New Season Starts Sunday

Posted on September 13, 2013 by Paul Tyler

Open jam this Sunday (9/15) at the Leadway Bar & Grill (5233 N. Damen) at 7 (pm).
Fiddlers and all players of other instruments are welcome. Bring your current favorite tune.

new season
(click here for a printable flyer)

To hear Norwegian tunes from Vidar Skrede, click here or here.
To hear recordings by Stuart Rosenberg, click here.

For the most current info and other goodies, check the Fiddle Club of the World facebood page. You do have to be on facebook (You mean you’re not!) and you do have to ask to join. Just ask, we’ll open the door for you. Click here for our facebook page

– Paul Tyler, convener

2nd Annual Battle of the Bands

Posted on July 8, 2013 by Paul Tyler

at the Square Roots Festival
Presented by the Chicago Chapter of the Fiddle Club of the World

Saturday, July 13, 6:30-8pm, Szold Hall
Old Town School of Folk Music East (4545 Lincoln)

Dance and cheer as bands compete to be named Best Fiddle Band in Chicago!
The band that get’s the most dancers on the floor wins the top prize.

Fred Campeau & Money Creek

Money Creek
One of the best old-time square dance bands in the Midwest.

Fruteland Jackson

Fruteland Jackson
Chicago bluesman fronts an old-time jook band.

Mary Allsopp & the Chicago Spelmanslag

Chicago Spelmanslag
Chicagoland’s own Scandinavian musicians club.

Put on your dancing shoes!

Paul Tyler, convener
Fiddle Club of the World

11th Midwest Fiddle Championship

Posted on July 5, 2013 by Paul Tyler

Presented by the Chicago Chapter of
the Fiddle Club of the World

Four (4) events as part of the Old Town School of Folk Music’s
second (2nd) Square Roots Festival.

1. Youth Division First Round
Sunday, July 7, 11am, Szold Hall in Old Town School East (4545 Lincoln)
Youth under 16 compete as teams or solo

2. Open Division First Round & Youth Finals
Thursday, July 11, 6:30pm, Maurer Hall in Old Town School West (4544 Lincoln)
Separate Fiddle Team and Fiddle Solo categories

3. Open Division Finals
Saturday, July 13, 1:45pm, Maurer Hall
Plus winner of the Youth Division

For more information, contest rules and online registration visit . . .
http://www.squareroots.org/fiddle/

4. Battle of the Bands
Saturday, July 13, 6:30-8pm, Szold Hall featuring

Money Creek
One of the best old-time square dance bands in the Midwest.

Fruteland Jackson
Chicago bluesman fronts an old-time jook band.

Chicago Spelmanslag
Chicagoland’s own Scandinavian musicians club.

Dance and cheer as bands compete to be named Best Fiddle Band in Chicago!
The band that get’s the most dancers on the floor wins the top prize.

Get your fiddle on! And you’re dancin’ shoes!
Paul Tyler, convener

More tunes from Bjärv

Posted on June 23, 2013 by Paul Tyler

Ain’t the interwebs wonderful. Olof Göthlin of Bjärv sent me some tunes last night for our jam session tomorrow. I can get them posted just in time for some of you to start learning them.

Polska From Ekshärad

Marsch från Bohuslän by Bjärv

I really enjoy this march. The recording starts with the jaw harp and then nyckleharpa leading the tune in G. After a guitar interlude, the fiddle takes over, but now the tune is in A.

Notation and ABCs for Marsch från Bohuslän

X:1
T:Marsch från Bohuslän
M:C|
L:1/8
K:G
(3DEF | GGB^c d2dB | GBAF D2(3DEF | G2B2 G2B2- | BcAF D2 ::
D2 | EECE D2D2 | {D}EECE {EF}E2D2-| DEFG AB^cd | BGAF G2 :|
z4 D2 |: EECE D2D2 | {D}EECE {EF}E2D2-| DEFG AB^cd | BGAF G2 :|

If you want notation for the key of A, copy the whole Abc block and paste it into the box at this Abc Converter. Chose the Transpose option, up 2 semitones, and click submit.

Paul Tyler, convener

Some Tunes from Bjärv

Posted on June 21, 2013 by Paul Tyler

Swedish tunes with Bjärv
Monday, June 24, 7pm
Seman Violins (4447 Oakton, Skokie)

Here are a couple of tunes to give you an idea of the fine music to come on Monday evening.

Olof Göthlin here plays a duet with an unidentified clarinetist. The title translates as ‘Calle’s final composition.’ The Calle in question may be Calle Lindström, an early Swedish comic singer who is perhaps best remembered for his 1908 recording of Chikago. Yes, it is a song about our fair city, and the adventures of Lasse, an immigrant from Ossebo, Sweden. (Calle Lindström, by the way, never set foot in Chicago, or even the USA.)

Calles sista komposition

Olof Göthlin

Calle Lindström
(Learn about Chikago, the song )

And here’s a piece from the band. The song is a fun one taught at the Old Town School by Mary Allsopp a couple of years ago at a World Music Wednesday workshop. Mary is the leader of the Chicago Spelmanslag, a group of Swedish players. Another tune or two are woven into the setting.

Vi Ska Ut Och Ga (Up and Out We Go)

Bjärv will give us a bit of a concert and teach us a tune or two.
$15 donation, payable at the door – goes to the musicians

Fiddle Club meetings at Seman Violins are BYOB. Munchies will be provided.

Special Last Minute Fiddle Club Guests

Posted on June 16, 2013 by Paul Tyler

Bjärv
Monday, June 24, 7pm
Seman Violins (4447 Oakton, Skokie)

Sometimes great musicians wander into Chicago with open dates on their schedule. Fiddle Club of the World loves to take advantage of these situations, especially when the musicians in question are the talented men of this folk trio from Sweden and the US.

Bjarv
Bjärv

Olof Göthlin (fiddle), Ben Teitelbaum (nyckleharpa) & Mikael Grafström (guitar) will be in the acoustically wonderful back room of Seman Violins. (Thanks to Peter Seman and his staff for hosting). They’ll give us a bit of a concert and teach us a tune or two so we can all play together. All we ask is a $15 donation, payable at the door. This is a great chance to hear these fine musicians up close.

Fiddle Club meetings at Seman Violins are BYOB. Munchies will be provided.

If you want more, check out their bios, visit their website,
listen to the them on MySpace or watch them on a recent visit to the US . . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVt-xKzrcHY

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

Tune Session on Sunday, April 21

Posted on April 17, 2013 by Paul Tyler

6:30 – 8:30 and beyond
Leadway Bar & Grill
(5233 N. Damen – in the back room)

Some of us have been getting together to play tunes on (usually) the third Sunday of the month in our first home, the Leadway. The kitchen is open. There are a good selection of beers on tap. And the sound is good. It’s easy to hear.

We’d love for anybody to come play along with all or some of the tunes — or even just sit and listen. All instruments are welcome. We’ll work on that single jig that Jimmy Keane, Jr. taught us at the January concert, Jack Murray’s jig.

I’ll do a little teaching of some of the tunes shared by other recent guests,
like The Rout, from Kirk Sutphin,

and Barres de la Prison, from David Greely.

Click month for a list of tunes we played at recent jams.
March jam

February jam

January jam

Tunes from Kirk Sutphin

Posted on February 23, 2013 by Paul Tyler

Kirk Sutphin & Bertram Levy
Banjos, Bows and Bellows
Sunday, March 10, 2013, 6:30pm
Seman Violins (4447 Oakton, Skokie)
B.Y.O.B. Snacks will be provided.

Fiddler Kirk Sutphin, from Walkertown, North Carolina, joins with banjoist and concertinist Bertram Levy for a unique presentation of old-time tunes from the Blue Ridge Mountains. For more background, visit this earlier Fiddle Club post, or Bertram Levy’s website.

All fiddlers and friends of fiddlers, including players of other instruments, are welcome. $15 admission. Click here to register.

Kirk and Bertram will present a short concert, followed by a jam session. Here’s some of the tunes we’ll play in the session. (Some teaching may happen.)

The Rout learned from Burt Edwards

The Rout slower

Jump Jim Crow learned from Alan Jabbour

Jump Jim Crow slow

Paddy on the Turnpike learned from a recording of Frank Jenkins

Paddy on the Turnpike slower

Paul Tyler, convener

Jimmy Keane brings his accordion to Fiddle Club

Posted on January 21, 2013 by Paul Tyler

Sunday, January 27, 2013, 6:30pm
Seman Violins (4447 Oakton, Skokie)
B.Y.O.B. Snacks will be provided.

All fiddlers and friends of fiddlers, including players of other instruments, are welcome. $15 admission. Click here to register.

Here’s a tune I recorded Jimmy playing on stage at the Indiana Fiddler’s Gathering in 1980 when he was a mere lad of 22.

Frieze Britches aka The Friar’s Breeches, aka Cunnla

And a half dozen years later he played with the also youthful and equally accomplished Liz Carroll in a concert for the Adler Cultural Center in Libertyville, Illinois.

unnamed reel-Limerick Lasses

From that same 1986 concert comes this solo performance of two Cuz Teahan tunes: The Road to Glentowne and The School of Glentowne . . .

Jimmy, of course, has had a long and outstanding career performing and composing wonderful tunes in the Irish tradition. You can find more samples on his own website.

Paul Tyler, convener

Fiddle Club Tune Sessions

Posted on January 13, 2013 by Paul Tyler

Five years worth of Fiddle Club of the World guests, a total of 36 from six different countries (and fourteen states in the US of A)! We’ve heard a lot of great music and played a fair amount ourselves. This would be a good time to remember and work on some of the tunes our guests have shared with us.

Starting today, Fiddle Club will hold a Tune Session every month, usually on the third Sunday of the month, at the Leadway Bar & Gallery (5233 N. Damen)–back to our original home. The tune sessions will run from 6:30 to 8:30 (or beyond). Each month, we’ll pick out a few old treasures to work on. A little bit of teaching might happen. Plus we can play anything that strikes our fancy.

January 13, 6:30 at the Leadway
In two weeks, Jimmy Keane will be our featured guest at a concert and session at Seman Violins. So let’s brush up on some of the Irish tunes we’ve learned in the past.

A set of Kerry Polkas from Paddy Jones

The Black Rogue a jig from Liz Knowles

Gone for his Tea a reel also from Liz

Cuz Teahan’s Polka from Kathleen Keane

Check out this set of hornpipes we worked on with Deirdre Ní Chonghaile.

Maybe also
Tripping to the Well & Galway Belle from Frank Ferrel

February 17, 6:30 at the Leadway
Old-Time night. Suggestions?

February 17, 6:30 at the Leadway
A little Klezmer, a bit of Scandinavia and a Ukrainian tune.