My friend friend Sam Shain at Sam’s Tees, designed the below shirt according to my idea. This can be gotten for $20 here. None of the money comes to me and Sam’s a good guy. Something about the way he did the bellows is mesmerizing.
I wrote this “mazurka vite!” 27 years ago on the occasion of my nephew’s birth. I recently revisited it. Been working on video skills and decided to add whistle and guitar. It was very fun! Sheet music below.
I’ve been hanging out on page 16 of the Bal Folk Tune book and recorded these four bourrées in three. Played on my Castagnari Mory G/C, with a lot of the stops in. Trying to create a light sound. I notice I am a real push/pull player when it comes to bourrées, rather than crossing rows often. I don’t really know how that fits with the idiom, especially with its roots in the very legato Chromatic Button Accordion. I’ll think about this.
75 Para Lou Loup Petiote 71 Bourrée 72 Prends Garde au Loup 76 La Mourolliado
I notice as this project progresses that I tend to play tunes “straight,” i.e., as I imagine they would be for dancing. This is great, but with my group and in my stage performances I am more theatrical or cinematic (like, what’s the story that this tune is the background music for, what story is this tune telling). In fact, I’ve been accused of being Wagnerian. I am not sure how I will proceed, but I WILL proceed. Stay tuned.
P.S., I learn in the comments below that #71 is called “Lou Moridon Cotet”
I’ve always assumed “Brezon Valse” meant “Breton Waltze,” but I don’t know that for a fact. I learn in the comments below that Brezon is a valley in Auvergne, and I feel a little foolish. But thank you Emmanuel Lazinier, for letting me know! I’ve only heard it played by Auvergnat players, Gentiane and Michel Esbelin — it’s a great tune with an ABCB structure, which means you practice the B section twice as much as all the other sections. “La Marianne” is a Frédéric Paris tune from his fantastically important Carnet de Bal cassette. I’ve recorded it a few times, including once playing with my Dad.
Had to switch computer systems last night and went back to old video editing software, not such a fan. In the old software I would have cropped out the vacuum cleaner.
This is part of the Bal Folk Tune Book Project. Go check it out and buy the tune book!
Scottish des Oiselets (the second tune) is by Trevor Upham — one of a number of tunes by him and Chris Shaw from the George Inn Giant Ceili Band that were added to the Bal Folk Tune Book when Mally Productions took it over from Dragonfly. It’s a tricky tune and I had one of those things happen where, even though I’ve been playing it all week, when the camera was going I couldn’t get through without a flub. Finally, I got it, and here it is. A sweet tune that feels more cinematic the dance-ish. The other two tunes were less dramatic in their nascence, being traditional and somewhat less twisty.
In the back of the Bal Folk Tune Book are a series of odd tunes, neither fish nor fowl, mazurka nor bourrée. Here are four of those. Three of them have mixed meters (yikes!) and that makes them especially interesting to me. If you want to go to a specific tune:
0:00 Rondeau de Landes (#213) 1:02 Scottish-Valse (#199) 2:18 Branle du Rat (#201) 3:15 Le Porcher (#196)
If you want the dots, you should definitely buy the Bal Folk Tune Book!
I learned these two from Sylvain Piron’s website nearly 25 years ago. They are Valse á Cadet and Valse d’Ernest Lurde. For some reason I thought they were in the Bal Folk Tune Book. They are NOT. But they are kickass waltzes and I invite you to wallow in their kickassedness.
I was wearing a great hat in this one. But then cropped it out so you could spend time with the trees.
Here’s a deep dive. This is a great one that I have in a number of sources, and have been playing for years. You may not hear, but the third note is a sharp 4th (E, in this case, because it’s played in Bflat), and it’s such a fleeting note, but so essential!
It’s part of the Bal Folk Tune Project. Here’s Jac Lavergne playing it, on his wonderful AMTA cassette.
And here’s Henri Momboisse, from back in the day. Much ornamentation. Chromatic Button Accordion. A swifter instrument for a swifter time.
Also, the tune has a lyric, and here’s the group Wazoo doing a fantastic arrangement.
This is part of the Bal Folk Tune Book Project. Scottishes #5 and #6, “Scottish à Catinaux” and “D’où Viens-tu P’tit Bonhomme.” The first tune I play as I always have and realized today that I’ve been doubling all the parts forever. Well, that’s a habit that’ll stick. The second tune I don’t play at dance speed, just a little slower, more cinematic or — as I’ve been accused — Wagnerian. I am NOT AT ALL pleased by my accordion face in this one. Not exactly a gormless wonder, but hardly gormful.
