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Tune Of The Month, Feb. 2015: Metsakukkia


Jim Besser

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Here's my contribution on SoundCloud.

With Gill Redmond on cello.

Wow! Fantastic. Such a great combination of instruments. Thanks.

 

Here's an attempt.

 

http://youtu.be/9RSOv6L4bQ4

 

Bob Michel

Near Philly

Fabulous. Thanks so much for getting me going on this gorgeous tune. Love the accompaniment .

 

Sarah

 

Sarah

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oops -- signed my name twice but didn't say the other thing I meant to add, which is how much I like listening to the subtle variations in emphases and timing and hope to hear some more examples of grace note choices. This is yet another area in which I feel my playing is lacking so appreciate all the discussion above.

 

thanks!

Sarah

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Here's my contribution on SoundCloud.

With Gill Redmond on cello.

Bob Michel, on 04 Feb 2015 - 11:10 AM, said:]

Here's an attempt.http://youtu.be/9RSOv6L4bQ4

Bob Michel

Near Philly

 

Both of your arrangements are gorgeous and will be a had act for me to try to follow. Will have to get busy. I just played in my first contra dance last night so was preoccupied practicing for that! Edited by Daria
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Having tried this on various instruments I am finding that without the chords the effect and atmosphere is lost to a large extent...so yes I agree with Rod's post.

I hadn't been, and still am not sure as to what Rod was exactly saying.

 

However,the approach as shared by these two recordings which I enjoyed pretty much too, is not without any alternative IMO. I'm primarily devoting myself to devloping my EC solo playing (or accompaniment) as you all know, and am surprisingly enthusiastic especially about this waltz (which hadn't been my choice here), because it appears to allow (if not demand) restrained (but still distinct) chording with plenty of room for the melody...

 

With these two recordings available posting a WIP in an early stage does not seem appropriate, so I decided to give my take (including even some modest oom-paah which I'm not really used to and widely avoid on the EC) a few more rounds of rehearsal...

 

Best wishes - Wolf

Edited by blue eyed sailor
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Here's my contribution on SoundCloud.

With Gill Redmond on cello.

Wow! Fantastic. Such a great combination of instruments. Thanks.

Gorgeous sound. Concertina and cello just go so well together. And Gill seems to be the concertinist's cellist of choice.

Edited by chas
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However,the approach as shared by these two recordings which I enjoyed pretty much too, is not without any alternative IMO.

Hear, hear. It makes a lovely solo piece as well. I didn't add the accompaniment because I thought the tune needed it; I mainly just wanted to play with my new uke.

 

Bob Michel

Near Philly

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Can't wait to give this one a try! My hands have recovered a bit so I think I can jump back into the game at least for this month. I will hopefully include the foot bass, too. (For the record, I'm part Finnish (don't speak it) and it was a part of my culture growing up, though most of those people have passed on.)

 

I play my foot bass every day, but only in the last few days have I been able to press any buttons or keys very well (since a few months ago), and then of course I have to shovel a ton of snow, which doesn't help!

 

We are really buried, here. I'm hoping the flat parts of the roof don't cave in.

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As I said, I see a lot of similarities between Mettsakukia and the Russian/Klezmer Expectation Waltz, so much so that I sometimes start to play one and end up mired in the other.

 

So I decided to put them together in a set. Now maybe I'll keep them straight.

 

In the end I found Mettsakukia frustrating; I just don't know what to do with it. I sometimes play with Scandi fiddlers, and from listening to them I know I don't have the right feel for Scandi tunes. Maybe I'll work on it some more, maybe I'll get some good suggestions here!

 

Played in Em on a 30 button Jeffries G/D Angl.

Edited by Jim Besser
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Here's an attempt.

 

http://youtu.be/9RSOv6L4bQ4

 

Bob Michel

Near Philly

 

 

Here's my contribution on SoundCloud.

With Gill Redmond on cello.

 

 

For contrast, and for fun, here's a simpler, solo version of the tune. It's played here, with many a clack and wheeze, on my old (c. 1890) Lachenal Anglo. The timing's a bit better than on the previous upload, which was pretty dodgy in places.

 

http://youtu.be/8BvfxSeMZz4

 

Bob Michel

Near Philly

Three excellent arrangements. I enjoyed them all. The cello in SteveS's version was very effective.

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As I said, I see a lot of similarities between Mettsakukia and the Russian/Klezmer Expectation Waltz, so much so that I sometimes start to play one and end up mired in the other.

 

So I decided to put them together in a set. Now maybe I'll keep them straight.

 

In the end I found Mettsakukia frustrating; I just don't know what to do with it. I sometimes play with Scandi fiddlers, and from listening to them I know I don't have the right feel for Scandi tunes. Maybe I'll work on it some more, maybe I'll get some good suggestions here!

 

Played in Em on a 30 button Jeffries G/D Angl.

I enjoyed this one, too. I don't think it matters if it's not exactly as someone from Finland would play it. Surely it's about making the tune your own and doing what sounds right to you.

 

I agree about the two tunes, they do sound very closely related and almost identical in some places, especially the A section.

Edited by Tootler
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Geoff, I hope you don't mind some criticism here. There are two issues IMO:

  • You're "swallowing" beats at the end of the sections (just count either the affected bar or the note values in order to get a feel for that), and sometimes get sort of lost over the following bar then, and
  • you're adding "wrong" notes (i.e. beyond resp. beneath the current scale) for decorating the melody in bar 3 and 7 of the A section (which can be fine at some point but ain't here). I would suggest to simply skip these notes as the sustained notes can sound very nice here.

The approach with uke and recorder is working fine once again! :)

 

Best wishes - Wolf

Edited by blue eyed sailor
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This is my first song a the C/G Morse Anglo (My other concertina is G/D and it takes some getting used to the different fingering and notes. There are mistakes :)

 

This concertina was purchased from c.net's Charlie Gravel and the pretty basic and unadulterated version of Metsakukkia is dedicated to him.

 

 

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkM8phx6yB8

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