Week 13: Halsway Walking and Dancing

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Hello!
We've been at Halsway Manor this week playing for the Walking and Dancing Week.

So what is new? I've been going through the old Lockdown Halsway Bar Sessions and adding them into a new module in the Play-alongs course. It's going to take a while to sort through them, but I'll feature one each week. This week it's what call Session Zero and it's aimed at complete beginners. This is a session based on the tunes I teach all my beginners. So even if you're not a beginner, playalong for the nostalgia

This week I'm tying up Catch Club with the featured session. I have promised that every so often Catch Club will be aimed at beginners. This is a a beginner Catch week and what is it? Of course it has to be Perry the Partridge! I recorded a batch of these so they'll be coming out over time. (They're not filmed yet!) I've also made a new batch of Nobody escapes Perry the Partridge badges ready for the Harpas at Halsway Spring Weekend in a couple of weeks!

On the Scottish Smallpipes we have An Dro, which is a Breton Tune.
On the säckpipa we have Schottis från Lima.
On the nyckelharpa we have Minor Mount Hills.

More next week!
:))
Vicki

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Week 12: Spring Equinox

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Hello!
It's been the spring equinox this week and the pull to do some gardening has been strong! I did film a few more walk throughs for Catches and spent a lot of time putting together what I am going to teach at Halsway in a couple of weeks. I've started putting together a pad of catches for the beginner, so nice and simple. It takes a lot of work to put Catch Club together though - so you won't see those for a few weeks! We had a lovely Symmetry dance on Tuesday and that video is now editing and up for you to play along with! So what's new this week? We also made a little video of Hälleforsnäspolskan as an advert for the Spring into Scandinavia Week at the end of April. There are still spaces for accordions! It's a great tune, so if you don't know it go over to the lesson page! It's even there as a flute tune.

The Symmetry Play-along video is up.
Catch Club on Sunday is Fie, Nay, Prithee John.
On the säckpipa we have Polska efter Mans Olsson.
On the nyckelharpa we have a wonderful tune from Småland on the silverbasharpa! Polska efer Blinde Janne

Plans are now afoot for World Nyckelharpa Day and the first mail shot went out. I defintiely need people to start sending in videos! So visit the blog entry on the World Nyckelharpa Day website to keep up with all the news!
Have a good week.
:))
Vicki

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Week 11: Happy St Patricks Day

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Hello!
It's St Patricks Day this week, so we filmed the Kahlua Jig & Reel in our dance at Symmetry on Tuesday. I told the story of how I came to write these two tunes, which was as an audition tape for a certain beverage. The actual advert is below. These are links to the lessons of the Kahlua Jig and the Kahlua Reel.

So what else is new this week?
Catch club this week is An Ape, A lion, a Fox and An Ass
The Symmetry dance this week was mostly fiddleharpa with a little flute thrown in. There is another dance on Tuesday - 6pm this week too until the clocks change next week.
On the flute we have Edvards Glada - it's very jolly.
On the säckpipa we have Kontrabasharpapolskan.

We're now very close to Harpril and I am busy preparing what I'm going to teach at Halsway. Watch this space, it's going to get busy! More next week.
:))
Vicki

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Website Update

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Today I have installed SSL on this site and the sister site - I'm hoping it's all gone well! It should hopefully mean that it no longer comes up as Not Secure. I'm also hoping it's not broken either site!
Fingers crossed and see you on the other side of the update!

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Week 10: Suffolk Playford Ball!

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Hello!
Week 10 was a really busy week. We were out doing medieval work in schools followed by two dances, which meant I missed the Friday mail out! We decided to try something neon Saturday and that was to film and record the dance just like we do for Symmetry. Then I decided I had to edit that video together and publish it for this week's news entry. And that is how I find myself writing this on Monday! Because I'm so late and the Suffolk Playford Ball took some time to edit, it's a small number of things added - but in terms of hours of watch time - it's quite large!

Suffolk Playford Ball - Play-along video
In Catch Club this week we have - Let Us Love and Drink.
Jorvik Pipe Tune on Nyckelharpa
Jorvik Pipe Tune on säckpipa!

We're in Symmetry on Tuesday 12th March - 6pm! Note the earlier time as the USA has gone to summer time already!

Most importantly - World Nyckelharpa Day is coming up fast! I've put out a request for people reading a script so I can make an advert. The script is on this page - but here's a direct link. I should have the advert out for Friday's update! Then I'll be requesting videos!
More next week!
:))
Vicki

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Week 9: Medieval Schools Week

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Hello!
This week we've been on the road being all medieval for some primary schools. We love doing these workshops watching the excitement on all the children's faces. Such fun! Now we’re back we can’t believe it’s March already!!!

So what's new this week?
This Sunday in Catch Club we have Fair Ursley Merry Mood by George Berg
We also have the second February Symmetry dance.
On nyckelharpa we have a waltz called Silence in the Rain.
On the fiddleharpa we have Spotted Pony - a groovy American tune.
On the flute we have Anna Maria Kiss Me.
On the Scottish Smallpipes we have De'il in the Kitchen.

Next week we're back in schools again and then Unicorn Ceilidh and the Suffolk Playford Ball! Another busy week! It's also time to really start planning for World Nyckelharpa Day - so get those cameras out and start filming!
:))
Vicki

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Week 8: A week at home

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Hello!
We've been home this week. But we did have two Symmetry dances! I'm adding one to the update this week and one next week. I took a quick tally of the number of lessons on this site. It seems to be somewhere around over 1258 lessons over 9 different instruments plus 55 play-along session videos. I can't be sure I've included all the nyckelharpa lessons though, I think I might have missed a section in the count. At some point I'm going to make an index of all the tunes on the site covering all the instruments, when I manage that I'll know just how large the site is. One thing I won't be able to count though is the number of hours it all adds up to.

So what's new this week?
We had a lovely dance on Sunday in Zoom at Symmetry.
This Sunday in Catch Club we have Ill Fares the Family.
On the nyckelharpa we have Logan Rock by Jonny Dyer
On the fiddleharpa we have Old Joe Clarke.
On the Scottish Smallpipes we have New Years Exercise Part 2
On the Säckpipa we have Polska efter Per Gustaf Florell
I got two amazing new mics to record with and unboxed them. That video is below.

More next week!
:))
Vicki

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Week 7: News from the A1

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Hello!
We've had a great time down in the South West for a week. I'm now doing this entry from the car as we head north to York. Jonny has written the soundtrack to the finale - including a very fine säckpipa tune that I will be releasing onto the site for International Bagpipe Day on the 10th March. So watch out for that when it comes! I've just upgraded my microphones - so expect some more comparison videos in the near future! So what's new this week?

We have two Symmetry Zoom dances this week. Sunday 18th and Tuesday 20th! The music is up for both of these. The videos will follow in due course!
In Catch Club this week we have To Our Musical Club another really appropriate tune name for Catch Club!
On the nyckelharpa we have Manx tune Winding Song.
We also have a new waltz written by Jonny, this will be in the Symmetry dance on Sunday. It's called New Ambient Waltz (because Jonny hasn't named it!)
On the flute we have the wonderful Hans Grinds Jäspodspolska aka CiG - it has a very cool and funky rhythm!
On the Swedish säckpipa we have: Marsch – Carl XII’s Marsch vid Narva.
And finally on the Scottish Smallpipes we have the Scottish Smallpipe Tutor Chapter 3 part 1.

As it was Moraharpa Day (aka Valentines Day) this week here's a moraharpa tune for you. Fotspårensmarsch. The video is from lockdown times!
More next week!
:))
Vicki

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Week 6: From a Rainy Cornwall

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Hello!
This week we're out on the road playing in folk clubs in Cornwall and Devon. It's very, very rainy!

So what's new this week?
Catch Club on Sunday has Henry Purcell's To All Lovers of Music. It seems an appropriate catch! I do love Purcell's catches, so I've got quite a few of those in the coming weeks!
On the nyckelharpa we have part two of Kahlua with the Kahlua Reel. I think it's very groovy - the remit was supposed to be Mexican - I definitely did not manage that!
On the nyckelharpa we also have Kalevalainen Runosävelmä - difficult to say, but a nice easy tune to play, except it's in 5/4.
On the Scottish smallpipes we have Wha Wadna Fecht for Charlie.
On the Fiddleharpa we have John Ryan's - a great popular polka.
The music for the next two Zoom dances are up, but as we're on the road the keys aren't 100% checked yet! That should be done this week.
More next week!
:))
Vicki

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Week 5: Lots of different tunes!

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Hello!
Sorry this update is late! This week was supposed to be a relatively calm one. But we had three last minute events get put into the diary and everything got somewhat behind! Jonny is still writing for a show at Jorvik and I'm recording for another film at the moment.
So what is new this week? I did quite a bit of editing

We had our Symmetry Dance on Tuesday. It was a nyckelharpa evening with only one fiddleharpa tune. It was fun! Go and play along! The next dance is on Sunday 18th February and the dance list is nearly ready.
Catch Club was a tune called Full Bags by Henry Purcell - it's below!
On the nyckelharpa we have The Kahlua Jig - a tune I wrote a couple of weeks back for a job and liked it enough to teach it straight away. This will be one of my tunes that comes out all year!
We also have Anglais efter Skomakaren Sjöström.
On the flute we have the awesome Røros Pols.
On fiddleharpa we have Air for Aires - more exercises involving this tune next week!
On the Scottish smallpipes we have bit more of the Scottish smallpipes Tutor Chapter 2 part 4

More next week!
:))
Vicki

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