JIG set: Road to Lisdoonvarna / Swallowtail Jig

Here's another Irish set: Road to Lisdoonvarna, and Swallowtail Jig.  They work together because they're both in 6/8 JIG time and in the same key.
These are designed to be printed and fit on an 8.5" x 11" sheet of paper.

Brose & Butter / Britches Full of Stitches as a set

Here's two that John Daly & Kat Eggleston taught us last session:  "Brose & Butter / Britches Full of Stitches." Handy together because both song titles start with B. But they don't really work as a "set" because of the widely different time signatures: one's a 9/8 Slip Jig, the other's a 2/4 March. The dancers would be falling all OVER each other if you switched from 9/8 to 2/4 time!
     I learned the hard way in today's RISK session that "Brose & Butter" was actually given to us in a different key than this version. Here's what you get by just grabbing any old version of the tune off the Net—you end up playing off-key from your fellow RISK-takers!

Paddy on the Handcar, and NO RISK on 10/27

What a fun, 2-for-1 session we had at RISK on October 13!  Kim Nelson on fiddle and Holly Tuttle taught us not only "Rakes of Mallow," but when the group got that down, they taught us "Paddy on the Handcar." Great fun with some nice jaunty tunes.

Here's the link to the SoundCloud recording of us all playing through the tune SEVERAL times, just like they do at contra dances or Irish sessions. If you'll read along on the sheet music, you'll notice that Kim on fiddle deliberately dropped out some of the descending extra notes at the end of phrases. This gives a bit of a breath before the first notes of the repeating phrase (the "oomph-pa-PAA! followed by the eighth-note runs "dee-dill didi diddle diddle-di"). A nice effect, and it's easier for the new player to keep up at a faster tempo.

https://soundcloud.com/riskykayray/20151013-160546a

Open the Soundcloud recording in a second window so that you can read along on the sheet music and discover that Kim (fiddle) deliberately dropped out some of the descending extra notes at the end of phrases. This gives a bit of a breath before the first notes of the repeating phrase boom out (the "oomph-pa-PAA! followed by the eighth-note runs "dee-dill didi diddle diddle-di"). A nice effect, and it's easier for the new player to keep up at a faster tempo.

NO RISK next week, on October 20th.  We'll return on the 27th to recap the new tunes of this session (Butterfly, Tit Galop Pour Mamou, Rakes of Mallow and Paddy) plus any others we can remember. I'll put up a current playlist so you can work on them during this break if you want to.

Rakes of Mallow

10/13/2015 — Today's RISK session, starting at 3:15pm at Minglement, will feature Kim Nelson on fiddle and Holly Tuttle on guitar, teaching RAKES OF MALLOW, a common and peppy Irish session tune. The tune comes from County Cork in the 1780s. Oddly enough, right after its origin, it was picked up by an Indian composer and used as the melody for a sacred prayer to a Hindu Goddess. Music the Universal...

The soundcloud link goes to the recording, but it has a weird number name that I couldn't successfully edit.
https://soundcloud.com/riskykayray/20151012-205446a

Here's the sheet music—

RISK learns the Cajun tune "Tit Galop Pour Mamou" with David Lange on Sept 29

Hey RISKees!  Dave Lange & Company will rejoin us Tuesday, September 29th for more Cajun music from down South.

They'll lead us through some songs he's already taught us, like Bayou Pom Pom, Back Door, Don't Mess with My Toot Toot, then on to the new song, which is—

Tit Galop Pour Mamou (Slow Galop to Mamou) 

You might even recognize the tune in this jaunty YouTube video of a string band playing this at a party. Some funny balloon commentary floating over the band playing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68t52cU_mcc

And here's the tune's writer, Dewey Balfa, and brother playing on a pretty static YouTube, but hey, he wrote the thing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TM6BlGtQcVI

The lyrics in English are:

Canter, canter to Mamou! 
I sold my little mule for fifteen cents.
I bought some red candy for the kids, 
some sugar and coffee for the old folks.
www.cajunlyrics.com
'  www.cajunlyrics.comww.cajunlyrics.com
Canter, canter to Mamou!
I sold my little wagon for fifteen cents.
I bought some red candy for the kids,
and a yard of ribbon for my wife.

At SoundCloud, I've uploaded the melody and harmony parts separate and together. Here's a link to the LEAD + Harmony voices 1 & 2—all fiddle parts.

https://soundcloud.com/riskykayray/mamou-lead-harm-12

Finally, here's the music to the A part and the french cajun lyrics.

Rubber Dolly (or Ducky if you prefer)

Here's the recording to "Rubber Dolly" as played by Kim & Karen.

https://soundcloud.com/riskykayray/rubber-ducky

Here's the chord sequence—

DDDD     AAAA     EEEE     AAAA

ditto

ditto

ditto

ends with a fiddle tag, joined by guitars on a slow "A" chord strum.

Here's the melody for the violins.

A Klezmer Klassic: Bei Mir Bistu Shein

This is a Klezmer classic, written in 1932 for a Yiddish musical called "I Would If I Could." The lyrics are a dialogue between two lovers. The musical closed after a year, but in 1937, an American music producer heard the song performed in Harlem, bought the rights from the two Jewish composers for a mere $30 (big money in Depression America), rewrote all but the first line of the lyrics into English, and persuaded a new girl quartet, The Andrews Sisters, to record it. It went gold, became a world-wide hit and a jazz standard, and over the years earned $3 million—but the original composers couldn't earn a thing on their creation until 1961 when the purchased copyright expired. Proving once again that You Never Know...
   
Here's the English lyrics to the Chorus part represented on our sheet music.

"Bei mir bistu shein, please let me explain,

"Bei mir bistu shein" means you're grand.
Bei mir bistu shein, again I'll explain,
It means you're the fairest in the land.

I could say "bella, bella", even say "wunderbar".
Each language only helps me tell you
How grand you are.
I've tried to explain "Bei mir bistu shein".
So kiss me and say you understand."

Taken from http://lyricstranslate.com/en/Andrews-Sisters-Bei-Mir-Bistu-Shein-lyrics.html#ixzz3ZI36ildn

Finally, here's a New York group that managed to turn a New York subway platform into a red-hot Swing Club for their performance of our classic. Wait patiently through the 27-second commercial and the group getting themselves down to the subway, then enjoy all the Shake-Jive-n-Wailin' of The Hot Sardines and all their jazzoid friends.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4-XIKt-ADs

Little Gal'll Fool Me

These are the Roan Mountain Hilltoppers, an Old Time string band from NE Tennessee. From them, courtesy, of Johnny & Riley Calcago last Tuesday at RISK, we gained the tune "Little Gal'll Fool Me." Here's Riley & Johnny winging through: Riley first solo, then Johnny joins in on guitar, then Riley asks to do it again—"FASTER!"

https://soundcloud.com/riskykayray/lil-gal-will-fool-me

For the violins, here's the sheet music for the melody:

And here's the guitar chords:

Next week, Dave Lang and company will be back to bring us some music from Cajun country.   Eeeee-ha!

Salmon Tails Up the Water

At our January 28 meeting, Kat Eggleston & John Daly introduced us to "Salmon Tails Up the Water." Kat described it as another top tune at celtic music session gigs. Hunting it on YouTube, I found some really rocked-out versions, and it seems to be a fav at contra dances, too. So once we get the tempo up to dance-speed, we should have as much fun with this tune as we do with "Morrison's" or any other jig.

First off, the group recording made by Kim of Kat & John playing the tune slowly: here's the link to it on sound cloud:
https://soundcloud.com/riskykayray/salmon-tails

Here's a very shaky but rip-roaring version from a gang of youngsters calling themselves "OysterBand" who are rocking the Tønder Festival audience in Winnipeg, Canada. Catch the frontman fiddler in the deep back.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzaauxlKdhI

And here's the sheet music, should you need it. The beat is on the 1 & 3.

Swish those tails!

The Blarney Pilgrim

In Kat & John's first session for Winter 2015's RISK, we learned an Irish tune Kat called "from the top 50 of Irish sessions"—"The Blarney Pilgrim." It's in 6/8 time, key of D, and Kat did it (after warning us not to try this ourselves!) in DADGAD tuning. I think I'll give it a whirl in Drop-D tuning later tonight...

First off, here's Kat & John playing "Blarney Pilgrim" on guitar and pipe. The recordings are on SoundCloud and the links will take you there—
https://soundcloud.com/riskykayray/blarney-pilgrimkatjohn

and all of us trotting out the tune several times in a longish recording—
https://soundcloud.com/riskykayray/blarney-pilgrimall

Second, here's a YouTube of a couple guys on guitar and violin who give this tune a faster spin—
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Snszf3tK3QE&list=RDSnszf3tK3QE#t=38

And finally, here's the sheet music. The penciled-in letters stand for alternative notes you can play instead of those right above. Enjoy!

Lots of Cajun (Allons a'Lafayette, Backdoor, Jambalaya, Toot - Toot)

David Lang brought several more Cajun tunes. Enjoy!

Allons a'Lafayette 

Melody and Harmony

Backdoor

Melody and Harmony

Jambalaya 

Melody and Harmony

Toot - Toot 

Melody and Harmony

Tracks of My Buggy

David Lang brought a Cajun waltz  that he thinks comes from Rodney Balfa, brother of one of the most famous Cajun musicians, Dewey Balfa.

Here is the melody...




And here is a harmony...

Bayou Pon Pon [Updated with guitar examples!]

Dave Lang and Melanie Salonen taught us a great Cajun tune called Bayou Pon Pon.

We have lots of different recordings for this one, as well as lyrics, all below.

[Update: Dave recorded some examples of cajun guitar. Scroll to the bottom of this post...]

First, an mp3 of a traditional Cajun band playing the tune.





Second, just a simplified version of the melody, at medium speed.



Third, a more advanced fiddle lead at medium speed.





Fourth, a nice fiddle harmony line at medium speed.



Finally, the lyrics of the song in case students want to try singing it.

Dave Lang also recorded some examples of Cajun guitar backup.

Samples here, here, here, and here.

Bear Dance!

We learned a fun tune from the 13th century called Bear Dance. Now that's old time! (Actually English...)

Here is Kim playing it...


And here is a chart...

Peacock Follows the Hen

Piper John Dally and and Kat Eggleston visited us and taught a fine English slipjig often called "Peacock Follow the Hen," but also known as "Brose and Butter" and other titles.

Here is more information about it.

John has a YouTube channel with videos of various tunes, including Peacock Follows the Hen...




 And a recording of Kim playing it with everybody:



A rough interpretation in sheet music:

And finally, Karen found this scorching-hot video off YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVy81y6yfN4

Britches Full of Stitches

Kate MacLoed and Kat Eggleston visited us, and taught a "standard" Irish polka with the great name "Britches Full of Stiches."

Here is all of us playing it a full tempo:




Here is all of us playing it at 50 percent tempo:




Finally, a chart that approximates the melody.

Irish Waltz

In our third RISK session of the fall 2014 session, Riley & Johnny introduced us to "Irish Waltz." The tune comes from Rhys Jones, a young fiddler from the Midwest. The liner notes for this tune say this:

Rhys sent some time in Ireland a few years ago, and while there he heard a recording of a children's choir singing this song. Alas, the song was in Irish Gaelic, as were the notes on the CD insert. Fortunately, for us, the tune itself was not so elusive.

Here is the version from Rhys at normal tempo:

Here is the version from Rhys at 70% tempo:

And finally, a lead sheet and chord chart:

Old Aunt Jenny with Her Night Cap On: the slo-mo video

In our first RISK session of the fall 2014 session, Reilly & Johnny introduced us to "Old Aunt Jenny with Her Nightcap On." They told us that the tune comes from Estill Bingham, Pineville, Bell County, Kentucky.

Here's the Man Himself, playing the tune solo as recorded in Kentucky in 1986.

http://dla.acaweb.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/berea/id/636/rec/34

Here's Riley Calcago playing the tune quick slow so you can listen and learn—
Riley play old-aunt-johnny-with-her-nightcap-on-slow

And then Riley & papa Johnny rock the tune in this fast version on fiddle and guitar—
Old Aunt Jenny Rocks Out with Riley & Johnny

And here's a video of the music in the Key of G that we were taught in, played at 70% speed so you can "get it." Looks like it's the same sheet music, too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqX6Ift4uqg

If you didn't get the sheet music to "Old Aunt Jenny with Her Nightcap On," here you go. In version 2, I penciled in the guitar chords that go with the measure below it. Johnny said that the C Major chord is an acceptable substitute for the E minor chord in part A. HAVE FUN!

The Gravel Walk, fiddle sheet music and guitar chords

Here is sheet music and chords for the Gravel Walk, as well as a video.  This YouTube video begins with Over the Waterfall, a tune we plan to do next season...then comes Gravel Walk:

Over the Waterfall / Gravel Walk: http://youtu.be/RHIfs-zkxGU

Banish Misfortune and Trip to Sligo, fiddle sheet music and guitar chords

Another one with sheet music, chords and a recording -

Banish Misfortune (and the Blarney Pilgrim) by Celt…: http://youtu.be/70pMknl_e3U

And

Trip to Sligo - Trio irlandais Hartigan: http://youtu.be/p8Je3pondXY