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A Writing Prompt

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What is the story for this music?

Something different for this blog. This is a piece of music I wrote and recorded. Imagine it’s the soundtrack for a movie or story. What would that story be? Think of the silent movie days, where a musician would play music to accompany the silent film. In this case, you’re given the music and you have to write the story. Enjoy. Share results in the comments or just keep them to yourself. Just trying to add some art and joy into the world. Here’s the full score.

Un Pied dans L’eau

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Tune 17 in the Bal Folk Tune Book, this scottish has a nice harmonic ambiguity. A lot of different choices could have been made. In the end, for the A section, I went with Amin-F-Dmin-Bb. All the thirds in the chords are off, so the major/minorness is just implied. The B section is Amin and then G (with a smattering of D thrown in).

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Free Reed Liberation Orchestra Merch!

Published on by Gary Chapin2 Comments

Huzzah! I have not only created a logo for the Free Reed Liberation Orchestra, but also set up a small shop and created some merch. Go over to the Accordeonaire shop for all the mugs, tee shirts, hoodies, stickers, etc. that you need, AND support the FRLO and accordion love in the process. Thank you!

Get FRLO stuff at The Accordeonaire Shop

Three Bal Folk Mazurkas

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Mazurka Auvergne (#134), Mazurka de Samatan (#142), and Mazurka (untitled, #136) played on my Hohner Erica, in A. The unnamed Mazurka is a variation on one that I play a lot, but it’s very similar to a version played by Gentiane, found below. Also includes their version of the amazing Brezon Valse.

If you feel like tipping the accordionist, go here!

Three Bourrées (2-time)

Published on by Gary Chapin6 Comments

Continuing the Bal Folk Tune Book Project with three 2-beat bourrées — “Les Moutons” #153 “En Passant la Rivière” #144 “Bourrées Dérobée” #148 — done in a fairly straightforward style. The first and third tune are in G, the middle tune is in D. That was a choice I made, since it is a completely diatonic tune, and usually for that sort of thing I would either transpose to a home key for this box (G/C) or get a different box in the right key. I did neither of those things and, because the key is a not-home one for that box, it sounds clunky to me when I get to the C#.

Oy!

Well, that is why I took up the project — aside from obviating pandemic madness — to push me further in my playing. I’m almost ninety tunes into the Bal Folk Tune Book Project and the low hanging fruit is disappearing.

“Charlie” by Sylvain Piron (FRLO)

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The Free Reed Liberation Orchestra is back! This time playing one of my favorite tunes, by one of my favorite people. “Charlie” was written by Sylvain Piron, in honor of Charlie Chaplin. It’s a French scottish (which is to say, a medium tempo couples dance in 4/4, and NOT from Scotland). Sylvain himself played the tune into a video for me in 2011, that can be found here.

The F.R.L.O (Dec 2020 edition)

Anahata, Gary Chapin,
Margaret Cox, Steve Gruverman,
Eric W. Johnson, Little
Eggy, Howard Mitchell,
Gren Penn, Rick St. John,
Julian Schoenfield,
Janneke Slagter, Barbara Truex

We do this every once in a while,
contact Gary Chapin if you want in!

accordeonaire.com

Les Bouns Gorçous (#209)

Published on by Gary ChapinLeave a comment

This tune is sort of two things and the same thing. On the one hand it’s a song in 6/8 called “Les Bouns Gorçous” (in Occitan), on the other hand it’s a scottish-valse found in the Bal Folk Tune Book (#209). When you hear one and then the other, you have that uncanny feeling, “This sounds like something, but it’s also different.” For this recording, I play the 6/8 tune first, a slow intro and then two times through, and then go into the scottish-valse. The 6/8 tune can be found in La Bourrée, the pre-war tune book that I reproduced here on the blog. Here’s the tune, with lyrics (which I almost sang, but really have no sense of Occitan pronunciation and didn’t want to mangle it):

Again, this may sound spookily familiar. One reason might be that Gentiane did this song on their album, but sung it with a French lyric, “Pendant le Messe,” and then also went into the scottish-valse. Here’s that:

Le Bon Truc, “Mazurka Vite!”

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I am super proud of this one. This is a tune I wrote over twenty years ago, for my nephew Doriel’s birth. A quick mazurka, originally called “Allez! Allez!” — but then we never actually called it that. So, it’s, “Mazurka Vite!”

The trio playing is my beloved, Le Bon Truc, with Steve Gruverman and Barb Truex — both of whom are amazing. I’ve been learning video recording and mixing since the pandemic shut us down, and I think this is my best work, yet. Here’s the sheet music.

Enjoy!