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Hello!
It's been a week or preparation for World Nyckelharpa Day. Lots of filming, lots of editing, lots of admin. The YouTube Playlist is massive - so put it on in the background and watch all the videos as they premiere throughout the day!

Don't forget about the The Global Brudmarsch efter Jonas Johansson at Midday on Sunday!

I worked hard on Byss-Calle!
Byss-Calle No. 26 – Rasmus Hemström & Vicki Swan
Byss-Calle No 44 by Anci Nordwall and Vicki Swan
Byss-Calle No 53 – Vicki Swan
Byss-Calle No. 33 – Didier François
Byss-Calle No. 45 – David Chadwick & Vicki Swan
No-one Escapes Perry the Partridge
Tunes and a Chat with David Chadwick, Kirsty Money and Vicki Swan
Vicki & Jonny’s session for World Nyckelharpa Day 2024 – The Playford Dancing Master
Canon for Vicki – Vicki, David, Kirsty & Leanne

Catch Club is a little different this week, it's at a different time to fit in with the World Nyckelharpa Day. The wonderful Lee Ann Bonacker wrote a canon which we've recorded. So it's Canon for Vicki this week.

The really important event though is the Zoom So how do I come along? I hear you say. Either drop a donation into World Nyckelharpa Day - or send me an email. My vision is that people can come along do the workshops and have a chat with other nyckelharpa players around the world! So if you can - drop in at some point in the day! Here’s the schedule to tempt you along!

Schedule - note these times are in UK times
(UK is 5 hours ahead of Eastern and 1 hour behind CET)
11:30 - The World Nyckeharpa Day Global Zoom Cafe opens
11:45 - The official Global Brudmarsch preparation starts
12:00 - 12:05 - The Brudmarsch gets played
12:05 - 12:45 - Play-along: Vicki Swan - The Halsway Top 40 play-along pdf. 
13:00 - 13:45 - Workshop: Alyssa Rodriguez to do a workshop
14:15 - 14:45 - Presentation: Anders Persson and Olov GIbson Live from Källunge
15:00 - 15:45 - Workshop: Kirsty Money to do a workshop
16:00 - 16:45 - Workshop: Regina Kunkel to do a workshop
17:00 - 18:00 - Talk: Esbjörn Hogmark talks about the UNESCO project
18:00 - 20:00 - American Nyckelharpa Association Zoom Jam
20:00 - 21:00 - Vicki Swan & Jonny Dyer do a concert (with lots of different nyckelharpas)
21:00 - The World Nyckeharpa Day Global Zoom Cafe closes

More next week from Halsway Manor!
:))
Vicki

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Hello!
There is lots going on right now! Halsway last weekend was amazing! The Halsway Parade was filmed from a Birdseye view this year! We have a pencilled in date for the Spring weekend already: Friday 28th-Sunday 30th March 2025. We're pretty sure it's going to be that date.

Catch Club this week is another easy catch called Bowl Barrow. I was aiming for some nice crunchy chords! We have two more Playford tunes to get you ready for our YouTube Play-along video for World Nyckelharpa Day - Let Monarchs Fight from Dioclesian by Henry Purcell, adapted by Fried de Metz Hermann and The Black Nag in A minor. On the fiddleharpa I've added a technique lesson in string crossing. It's the string crossing exercise for An Air for Aires. We had a Zoom dance on Sunday and that video is now edited and ready for playing along to.

It's World Nyckelharpa Day in just over a weeks time and I am busy editing videos, there is a lot going on and the YouTube playlist is looking pretty healthy. But the big thing this year is the Global Zoom Cafe. It's opening at 11:30am and is going to stay open for about 12 hours! We have workshops (Alyssa Rodriguez, Kirsty Money and Regina Kunkel), a session (The American Nyckelharpa Association) and a concert (by myself and Jonny). But the big thing that is very is exciting is that we are going to have a stream coming in from Källunge Church on Gotland - the very place where the stone statue is. This is not to be missed!

So how do I come along? I hear you say. Either drop a donation into World Nyckelharpa Day - or send me an email. My vision is that people can come along do the workshops and have a chat with other nyckelharpa players around the world! So if you can - drop in at some point in the day!
More next week - I have a lot of preparations to do before the day!
:))
Vicki

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Hello!
This weekend we're back at Halsway Manor for the Spring Nyckelharpa Weekend. I writing this from the van M4. The van is brimming with instruments and stuff! So what is new this week? I've been working hard on the Saturday night concert and editing videos for World Nyckelharpa Day. I've now scheduled quite a few things. Next week will be sorting out some of the technical requirements for scheduling live-streaming to YouTube. (You probably figured out that the Global tune was never actually a real livestream but pre-recorded about a week earlier. I'll be doing that as a backup, but the plan is to actually stream from Zoom this year).

We had a Symmetry Zoom Dance on Sunday evening and that video is now edited and ready to play-along with. We have another Symmetry this Tuesday at 7pm UK time, so do pop on in! (Link is on this page).

Catch Club this week is another easy catch called Mardon's Marvellous Meal. I've published this one this week as to honour the wonderful Mardon Room at Halsway Manor. This used to be a store room and during the pandemic was converted into the dining room meaning we no longer had to vacate the Long Room whilst it was being set up for meals!

For World Nyckelharpa Day Jonny and I have filmed a Playford session. So this week I have added Hole in the Wall by Henry Purcell, which is a lovely tune! And also Buskin also by Henry Purcell! This is a more jolly tune. I've added a D-string version of the Global tune Brudmarsch efter Jonas Johansson.

There's going to be a lot of World Nyckelharpa Day over the next couple of weeks! So get your videos in!
:))
Vicki

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Hello!
It's April and I'm not totally sure how that happened! This meant that last Monday was April Fools Day and just like last year I decided to do a News Report. If I'd been organised I would have created it and shared it with everyone last week, but as it was I completed the video on Sunday ready for sharing on Monday 1st April. I started to set this Newscast back in January whilst we were at the Eric Sahlström Institute, so I'd like to thank everyone who humoured me whilst filming on the Sunday night! The Byss-Callemärke is now well and truly launched! Although the News Bulletin was done in humour - of course I made some badges, so you can buy them! I've made a new page where you can get hold of the Spelborgarmärkes and the Byss-Callemärkes - just remember, they're just for fun!

So what's new? I've been really busy filming and recording and preparing for World Nyckelharpa Day. Whilst we were at Halsway Manor last week we grabbed the camera and filmed a session for World Nyckelharpa Day, edited and put it up ready. Then I filmed all the tunes required for that session! So this week we have the first two tune lessons: Excuse Me and Black and Grey.

Catch Club this week is Five Reasons.
On the Scottish Smallpipes we have SSP Tutor Chapter 3 part 2 . This is still a work in progress, but gradually the whole tutor will move over!

We are in Zoom on Sunday playing for Symmetry dance, so grab the music and come along. Or watch again afterwards, the link will come out next week.
Again I'm featuring one of our lockdown sessions: Lockdown Halsway Bar Session 1. It's a nice simple session, but definitely a step up from the one I featured last week!

As we get closer to World Nyckelharpa Day I'll be spending more time on that. So make sure you're thinking about what tune you'd like to film and send me so that I can add it to the WND website! You don't have to have an active membership to my music room to do this - I just need lots and lots of videos!
More next week!
:))
Vicki

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Hello!
We've been at Halsway Manor this week playing for the Walking and Dancing Week. It's been a lovely week with lots of dancing, some walking and quite a lot of filming! I took the opportunity to film the beginner catches and a session for World Nyckelharpa Day! I'll be uploading and setting the premier up for that as soon as we get back!

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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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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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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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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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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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