Jeremiah McLane February 11, 2024 Workshop Summary
Notes from Anne Baier, Debbie Dellorfano, Gordon Peery
Jeremiah McLane delivered an engaging and informative workshop. He was accompanied by one of our newest members, Annelise Papinsick, on piano.
We worked on 3 tunes: Superfly (by Kevin O’Neill) Prince of Wales (by Donald MacPhedran), and one of his own, Down in the Mud and Snow.
He had provided sheet music for all, but encouraged playing by ear to everyone’s individual comfort level.
Jeremiah spent quite a bit of time talking about the chords. The chords really help define the melody, and he said it was important for melody players to be mindful of them. In a very interesting exercise he had everyone play just the root note of each chord in Superfly, similar to what a bass line would be. Then we built an arrangement where just the flutes played melody and everyone else played that bass line. That phrase was repeated four times. On the second repeat two fiddles joined in, and on the next, two more, then finally everyone back in on melody. It was a way to create chord awareness and at the same time make an interesting orchestration.
With the Prince of Wales, Jeremiah suggested different chording each time through the tune. At the final end of the B part, he recommended a stop on the A, resolving into the G start of Mud and Snow.
The last tune was played fairly straightforward - no alt chords or eclectic arrangement. He did suggest a customized ending: Last time through, last measure of the B part come down the scale to an A. Sharp stop (breath) and come in strong on the G.
We spent some time practicing the transitions between each of the tunes. This is actually a great thing to do at the beginning so that when you are putting the set together the transition doesn’t catch you off guard.
At the end, Jeremiah asked Gordon to accompany him as he played the whole set. This was in part a nod to the fact that he and Gordon had last played together about 30 years ago, when Jeremiah was touring as a special guest in the band Fresh Fish. (see photo below)
Download the sheet music for these tunes.
Video of Jeremiah and Gordon at the end of the workshop, courtesy of Herb Archer.
Danny Noveck, Kerry Elkin, Jeremiah McLane, Gordon Peery - the band Fresh Fish, circa 1990