1 0

Hello!
There is so much happening this week - I can't edit fast enough!!

It's two weeks to Halsway and much preparation needs to be done! However.... 2023 marks 400th the anniversary of the birth of John Playford the music publisher that brought us The Dancing Master. In celebration of this fact I've decided that my next 104 #shorts should be the complete 1651 dancing master. This is the first edition. If you want to play along I've created a new module where you can find all the dots. There isn't a lesson for each tune - but there are lessons and information for quite a lot of them!

We had a great dance on Tuesday and the video is all edited and ready for you to play-along with. I spent some time this week filming some of our waltzes so we have a new lesson for Farewell to the Astra. We have another dance on Tuesday - so hope to see some of you there!

We also have Jan's Waltz on the flute. I'm busy filming and editing at the moment at the same time as preparing for Halsway, so there will be some new Scottish smallpipe and fiddleharpa next week!

:))
Vicki

0 0

Hello!
It's three weeks to the Halsway Manor Nyckelharpa Festival! I'm three days away from returning home for the summer so my head is starting to fill up with all the little jobs I need to do. One room has come up as being available so if you want to come and want a single room - don't delay, book it! There are a few dorm room beds left and unlimited camping.

This week we've been up in the north of the country at Warkworth Castle. This weekend it's Dover Castle - the complete opposite end of the country!

So what's new this week? A bit of a mixed bag!
Washerwoman's Bransle - this is in the moraharpa course, but it's in a great place for nyckelharpa or fiddleharpa.
Lybeus Distonys - the lesson for this is on nyckelharpa and moraharpa, but I usually play it on the sienaharpa. So you have options for this one!
Reinländer från Norge - this is for standard nyckelharpa and is super groovy!

Enjoy!
:))
Vicki

0 0

Hello!
I'm still not technically home - but have a weekend to turn things around and clean the house! So what's new on the site this week? I decided to bring over my show Nyckelharpa! Voice of an Angel - Soul of the Devil. So this is now added to the Subscribers section. There was a back story in the show that was published on the internet in the run up to the first performance - this is included spot you can follow the whole story. There is also a short making of the show too. There were also a few tunes that were integral to this back story. So these are all now on the site too:

The Näckens Polska
The Näckens Dream Waltz 
The Näckens Dream Polkette

On the flute we have My Lady Winwood's Maggot

I've also been hard at the Shorts as usual, so I've put those below!
One more week of medieval castles and then I can get the camera out again!
:))
Vicki

0 0

Hello!
It's another week on the road with a brief 24 hours at home - in which I was recording for a radio play in Germany. So not much time to turn ourselves around before heading off again. We spent the week at Sidmouth Folk Week and played for over 26 hours of dancing. I took at least one video each dance and posted them up as shorts. So as I've not had time to make any other videos this week enjoy the shorts! We've got two more weeks on the road, so take the time to wander around the site. It's difficult to say how much is here - but I have created 872 lessons to date across all the instruments! More from the road as August progresses. Normality will be restored soon!
:))
Vicki

0 0

Hello!
We had a great time up in Northumberland. Came home - recorded like crazy for the secret project and then it's straight back out again! So it's been hard to find time to add any new videos. We had a great Symmetry dance on Tuesday night and now the video is edited and ready to play along!

So what is new?
On the nyckelharpa we have Hambo Polska efter Erik Hartvig, a nice little easy polska.
I decided it was time to do Eklundapolskan Nr 3 on the flute. It was fun to play.

We're at Sidmouth Folk Week next week with a pretty full schedule and very little internet!
Have a good week!
:))
Vicki

0 0

Hello!
I had a quick trip to Sweden last week and I've been doing some recording for a secret project. It's an exciting project - but you'll have to wait until 2024 before I can tell you all about it! This has meant that I've not managed to film anything new this week as I've had my head down recording and being away. I am writing this from the van on the way up north as we head to Medieval Northumberland, so no filming this week either! I have added a few more links to the 'our tunes' section. That is going to take a while to get completed!

So what's new this week?

In the Scottish Smallpipes we have The Trickling Stream.
In nyckelharpa we have The Old Favourite. It's a jig and it's very nice.
The Symmetry video for the 4th July is all up and ready for you to play along with! I'll be publishing two of these a month (Subject to not messing up the tech!)

Our next dance is Tuesday 1st August and the music is up already for you to have a look at!

More next week!
:))
Vicki

0 0

Hello!
We are now entering a crazy time and it turns out there really aren't enough hours in the day to get everything done! I'm back doing a recording session for a film that I (again) can't talk about. I think it's going to be another massacre type film! But it's fun recording it! So what is new on the site this week?

We had another Zoom dance for Symmetry on Sunday night so there is a new play-along video for you. You'll find the video and the music by clicking here!

On the flute we have probably the most famous Swedish tune: Äppelbo Gånglåt.
On the Scottish smallpipes we have St George's Dance written by Jonny.
On the nyckelharpa we have the nice easy Cockles and Mussels.

I'm off to Sweden and then off to Northumberland with recording filling in all the gaps, so next week it will be another update from the road!
Enjoy!
:))
Vicki

0 0

Hello!
I still can't believe that we're half way through July! Christmas is going to be here before we know it!! This week I've worked on starting to add all the tunes that we've ever written to the site. We have written a ton of tunes and I means lots! I'm not sure how many yet as I'm still compiling it. It's got its own place on the website. I'm listing them in different orders so we have by type, by album, by dance and then once those are done I'll arrange them also by date and title. Once everything is gathered together I'll announce the final number!
I've also made a new FaceBook page for Symmetry ECD to help with getting these dances out there. So pop along and like that page. The next dance is this Sunday at 7pm UK time and the music is up! The Zoom Dance is free to come along to (donations welcome). So even if you're not a website subscriber, just come on along!
So what's new?

On the fiddleharpa we have Once I Caught a Fish Alive.
On the Scottish Smallpipes we have Cartmel Fell.
On the nyckelharpa we have something a little different - The Sailors Hornpipe or Jack the Lad.
In the shorts this week I was inspired to pick up the moraharpa and play some tunes not usually heard on that instrument - so we have The Rowan Tree and Colin's Cattle.

More next week! Don't forget to get in touch if you have an questions, queries or requests!
Enjoy
:))
Vicki

0 0

Hello!
I had a weekend of filming - hurrah! So now I have some fresh flute videos to share! So what is new?

I have now got the late night dance that we did for All Hands In on the 6th June ready. Because we only played our own tunes I have also made sure that each tune has a lesson attached to it. You'll have seen these come through on the updates in the last couple of weeks, so if you've been learning those, now is the time to play along with us! The audio includes the caller, which means you get to hear more of us talking because you can hear the questions! The pdf of the tunes includes notes as to the numbers of times through we play things!
For the 6-hole wooden flute we have Vals ur Carl Keventers notbok!
Sometimes one feels the need to do a really well known tune - so on the nyckelharpa this week we have Greensleeves!
On the Fiddleharpa we have a tune that is good for practising a scale - I'm a Little Teapot (yes, you get to hear me sing it!!)
On the Scottish Smallpipes we have Donald, Willie and his Dog
More next week!
Enjoy
:))
Vicki

0 0

Hello!
We're half way through the year! I do not know where the year has gone! We have another Zoom dance coming up on Tuesday 4th July. The music is already up on our Zoom dance page. Other than that I'm actually home for a week!

So what's new this week?
We have for the nyckelharpa Agracious Plenty and Random Things. I also want to feature a tune that I wrote for the half way through the year point a few years ago - Mid-Year Spice. I also played that on Tagelharpa!
On the fiddleharpa we have The Squirrel. We play this in the middle of a song, very jolly!
On the Scottish smallpipes we have Follow Her Over the Border.
I have now been posting a short every day for six months! I can't believe it's been six months already! So I chose to write a tagelharpa tune for the occasion. I just called it Halfway Through.
Enjoy!
:))
Vicki