And the results of the 10th Midwest Fiddle Championship are in
Youth Division winners
1st – Kalman Strauss (Chicago)
2nd – Henry Beuving (Chicago)
3rd – Liam Perlstein (Morton Grove)
Open Division Finalists (in alphabetical order)
Solo Fiddle
Sean Colledge
Steve Rosen (Evanston)
Kevin Von Staeyen (Belgium–not the one in Wisconsin)
Fiddle Team
Just Bob, led by Debi Lewis (Evanston)
Third Sunday Fiddlers, led by Janet Lettrich Hammling (Grayslake) and Angie Moss
The Young Ladies Fiddle Social, led by Caroline Fernald (Norman, Oklahoma) and Nancy Bardawill
Finals are Saturday, 1:45, in the concert hall at the Old Town School of Folk Music, the West building.
Filed under: Uncategorized by Paul | July 20, 2012 | Comments (0)
Fiddle Contest Tonight (rain or shine)
In case of rain, the 10th Midwest Fiddle Championship will be held in Szold Hall. That’s on the second florr of the new Old Town School East building at 4545 Lincoln.
A decision will be made a little before 6 o’clock.
Whatever happens. The contest will go on.
Filed under: Meeting Schedule by Paul | July 19, 2012 | Comments (0)
Battle of the Bands
Presented by the Fiddle Club of the World (Chicago Chapter)
at the Square Roots Festival
Saturday, July 21, 7-8pm
Szold Hall in Old Town School East (4545 Lincoln)
Three bands have been invited.
They’ll take turns, bringing us a fine mix of dance music: old-time, Cajun and Mexican son.
The band the gets the most people on the dance floor wins the top prize of $400.
Come dance and root for your favorite. Here they are in alphabetical order . . .
 (click to enlarge) |
Brown’s Dream Matt Brown – fiddle Steve Rosen – banjo Greg Reish – guitar Jesse McQuarters – bass |
| Cajun Vagabonds Dorian Gehring – fiddle Heather Cole Mullin – fiddle Charlie Terr – accordion Stewart Gehring – guitar |
 (click to enlarge) |
 (click to enlarge) |
Tarima Son Irekani Ferreya – fiddle, guitar Anabel Tapia – jarana, viheual Rose Gaitan – small percussion Orlando Tenumbre – bass |
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Filed under: Meeting Schedule by Paul | July 18, 2012 | Comments (0)
Tune of the Week for July 2, 2012
A classic rag, as played by Les Raber of Hastings, Michigan.
Check out his cool Michigan Fiddler trading card.
Collect the whole set.
 (click to enlarge) |
 (click to enlarge) |
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Dill Pickle Rag
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X:2
T:Dill Pickle Rag
M:C|
L:1/8
S:Les Raber of Hastings, Michigan
K:G
degd egde | gdeg2 edB | GABG ABGA | BGAB2 AGE | DEFD EFDE |1
FDEE2DEF | GFGE2 FG2 | A^GA2 d4 :|2 FDEE2 FGA | Bd2B dBA2 | G6 z2 |:
D2^D2 E2F2 | G2ed2 ed2 | F2ed2 ed2 | G2ed2 ed2 | DA^DA EAFA |
G2ed2 ed2 |1 AB^ca2 ege | fde2 d4 :|2 A2ed2 ed2 | g5 g2z2 |:
K:C
cAGc AGEF | GEGA GECD | EDEG2 ED2 | C4 A2B2 |
cAGc AGEF | GEGA GECE | DEDd2 BA2 | G4 A2B2 |
cAGc AGEF | GEGA GECD | EDEG2 ED2 | C4 c2B2 |
A^GAB cBcd | e^dea2 ge2 | d^cdg2 ed2 | c4 c2z2 :|
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NB Twenty-four Tunes of the Week have been posted through the first half of 2012. Since the second half of the year just started, I’ve started the numbering back at 1.
Paul Tyler, convener
Filed under: Tune of the Week,Tunes by Paul | July 8, 2012 | Comments (0)
Clarke Buehling Tunes
Clarke Buehling will guest at Fiddle Club on Sunday, July 8 at 6:30 pm in the backroom of the Atlantic Bar & Grill (5062 Lincoln). Click here to register for a single meeting ($15 ), or click here for a year-long subscription ($60) to all Fiddle Club events..
Clarke sent us written music for two tunes. (
Click link to see notation)
Here’s how they sound . . .
As played by . . .
Paul Tyler, convener
Filed under: Session Tunes,Tunes by Paul | July 6, 2012 | Comments (0)
Tunes from Clarke Buehling
For Sunday, July 8 – 6:30p
Atlantic Bar & Grill (5062 Lincoln)
Banjo King (and Man of Many Costumes), Clarke Buehling, visits the Old Town School on his summer tour for an afternoon workshop in the 19th century styles of class (3-finger picking) and stroke (clawhammer) banjo. Workshop info can be found here (scroll down) here (scroll down). In the evening, he will present a short concert for Fiddle Club of the World, and then work us through a couple of vintage fiddle rags and other Gilded Age tunes. The notes can be found below. Recordings to be posted soon.
 Peaceful Henry |
 Spanish Galopade |
(click each thumbnail for a downloadable full size score)
++
You can register for the Fiddle Club meeting for $15 by clicking here, or click this link for the $60 yearly subscription that gives you entrance to all Fiddle Club events.
Note: Recordings of the tunes can be found here.
Filed under: Notation,Session Tunes,Tunes by Paul | June 22, 2012 | Comments (0)
Tune of the Week for June 18, 2012
It’s Battle Ground week! That is, time for the Indiana Fiddlers Gathering in lovely Battle Ground, Indiana, just a couple hours out of Chicago, just off interstate 65. This years festival will be the 40th. I missed the first four, but have only missed two since. Lots of folks look forward to reuniting for a weekend of tunes and friendship. Plus there are concerts on the stage, workshops under the trees and an old-time square dance on Saturday with music by the Bum Ditty Barn Dance Band.
I think the year was 1979 when the Gathering was treated to the music of the Roan Mountain Hilltoppers, a family band from Tennessee. Their tunes were great. Their spirit infectious. And they hawked their most recent album in LP and 8-track tape formats! (Now available on the CD Down Home.) Banjoists take note of the distinctive left-hand style in the picture below. The Easy Street String Band, an outfit from Bloomington, was inspired by a Hilltoppers original, and included it on their LP Money in Both Pockets. (Originally released on the Prairie Schooner label out of St. Louis, it is now available as a CD from Yodel A-Hee.)
 Bill & Joe Birchfield of the Roan Mountain Hilltoppers Photo by Al Smitley (click to enlarge) |
 Easy Street String Band (click to enlarge) On the right is Frank Hall, who was the source for an earlier Tune of the Week. |
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Rattletrap by the Roan Mountain Hilltoppers
Rattletrap by the Easy Street String Band
X:1
T:Rattletrap
M:C|
L:1/8
S:Joe Birchfield & the Roan Mountain Hilltoppers
K:G
Bc | d2c2 BcdB | e2c4 Bc | d2c2 B2G2 | ABA2 G2Bc |
d2c2 BcdB | e2c6 | g2=f2 d3B | ABA2 G2 ::
(3DEF | G2GD B,2B,D | +C2E2++CE++CE+ +^C2^E2++^C^E++^C^E+ | +C2E2++CE++CE+ D3D | +CE+D+C2E2+ D2EF |
G2GD B,2D2 | +C2E2++CE++CE+ +^C2^E2++^C^E++^C^E+ | +C2E2++CE++CE+ D3D | +CE+D+C2E2+ D2 :|
Paul Tyler, convener
Filed under: Tune of the Week,Tunes by Paul | June 21, 2012 | Comments (0)
Tune of the Week for June 11, 2012
We all need a hero like John Henry.
Howard Armstrong
(click for another view)
Recorded at a Lark Productions concert in Bears Back Room in Bloomington, Indiana in the Spring of 1982. The concert was a double bill of Bogan & Armstrong along with Yank Rachell. Howard took the lead on this number and Ted Bogan played guitar. Yank Rachell may be playing along on mandolin. Yanks accompanist, Peter Roller, was on dobro.
X:24
T:John Henry
M:C|
L:1/8
S:Howard Armstrong with Ted Bogan
K:A
ef | “verse”aa2a- a2f2 | e2=c^c A4 |aa3 =gfec | e6 ef | aa2a- a2f2 | e2=c^c A4 |
“refrain”fe=c^c A2FA | c2c2 A4 | fe=c^c A2FA | A3A- A4 |
fe=c^c A2FA | fe=c^c A2FA |fe=c^c E2F2 | A3A- A2ef |
“verse”aa2a- a2=c’a | c’a2a- a3=c’ | c’=c’^c’a =c’a=f^f | e2e4 =c’2 |
(3c’2=c’2a2 (3f2e2=f2 | (3^f2=c2B2 A4 |
“refrain”fe=c^c A2FA | c2c2 A4 | fe=c^c A2FA | A3A- A2FA |
f8 | f2{=c}^c2 A4 | f2e2 c2d=c | A6 ||
Note: the triplets in the third line from the bottom should be quarter note triplets. Some Abc readers render them as eighth note triplets.
Filed under: Tune of the Week,Tunes by Paul | June 14, 2012 | Comments (0)
Melodia z tygodnia na czerwiec 4, 2012
Tune of the Week for June 4, 2012
(click to see Brian Marshall’s solo CD)
Brian Marshall is a fiddler and band leader from the Polonia (Polish colony) of East Texas, between Houston and Dallas. He was raised with old village dance music played by local fiddlers like John Meleski, Raymond Zievert, and–most influential of all–Steve Oksonski. While Brian leads a full-on polka band, The Tex-Slavic Playboys, the following tune from his solo CD features and old country sound.
Brian Marshall & Ron Kasowski on fiddles, Mark Rubin on bowed bass
Krakowiak
X:23
T:Krakowiak
M:C|
L:1/8
S:Brian Marshall of Bremond, Texas
K:C
BA | G2B2 d3a | g2e4 ef | gega gfed | c2e4 dB |
G2B2 d3a | g2e4 ef | g2f2 dcBd | c2c2 c2 ::
dc | Bcde f3c’ | b2a4 g2 | a2ab c’3a | a2g4 ga |
c’2g2 e2c2 | d2b4 ef | gega gfed | c2c2 c2 :|
This notation is just a skeleton. Get Brian’s CD from CDBaby and hear his exciting variations every time through.
Filed under: Tune of the Week,Tunes by Paul | June 13, 2012 | Comments (0)
Banjo master to appear at Fiddle Club
Clarke Buehling – vintage banjoist
Sunday, July 8 – 6:30pm
Atlantic Bar & Grill (5062 Lincoln)
(click for another view)
“Clarke Buehling is both a banjo master and a devoted clear channel to America’s musical heritage dating back as far as 200 years. Most important of all: He sounds really good!” So says Pete Wernick, “Dr. Banjo,” founding member of the bluegrass band, Hot Rize, and a pretty good picker, himself.
Leader of The Skirtlifters Old-Time Band, Clarke Buehling specializes in the 19th century banjo styles that pre-figured both clawhammer and Scruggs picking. Clarke can play breakdowns and jig using the minstrel stroke, followed by virtuosic finger-picking on banjo rags and classical pieces. He’s a powerful player and a dynamic performer. A fiddle tune jam will follow a presentation not to be missed!
Green Corn-Essence of Old Virginny from the album Out of His Gourd.
St. Louis Tickle (Rag Time Two-Step) from the Skirtlifters album Wait for the Wagon.
Clarke Buehling will guest at Fiddle Club on Sunday, July 8 at 6:30 pm in the backroom of the Atlantic Bar & Grill (5062 Lincoln). Click here to register for a single meeting ($15 ), or click here for a year-long subscription ($60) to all Fiddle Club events..
Filed under: Meeting Schedule by Paul | June 7, 2012 | Comments (0)
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