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Weeks 12 and 13 – from Halsway Manor!

Posted on 28 March 2022 by Vicki

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Hello!
We're right in the middle of a two week stint at Halsway Manor. It's been brilliant! Over the course of 7 days we've had 25 nyckelharpa players ranging from advanced to complete beginner. We've covered technique, tunes and even done filming for World Nyckelharpa Day! I'm busy working my way through the resources to send out to people, it's going to take a little while as we're about to start our second week at Halsway playing for dancing. Over the week if I manage to upload some of the new tunes I'll do it, but the internet is really slow here and I mean r e a l l y slow!

So I've managed to upload:
Et To Tre
Frere Jacques
Seth's Jolly Contra

Transferred over to the site we have this week:
Gruvan

More as it comes!
:))
Vicki

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Week 11: Preparations

Posted on 18 March 2022 by Vicki

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Hello!
It's been full on preparation week this week. Which means of course I decided that World Nyckelharpa Day needed badges and T-shirts. You can get the badges from the World Nyckelharpa Day website. The design is also available on T-shirts from RedBubble. I've ordered a hoodie - I'll post pictures next week when it's arrived! I also spent time with the WND mailing list, so everyone I could think of should have had an email! If not get yourself signed up to the list!

I've also done a lot of filming - but I've not had time to edit it all yet! The important video was the guide on how to film yourself for a mosaic video. Mostly it's short and sweet - but there is a large section at the end showing you how I go about editing the final video together. We filmed our session for World Nyckelharpa Day - we're on the road for most of the time between now and then so I decided it was really important to get that in the bag and up! I filmed all the lessons for the tunes and will continue to edit and upload those as the weeks progress. So this week we have:
The Hawaiian Contra

My next update will be from Halsway Manor itself! Maybe I'll take you on a bit of a tour!
:))
Vicki

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Week 10: The Danceable Playford Session

Posted on 12 March 2022 by Vicki

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Hello!
I thought this week was a good time to focus on the Danceable Playford Virtual Halsway Manor Session. We're at Halsway for two weeks and I'm in the middle of creating our dance pads. These tunes all feature in what we'll be playing, so it seemed like a good week to feature this session! We'll be filming again this week as we've got some new tunes that we've been playing for contra that I'd like to share!

We are so excited to be heading off to Halsway! We'll try to get some good videos when we're there! We're back in Symmetry on Sunday 13th March at 6pm UK time. So if you fancy coming along the dots are up on the Zoom dance page.
Enjoy!
:))
Vicki

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Week 9: What happened to February?

Posted on 1 March 2022 by Vicki

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Hello!
It's dance week again! It always seems to be dance week. You can catch us live on Tuesday 1st March at Symmetry and on Saturday 5th March in Atlanta (technically it's 6th March at 00:30!). Grab the links and the dots on the Zoom dance page.

So what's new this week? A mix of things...
Bröllopsvgåvan
Double Shot Coffee

I added a whole new course for the English Border pipes and then added Double Shot Coffee to it, it was originally written for the border pipes anyway!

I'm right in the middle of putting together what I'm going to be teaching at Halsway Manor in a couple of weeks, so the new tunes added to the site are going to be light on the ground until I get back. But with over 550 lessons on this site and 32 sessions, there's enough to keep anyone going!

Enjoy!
:))
Vicki

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Week 8: Contra!

Posted on 25 February 2022 by Vicki

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Hello!
It's a been a week of recording and preparing for IVFDF in Sheffield. If you'd like to listen in to this gig it's going to be live-streamed! So Saturday 26th February between 8:30-11:30pm UK time go to this webpage: Contra Dance for IVFDF - and the music is here! (Follow the instructions for 13x through)

So what is new on the website this week? I've changed the theme - do let me know if there are any typesetting issues I've missed! I've also added the following videos

Byss-Calle No. 25
Konvulsionslåt - NH video added
Resetting the Fine tunes
A New Subscriber Extra!

Next up will be full on preparation for the teaching week and weekend at Halsway Manor, which is in four weeks time. Very exciting!
Take Care
:))
Vicki

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Week 7: Let’s get Training!

Posted on 18 February 2022 by Vicki

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Week 7: Let's get Training!

Hello!
It's been a camera week this week I've created my "tune more commonly associated with another instrument" for World Nyckelharpa Day and it's ready to go. You'll have to wait until the 24th April to find out more about that though!

I thought it was time to add a few more lessons for other instruments:
Polska efter Johan Petter Landholm for Swedish Säckpipa, but it actually features both säckpipa and Scottish smallpipes.
Polska efter Lennart Skoglund for Scottish Smallpipes.
The Shoemaker for Double Bass

But the big thing I added to the site this week is Donald McLeod's Reel. This tune was featured in the last session, but I didn't have the accompanying lesson. I've now fixed that and added it. What has taken time on this one is that I decided to turn it into an endurance video. Do you have what it takes to join me on a 46 minute epic metronome session on this tune? Limber up and see if you can go the distance! Donald McLeod - Endurance Training.

Enjoy!
:))
Vicki

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Week 6: The Children’s Lessons

Posted on 6 February 2022 by Vicki

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Week 6: The Children's Lessons

Hello!
I've been inspired this week to finally get all of videos that I filmed back at the start of lockdown in April 2020 sorted and added to the site. I think it's really important to bring the next generation of nyckelharpa players online and these lessons are aimed at really young players starting out on mini-harpas. I was never 100% happy with what I filmed - but I am better off putting them up and letting them be viewed and used! The more of us that play the harpa the better! I hope they are of some use!
Perry the Partridge (child lesson)
ABCs (child lesson)
Femtiöringen (child lesson)
Sticky G (child lesson)
London Bridge is Falling Down (child lesson)
Hopping (child lesson)
Jumping Peas (child lesson)
DAA (child lesson)
Ode to Joy (child lesson)
(London's Burning) (child lesson)
The Cuckoo (child lesson)
Miss Mack (child lesson)
The Shoemaker (child lesson)
Flagpole Tree (child lesson)

I added a version of the Global Vännens Långdans for WND on this site and also The Braes of Dornoch as this week's new lesson of choice. This tune is in the waiting list to go onto a session, so watch out for it later! I've made two columns on the tunes by name page, it was getting quite long!
I've also added a new tune into the säckpipa course - Älgknappen.
I plan on getting the camera out tomorrow, so new videos next week!
:))
Vicki

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Week 5: World Nyckelharpa Day Prep

Posted on 4 February 2022 by Vicki

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Week 5: World Nyckelharpa Day Prep

Hello!
This week I have been hard at work on World Nyckelharpa Day. I finally managed to get the advert created, some wonderful people sent me lots of good videos and I created the video that is below. So what I have I created this week?

This year the global tune is going to be Vännens Långdans (You can hear it in the advert) I created the lessons and the guides. I'm also going to do a mosaic of Byss-Calle 25. I created the guide track for that. Finally, it's my dream to create a complete list of Byss-Calle videos. I've decided to completely revamp the old list - so the whole list is up for grabs again. So go choose a tune!
Vännens Långdans
Byss-Calle 25
Own Choice Byss-Calle

So its definitely time to start thinking about what wonderful thing you can come up with for World Nyckelharpa Day. I'll be doing a session, a warmup video, several Byss-Calle tunes from the list and maybe a YouTube concert premier too. We're playing for Symmetry on Sunday night - so if you want to come along and watch/dance/playalong in Zoom - it's free. Just come along 7pm UK time. Dots are on this page!
See you there (maybe!)
:))
Vicki

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Week 4: Happy Burns!

Posted on 28 January 2022 by Vicki

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Week 4: Happy Burns!

Hello!
It's Burns week this week and we had a lovely event in Zoom for Live to Your Living Room. This inspired me to grab the camera and to do a session based on the tunes that we had played this week! Most of the tunes we played are already on the site and I pulled one over from the old Blogger. It's a little tune I wrote to go with a poem written by my Great Great Grandad:
The Little Pard

The dots are in the pdf and we played it quite steadily! If you go to the blog entry you'll find the story of Tam O'Shanter and it's in this story that you'll find most of these tunes! For the story though we do take them at full pelt! I've also added a new Subscriber Extra - it's all the stories! Every single on that I tell all put together in one place. It'll take you around 1 hour and 40 minutes to watch them all, so grab a coffee!
Enjoy and see you on Sunday (or any time after that!)
:))
Vicki

The Little Pard
Jeannie's Blue E'en
The Drunken Piper
100 Pipers
Donald McLeods Reel
Hyde and Seek
PDF of the tunes

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Session 13 – The Burns Week Session

Posted on 27 January 2022 by Vicki

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Session 13 - The Burns Week Session

Hello!
It's been a while since the last session and with this week being the celebration of Robert Burns I decided to do a session with some of the tunes we played at our Burns Celebration Zoom concert. Going out this Sunday here is the tune list.
Enjoy!
:))
Vicki

The Little Pard
Jeannie's Blue E'en
The Drunken Piper
100 Pipers
Donald McLeods Reel
Hyde and Seek
PDF of the tunes