Gary Chapin

Yup, next paycheck, baby. See you Friday, Amazon.fr.

And I was just thinking, "I've got to take the leap, spend the coin, and get that CD!" Spooky indeed!

Wow, Alan, that's lovely. Very interesting stuff happening on your left hand. There's been a lot of discussion over on Mel.net about how to approach the left hand with three beat bourrees. Your approach seems to focus on the 3-1 rhythm (with a lot of variation according to the melody), but has some harmonically cool stuff happening. Thanks for posting this. What a great resource. Now to UPDATE blog.

From the recordings I have: Sylvain Piron: On d'onderon garda José Roux: Ont tirarem gardar? Christian Bessier: On Onarem Gardar Unknown Player: Ont Anarem Gardar On d'onderon garda, which you site, is in the Mel Stevens/Dave Mallinson set, and that's the spelling I use, but who can say???

Hey, Al, thanks for the kind words. I would love to hear a solo recording. I'm interested not so much to learn from, but because I'm a bit obsessed with this tune and the way different instruments and performers do it. I was listening to the different versions and -- maybe others don't see them as different -- I was struck that each had a very different character. So I am very interested in how you'd do it. But we'll never know how it's spelled!

That's fantastic service, Peter. I am completely taken aback. Living far from the madding crowd and all that, I can't imagine having a crowd like that to play this repertoire. It looks absolutely joyous.

I've been researching this ancient sounding bourrée lately. It's one of the first I encountered and learned. I'm wondering if anyone knows of a recording of it on concertina (and vielle, but that's a different list). http://accordeonaire.blogspot.com/2011/06/bourree-on-donderon-garda.html Thanks, Gary

Next episode is up, with some fightin' words about cheese. http://accordeonaire.blogspot.com/2011/06/my-trip-to-alsace-part-four.html Thanks

Nice version from Japan. Even has Spiers' stance.

You are most welcome. I love Jose Roux's playing, and he's got a very interesting blog of his own, though he hasn't posted in a while. That's at http://joseroux.over-blog.com/ Because of illness I was not able to make as much out of this weekend as I had planned. Still, having a good time with this tune book.

Photos from the event are at http://accordeonaire.blogspot.com/2011/05/photos-from-alsace.html.

Since tomorrow -- May 29 -- is International Pique-diatonique Day (at least in le maison de la Chapins), I've posted some recordings of tunes from the Pique-diatonique tunebook on my blog. Two of the recordings are by Sylvain Piron. The third is by me. http://accordeonaire.blogspot.com/2011/05/pique-diatonique-tomorrow.html Actual Pique-diatonique info can be found at http://bretelle.tradfrance.com/ Thanks for indulging my obsession.

Those were great. I spent some time listening to the rest of your videos and found this one which is one of my absolute favorite tunes played very well. Can I also just mention how nice it is to encounter another tenor guit player? Well it is, Gary

I'm exactly the same way. I learn fine from sheet music, but can't play from the dots cold. Especially under pressure. Although, thinking about it, I can do it with wind instruments, but not squeeze. Impatient conductor/arranger ... well, in the studio he's presumably paying for time, but that just means he should get you the music sooner.

Honestly, I find the whole Session psychology really baffling. I am NOT criticizing sessions or people who enjoy them, but ... wow ... they seem designed to increase anxiety, feelings of "less then," alpha fiddle, faux pas etc. Much rather have friends over and actually decide amongst us what we'll play rather than start a new tune and hope. All I'm saying is: not for me.

So, I'm serious! http://accordeonaire.blogspot.com/2011/05/pour-les-absents.html On May 29, get out there and find a picnic and play a pique-diatonique tune! What? You have something better to do? It's a great tune book.

The other part of the thinginess of French music, IMNSHO, is the fact that the traditional instruments play the absolute minor, not the relative minor, of the keys. So whereas an English tune which goes into the minor will [tend to] be in, say, G/Em, a French tune that does the same will [tend to] be in G/Gm. It's the drones you see - the gurdies and the pipes will tune their drones to the tonic and the fifth, and those drones then tie the tune to the tonic - so modulation, where it occurs, needs to work with the same drones, and the easiest way for that to happen is to go into the absolute minor. I agree. I've come to the conclusion that the drone instruments are the foundational ones for tradfrench, even to the point where I've considered buying a cabrette or cornemuse (haven't succumbed). The question for accordionists -- especially on bourrées -- is what should you be doing with the basses and chords?!?!?!?! And, of course, that's just not an issue with the drone instruments. Those drones create a sort of happenstance proto-harmony (medieval sounding) that is so appealing. One accordion player, Jac Lavergne, plays a lot of right hand harmonies that sometimes sound drone-like. Very interesting. I wrote a piece about Lavergne: http://accordeonaire.blogspot.com/2011/04/tribute-jac-lavergne.html He's got quite a bit of that thinginess going. Also, many of his tunes are in the Bal Folk book.

I e-mailed both Mallinson and Stevens. Update to the original review: http://accordeonaire.blogspot.com/2011/05/update-bal-folk-tune-book.html

I agree, there's a thinginess about them. They just don't always go the way you've come to expect. I've played some 3beat bourrees for IRTrad musicians and have had to stamp out the rhythm so they could find the "one." On the other hand, it's gotten to the point where I play tradfrench almost exclusively, and when I try to play a English tune (say for the Mel.net tune of the month) it feels "foreign" under my fingers. So what might help is just listening to some of this stuff ("Musique a Deux" is a duo available on iTunes. "Jour de Marche" has a ton of tunes played very straight), also watch some dances on YouTube ... for mazurkas (for example) it helped me to see where they were stamping the bells. About "the gimp." After Pulp Fiction? Really?

Yes, the "Divers" tunes are a mixture of tunes popular in Massif Central Bals but which don't fit into the usual categories (like the Scottish/Valse) or which come from other regions -- like th e5/4 Alsatian tune, or Rondeaus, or medieval tunes like the Branles. In a tunebook from another region, the bourrees might be listed under "divers."

I've got a French music melodeon blog that I'm pretty proud of: http://accordeonaire.blogspot.com/ You can't "add" wordpress blogs, but you can have them in a "blogs I follow" gadget.

Thanks. I do know Spiers and B., and you have seen me on MelNet. This video is excellent, but what they're doing is really hard. Building energy and maintaining it for the length of this tune. It's a subtle thing, especially when you don't have different instruments to bring in and arrange (as with Bellowhead). Things start to flag, BRING IN THE HORNS! Seriously, I'm just saying that it's a great tune, but requires a subtle touch, IMO.

I agree. It's easy to play correctly, but I find it difficult to give it drive throughout. It is a darn long tune, but I heard one player take the repeats out of the B and C sections and it didn't sound right to me. (I'm reminded of the Cole Porter song, "Begin the Beguine," which is 108 bars. Ella Fitzgerald called it, "The Long Song.")

Oh, I forgot to mention the part about being deeply jealous. Also, I'm notorious for taking people up on it when they give me invitations to come over to their continent and play a few tunes. I look forward to it.

Could be part of the English temperament to collect things -- tunes, coins, stamps, butterflies. I am very impressed by how effectively these regional folk associations work in "getting the word out." We've got nothing like the AMTA or CRMTL here in the states, and if we did, 51% of the population would be outraged. I did not know about the Montbel book ... I will be checking that out soonest.