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.
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!
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
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
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!
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.
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
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
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
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
Hello! The camera has been out and I've been catching up on a few videos. I've been meaning to do a video of how I use a normal guitar strap as a Y-strap for the oktavharpa. That is now done and edited! I should have been a bit more attentive to the edges of the green-screen, but it works! That video is now in the lesson - Holding the Nyckelharpa and also embedded below! I completed the final two tunes that I did at Benslow and these are totally new to the website, so here they are! Vårvinda Friska Polska efter Jonas Börjesson
Pretty soon it's time to ramp up the World Nyckelharpa Day preparation! More soon! :)) Vicki
Hello! I have just returned from teaching Swedish tunes at Benslow. It was brilliant to be out teaching again! So what did we do? Here's the list. It's not quite complete as I haven't got films/lessons for two of the tunes. They'll end up in next week's blog entry!
Hello! Happy New Year everyone! We really hope that 2022 is the year that things start to improve. They're looking pretty bleak just now - but as I sit and type this I'm listening to a new contra tune that Jonny has just written for tonight's dance in Atlanta - it's infectiously happy! That'll go on the site in the not too distant future and also into one of our sessions! If you want to come along to the New Years Day dance and play, the music is up on the site. Just click here - dance pads.
This Friday I'm off to teach Swedish tunes at Benslow Music. There are still places left if you're in the UK. I haven't decided what I'm going to teach yet, but the write up is this!
Over the weekend you will learn about the different types of polska – the typical three beat folk dance and how to place the elusive second beat. You will also be taught a mixture of other types of Swedish folk tune, the Schottis långdans and vals. Each day will begin with a gentle physical warmup to help build rhythmic awareness and to aid in whole body feel for pulse and beat of the music. During the course of the weekend you will also be introduced to the older types of nyckelharpa: the silverbasharpa (1800s) , the kontrabasharpa (1700s) and the moraharpa (1600s) to place some of the music in its historical context. Some of the key players of the fiddle and nyckelharpa will also be introduced. Each tune learnt will be played as two or three part harmony pieces.
What's new on the site this week? Branle de la Montarde - this is in the moraharpa course I did a microphone comparison video too finding all the mics we had in the house for performing on stage. It's embedded at the bottom of this page!
I hope you had a great New Year and stay fit and healthy! If not - there's plenty of music on this site to keep you going! This week's spotify track is embedded below. All the tracks will be put in my Playlist. :)) Vicki
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