Gordon Peery will lead our December gathering as we begin work on our repertoire for our spring concert series. We’ll be focusing on starts and transitions, and building greater confidence in our playing in general. Don’t worry - this sounds potentially tedious, but we assure you it will be fun, as that is our motto!
In addition we’ll begin to cultivate some arrangements. At our November workshop with Mari Black we learned how we can use alternate chords for certain parts of tunes, so, for example, the second time through we might have different chords that spice up the tune a bit.
The tune sets we’ll be working on are:
click on the links (tune names) for musical notation
A Stirling Fiddler’s Welcome
This is our trademark opening tune. It is included in this workshop because it will be a great tune for any newcomers to play, which, once we’ve done, we’ll devote some time to working on the intro. This has typically been played by accordion, but it is important that everyone be capable of playing it with vigor!
Then the remaining tunes, as noted above, will have a focus on starts and transitions.
We will be trying a new arrangement of Ashokan Farewell, so please download this as well (below), as it will replace the version in the set above. The harmony parts for the second violin and flute will only be played the second time through the tune; everyone will be in unison for the first time.
Coilsfield House / Perth Waltz / Barrowburn / Bottom of the Punch Bowl / Scotland the Brave
While the session will be particularly valuable to those who are playing in the spring concerts, it will be of interest and value to everyone.
Additionally, Gordon will be introducing coffee into the traditional Tea break!
Following our tea break, we’ll have our usual jam session, starting with the tunes Alan Wilson, our Tune Master, gave to us this month and in October.
Please park and enter from the parking lot off of Fayette Street.