Old Town School East is now occupied
This was the vision, ten years in the making.
| Eagerly anticipated. Much hard work to keep the promise. And so it was written: so “Come join us on Sunday, January 15 at 6:30 for a Housewarming Dance for the new Lincoln Square East building of the Old Town School of Folk Music (4545 Lincoln). We’ll occupy one of the fabulous new dance studios. All dancers, players and callers are welcome to help warm up the floor.” so so |
 Dance tonight in E326! (click to enlarge) |
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| January 15, 2012 so 80 folks came to play or dance or both. Thanks to our 4 great callers: Paul Collins, Lynn Garren, Tom Senior and Bill Sudkamp. 30 musicians played-never more than 20 at a time-including 1 banjo, 1 accordion, 3 mandolins and the rest evenly divided between fiddles and guitars. so so |
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| Here’s our set list, as best I remember: (D tunes) Angeline the Baker Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss Soldier’s Joy Walk Old Shoe Heel Come a-Draggin’ Twin Sisters(G Tunes) Indian Corn |
Sail Away Ladies Roscoe (A Tunes) Tippin’ Back the Corn Liza Jane Little Dutch Girl (final waltz in D) Tennessee Waltz |
so
Photos by Gail Tyler, except the first and the last, which were taken by . . .
Paul Tyler, convener
Filed under: Photos,Reports by Paul | January 16, 2012 | Comments (0)
More dances to come
The first Fiddle Club of the World Square & Ceilidh Dance was a roaring success, with about two dozen dancers in attendance at the Atlantic Bar & Grill. The back room was surprisingly cool on such a hot night.
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Cyndy & Mitzi
Music was supplied by a rehearsed Ceilidh Band of 4 fiddlers, 3 guitarists, a harmonica player and a jaranero. Two other fiddle players sat in and learned the tunes on the spot (for the most part).
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Judy & Walter
Here’s what we danced.
Squares: Chase the Rabbit, Star for Three, & a big circle square from the Deep South.
Ceilidhs: Cumberland Reel, Tacco e Punta, Gay Gordons, & Dashing White Sergeant.
Rounds: Seven Step, a schottische, Raatikko, & 2 waltzes
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Calling a square dance
Thanks to Jason McInnes for the photos. There are also a couple of videos on the Fiddle Club of the World Facebook page.
Plans are afoot to coordinate the First Friday Square Dances with Fiddle Club. That means our next dance will be Friday, September 2, from 7 to 9:30 at the Old Town School. We’ll also schedule one for the December meeting at the Atlantic.
Paul Tyler, convener
Chicago Chapter
Filed under: Photos,Reports by Paul | July 19, 2011 | Comments (0)
Fiddle Team Finalists for 2011
Finals, 12:30 July 7, Folk & Roots main stage
Top prize is $400. Over $1500 in prize money!
Don’t miss these bands!
Fabulous photos by Paul Doughty
Can I Get an Amen
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John Lane & Danny Gillespie
| Kit Paulson accompanied by James Kreigsmann and David Stockman |
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Los Pichardo
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Yahvi, Victor, Gabriella & Zacbe Pichardo
also
The Third Sunday String Band
Angela Moss & Janet Lettrich Hamling, Rich Kurowski & Sandy Bykowski
The Lopsiders
Debi Lewis, Jim Meegan, Deborah Fausch & Shane Jones
Plus the top two from the Youth/Family Division will battle for the top prize – $150
The Fiddle Billies
from Music House
The Tuning Pegs
from the Old Town School’s kids fiddle program
- Paul Tyler, convener
Filed under: Photos,Reports by Paul | July 9, 2011 | Comments (0)
Report on Dan Gellert’s visit to the Fiddle Club
Click blue links to download or to listen to these .mp3s.
Click here for tips and troubleshooting on how to get at these .mp3s.
Over 30 fiddlers, pickers and fans showed up at the Leadway Bar & Gallery on North Damon on a Saturday night to hear Dan Gellert. After serenading us with a dozen wonderful old fiddle and banjo tunes, Dan and Debbie led a jam session for the next hour through a number of old chestnuts and few rare treasures.
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Here’s a few of the tunes Dan played in the Leadway’s back room. |
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The Fiddle Club of the World is not just for fiddlers. Players of all kinds are welcome to participate. And it’s okay to come just to listen.
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Click here for tips and troubleshooting on how to get at these .mp3s.
Filed under: Audio,Photos,Reports by Paul | March 30, 2009 | Comments (0)
Huapango Nights
Our special meeting on July 20 featured a presentation and workshop on Son Huasteco, the traditional music of the Huasteco region of Mexico. Son Huasteco includes three types: danzas, sones de carnival and huapangos. The first two are associated with the fiestas and ceremonies of the indigeous people. Some have singing, others are instrumentals. Huapangos are played for social dancing (fandangos) among the mestizos, and feature both sung verses and instrumental solos. Our featured guest, Felipe Valle demonstrated the improvisation and ornamentation used by Son Huasteco fiddlers.
El Caballito, a carnival song.
Felipe Valle (click to enlarge)
Felipe was joined by Juan Rivera of Sones de Mexico, and Irekani Ferreyra and Anabel Tapia of Tarima Son. (By the way, Tarima Son won first place in the Fiddle Band division of the Midwest Fiddle Championship at the Chicago Folk & Roots festival earlier in July.) Juan and Irekani both played fiddle with Anabel on jarana. Felipe often plays with a haupanguera strapped to his back, so he can quickly change between strumming the chords and bowing the fiddle. The deep voice of the huapanguera is prominent in this sample of the conjunto sound of Son Huasteco.
La Polla Pinta, a huapango
Anabel, Felipe, Irekani & Juan
The typical line-up for a Son Huasteco trio is fiddle, jarana huasteca and huapanguera. The jarana, an 8 eight-string instrument with 5 courses (a bigger version of the ukulele), is also common in Son Jarocho and other regional styles of Mexican folk music. Here, the jarana section was augmented by the late-arriving Juan Dies of Sones de Mexico.
La Xochipitzahuatl, a danza
Felipe & Juan Rivera
Fiddle Club members had a chance to learn and play four or five pieces from the Son Huasteco tradition.
Juan & Paul
Thanks to Debi Lewis and Pete Janotta for the photos.
Go here for tips and troubleshooting on how to get at these .mp3s.
An announcement of the Fall 2008 season of the Fiddle Club will be forthcoming in the next month. Stay tuned.
Paul Tyler, convener
Filed under: Audio,Photos,Reports by Paul | August 6, 2008 | Comments (0)
Report on Paddy Jone’s visit to the Fiddle Club
The Leadway Bar & Gallery was full of fiddlers last Friday night, for the first meeting of the Fiddle Club of the World. About 30 musicians showed up. Most had a fiddle and a bow. I counted one guitar and one banjo. And a handful of folks showed up just to listen.
I got there right at 7:30, and several Fiddle Club members pitched in right away to help set up our small p.a. and arrange the Leadway’s long, narrow party room for listening and playing. (Some eating was going on as well. The Leadway has a kitchen, and Frank, the owner–he’s also a fine sculptor–had set out several trays of veggies and dip for us.)
The music started about 8 pm, as we all played a few tunes together. Since the Fiddle Club members come from various musical walks of life, I thought it valuable to talk about what people expect from a session. Old-time players jump on a tune and ride it till it finds its groove and finishes the course. You might play one tune through a dozen times. At Irish sessions, a tune is usually played two or three times through, and strung together with several others in a medley. Someone or most everyone knows what tune comes next. Bluegrass sessions start by establishing a rotation of lead breaks, and pass the tune around from one player to the next. The Fiddle Club of the World has no established set of rules, but seeks to allow players to stretch boundaries and extend horizons to experience more of what fiddling can do for the world.
Paddy Jones, a truly delightful man and musician, got started about 8:30. He was artfully accompanied by Jesse Langen, who arrived just in time after a gig with the proprietor of Chief O’Neill’s pub. Paddy’s playing was strong, sensitive and rhythmic. He enthralled the room.
(I was very pleased with the acoustics and atmosphere of the Leadway. Paddy could be easily and clearly heard. We used just a bit of p.a. reinforcement, but it may not have been necessary. The front bar room filled up as Paddy played, but the noise from that side never caused a problem. It’s a good room. It would work better if we could move the tables out of the way.)
After close to an hour of concertizing, Paddy was ready for a break. He said he was used to having a singer step up with an occasional song, so he could rest his bow arm for a few moments. We’ll keep that in mind for future meetings.
Then it was time for everyone to play a session with Paddy and each other. A few young players could hardly wait to play through the tunes we’ve had posted on this website. Paddy asked if anybody had any questions. There was a suggestion that he demonstrate how to ornament. Paddy put on his teacher’s hat and led everybody through a demonstration of grace notes, bowing rhythms, and the essentials of playing for dancers. (We’ll post some samples of his “lessons” in a few days.)
Everybody got to play. We went through the tunes posted ahead of Paddy’s visit–the Kerry Polkas, the Kerry Slides, and the unnamed reel that is, in fact, The Galtee Rangers. Jessica Zeigler and her students from Old Town School Irish fiddle classes led us through some standard Irish session tunes. We ended sometime after 11 pm.
Thanks to all who attended, participated, and helped. A special thanks to Tim Joyce and Colby Maddox from the Old Town School, and to Frank and the Leadway Bar & Gallery,
See you April 20.
Paul Tyler, Convener
Filed under: Photos,Reports by Paul | March 17, 2008 | Comments (1)
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