Next Dancing to a Waltz Jam is Oct 3rd 2008 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm at Bethel Grove - that is this Friday Oct 3rd, 2008 at Bethel Grove Community Center Ithaca NY.  NEW Facebook Contra and Square Dance group http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=31552309563

I’ve discovered that many of the dancers are not on the musicians list-serves, so please pass the word to your dance friends. If anyone wants to join my email list, please send me a hello and I’ll set you up: I send out a lot of emails about music and jams and dances (about one per day, sometimes more, sometimes less) and there is a digest mode available in addition to this RSS feed.

The band is and open waltz band — anyone can play, however there will be no electricity because we are in the center of the dance hall and thus no extention cords! Acoustic (or battery power?) only. We play waltzes mostly from the “Waltz Books” I have extra copies available, so email me if interested. I will bring some extra copies for sale to the waltz jams. There are 3 books now — they are all great, we will play mostly from the first one.

This waltz event is FREE and was organized for fun - the musicians are random volunteers who play for the fun of it and there is no charge for the waltzing (although donations are accepted to cover cost of renting the building). This “dancing to a waltz jam” is preceding a regular contra dance event that happens every Friday at Bethel Grove Community Center in Ithaca NY. There is a $6- fee for the regular dance which starts at 8:00 — a very reasonable fee and contra dancing is a ton of fun. There are really excellent professional musicians playing every Friday at Bethel Grove — so come dance. Come early and jam or waltz, then just contra dance! Waltz musicians I hope will stay and pay and dance. Thanks to Ted Crane for organizing. Thanks to all the musicians and dancers who have made the open waltz jams of the past a success.

“Wow! As a musician, it is really an incredible musical experience to sit in a jam circle with your new and old music friends in the middle of a dance hall and be surrounded by your group’s pure acoustic sound and simultaneously have dozens of dancers swirling around you. I’ve never experience anything quite like it. I hope the dancers had as much fun as the musicians! I really thought it was a successful experiment!” - from the first ever public Waltz Jam January 2007

MORE http://canaaninstitute.org/mikesmusic/viewtopic.php?p=1399#1399

Contra Dancing is very popular in Ithaca NY and attracts a broad audience. It is sometimes a mystery to beginners though.  Here is an excerpt from a nice article about contra dancing from an Ontario web author:

“As webmaster of the Hamilton Country Dancers’ site, I sometimes receive enquiries from people asking for instructional books or videos about contradance. They would feel more comfortable about coming out to a contra, they say, if they knew a bit more about the conventions involved and what to expect once they arrive. I know there are contradance books out there (although I haven’t read any yet) and I’ve heard that there are even contradance videos available (don’t ask me where) but instead of having to refer people to other sources, I thought it would be useful to make some of that information available right here. We already had a Contradance Primer online which describes contradancing in general terms. Some people, however, are looking for more detail. That’s the purpose of these notes: to define some fundamental terminology, illustrate and explain the basic formations, provide some insight into a few contradance social conventions and then describe the dozen or so figures which make up the major part of most contras.”

SOURCE ARTICLE HERE http://www.hwcn.org/link/jig/contraculture.htm

Hi all,

Mike asked me to contribute to his blog here so here we go!

First off, in case y’all don’t know me, I’m Will Russell and I own a cool studio called Electric Wilburland. I’ve had Wilburland for almost 20 years now and the list of clients I’ve had reads like a who’s who of Ithaca Music. Some of the folks who you might have heard of here in these acoustic circles are:

The HorseFlies

Donna The Buffalo

The Hix

Mac Benford and The Woodshed Allstars

Martin Simpson

Hank Roberts

The Burns Sisters

Jennie Stearns

Traonach

Kitchen Chair

Andrew and Noah VanNorstrand

Contranella…

oh jeez, why am I even trying to name them all? Go here to see a somewhat complete list:

Recently I recorded the basic tracks for “Until The Ocean” for The HorseFlies, recorded and mixed “Able Baker Charlie and Dog” for Joe Crookston.  I’m currently working with Pamela Goddard on her second CD which has also included Glass Of Water and Kitchen Chair! I also recorded and mixed the most recent Sim Redmond Band CD “Room In These Skies”

I’ve been recording a lot of acoustic music over the years and my studio is in a wonderful old church by the covered bridge in Newfield. If you want a really great recording you should call 607-564-1832 or email will@wilburland.com. I can work with all kinds of budgets and you will love the result!

That’s all for now. I’ll be back from time to time with recording session notes and stuff so stay tuned!

The Harvest Festival of Herkimer County October 3rd, 4th, & 5th 2008 Herkimer County Fairgrounds Frankfort, New York –Several Ithaca based bands are performing at this event: Urban Horse Theives, Evil City String Band, Coyote Cowgirls, Hee Haw Nightmare http://www.harvestfestofherkimer.com/entertainment

“Thursday night I went to the Rochester Armory to mix a favorite band of mine Big Leg Emma. I’ve been mixing these Jamestown roots rockers off and on now for several years and I had the pleasure of recording and producing a wonderful CD for them called The Color Of Wind several years back. They opened to another band of old friends Rusted Root who I worked with for several years in the mid 90s. It was really sweet to see Patrick, Michael and Liz after many years and of course Big Leg Emma rocked the house with their usual positive driving style.” MORE

From the Electric Wilburland Studio BLOG in Ithaca NY http://wilburland.blogspot.com/

The Cornell Folk Song Society is a volunteer-run organization. They always need more people interested in spending a few hours helping them out.

“Right now we REALLY NEED people to help with set up and breakdown of the Greg Greenway concert on October 18th, as some of our regular volunteers will be out of town. Helping out that night gains you free entry to that concert.” If you’d like to help out, please contact Sophia Smith-Savedoff by email: Contact info here: Newsletter http://canaaninstitute.org/mikesmusic/viewtopic.php?p=2062#2062

GREG GREENWAY CONCERT — 165 McGraw Hall, Cornell Arts Quad $15 advance/$17 door. Tickets: Ludgate Farms, Ithaca Guitar Works, GreenStar Market, Small World Music, Bound for Glory, online at www.cornellfolksong.org, or by mail: SASE to CFSS, Box 481, Ithaca, NY 14851. Info: 607-351-4763. Rebates: $3 CFSS members; $2 seniors and teens; children free. Admission $10 for students with Cornell ID. Greg Greenway is everywhere you turn on the air waves: Mountain Stage, Car Talk, World Café, All Things Considered. Plus concerts from coffeehouses to Clearwater to Carnegie. This contemporary songwriter, now from Cape Cod, gracefully and solidly merges the wistful intimacy of folk-pop and the progressive balladry of Phil Ochs and Woody Guthrie. Smooth and melodic of guitar and voice, he’s an uncannily effective political singer. “He has learned Guthrie’s most vital lesson: that hope is a more powerful and renewable resource than rage. Confessional one moment, rambunctiously disarming the next, few modern folk singers can own a stage as completely as Greenway.”–The Boston Globe

The legendary banjoist and folk musician Pete Seeger will be a guest on the David Letterman Show on CBS tonight at 11:30 PM with Tao Rodriguez (Seeger’s grandson), Ruth Ungar Merenda (Jay Ungar’s daughter), Guy Davis and Jacob Silver. He’s scheduled to discuss his new CD being released tomorrow.

ITHACA, N.Y. –Catch the season’s last chance to dance on the shores of Cayuga Lake:  Celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Ithaca Youth Bureau at “Dance in the Park” – featuring live music from the popular local band Radio London – on Saturday, Oct. 4 at the Stewart Park Large Pavilion, from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

In the tradition of a sock hop, move your feet to rock, swing and anything else that taps your toes. Radio London plays a wide variety of music popular from decades gone-by. The band says that song requests are welcome, often attempted, and audience participation is encouraged

Tickets are $10 per person. Tickets may be purchased at the door, or in advance at the Ithaca Youth Bureau, 1 James L. Gibbs Dr., Ithaca. Proceeds will benefit the Friends of the Ithaca Youth Bureau. Parking is free.  All ages are welcome.

Some notes on chord substitutions in accompanying
fiddle tunes.

Know chords by number is very useful because if you think in numbers,
and know how the numbers relate to each key, then what you learn
in one key is instantly applicable to other keys.  In Nashville,
this was adopted as an easy way to deal with accompaniments and
called the "Nashville number system".  But since long before that,
if you take Music Theory classes, the first thing you do master
numbers, and then refer to a chord by letter only if you're explaining
how the chord works in a specific key.

          1   2   3   4   5   6   7
          I  II III  IV   V  VI VII
C Major:   C  Dm  Em   F   G  Am   Bdim
G Major:   G  Am  Bm   C   D  Em  F#dim
D Major:   D  Em F#m   G   A  Bm  C#dim
A Major:   A  Bm C#m   D   E F#m  G#dim
E Major:   E F#m G#m   A   B C#m  D#dim

The "theory" of what chords may follow a chord: Here are chord
sequences that cover typical harmonizations.  Note that the final
judge is yourself: if it sounds good to you, it's right, if it
sounds bad, it's not. Using these sequences (and having them ingrained
in your head) can help you predict what might sound good to you.

Typical traditional chord sequences:

One-to-five
 Numbers: I  V
 In G:    G  D

Five-to-one
 Numbers: V  I
 In G:    D  G
 (This is termed a cadence, and is the chord sequence that suggests
 the end of a piece or the end of a section of a piece. Ending
 with V "leaves you hanging")

Four-to-one
 Numbers: IV  I
 In G:     C  G

Down a fifth:
 Numbers:  V  I  -or-  VI  II  -or-  III  VI etc.
 In G:     D  G        Em  Am         Bm  Em

Down a third:
 Numbers:  I  VI  -or-  VI  IV  -or-  IV  II etc.
 In G:     G  Em        Em   C         C  Am

Up a second:
 Numbers:  IV  V  -or-  V  VI  etc.
 In G       C  D        D  Em

Modern/popular chord sequences:

Blues:
 Numbers:  V  IV   I
 In G:     D   C   G

One-to-three: (first two chords of Puff The Magic Dragon)
 Numbers:  I   III
 In G:     G    Bm

Descending chords in minor keys:
 Numbers:     I   VII   VI   V
 In A minor: Am     G    F  Em  -or-  Am  G  F  E

Chord substitutions:
 Most common is down a third or up a third, i.e.
 Use VI instead of I (for example, in G major, using Em instead of G)
 Others:
 Down a fifth (e.g. IV instead of I)
 Up a third (e.g. III instead of I)
 Up a fifth (e.g. V instead of I)

 Other:
 Using Vsus4 chord instead of I or V
 Using V instead of I at the end of a part
 (When you use V or Vsus4 instead of I at the end of a part,
 and then the next part starts with I, then you have rearranged
 the cadence so that the chords "flow" (resolve) into the next part.
 This is very commonly used in contradance accompaniment,
 making each part lead into the next)

Some of the easiest tunes to modify the chords on are the tunes
that have a chord that lasts for lots of beats, i.e. the chord stays
the same.  For example, if the tune stays on I for a long time,
moving down a third or down a fifth can give it some variety.

There are some longer chord sequences, that fit with a whole part
(16 beats) or half a part (8 beats) are very commonly used.  Our
ear is used to these sequences, so even if they don't quite "fit"
with the melody notes, your mind senses the familiarity of chord
sequence and "makes" them fit.  This is especially true of notey
tunes like fiddle tunes: there's probably some notes going on in
the tune that fit the chords. (This latter is a reason so many
different chord sequences fit the same tune.) If the sequence
doesn't quite fit a melody, it can often be tweaked to do so,
with chord substitutions (e.g. Vsus4 for V) or by changing
the rhythm.

Accompanists who vary the chords typically think in terms of
sequences of four or eight beats, and to some extent, can hear
in their mind if a particular sequence might sound good with
a particular part of a tune. This skill comes with practice and
repetition as your mind "files away" the sounds of the chord
sequences.

Common sequences:

Ascending chords, four beats per chord:
I I I I  II II II II  III III III III  IV IV IV IV
A typical continuation:
V V V V  VI VI VI VI  Vsus4 Vsus4 Vsus4 Vsus4 V V V V

A variation on ascending chords, to make the sequence lead to V:
I I I I  II II II II  III III III III  IV IV V V
A typical continuation:
VI VI VI VI V V V V IV IV IV IV V V V V

Ascending chords, two beats per chord:
I I  II II  III III  IV IV

"Heart and soul" chords:
I I  VI  VI   IV  IV  V  V

"Heart and soul" chords, four beats per chord:
I I I I   VI VI VI VI   IV IV IV IV  V V V V

Up three:
I I I I   III III III III  IV IV IV IV  V V V V
or ("Puff"):
I I I I   III III III III  IV IV IV IV  I I I I

"Universal" accompaniment: (over 7 means low note is 7th note of the scale)
I V(over 7) IV(over 6) V IV I(over 3) II V
I V(over 7) IV(over 6) V IV II V I

Another version:
I I(over 7) VI V IV III II V
I I(over 7) VI V IV II V I
(This 2nd version is like the first, but with some rather typical
chord substitutions)

In addition to the web-based interface, there’s software such as MarsEdit which can be used to write/edit posts offline (not everyone is connected 24/7!). This post, for example, was made using MarsEdit 2.2.

Setup for these can be pretty easy. For example, in the current version of MarsEdit, one clicks the + button in the lower left corner to add a new blog, enter the name you want to remember it as (i.e. “Mike’s Music BLOG”) and the url where it’s located (i.e. http://canaaninstitute.org/mikesmusicblog/), and then enter your name and password when prompted. That simple!

Drawbacks of offline composing: More setup (but just a little) required than using the web interface. Not available on any computer you haven’t installed it on.

Advantages: Uploading images or other media can be easier, dealing with multiple blogs is a lot easier. Depending on your tastes, the interface may be nicer. Best of all, if your wireless connection gets dropped, you don’t lose your post when you hit the submit button!

This is going to be really fun when you guys start hitting the “publish” button! I actually set this up at first figuring it was an easy way to get started on the RSS feed idea [ see very first post for some info on RSS http://canaaninstitute.org/mikesmusicblog/?p=1 ] But I was new to Wordpress and BLOGs in general. Now, I realize this is an ideal setting for a collaborative website. It is very easy for me to set any of my friends up as authors. Now I am super excited about this space being used to promote everybody’s favorite musical endeavors. So please write! Write about whatever you are currently excited about - and it can be short! Anything even remotely related to music will work. Actually it is better to write short blurbs and come back and write more later - also be sure to link to your websites if you have them.  Take a click on the menu item “Write for this BLOG” http://canaaninstitute.org/mikesmusicblog/?page_id=107 to see how to get started.

To be held at Canaan Road Wed Oct 1st 2008 7:00 - 9:30 pm

Instructors: John Wobus on guitar and piano with guest fiddler Brenna O’Toole from Rochester — this will be in place of the regular Wednesday jam session from 7:00-9:30 pm — all instruments welcome. John is an expert on music theory and will cover the theory behind what works and what doesn’t for alternate fun chords! Sheet music and other instructional aids provided. $10- suggested donation.

Email for directions - RSVP’s are greatly appreciated michael@canaaninstitute.org

FORUM thread http://canaaninstitute.org/mikesmusic/viewtopic.php?p=2029#2029