MUSIC Forum at canaaninstitute.org

[Mike_L]

Scroll to end of this thread for current postings:
2009 season starts June 1st !! 7:30 pm

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From Ted 2006:

As always, dancing on the Ithaca Commons starts the
Monday after the Festival. This year, June 5 2006 I
hope that a lot of you will show up (and then again,
every week)!!

Mondays, June..mid-Sept, 7:30pm-10pm
Ithaca Commons, Main Pavilion (in front of Center Ithaca)
Rain or shine, air conditioned by the great outdoors.

Typical format for an evening: 10-odd dance sets and
a waltz. Each set 10-12 times through, suitable for
two or three tunes.

Hope to see you'all frequently...and early!

-ted

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YFN = Your Friends and Neighbors! See http://tedcrane.com/DanceDB/DisplayBand.com?key=YOUR_FRIENDS_NEIGHBORS
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Michael Ludgate - forum administrator
The Canaan Institute http://www.canaaninstitute.org/

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[Mike_L]

some one emailed me this link!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=OysuRzKLX3Y
-m
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Michael Ludgate - forum administrator
The Canaan Institute http://www.canaaninstitute.org/

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[Mike_L]

from Tom ...

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A fun gathering last night on the Commons for the monday night contra.....
If you've been thinking about playing, come on out and join us!

The idea of picking the tune for a Monday night last waltz a week in advance came up last night. By selecting the tune a week in advance, we can all have a chance to learn the tune. It will also give us an opportunity to branch out and learn some new ones.

So, next Monday's (June 19th) waltz is the 'The Cabri Waltz'. It's in Waltz Book I. If you'd like to learn it and don't have the Waltz Book, Mike L. has them for sale.


- Tom F.
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Michael Ludgate - forum administrator
The Canaan Institute http://www.canaaninstitute.org/

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[Mike_L]

Monday night's playing of 'The Cabri Waltz' on the Commons sounded sweet and full to me - any other impressions?

Next Monday's (6/26) waltz will be 'Emily's Waltz' by Susan Conger. It's also in Waltz Book I.
You can read some background on Susan and her music here: http://www.alongtheriver.com/susan/

I also just discovered on the web a CD collection of 16 previously recorded waltzes called 'Waltzing for the Grange', which comes out of the Greenfield, MA contradance community. It includes a recording of 'Emily's Waltz' . (Yup, I'm going to order me up a copy of this one.) More info here: http://www.guidingstargrange.org/friends.html

- Tom Fredericks
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Michael Ludgate - forum administrator
The Canaan Institute http://www.canaaninstitute.org/

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[Mike_L]

Holy cow it's almost July! It seems like June just started a couple of days ago....

OK, next Monday's (7/3) Waltz for the Monday Night Contradance on the Ithaca Commons will be 'Westphalia', out of Waltz Book I. Dance starts at 7:30. Come on out and play and/or dance. Show up early for some warmups, including a run through of the Waltz.

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From Wikipedia:

Westphalia (German: Westfalen) is a region in Germany, centred on the cities of Bielefeld, Dortmund, Gelsenkirchen, Münster, and Osnabrück and included in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony.

The name "West-phalia" probably means "West-Plain". The second word, "Falen", is related to the Germanic words "Field", "Flat", and "Floor" (all of which are related to the Latin "Plain" through a common Proto-Indo-European root, *pele, meaning "flat, (to) spread").
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My impression so far with calling the Waltz a week in advance is that it's going well. The Waltzes are seeming nice and full of sound with more confidence.

I haven't yet received my copy of 'Waltzing for the Grange' which I've ordered- but I'll write up a review after I get it and listen to it a few handfuls of times.

The Waltz Book series (now 3 books) are put together by Bill Matthieson from Western Massachusetts and are a wonderful collection. Read all about 'em here: http://www.bfv.com/spareparts/ and click on the Red Waltz Book.

Mike Ludgate also carries these locally - contact Mike: http://canaaninstitute.org/mn/mus_sound.html

- Tom Fredericks

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Michael Ludgate - forum administrator
The Canaan Institute http://www.canaaninstitute.org/

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[Mike_L]

Next Monday's waltz, suggested by Gail Blake will be Turlough O'Carolan's "Planxty Fanny Power". If you want to give it a listen, you can find a MIDI of it, along with a lot of other O'Carolan tunes here: http://www.contemplator.com/carolan/caroltun.html#top
This tune is in Waltz Book I, and will be part of Mike Ludgate's regular Wednesday night practice on 7/5.

The sheet music is also available here: http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/957 and click on the 'Sheetmusic' tab.

Enjoy!

Tom Fredericks <taf1@cornell.edu>

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Michael Ludgate - forum administrator
The Canaan Institute http://www.canaaninstitute.org/

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[Mike_L]

The waltz for next Monday 7/17 will be the 'Franconia Waltz' from Waltz Book 1. Practice session for this and other tunes at Mike Ludgate's Wednesday jam tomorrow (7/12) night.

http://tedcrane.com/YFN/FranconiaWaltz.mid

Tom F.

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Michael Ludgate - forum administrator
The Canaan Institute http://www.canaaninstitute.org/

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[TomF]

Whyeffenfolk,

A fun night down on the Commons last night - nice and hot and loads of dancers. Not a dry shirt in the place.

Next Monday's waltz will be David Kaynor's "High Clouds" .
This tune, too, is in Waltz Book I, and will be practiced at tomorrow night's jam at Mike Ludgate's.

Tom

(hey YFN look at this post re: David Kaynor http://canaaninstitute.org/mikesmusic/viewtopic.php?t=95 )

[Mike_L]

Next Monday July 31st night's Waltz will be George Wilson's 1992 tune
"Light and Shadow Waltz" in G, from Waltz Book I. You can get a recording
of George playing it here:

http://www.andysfronthall.com/paypal/friends%20cds.html

Come learn and practice this waltz and other tunes at Mike Ludgate's
regular Wednesday night jams, 7-9pm.

For more info, including directions email Mike!
http://canaaninstitute.org/mn/mus_sound.html

Tom

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_________________
Michael Ludgate - forum administrator
The Canaan Institute http://www.canaaninstitute.org/

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[TomF]

The waltz for next Monday's contra on the Commons will be the traditional French tune called 'La Valse Des Jeunes Filles' or the 'Waltz of the Little Girls', page 53 of Waltz Book I. I've created a midi file for your listening pleasure here:

It's slowish melody with some simple oom-pah piano underneath. I'd be interested in feedback on whether the midi is useful or desired.

Come practice this waltz and other tunes at Mike L.'s Wednesday night gathering tonight!

If you're learning these waltzes off of xerox copies, let me put in a plug for buying the Waltz Books put out by Bill Matthieson. They're not expensive and you'll be happy you own them once you do. Book I includes 51 tunes and some other interesting material. David Kaynor has some thoughts on playing harmonies on waltzes, and Bill Matthieson has several pages of 'Notes on Piano Accompaniment for Waltzes.' So far this year, all the waltzes we've played have been out of Book I.

- Tom

[TomF]

Great turnout last night - of both musicians and dancers. We had an unprecedented 3 standup basses: Marty, Nancy and Jennifer! We couldn't (and didn't) pass up an opportunity for a couple of killer bass solos. A lot of good energy and cheer.........

Next Monday night's waltz will be 'La Valse des Jouets' , translated 'The Waltz of the Toys', by Québec musician, Michel Faubert.
This one immediately follows this past week's waltz 'La Valse des Jeunes FIlles' in Waltz Book I, and in fact makes a very nice medley when played together with it. This Waltz is also included in Laurie Hart's written collection of music from Québec called 'Dance Ce Soir'.

The two waltzes are available for a listen as a medley on Jay Ungar and Molly Mason's music archive site from their radio show 'Dancing on the Air' here: http://www.dancingontheair.com/ Click on 'Titles' on the left side, and search on 'toys' and click on the blue upward pointing 'play now' arrow. Playing music on this site requires that Macromedia Flash player is installed on your computer. I'm not sure if the site works on Mac Safari or not. This music archive site is a treasure trove of recorded live music. Jay and Molly have a regular section of the show called 'The Waltz Corner' with a different waltz each month. There are several years of archived shows on the site.

Here's an English language bio of Michel Faubert: http://billboard.com/bbcom/bio/index.jsp?pid=363328

'La Valse des Jouets' will be practiced at Mike Ludgate's Wednesday night jam tomorrow, August 9.

I will also put together and post a midi file of the waltz in the next couple of days.


Tom Fredericks

[TomF]

There's a new listenable midi file of 'La Valse des Jouets' or 'The Waltz of the Toys' on Ted's site: http://tedcrane.com/YFN/LaValseDesJouets.mid
Once again, fiddle melody with oom-pah piano rhythm.

Tom

[TomF]

Here's some info from the Waltz Book I:

BUCK'S WALTZ. American, Waltz. C Major. Standard. AA'BB'. Composed in 1985 by Will Welling (Averil Park, N.Y.), for an acquaintance named Buck, from Texas, who worked where Welling was gigging in Hartford, Conn. "He was always kind of soggy from beer, and he used to request waltzes. He was from Texas, and could never hear enough waltzes...so I wrote this waltz for him." Matthiesen (The Waltz Book), 1992; pg. 18. Welling, Fiddler's Leaves, 1985.

You can find a new midi file of this waltz here:

Come practice it tonight here:
Jam tonight 7-9:30 pm Canaan Rd directions more info: email Mike.

- Tom


[/color]

[TomF]

Next Monday's waltz August 28 will be 'Charlotte's Waltz' by Western Maine's Pam Weeks. I handed out a printed transcription of the tune last night to just about everyone (I think) on stage. If I missed you and you'd like the transcription, please email me and we'll work out getting you a copy. This tune is not in the Waltz Books.

I have created a simple melody-only midi of Charlotte's Waltz that Ted has posted here: http://tedcrane.com/YFN/CharlottesWaltz.mid
A couple of comments about the midi - notes that I tied together in my notation software are sounded separately in the midi instead of together as a long single note. This is most noticeable in measures 3 & 4 - there are two tied half note G's which should be played as a single 4-beat G note. The same is true in the final measure of both the A and B parts with a five-beat G (not a 3-beat followed by a two-beat G note.)

Read more about Pam Weeks here: http://www.pamweeks.com/

This waltz is on her CD called 'Waiting for the Perseids' and is also included on the multi-artist compilation called 'Waltzing for the Grange'. Info on that collection is here: http://www.guidingstargrange.org/friends.html

Charlotte's Waltz will be practiced tomorrow (Wednesday) night, 7:00 at Mike L.'s jam. He has extra printed copies of the transcript to give out.

Tom

[Mike_L]

and for the following week ........ Sept 04

The Sage Hen Waltz. Composed by Tim Ball for the Wedding of Sarah Rose Clune and Bryant Adams which took place on August 19th 2006. The waltz is named after Sage Hen Farm in Lodi, NY where the wedding ceremony took place. The owners of the farm, Margaret Shepard and John Henderson graciously hosted the wedding for the young couple. The Waltz was played in public for the first time that eveing at the wedding reception which was a contra dance in a nearby barn.

Look for YFN Tunes http://canaaninstitute.org/mn/mus_sound.html


by Tim Ball - 2006
By the way: we have permission from Tim to copy reproduce and distribute this waltz freely on paper and through the web - just be sure and give credit to the musician as you do so.

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So ... digging deeper: some folks wondered how the farm got it's name ... so here is the answer form Margaret:

"Hi, Mike!

The name is at least a triple entendre.

1. At the simplest level, we raise a lot of chickens and a lot of herbs (sage among them).

2. We quickly learned, when we inherited a small flock of hens, that free-range chickens are indeed sage (at least they hatch knowing most of what they need to know).

3. In a former life, I was a field ornithologist studying endangered New Zealand parrots with rare lek mating behavior, like that of the North American Sage Grouse and Prairie Chicken.

Ask a simple question ...

Margaret"

and more from John!

"Here are two additional, albeit contradictory, explanations. With the last name of Henderson, I have been nicknamed Hen various times in my youth, so Sage Hen could describe one of the owners. But it is much more likely that the name of the farm would reflect on both of us, so if Hen represents me, Sage must represent Margaret as the one with the brains in the family.

John "


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_________________
Michael Ludgate - forum administrator
The Canaan Institute http://www.canaaninstitute.org/

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