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Gary Chapin

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Posts posted by Gary Chapin

    French Tune book from 1929

    in Tunes /Songs

    Posted

    I'd actually already started abc-ing this up for my own usage & amusement, so if anyone would like a copy as the file progresses, please PM me.

    Very cool! Are you including the lyrics, also? Very interesting to discover that the lyrics are mostly in Occitan, not in French -- not that I can speak either with any fluency.

    Diatonic Liaisons

    in Tunes /Songs

    Posted · Edited by Gary Chapin

    Roger Gawley has a point though, the book was written with diatonic button accordions in mind. Some of that (very little really) transfers to the anglo but precious little to the English. If you just love pretty music books and you're happy with the melody alone however ...

    I disagree. As a tunebook (not a tutorial) I'm pretty sure I'd get much more use out of it on a three row anglo or an English than I do on my diato. I haven't done a tally, but very few of the pieces are written for G/C box ... all the C/F and A/D and three row tunes need significant alterations if I am to play them. I don't think this would be as much of a problem on either of the concertina types.

    Diatonic Liaisons

    in Tunes /Songs

    Posted

    Alexandra Browne has re-released her Diatonic Liaisons tune book (last in print about 13 years ago). It features tunes by Frédéric Paris, Dave Roberts, Bruno le Tron, Alain Pennec, Alan Lamb, Andy Cutting, Trevor Upham, and Marc Perrone. The tunes are in sheet music (not tab), and in the various keys of various accordions, THUS, it seems like someone with a concertina would be able to make more ready use of this book than I can with my two row G/C boxes.

     

    Here's a brief piece about the book:

     

    http://accordeonaire.blogspot.com/2011/11/tribute-diatonic-liaisons.html

     

    Here's an interview with the author:

     

    http://accordeonaire.blogspot.com/2011/11/interview-with-alexandra-browne.html

     

    Thank you!

    An Interview with Frederic Paris

    in General Concertina Discussion

    Posted

    Yes, thanks for posting that Gary. Frederic Paris has been one of the central figures in French traditional music for as long as I've been interested in it - it's always interesting to hear what he's got to say for himself.

     

     

    And having given him a roof for the night after La Chavannee played in Stockport many years ago, I can also say that he's a thoroughly nice bloke.

    I'd love to hear a discussion between him & Martin Carthy on the past, present and future of traditional music in the modern world - they'd have some fascinating thoughts to offer and debate between them as they both think and care deeply about the subject.

     

    That would be amazing. I think about that kind of issue a lot, too. I think if I'd actually been conversing with him (rather than e-mail) I would have pursued it more. For example, bringing in a bass player and taking on the cittern himself (a rhythm section) really made Chavanee sound more modern. But I don't get any sense that Paris is drifting from his traditional devotion, and you don't have to choose modern or traditional. It's just an interesting dynamic.

    Mazurka (Auvergnate)

    in Tunes /Songs

    Posted

    Thanks Alan and Geoff.

     

    As a "correct way" to play, I find myself referring to other players a lot, specially archival recordings. Sometimes I find the "bounce" of a mazurka becomes an almost jazz-like swing. I'm not against that on any moral ground, but I guess I do lean away from it. What would the French term be for "bog standard?" That's me.

    What does it mean to play a bourrée well?

    in Tunes /Songs

    Posted

    And how does one develop an accent for a musical genre? The same way as one develops a regional accent in one's mother-tongue: by listening to nothing else for a few years, then mimiking it and being corrected by family and friends, and then by talking the way the people around you talk. This makes you "authentic," although, ironically, all you want to do is to mesh verbally with your surroundings. This doesn't stop you from becoming an eloquent speaker who can say things better than anyone else. Same with music: absorb the genre as it is, and then use this authentic "accent" to do things that not everyone can do.

    This really gets at it beautifully, thanks. And it does match my obsessive way of approaching things. It also matches my experience in Alsace, where just being around musicians who lived this music improved my playing in subtle, wonderful ways.

     

    Very philosophical, I know, but that's the way I see it.

    It's a weakness of mine, also. I've been chastised for it in the past.

     

    Bottom line: don't try to analyse what is authentic and what is not, and to copy what you think is authentic. Listen to everything in the genre, absorb it, and see what comes out when you try it yourself!

    Yes. I suppose I'm feeling a little impatient. I've played for dancers (although not for two years) and I've been listening listening listening. Just feeling stuck and trying to figure a way up to the next level.

    What does it mean to play a bourrée well?

    in Tunes /Songs

    Posted

    For me if I start a bourree, and people get up and dance a bourree without anyone having to stand there and think about what it is, job done. And yes I guess I've arrived at that through hours absorbing other players, but to be honest I've never attempted to analyse it to that great a degree ...

    Thanks, Steve. I'm not often in a situation with folks who would be inclined to dance a bourree ... however well I might play one. But I agree, I don't think I have thought about it consciously until recently (just the act of writing the blog has prompted that sort of thing). But I have been posting recordings on YouTube, and have had comments on my left-hand ("don't play bass-chord-chord, that's for waltzes"), and it's come up enough for me to ask "what should one do with the left hand?" The vielle and the cornemuse are no help because they are drone based. So, really, what I'm doing is just what you say, listening to players and absorbing ... but I'm also thinking about it a bit differently. Being rigidly authentic is not what I'm after, but being connected to this tradition is important to me.

     

    Now to go find that group of people who will spontaneously break into dance if I play a bourree.

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