Author: debfiddle

Deborah is a violinist and violist specialising in English folk music. She trained in viola and Baroque viola at Birmingham Conservatoire, before returning to her first love of traditional music, song and dance. She is a member of Stepling, a band performing English music, step-dance, song and percussion. She also plays for a number of function bands, performing at barn dances and ceilidhs across the UK. Deborah has played with a number of folk artists, dance and theatre projects. She plays with Folk Dance Remixed, a dance company combining traditional dance with hip hop and street dance styles, performing as such events as Car Fest, the Southbank's Festival of Love and Glasgow's Commonwealth Games Festival. She records on a regular basis for a number of people, including The Mystery Fax Machine Orchestra, and for Laurel Swift's 'Travelling with Thomas' musical. Deborah teaches music, song and dance regularly for The English Folk Dance and Song Society, as well as on a freelance basis for various workshop series, festivals and music services. She recently completed The Teaching Musician MA degree course at Trinity Laban, graduating with Distinction.

Sir John Fenwick’s the Flower Amang Them

Here’s a tune from the Northumbrian Minstrelsy, Sir John Fenwick’s the Flower Amang Them.

Here’s a video of the tune – we’ll go over some of the variation ideas next time:

And finally a PDF of the dots:

sir-john Download

Harmonies for tunes

We looked at harmonies for Rig a Jig Jig (B section only) and Rogue’s March (A section only), by trying out lines that follow the shape of the tune three notes or six notes lower (aka a third higher and an octave down) and then combining the best bits of each.

Rig a Jig a Jig arrangement

Here’s the video for the Rig a Jig Jig arrangement, with a rhythmic feature (as written below) in the A section in the chords the second time round.

Dory Boat arrangements

Here is a video of the Dory Boat arrangement from Monday 20th September:

This used a D/A drone under the tune the first time through and the printed chords the second time, with the following riff throughout:

Classes are returning to the WLTUC

Classes will be returning to the West London Trade Union Club from September 20th 2021. Doors will open at 7:15 for 7:30, as before, running to 9:15 with a short break at 8:15. The price has gone up to £10 per session, with a small discount for those paying yearly or termly. In this coming Autumn term, there will be a focus on musicianship, arrangement and ensemble skills using repertoire from last year’s online sessions. The tunes for Monday 20th September will be Dory Boat and Rig a Jig Jig. Finally, we have the following guidelines in place, for the safety of all:

1. Please don’t come to class if you’re feeling unwell. Symptoms of the Delta variant can be quite different from the classic Covid symptoms, so do check the NHS website even if you feel sure that you know what they are.

2. If you’re able to, take a lateral flow test on a Monday. These are free from pharmacies or can be ordered online – this is voluntary, not mandatory, and you don’t need to report your results to me, though do report them on the NHS website.

3. Please wash your hands on arrival.

4. I will clean surfaces when I arrive, including door handles, chairs and light switches.

5. Windows will be open for ventilation, so you might want to bring a jumper!

6. Although the requirement to socially distance has been removed, it makes sense to continue giving each other space. I will look at the way the chairs are arranged to optimize the space.

7. I’ll check whether the WLTUC has a QR code that we can use to check in.

8. Finally, if you feel that you’d personally like to take further measures, such as wearing a mask, please do. It’s important that we all feel safe, and if there are any aspects of class you’re not comfortable with, please speak to me and I’ll do my best to accommodate your needs.

McKinnon’s Lament

Our last tune of the term – McKinnon’s Lament. I found it in Michael Raven’s English Country Dance Tunes book, which was first published in 1984, but I’ve not unearthed anything else about it. We varied the dotted crotchets by splitting some of them into crotchet-quaver.

Here are the dots:

Here is the PDF:

mckinnon Download

Stewart’s Rant

Here’s a Scottish dance tune, also known as General Stuart’s Reel and The New Way of Gildon. It dates back to at least 1749 when it was published in the Menzies Manuscript.

Here is a video of a slower and faster rendition of the tune, with some rhythmic variations in the B section:

Here are the PDFs of the music and the two sets of chords that we used:

stewarts-rant Download

stewards-rant-chords Download

Old Joe

Here is a polka that works nicely as a partner to Leather Away the Wattle. I know it from Dave Townsend’s English Dance Tune books though to me, the A part feels possibly Irish and the B part more English. As I suspected they might, efforts to find out more about this tune have proved fruitless. I’ve looked for both the title and the melodic shapes and while it bears similarities to other tunes, there’s nothing there to give any real leads on the mystery.

We played a little with the rhythms in the B part, and added turns and/or triplets in places where the melody moves by step.

Here is a video with a slower and faster version of the tune:

Here are the dots with a PDF below:

old-joe Download

Winter’s Night Schottische

Here is a tune that goes by many titles: Rainbow Schottische, Stephen Baldwin’s Schottische and Midnight Schottische. It appears in Kerr’s Merry Melodies book of 1870 and appears to have remained popular ever since in England, Scotland, Ireland and North America.

We added some turns and/ore triplets in places where the melody moves by step but otherwise kept ornamentation and variation to a minimum.

Here is a video with slower and faster versions of the tune:

Here are the dots, with a PDF below:

wns Download

Leather Away the Wattle

Here’s a fantastic polka from Ireland, first published in 1858. It has many, many titles, including The Grand Old Woman, The Half Door, Lisdoonvarna Polka, London Bridge Polka and Leather The Bottle. A wattle is a stick or truncheon.

Here is a video with a slower and a faster run through:

Here are the dots:

And finally a PDF to download:

leather-away Download