As long as I’m updating those ending transitions of Irish jigs from my book…..
Here is O’Keefe’s Slide.
And a nice little pdf of O’Keefe’s Slide.
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100 Fiddle Tunes
Publishing 100 fiddle tunes in a year
The Hunter’s Purse, an Irish Reel in Music Notation
By admin on Monday, February 8th, 2010 | No Comments
Even today a purse is not just a small bag for carrying money. It can be the prize in a contest.
The hunter may think of his quarry as a prize. But a animal taken by the hunter may not fit into a small bag. The hunter’s purse may be the small bag he made out of the hide of his catch.
Purse also means to draw the lips together like the mouth of a purse with the strings tightened. This is what the hunter does when his game escapes.
An Irish reel
Also, here’s the Hunter’s Purse pdf.
The Dutchman’s Pipe, a Grassapelli Tune on Video
This is just the tune by itself. I play through it a couple of times on video.
Ten Penny Bit Rhythm Trick
By admin on Saturday, February 6th, 2010 | No Comments
There is a favorite trick fiddlers do in jigs. We change the accented rhythm to imply a time of 3-4 instead of the normal 6-8 jig rhythm.
This lasts for only a few beats. Rock players and jazz cats do this to. So did classical music composers. It’s a good trick.
In the video performance of Ten Penny Bit you will hear the trick done two times in the A part of the tune, the second time it is played.
Ten Penny Bit Rhythm Trick from Elan Chalford on Vimeo.
Julie & Julia Start a Fiddle Blog
By admin on Thursday, January 14th, 2010 | 4 Comments
If you saw the movie, Julie & Julia, and I recommend it, you saw the story of two inspiring motivations for success.
I have two inspirational hits from this film. One is the inspiration of Julia Childs. She was unfocused until she enrolled in Cordon Bleu to learn to cook French cuisine. That was the pivotal action of her life.
We all need some pivot to turn from just plugging along to really making a song out of our life. (Or a fiddle tune.) You’ve heard of “find your passion.” Julia Childs found hers. Everything followed from that.
The second inspiration is Julie Powell’s goal-intention-project of preparing all the recipes in Julia’s book in one year’s time and blogging about it. The ambitious, but doable project and the one year time constraint act as a wonderful motivational goad.
I did this a few years ago when I set out to play one hundred different tunes one hundred times each. To devote this much time to a tune about twice a week was a stretch, but not completely crazy. It raised my level of playing.
I’m choosing a similar project for the coming year. The winning idea is, Publish 100 fiddle tunes from my repertory online. Do this over the next year.
I’m off to a slow start while I learn to use Sibelius. I need to average two a week. Once I get rolling that will be doable. I expect to get caught up no later than March. [Update 8-17, I'm doing the tunes in fiddle tab. I'm not caught up. I may not get done until the middle of 2011. That's okay with me, I hope it's okay with you, too.]
My first one, 10 Penny Bit, is an Irish jig in fiddle tab to start with.Most will be in this format. They are as close to my actual performance version as possible.
Since I am an improvising fiddler, the published version can only be a temporary snapshot.
[update] Allow me to share a comment that was music to my ears:
This is great! I decided around Thanksgiving that I would like to learn to fiddle. I was lucky enough to have a friend who lent me their violin (as it was sitting in their closet collecting dust). And now, thanks to your post, I have played my second song ever!
I love your tab style, it is very easy to read. I was wondering if you could tell me which of your songs might be easier for a beginner to pick up? I have already picked out Red River Valley and Amazing Grace because I know their tunes quite well.
Thanks so much. Good luck completing your goal! Nate
