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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Week 4: Back from ESI

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Hello!
That was an amazing week at the Eric Sahlström Institute - I can't believe I've been back home four days already. To prevent this update being too long I have written up the experience I a separate blog entry. But to summarise - I took 19 students from around the world to the Eric Sahlström Institute where we had a weekend of playing! One group had Swedish workshops with the amazing Emilia Amper and the other (smaller) group did British tunes with me. It was such fun to deliver my teaching in Swedish - something I've not done before and I'd love to do it again! For more about the weekend go to the blog entry!

Whilst I was in Sweden the film Stockholm Bloodbath came out. Unfortunately I wasn't able to go and see it, so I'll have to wait for the UK release. Jonny and myself are on this sound track. We did a lot of work last July in recording for it. I've embedded it below - see if you can hear us! I played nyckelharpa, tagelharpa, bowed psaltery and double bass! This week it's been Burns Night week, so there was no time to relax, straight into ceilidhs, so this update is a day late - sorry!! So what's new this week?

Catch Club on Sunday is 'Tis Women Make Us Love, anytime from 10am. It'll stay up forever so you don't need to be up at 10am UK time.
On Tuesday we have the next Zoom dance, so come along at 7pm in Zoom. The music is up already. In case you'd like to play along to any previous dances they're all organised into lessons here. If you can't make it live on Tuesday, the video will be available by Wednesday!
On the Scottish Smallpipes we have Berwick Billy. I love 3/2 hornpipes from the North East of England.
On the Swedish Säckpipa we have Menueto efter Sven Donat.
On the nyckelharpa we have X-et, a tune from the Halsway Top 40.

I'm home for another week before hitting the road again, so it's camera time on Sunday. I have a new jig/reel to film and a couple of tunes that Jonny wrote this week and I want to capture Jonny's tunes before they get lost in the mass of music he is writing for another play for the Jorvik Viking Festival in February!
More next week!
:))
Vicki

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Eric Sahlström Institute January 24 Trip

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Hello!
We're just back from an awesome weekend! I took a group of people over to the Eric Sahlström Institute for a weekend. It felt very much like taking a class abroad on a school trip! We were 10 British people (1 from Wales and 2 from Scotland), 2 German people, 1 Dutch person, 3 Americans and 6 Swedes. (That includes, me, Emilia and Magnus!)
The weather was incredible, starting off at -20 the scenery was spectacular. It finished around 2 degrees and full on melt though. The ESI is such a beautiful building to be in and pretty iconic.
The course ran officially from Friday morning until Sunday afternoon. But most of us arrived on Thursday evening and after a swift Pizza in Restaurant Tobo, it was Tobotorsdag - a concert and session with dance. This made a really great start to the weekend meeting lots of people and playing.
For the teaching the groups were split into two - those people doing Swedish with Emilia and those doing British with me. I had the smaller group and I was really happy to be able to do my teaching in Swedish - a lot of fun trying to figure out some of the technical words I've never had to use before!
We had a concert, some filming for World Nyckelharpa Day, nyckelrhythmics (using balloons as they were light to bring over from the UK!) and lots and lots of Swedish tunes. I've put a gallery below - but I didn't really take many pictures!
I look forward to doing this trip again - so it's time for me to take in an idea of how many people would follow me on another school trip and how long in the future!
:))
Vicki

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