10th!

Posted on May 6, 2008 by Paul Tyler

It’s Cajun fiddling with Will & Holly Whedbee

Leadway Bar and Gallery 5233 N. Damen, Chicago

NEWS FLASH!!!
The meeting will start at 4:00 pm
(Not 3:30 as previously announced.
The bar doesn’t open till 4. Doh!)

You can still sign up. Find workshops here.

And

DOUBLE NEWS FLASH!!!
We’ll begin with a special showing of

The producers are Old Town School parents who, at one time, were in a variety of fiddle and banjo classes and the Old Time Ensemble. They will be there. This is something extra special.

You can still sign up for the May meeting by calling the Old Town School of Folk Music at 773.728.6000. If you want to bring a guest, you’ll have to sign them up for the Club. Hurry. It’s first come, first served.

Paul Tyler, Convener

Fiddle Club of the World meetings start with an unplugged concert by the featured guests. The concert will be followed by a jam session for club members with the featured guest. Several tunes you can learn are posted on this website under the category “Tunes” linked on the right sidebar.

Report on April 08 meeting

Posted on May 6, 2008 by Paul Tyler

Lynn “Chirps” Smith was our featured guest, playing a variety of old time dance tunes native to the Midwestern United States.

Chirps cut his old-time teeth during his college days in Charleston, Illinois, where he played with the Indian Creek Delta Boys. More importantly, following the lead of fiddler Garry Harrison, the “Crik Delters” recorded and learned tunes from scores of senior fiddlers in the southern and eastern reaches of the Prairie State. Several of these tunes showed up in Chirps’ performance at the Leadway Bar & Gallery.

Ten Cents
Joe Wingerter tune
Stella’s Jig
Gallatin Special

He started his set off with a version of “Paddy on the Turnpike,” which may owe something to Harvey “Pappy” Taylor of Effingham. But then again, it may have been closer to the “Paddy on the Handcar” recorded in 1928 by Texas fiddler A.L. “Red” Steeley.

For the last several decades, Chirps has lived in the Chicago area. For much of that time, he played with the Volo Bogtrotters an old-time string band named after a natural feature located a short hop away from Chirps’ home in Grayslake. Representing that period of his life are tunes he learned first-hand from elders elsewhere in the Midwest, including Les “Red” Raber from Michigan, Nile Wilson from Missouri, Dwight “Red” Lamb from Iowa, and Lotus Dickey from Indiana.

Ten Strike
Old Reunion
Old Ladies Pickin’ Chickens
Sweet Bundy

Other pieces he played were learned from lesser known recordings of Nebraska fiddler Bob Walters, and a favorite piece of the Native and Métis fiddlers from Central provinces of Canada.

Bob Walter’s Hornpipe
Red River Jig

Finally, we must note that Chirps is now a resident of Wisconsin. Thus he performed a piece learned from a recording of Leonard Finseth of Mondovi, and a waltz from Madison-area concertinist (I believe he calls a bandoneon), Bruce Bollerud.

Stegen Waltz
Leonard Finseth’s Polka

Around 30 musicians enjoyed the performance and the jam that followed. We played all six of the tunes posted earlier on this blog. Plus a bunch more. A request was made for “Ten Strike,” the Les Raber quadrille piece, to be posted here. The tune is, in fact, the melody to be played for the 4th figure of the Ten Strike quadrille, as printed in Gems of the Ballroom (compiled circa 1890 by Geo. B. McCosh of Dekalb, Illinois). Les learned the tune from the book, which he had just acquired in 1981 when I brought him to perform at the Indiana Fiddlers Gathering in Battle Ground. Here’s the the tune as played by Chirps. It’s in C.

Ten Strike
[audio https://drdosido.net/fiddleclub/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/ten-strike1.mp3]

The next Fiddle Club of the World meeting is coming up soon, on Saturday, May 10. It will feature the Cajun team of Will & Holly Whedbee.

Paul Tyler, convener

Notation for Paddy Jones tunes on a single page

Posted on May 5, 2008 by Paul Tyler

All tunes transcribed by Paul Tyler. Musical notation is only a guide to one way to play a tune. Use the written notes along with the recordings. If you hear something different than what is written down, good. Trust your ears. Play what you hear.

Click on thumbnail to enlarge.

Written music is a sketch. Sound documents are the ultimate authority.

Go here to hear some Paddy Jones tunes.

Paddy Jones performed at the Fiddle Club of the World’s meeting on Friday, March 14 at the Leadway Bar & Gallery.

Notation for Chirps Smith tunes

Posted on May 5, 2008 by Paul Tyler

Click on thumbnail to enlarge.

Written music is a sketch. Sound documents are the ultimate authority.

Go here to hear some Chirps Smith tunes, and more Chirps Smith tunes.

Chirps Smith performed at the Fiddle Club of the World’s meeting on Sunday, April 10 14 at the Leadway Bar & Gallery.

For now, the Old Town School is handling the club meetings as if they were workshops. Call 773.728.6000 to register. Cost is $12. Your name will then be entered on a list that allows entrance to the club meeting. Only those registered for the workshop will be considered members. Space is limited. Register early.