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Hello!
Happy Christmas everyone! I've been writing this update for several days, over several motorways and A roads and now from Sweden! It was a big rush to the end of the tour and now we're on the road to see family for Christmas. I tried to upload and process different things this week, but ran out of time - but there are some things that are quite time specific!

We had a dance for the Sytchampton Folk Dance Group and it included quite a bit of seasonal joy - so I wanted to get this video up and out before Christmas! I am releasing the Jingle Bell Singing Call as a stand alone video on Christmas Eve.

I added With the Last Year's Brand, a tune Jonny wrote for the song Come Bring With a Noise, it's so groovy - I love this tune! I also added the Ever Higher Tune from the song Ever Higher.

I added the old original videos from the Scottish Smallpipe tutor. These are now around 18 years old and as you can imagine - the file size is tiny. But it's nice to have them for posterity! I added the third and final part of Batten Down the Hatches, a nice groovy tune!

I hope you have a lovely Christmas break, eat lots of mince pies and play oodles of season tunes!
🙂
Vicki

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Hello!
I started writing this update yesterday on the M6, just before heading onto the M42. However I didn't finish it - so we've just finished the A1 and are heading cross country towards Chesterfield and on to Chatsworth. I ended up uploading some pretty random things and because we are in the middle of touring and I'm in the van - it's a lopsided mix of things to report this week!

We played for a really lovely ball in Cardiff, so this is ready for watching and playing along with. I added a stand-alone video of Well Hall to the lesson too.

The Winter Wedding - we played this at Symmetry and I've now updated the lesson page to include articulations. I have included videos of how we play it in performance and also a version for dancing too!
We played The Whitby25 Waltz in Symmetry the other week. I have now added this to our tunes section.

In the Scottish Smallpipes tutor I have now completed Chapter 5 by adding Sandy Duff, the final tune in the chapter. Onto chapter 6 in the New Year. I also added Batten Down the Hatches Part 2 for Scottish Smallpipes.

I added Ormond House to the Playford Video dance section. I don't always pull the Playford out from the Symmetry dances - but I think I should do that when I get time! I added Tess's Lament to Neil Stuart's dance page. (Dance instruction link to be added...)

Finally it's time to point out the Christmas Advent Calendar again. Subscribers have access to all the music and videos, so make sure you have an explore around! I always meant to do another one - but that year is not this year!
We have a day off next week, so I'll upload some more tunes then!
:))
Vicki

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Hello!
The end of November is nigh! This week I filmed and edited a massive 21 videos. I don't have quite the spread of the instruments that I would like, but it'll keep me going until the new year. What did I get uploaded this week?

On the Scottish Smallpipes we have Batten Down the Hatches Part 1 by Jonny Dyer.
We have La Rose from Thompson 1779 on the Flute.
I added the Maypole Gånglåt for the Tagelharpa.
I have updated the waltz tune by Jonny called Angarrick to include grace notes and a duo video.
I edited and uploaded the video from Symmetry from the 18th November. So that is now ready to play-along with or listen again.
We have started adding music for the dances written by Wendy Crouch to the site and we added three tunes this week - Angelica, The Sussex Martlets and Winter Solstice (to both tunes that it is danced to).
I've added a page for the dances written by Liam Binley. Currently the dances we've filmed are all our tunes - but some others are bound to turn up in the not too distant future.

Back in the pandemic one of the remote recording projects we worked on was for RuneScape: Dragonwilds. The soundtrack is being released this week, so I decided to make a little video to explain the instrument and a little ensemble. Cut to 1 minute 50 if you don't want to hear the "spiel".

That's all for now. We have entered Wales on the M4 and will be at our destination soon! It's Symmetry on the 30th November. Hope to see you there. More next week!
:))
Vicki

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Hello!
Turns out November isn't quite as empty as I thought! So I am writing this from the A303 on the way down to a fleeting visit to Cornwall! Once we return it's full on prep for the madness that will be our December schedule.

We had Symmetry on the 9th November and this video is now up and ready for watching. We also had Symmetry last night - but I've not had time to edit this video yet. That will come in the next update.
We had a wonderful dance on Saturday night - the Norwich Assembly Ball. We were so happy that it was the full Purcell's Polyphonic Party and for the first time I captured a whole PPP ball in full glorious colour. At one point we had an event henceforth called Mothgate. I pulled that section out and made a standalone video.

I added Polska from Axel Boberg's Manuscript, that I taught at Halsway in September.
I also added Bung Your Eye, which is a groovy little jig that we played for a recent ball.
Jonny's New Trio March is now up. We played this back in March as 2 nyckelharpas and piano. So both that version and the new nyckelharpa trio version are included there for you to enjoy and play!
I added a 6x version of Rosey Jones up on the website lesson.
I added the tune Walnut to the Tagelharpa course
I also added the waltz version of Scotty's Last Munro.
The Fiddlers Wife, Waltz for Mickie, Nanotyrannus and The Jig is Up have all been added to the Alan Winston Dance page. I added Musidora in Fried de Metz Herman dance page.

That's it for this week! More next week, where I hope to clear the backlog of already edited videos and get some more filmed!
:))
Vicki

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Hello!
I can report back that I finished recording the audio for the duet book and then I promptly left to go up to Whitby. So although the book is not yet sent off to print, it's got very, very close. This week I was lucky enough to play through the whole book with my friend and fellow Halsway tutor David. I'm now writing the chords in, doing the final typesetting and making of the front cover. I had hoped to get it finished - but it turns out there are more stages and it takes longer than you think! I wasn't involved in the song this year, but I did make a video of Whitby Abbey in all its glory, you can see that video here. (Or watch it at the bottom of the page if you're reading this on my website!

Just before I left for Whitby I filmed some flute lessons and got those edited. I have roughly two weeks now before the Christmas touring starts - so I'm hoping to catch my breath!

So what's new on the site this week?

I added the full play from Whitby Illuminated 2025 into the subscribers extras to watch. Enjoy!
Whilst I was at it I grabbed the two videos I made from Whitby Illuminated 2023 and added them into the subscribers extras too. Some beautiful piano pieces - unfortunately I've not been able to get any sheet music out of Jonny for those - but if you want to play it, give me a shout and I'll see what can be done!
Bed of Roses from our Rose Ball album on the flute.
I added the next part of Chapter 5 to the Scottish Smallpipes tutor - it's Colin's Cattle.
The next tune I taught at Halsway is up and that's: Ecosoice ur Davidus Bredberg’s Notbok.
I added Never Love Thee More - a great little Playford Dancing Master tune. We're asked to play this often enough that I made a Change Tune called Always Love Thee More to partner it.

If you've ever wondered about the music that I use as the stinger at the start and end I've uploaded the full ensemble version. It's actually a small fragment from Chopsticks - or the proper name The Celebrated Chop Waltz. It's a duet I put together in lockdown, so now I've uploaded the music for you to play it too!

That's all for now - we've reached Warwick where we're playing for a ceilidh tonight!
We've got Symmetry on Sunday - so maybe see you there in Zoom!
More in the next week or so!
:))
Vicki

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Hello!
It's the end of October and that means that Jonny has been busy writing his latest soundtrack for Whitby Illuminated. Because I wasn't in the cast last year it meant that I was able to film the show. I've now added this to the subscriber extras section of the website. Grab a coffee or popcorn and enjoy the show from 2024.

This Sunday it was the Symmetry dance and the video is now uploaded and ready to watch again.
I'm working my way through the ensembles that we performed at Halsway and the next one is ready and uploaded. Into the Dusk Movement 4. Grab the music and play along with us!

I added Svanvals from my workshop at Halsway.
I added the dance tune The Quaff.
I added the next part of the Scottish Smallpipes chapter 5.
I added Clog Bransle to the Tagelharpa course.
In the dance section I added Rebecca's Waltz in Alan Winston's page, and Bell Meade Branle in Brooke Friendly's page.
I moved the Halsway Manor Lockdown Session Number 6 to its own page.

I'm now in the middle of working on the follow up to the Schott Scandinavian Fiddle Tunes book. I've called it A Book of Favourite Swedish Tunes. It's been about three years behind, but finally the list is compiled, the harmonies are written and I'm in the middle of recording the audio. As I write at the moment, I'm 25% through the recording. I hope to get the files to print in by the end of next week. It's a tough deadline - so hopefully it'll be ready before Christmas!

I'm hopeful for more filming early next week anyway!
:))
Vicki

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Hello!
Finally I'm at the end of a crazily busy summer and find myself with two weeks of creative time. I have lots to fill it with! So what's new on the site this week?

I've added the lesson for one of the tunes I taught at Halsway: Vals efter Johan Henrik Petterson.
I've also added the ensemble tune by Jonny that we played called Found Trio.
I added the bowing and fingering for Hälleforsnäspolskan, Polska efter Johan Skedin från Tärnsjö and Skålarna.

We had Symmetry on Tuesday and the video is ready for listening again/playing along with.
And the Jane Austen 250 Ball at St Swithin’s Church is also ready for watching/listening/playing along with! We have a break from balls for a little while now! But there are still a couple left this year.
I started a new Collections Lesson. This is for Thompson Country Dance Tunes. Currently only the one dance, but you never know when we're going to play more Thompson! Here's Lady of the Manor

I added Chevy Chase to Chapter 5 of the Scottish Smallpipe Tutor too.

It's already Monday - so the sooner I send this off, the sooner I can go and film some flute!
More soon!
:))
Vicki

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Hello!
Despite being on the road again this week I managed to do a day of filming and two days of editing! So new things are coming!

I have added The Government Alert Polska lesson now so it's ready to be played by everyone! I've added the next trio to the Ensemble section and that's Found Tune by Jonny Dyer. I've performed this twice now and both versions are added to the page for you to watch and even play along with!

The next ball is uploaded and ready to watch/play-along with: The Hunsford Parsonage Assembly from the Jane Austen Festival on the 13th September 2025. We played The Thousandth in that ball and we've also played it at Symmetry so I've added links to these in that lesson and updated the articulations too. We also played Tuzzimuzzy - a nice simple tune that I taught at Halsway! It was a very pretty tune and Jonny felt inspired to write a tune to go with it and so we have The Bunch.

We had Symmetry last week and the video is now edited and up online to watch again. We also have Symmetry this coming Tuesday - so come on in!
I added March of the Daffodils to the tagelharpa course.
We added A Little Dance in the Night to Neil Stuart's dance page.

I'm now really late on sharing this update - so it's time for me to hit send. This particular update has been with me on many road trips as I process and upload and add grace notes too. Hopefully I'll get the next update out a little sooner!
:))
Vicki

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Hello!
Today's update is from the M1 (avoiding the A1M - which is currently shut). We've had a wonderful Jane Austen Regency week this week with three balls in Bath. We only filmed two of them as the third and final ball included an amazing Steinway grand piano, but not our mixing desk (which is how we capture the sound). More about that ball later. We've had a couple of nights this week of touching base at home and heading straight out 6 hours later!

Even though we've not really been home since my last update, I have been working hard. Finally I have been able to edit and upload the Symmetry dance from the 26th August 25. I was also able to edit and upload the Winchester Regency Ball from the 16th August 25. Both of these have the music fro you to play along with. So far for all the balls this year I've been "cleaning up" the sound to remove the caller. But for the sake of speed, I'll only do that for specific tracks if callers need a particular dance.

Our third ball for the Jane Austen Festival this week was called The Rose Ball and everyone was asked to wear pink. (I only have one Regency dress and it isn't pink!) We thought that the theme of this was good enough that we should record these tracks properly. So you'll find all about the album on its own page here. We released it as a limited edited CD and onto BandCamp. I will be doing lessons and videos for this album in the near future.

On the Scottish Smallpipes we have the next lesson in Chapter 5: Theid Mi Dhachaigh.
In the ensemble section we have one of Jonny's trios - called Phylopolskan, it's from his lockdown album that isn't finished yet! This one is for two nyckelharpas and an oktavharpa.
We've added a tune to Neil Stuart's Dance page - A Chain of Dreams.
I added the articulations and a duo version of Vintage Puget.

Next week I hope to start work on the videos of the tunes I taught at Halsway and starting on the next batch of tunes for all the other instruments! Our next Symmetry dance is on the 28th September.
More next week!
:))
Vicki

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Hello!
I'm still on the road! Today I am writing from the M5 (but by the time I'm ready to send this it might well be a completely different motorway!)

We had an incredible time at Halsway Manor. The concert is now available to watch in the Subscribers Extras section of the website. Enjoy! I came straight back and edited all the video footage. This is now all up on YouTube and added to the Resources page for the course. Next job is for me to film the lessons for the music I taught. The Government Alert happened on the Sunday at 3pm and one of our harpa players provided a very cool tune for the event which we filmed and released! It's called The Government Alert Polska by Ed Pritchard. I'll do the lesson just as soon as I can!

On the nyckelharpa I added a duo version of The Singi Sunset to the lesson page.

On the Scottish smallpipes we have Brudmarsh by Jonny. A lovely little tune - it might make a nice dance? I've also added the next lesson in the Scottish Smallpipe Tutor Chapter 5 added, Where Shall Our Goodman Lie.

I've made a new course called - Ensembles. I'll be putting ensemble music in there! Things that are for trios and more. I've started off by putting Barham Down and The Singi Sunset in there. We played this as part of the tutors concert last Saturday and I was asked for the music. So here it is! I'll be adding more ensembles as time goes on!

Rather than wait to add more to this page I'm going to hit publish right now! More next week when I'll be back on the A1 heading north! Hopefully I'll have had time to edit the Symmetry dance from last month by then! But we do have three balls and a medieval event to go to before then!
:))
Vicki