Week 25: Happy Midsummer!

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Hello!
It's been another lovely hot week this week! We had a great Zoom dance on Sunday and this time we got a nice video and I've added it to the Play-along course. The dots are on the page, but you're going to need to be a subscriber to access this video.

So what else is new this week?

On the nyckelharpa we have two contra reels - NEW TWO and NEW THREE
Naming tunes can be a problem, but these two place holders have become the names!
On the fiddleharpa we have Marie's Wedding.
On the Scottish Smallpipes we have the slip jig Drops of Brandy.

We've been out doing some schools workshops this week in the sweltering heat, so I crammed in as much filming as I could today, but it's been a hot day filming in the studio - so I hope to get a bunch of flute lessons filmed next week and hope it's cooler! More next week.
love
Vicki

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Week 24: It’s hot in the studio !

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Hello!
Wow, it's hot weather out there! I nearly sweltered to death whilst filming pipes this week! The green drapes, the hot lights, no fan or window to circulate any air! This was a week for the Scottish smallpipes, all my students managed to co-ordinate themselves into this week, which was impressive as they all have different timings! So what's new this week?

New to the site for nyckelharpa is Polska Ur Lennard Skoglunds notebook.
I added the fingering to Crab Stretch, both for C-tuned and D-tuned harpas.
I decided to add Hearts Eyes and other Tales to Subscriber extras, this was filmed in lockdown October 2020.
I added Gone with the Tide written by Jock Agnew into the Scottish Smallpipe course.
I added Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star to the FIddleharpa course. It's good to have a tune you recognise and is nice and simple so you can concentrate on other things!

We have a Zoom Dance on Sunday and we'll be taking a recording again - it's at 7pm in Zoom The dots are up! The last two dances will be put up at some point when they're edited. So plenty to look forward to there!

I'm still doing the shorts every day! Want to see how I'm getting on? I've put the playlist below!
Enjoy!
:))
Vicki

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Week 23: Home briefly!

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Hello!
11 days later and we make it back home again! Many Swedish tunes were played in the bar at the Stealing Thunder Storytelling Festival. It was a lot of fun and it was very warm!

We've got another week of gigs ahead of us and today I'm recording for a secret NDA project. More about that in time when it gets released. I filmed the dance on Tuesday night, but due to a technical issue we ended up recording the caller again. I am going to edit this one and put it up. As soon as we get a moment we're going to recreate that session and post it up separately. So watch this space!

So what's new?
On the Scottish Smallpipes we have a Swedish tune - Hambo Polska efter Theodor Freyland.
On the nyckelharpa we have Bröllopspolska från Arnäs.
More next week!
Enjoy!
:))
Vicki

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Week 22: Out on the road

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Hello!
We had a great weekend at Chippenham Folk Festival last weekend! This weekend is a storytelling festival up in Cumbria, with a Symmetry dance in between! It's been busy. So not much time for creating new videos. What's new this week?

Polska efter Sven Donat on the nyckelharpa
I've also brought over from the old site Polska efter Jont Lars Olsson.
Corn Riggs are Bonny on the Scottish Smallpipes

More next week!
:))
Vicki

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Week 21: Jonny’s Catch No. 1

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Hello!
This week has been full of preparation for the Chippenham Folk Festival. We're really excited to be playing for the festival, it means a lot of preparation in terms of numbers of dance tunes!

So what's new this week? I've put together the lesson for Jonny's Catch No.1. There is a minus-1 video on the lesson page, so play along and enjoy! I've put the full version below for you to watch!

We have another Symmetry dance on Tuesday 30th May. The dots are up and ready on the Zoom dance page. Just like the last dance we'll be filming it and making it available on the website for subscribers. This time it's three dances on flute, four dances on nyckelharpa. Watch out for the link next week once it's edited!

On the Scottish Smallpipes this week we have Lady Katherine's Dance.

More next week!
:))
Vicki

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Week 20 – Scandinavian Fiddle Tunes is back!

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Hello!
Two exciting things this week. We decided to hit the record button on our Zoom dance on Tuesday night and created a play-along video. It's not quite like the other videos because we're engaging with the Zoom dancers and not so much with the camera. But they're nice tunes to play along with. At the moment these videos will only be available for subscribers - so the only way to access this video is by logging in and visiting this page. Let me know how you get on and if you'd like us to make these videos for every dance we do! There will usually be a mix of nyckelharpa and flute playing in these videos and a bonus song! These are all going into a brand new course I've created called Play-Along Videos. (I couldn't think of anything better! Of course - you can still come along to the live event and then play-along again afterwards!

Secondly - the Scandinavian Fiddle Tunes is back and for sale again! It's been a little while since I sold out and they became hard to get. I was slightly worried about cost due to Brexit, but I finally bit the bullet and just ordered a box of 50. Now I need to try to find space to store them in the cupboard!
CLICK HERE to get your very own copy!

So what else is new this week?
Polska efter Jon Erik Hall on the nyckelharpa
Bobby Shaftoe on the fiddleharpa
The March of St George on the Scottish Smallpipes

Below is a quick compilation from the dance we did last Friday night at Alcester Contra - that was fun!
More next week!
:))
Vicki

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Week 19: Spring Cleaning!

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Hello!
It's been a spring cleaning sort of week this week. Literally, hoovering, ironing etc. I took apart the filming room so that we could concert it back to being a spare room for a guest. It'll be put back together again and back to usual next week! So what is new this week?

On the fiddleharpa we have The Shoemaker and nice simple tune for practising string crossing.

On the flute we have reached the end of the A-Z of flute dance tunes and Z so it's Zephyrs and Flora. It's been a great time with these tunes and I've been preparing to film a new series. It's not quite ready yet, so watch this space for when I get it filmed and uploaded!

On the Scottish smallpipes we have An Drochaid Chluiteach.

On the nyckelharpa we have Schottis efter August Strömberg. It's a great tune for playing right down on the G string and also for playing in C minor.

More next week!
:))
Vicki

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Week 18: The Global Spikens Vals

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Hello!
It's finally here! The Global Spikens Vals is complete! Hurrah! It came together really nicely! A full range of players, from those just starting their nyckelharpa journeys to those further down the road. Thank you everyone that sent in a video!

So what's new this week?

On the nyckelharpa we have Polska efter Henrik Henriksson.
On the flute we've reached Y and The York Assembly
On the fiddleharpa we have What Shall We Do with the Drunken Sailor
For the Scottish Smallpipes it was time to do a drone tuning video and Highland Pibroch.

More next week!
:))
Vicki

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Week 17: After World Nyckelharpa Day

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Hello!
That was a weekend! I spent the weekend in medieval garb, whilst also making sure that World Nyckelharpa Day went smoothly! It was a lot of fun and I've had a lot of fun watching the videos from the playlist! Check out last week's entry for the list of things that I did. The concert with David was such fun to put together and I'll miss doing the Nyckelharpa News Network - so I'll have to see if I can come up with an excuse to do another one!

So what is new this week?

In Folkie Flute we are at X and XYZ, it was quite tricky to find X! I'm very close to the end of that series. so this week I'm going to do a new one! Watch this space to see what it'll be! For the Scottish Smallpipes this week we have The Eavesdropper.

I worked very hard on the Fiddleharpa-4-a-Day and now we have a full week Week 2.

For nyckelharpa we have Griffenfelt. This went out for World Nyckelharpa Day from all the participants, including those that had only been playing 4

More next week!
:))
Vicki

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Week 16: World Nyckelharpa Day

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Hello!
It's finally here. The week that contains World Nyckelharpa Day! As a result everything this week has been about preparing for that. There will be new things next week!

I have been working hard behind the scenes and has made a YouTube playlist of videos that will be premiering every 15 minutes as the day goes on! Check out the full list at on the World Nyckelharpa Day website. To follow the videos that I've had a direct hand in check this list. All of this will remain up after the event, so don't worry if you can't watch at the time. It'll stay up once the premier has happened.

06:00 – Nyckelharpa News Network – News Bulletin
09:00 – Fångset – For as many as will!
10:00 – Griffenfelt – The Spring Weekend Harpas at Halsway Group
11:30 – Kadrill Kozaken by the ‘harpas at Halsway Crew
11:45 – Start of the Global Spikens Vals videostream
12:00 – The Global Spikens Vals (edited version with added ensemble)
13:00 – Tunes and a Chat with David Chadwick and Vicki Swan (38 minutes)
14:00 – The Halsway Manor Session for World Nyckelharpa Day
15:00 – Why the Moraharpa has Hearts Eyes – Vicki Swan
16:45 – Byss-Calle 34 – Vicki Swan
21:00 – Byss-Calle 51 – Vicki Swan

Enjoy and see you on the other side!
:))
Vicki

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