Monday, June 27, 2016

Si Bheag Si Mohr -- a tune by Turlough O'Carolan for our jam session at Clayville, Saturday, July __


Our "Clayville Pioneer Academy of Music" tune learning session is from 10 a.m. to noon at Clayville Historic Site, State Rte. 125, Pleasant Plains. If you're in Springfield afterward, or any time from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, check out the celebration of the (re-)opening of the Illinois State Museum on Edwards Street in the Capitol complex.


æire irlandés - Si Bheag Si Mhor (Turlough O'Carolan)

Dulcimer tab, with backup chords for guitar and other rhythm instruments, on the Three Rivers Dulcimer Society's website eastern Washington state at:

http://www.threeriversdulcimersociety.net/Music/Si%20Bheag%20Si%20Mhor%20042512.pdf

(But see below for what one trad Irish player says about chordal arrangements of this tune.)

The group æire irlandés is from Colombia. "Si Bheag Si Mohr" is one of the earliest, and most beloved, of 18th-century Irish composer Turlough O'Carolan's harp tunes. The Irish title means something the big hill and the little hill, and it refers to a legendary battle between faeries. Writes Eddie (no last name given) of Slowplayers.org:

... As a young man Carolan first found favor at the house of his first patron, Squire George Reynolds of Lough Scur at Letterfain, Co. Leitrim (himself a harper and poet). It is said that Carolan was at this time only moderately skilled at the harp and the Squire advised him to direct his talents to composing, as he “might make a better fist of his tongue than his fingers.” It is likely this tune was Carolan’s first attempt at composition. His inspiration for this tune was a story told to him by Reyonolds about Si Bheag and Si Mhor, two ranges of hills near Lough Scur, that according to local lore were the seats of two groups of fairies of opposing disposition.

The groups engaged in a great battle, in which Finn McCool and his Fianna were defeated. Some versions of the legend claim the mounds were topped by ancient ruins, with fairy castles underneath where the heroes were entombed after the battle between the rivals.

Chords? There's a school of thought among some old-time southern Appalachian and trad Irish musicians that playing rhythm behind the melody, i.e. playing the chords, didn't come in till the bands that played for the radio in the 1920s and 30s. Eddie of Slowplayers.org, who plays guitar, tenor banjo, mandolin, mandola and Irish bouzouki, says:

While I provide chords for this tune, I almost always think it’s better for slow tunes like this to be played without accompaniment. ... IMHO, the melody alone is usually sufficient. Playing chords usually seems to take something away from the tune, rather than add to it. Perhaps this is due to my narrow experience, though perhaps not.

Click on this link for some especially lovely arrangements of other Carolan tunes by Derek Bell, who plays the metal-stringed harp for the Chieftans and has a distinguished solo career as well, on his CD Carolan's Favourite:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qi4I0abzXA4

... among the tunes are "Squire Wood's Lamentation on the Refusal of His Halfpence," one of the Brighid Crúis (Bridget Cruise) melodies and Carolan's variations of "Cock Up Your Beaver." OK, OK, I know what you're thinking. Stop that! It's an ancient Scottish folk melody that Robert Burns later wrote words for. A beaver was a kind of hat.

And here, to speed us on our way, is a brief clip of more Irish music. I don't think it's Carolan, though:

Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Peace Lutheran -- contemporary service, June 25 -- Pentecost VI

I will follow -- Chris Tomlin -- acoustic version (w/ lyrics)

Gathering/Call to Worship: praise band

Worship Songs:

  • "I Will Follow" (team on all, congregation probably just on choruses) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XnPL3LtxpA
  • "Cry of My Heart" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iBrgI9rVJ4
  • "Take My Life/Holiness" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHeEytocJVY (probably will connect Cry and Holiness - doing in same key to make that possible)

Newboys' Creed (the new one)

Sung Lord's Prayer

Closing Song: "I Will Follow" (we'll bring it back to close -- doing a "wrap" of the service with that one -- it fits the message/scripture wonderfully)

Sunday, June 19, 2016

Zen in the Art of ... Whatever: Quotes

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance --

... 398 quotes at https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/175720-zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance.

“The Buddha, the Godhead, resides quite as comfortably in the circuits of a digital computer or the gears of a cycle transmission as he does at the top of the mountain, or in the petals of a flower. To think otherwise is to demean the Buddha - which is to demean oneself.” ― Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values

78 likes Like “The real cycle you're working on is a cycle called yourself.” ― Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values 71 likes Like

“It's the sides of the mountain which sustain life, not the top.” ― Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values 71 likes Like

“The real purpose of the scientific method is to make sure nature hasn’t misled you into thinking you know something you actually don’t know.” ― Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values

“You want to know how to paint a perfect painting? It's easy. Make yourself perfect and then just paint naturally.” ― Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values

“The pencil is mightier than the pen.” ― Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values

“You’ve got to live right, too. It’s the way you live that predisposes you to avoid the traps and see the right facts. You want to know how to paint a perfect painting? It’s easy. Make yourself perfect and then just paint naturally. That’s the way all the experts do it. The making of a painting or the fixing of a motorcycle isn’t separate from the rest of your existence. If you’re a sloppy thinker the six days of the week you aren’t working on your machine, what trap avoidance, what gimmicks, can make you all of a sudden sharp on the seventh? It all goes together ... The real cycle you're working in is a cycle called yourself. The machine that appears to be "out there" and the person that appears to be "in here" are not two separate things. They grow toward Qaulity or fall away from Qaulity together.” ― Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values

“When you want to hurry something, that means you no longer care about it and want to get on to other things.” ― Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

“If you get careless or go romanticizing scientific information, giving it a flourish here and there, Nature will soon make a complete fool out of you. It does it often enough anyway even when you don't give it opportunities.” ― Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values

“The truth knocks on the door and you say, “Go away, I’m looking for the truth,” and so it goes away. Puzzling.” ― Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

“To live only for some future goal is shallow. It’s the sides of the mountain which sustain life, not the top.” ― Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

“I've said you can actually see this fusion in skilled mechanics and machinists of a certain sort, and you can see it in the work they do. To say that they are not artists is to misunderstand the nature of art. They have patience, care and attentiveness to what they're doing, but more than this—there's a kind of inner peace of mind that isn't contrived but results from a kind of harmony with the work in which there's no leader and no follower. The material and the craftsman's thoughts change together in a progression of smooth, even changes until his mind is at rest at the exact instant the material is right.” ― Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values

“The One in India has got to be the same as the One in Greece. If it’s not, you’ve got two. The only disagreements among the monists concern the attributes of the One, not the One itself. Since the One is the source of all things and includes all things in it, it cannot be defined in terms of those things, since no matter what thing you use to define it, the thing will always describe something less than the One itself.” ― Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

“The title of this Chautauqua is "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance," not "Zen and the Art of Mountain Climbing," and there are no motorcycles on the tops of mountains, and in my opinion very little Zen. Zen is the "spirit of the valley," not the mountaintop. The only Zen you fin on the tops of mountains is the Zen you bring up there.” ― Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values

“The Buddha, the Godhead, resides quite as comfortably in the circuits of a digital computer or the gears of a cycle transmission as he does at the top of a mountain or in the petals of a flower. To think otherwise is to demean the Buddha—which is to demean oneself. That is what I want to talk about in this Chautauqua.” ― Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

“However, it should in no way be associated with that great body of factual information relating to orthodox Zen Buddhist practice. It’s not very factual on motorcycles either.” ― Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance


“Don't think of what you have to do, don't consider how to carry it out!" he exclaimed. "The shot will only go smoothly when it takes the archer himself by surprise.” ― Eugen Herrigel, Zen in the Art of Archery

“The right art," cried the Master, "is purposeless, aimless! The more obstinately you try to learn how to shoot the arrow for the sake of hitting the goal, the less you will succeed in the one and the further the other will recede. What stands in your way is that you have a much too willful will. You think that what you do not do yourself does not happen.”

“The man, the art, the work--it is all one.” ― Eugen Herrigel

“The hand that stretches the bow must open like a child's hand opens. What sometimes hinders the precision of the shot is the archer's over-active will. He thinks: "What I fail to do will not be done", and that's not quite how things work. Man should always act, but he must also let other forces of the universe act in their own due time.”

https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/59975.Eugen_Herrigel

* * *

Zen Buddhism does not preach. Sermons remain words. It waits until people feel stifled and insecure, driven by a secret longing.

The man, the art, the work--it is all one.

The hand that guides the brush has already caught and executed what floated before the mind at the same moment the mind began to form it, and in the end the pupil no longer knows which of the two-mind or hand -was responsible for the work. Read more at: http://www.azquotes.com/quote/804625

* * *

Far from wishing to awaken the artist in the pupil prematurely, the teacher considers it his first task to make him a skilled artisan with sovereign control of his craft. Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/e/eugenherri360181.html

* * *

If one really wishes to be a master of an art, technical knowledge of it is not enough. One has to transcend technique so that the art becomes an “artless art” growing out of the Unconscious.

In archery, the hitter and the hit are no longer two opposing objects, but are one reality.

Fundamentally the marksman aims at himself and may even succeed in hitting himself.

[Kyudo] consists in the archer aiming at himself – and yet not at himself, in hitting himself – and yet not himself, and thus becoming simultaneously the aimer and the aim, the hitter and the hit.

It is necessary for the archer to become, in spite of himself, an unmoved center. Then comes the supreme and ultimate miracle: art becomes “artless”, …the end a beginning, and the beginning perfection.

Dhyana Buddhism, which is known in Japan as “Zen” and is not speculation at all but immediate experience of what, as the bottomless ground of Being, cannot be apprehended by intellectual means.

Unless we enter into mystic experiences by direct participation, we remain outside, turn and twist as we may.

Like all mysticism, Zen can only be understood by one who is himself a mystic and is therefore not tempted to gain by underhand methods what the mystical experience withholds from him.

The painter’s instructions might be: spend ten years observing bamboos, become a bamboo yourself, then forget everything and paint.

Take the road to the artless art.

http://www.indso.com/zen-in-the-art-of-archery/

Friday, June 17, 2016

Illinois, Quad-Cities, WW1 -- misc. links

Martin J. Engberg, ed. History of the Swedes of Illinois (Chicago: Engberg-Holmberg, 1908) Google Books, pp. 291-94. Contributors: Ernst Wilhelm Olson, Anders Schön.

292-3 profile of city in 1908 -- pop in 1900 was 19,493

first Swedes in 1840s -- Bishop Hill settlers had a fishing camp on Arsenal Island -- first settlers in 1850s, more in 1860s and espec 70s -- first Swedish Baptist Church in America. Sept 26, 1852.

[294] The few Swedish Lutherans in Rock Island at first belonged to the church in Moline, but in 1870 they tired of going to the neighboring city to worship, and in that year an independent congregation was organized, with a membership of only twenty-eight." Mission Friends and Swedish Methodists members of respective congregations in Moline.


The Swedish Element in America: A Comprehensive History of Swedish-American Achievements from 1638 to the Present Day; Including a Biographical History of the Outstanding Swedish Men and Women who Occupy Prominent Places in All Walks of Life in the United States Today ... Erik G. Westman, E. Gustav Johnson ???:Swedish-American biographical society, 1931 ( https://books.google.com/books?id=mHzhAAAAMAAJ&dq=swedes%20rock%20island&source=gbs_similarbooks )

p. 59 -- pop. Moline, 1920, other dates

91, RI pop? Iowa in the Great War, 1914-1919. IAGenWeb http://iagenweb.org/greatwar/.

... includes quite a bit of primary source material, including Adjudant General's Report 1918, has a "News Stand" with very scattered transcripts of clips from newspapers incl. Iowa City Citizen 05 Nov 1917 --

Washington, Nov. 5 -- Three American infantrymen are dead, five wounded and twelve captured as a result of a sharp attack by the Germans on a salient of front line French trenches held by Pershing's men on November 3. One wounded German was captured.

Those reported killed were: Private Merle D. Hay, whose father is D. Hay of Glidden, Iowa.
Private James B. Grescham of Evansville, Indiana
Private Thomas F. Enright of Pittsburgh, Pa.

Among the wounded was Private Dewey D. Kern whose mother is Mrs. Eva Tilton of Collins, Iowa.

This report announced by the war department brought home to America today the first casualties in dead and captured resulting from actual fighting between the Sammies and the Germans. Attacking before daylight under the protection of heavy barrage fire which cut the American salient off from the rest of the line, the Germans apparently completed their operations before reinforcements could reach them. No word in Pershing's statements indicates the extent of America's part in the fighting. An ordinary trench salient holds between twenty-five and thirty men so it would appear the little force of Sammies was practically wiped out. That a wounded German was taken prisoner, however, showed that a fight was put up before the Americans yielded. The size of the attacking force and the German losses are not given. The war department has cabled for full details.

Father of Iowa Hero Proud of His Son.

Glidden, Ia., Nov. 5 -- "I am proud of my boy that he has given up his life for his country," D. Hay, father of Merle D. Hay, 21, one of America's first three soldiers to die for his country told the United Press today when informed that his son had been killed in France by the Germans. Mrs. Hay, mother of the dead hero, collapsed when told of her son's death. Young Hay enlisted in the army the 9th of last May shortly after the declaration of war according to his father. He had been working on the Hay farm but could not work any longer after war was declared. "He had my consent to go and I am not sorry," said his father today. "I won't object to his brother going although just now he is too young." Young Hay is survived by a brother, Basil, aged 18 and a sister, Opal, 14.

Not Sorry Son Enlisted.

Collins, Ia, Nov. 5 -- Chins were tilted just a little bit and there was a satisfied smile on the faces of the sister and mother of Private D. D. Kern reported among the captured or wounded as a result of the Sammies' first conflict with the Germans in France. "We are not sorry Dewey enlisted. I should say not. We are more proud of him than ever. We encouraged him to enlist," said his sister today. "Somebody has to go to war. Somebody has to be killed or captured."


The Prager affair : a study in wartime hysteria.

Author: Donald R Hickey
Edition/Format: Article : Biography : English
Publication: Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society. Vol. 62, p. 117-134 : port.
Database: WorldCat

http://www.worldcat.org/title/prager-affair-a-study-in-wartime-hysteria/oclc/270710984#relatedsubjects


Anti-German Sentiment in Iowa During World War I - Iowa Research ...
ir.uiowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=11215&context=annals-of-iowa by L Allen - ‎1974 - ‎Cited by 2 - ‎Related articles
Leola Allen. During the First World War immense pressure was brought to .... "Cole. History oj the People of Iowa. pp. 450-1. "Demokrat. Davenport. Iowa. July 3.

http://ir.uiowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=11215&context=annals-of-iowa



Tom Emery. "Illinois made a huge contribution to World War I." Dispatch-Argus QCOnline.com May 21, 2016 http://www.qconline.com/news/illinois/illinois-made-a-huge-contribution-to-world-war-i/article_0a31f03d-5dce-5c46-bc95-04dac0a1744d.html.

To coordinate the homefront, Gov. Frank Lowden founded the State Council of Defense, a 15-member council of state leaders that served as a “clearinghouse” for public and private agencies. The SCD featured committees on practically all aspects of the effort and kept touch on even the smallest details. In one instance, the SCD urged bakeries not to take back day-old bread. As one commentator aptly noted, the SCD “ran the home front.”

The chair of the SCD was Samuel Insull, the energetic president of Commonwealth Edison, who oversaw a remarkable change in business relations. Though labor strife was rampant in the previous decades, the unity of the war effort won out, and corporate interests and labor worked in harmony. Lowden set the tone by declaring, “This war can be won by neither labor nor capital alone. Gentlemen, you have got to work together.”

One of the many accomplishments of the SCD were the “Four-Minute Men,” an army of about 5,000 volunteers who delivered short speeches promoting the war effort to people in theaters, churches, civic groups and other gatherings. Nearly 800,000 residents heard the “Four-Minute Men” each week.

The slogan “food will win the war” emanated from Washington, and Illinois took it to heart. Despite severe farm-labor shortages, Illinois managed to produce the largest crop ever grown by any state in 1917. The next year’s crop was, in turn, the most valuable ever grown by a state.

Illinois also produced $6 billion in manufactured products in 1918, a third of which were war contracts. Residents of the state also bought $1.65 billion in Liberty Bonds and war-service stamps, a higher percentage than the general population.

To coordinate the homefront, Gov. Frank Lowden founded the State Council of Defense, a 15-member council of state leaders that served as a “clearinghouse” for public and private agencies. The SCD featured committees on practically all aspects of the effort and kept touch on even the smallest details. In one instance, the SCD urged bakeries not to take back day-old bread. As one commentator aptly noted, the SCD “ran the home front.”

The chair of the SCD was Samuel Insull, the energetic president of Commonwealth Edison, who oversaw a remarkable change in business relations. Though labor strife was rampant in the previous decades, the unity of the war effort won out, and corporate interests and labor worked in harmony. Lowden set the tone by declaring, “This war can be won by neither labor nor capital alone. Gentlemen, you have got to work together.”

One of the many accomplishments of the SCD were the “Four-Minute Men,” an army of about 5,000 volunteers who delivered short speeches promoting the war effort to people in theaters, churches, civic groups and other gatherings. Nearly 800,000 residents heard the “Four-Minute Men” each week.

The slogan “food will win the war” emanated from Washington, and Illinois took it to heart. Despite severe farm-labor shortages, Illinois managed to produce the largest crop ever grown by any state in 1917. The next year’s crop was, in turn, the most valuable ever grown by a state.

Illinois also produced $6 billion in manufactured products in 1918, a third of which were war contracts. Residents of the state also bought $1.65 billion in Liberty Bonds and war-service stamps, a higher percentage than the general population.

Not everything was perfect, however. Illinois had more than 1 million residents of German origin, the highest of any state, and Chicago was the sixth-largest German city in the world. Though many German-Americans supported the cause, there was ample sentiment against the war among these groups.

Some Germans were harassed based on their last name. Many Illinoisans distanced themselves from their German heritage, and Insull and Lowden both fanned the propaganda. The teaching of German languages was banned in schools, and Lowden declared, "The English tongue is the language of liberty.”

The governor also claimed that the American war effort was the “holiest cause” in history. The renowned Jane Addams was ostracized for her pacifist beliefs, and sauerkraut and frankfurters became known as “liberty cabbage” and “liberty sausages.”

The end of the war sparked wild celebrations across Illinois, and today, memorials to World War I are found across the state. But the euphoria could not mask simmering problems, such as persistent racial tensions and a downturn in agriculture, which threatened the state during the “Roaring 20s.”


Thursday, June 16, 2016

Contemporary service, Peace Lutheran -- Pentecost V, June 8

Here is the music for this weekend's service.

Gathering/Call to Worship: "Made to Worship" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jjqynuIkFM

Worship Set: "Lord Most High" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnDPt7igFcQ "Awesome is the Lord Most High" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AP7vObd4Rco "Our God" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbqPQkH5HYA

Creed: "We Believe" (Newsboys - new one) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjZ01FcK0yk

sung Lord's Prayer Closing/Sending Song: "God of This City" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d61LamkXfwk (ladies, sing the chorus down an octave from where written - we did this before with the congregation and we don't sing that part up)

Tuesday, June 07, 2016

"Over the Waterfall" -- another D Mixolydian fiddle tune for the Clayville-Prairieland Sessions

At last week's session at Peace Lutheran Church, we took a flying run at "Over the Waterfall." I called the tune because we used to enjoy it when we played it, but we haven't done it in a while and we're getting rusty. Then things got embarrassing in a hurry. Turned out I couldn't get the melody in my head, and we didn't have enough sheet music to go around anyway.


Our "third Thursday" session is 7-9 p.m. Thursday at Peace Lutheran Church, 2800 West Jefferson, Springfield.


So I decided we'd better put it off till this week.

And here it is.

This clip, from the Mount Airy festival in North Carolina, shows a "Musician from Pittsburgh" playing it. I don't know who she is, and the guy who made the video didn't get it. (He didn't give his name, either, so I guess he's known to posterity as YouTube user xanther97.) Whoever she is, she's got the ornamentation and double-stopping (playing two notes at the same time) of traditional appalachian fiddle playing down.

We meet from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday at Peace Lutheran Church (formerly Atonement, Faith and Luther Memorial), 2800 West Jefferson, Springfield.

Last summer I put up some background information about the tune -- including this not-to-be-missed graphic on the Kitchen Musician website for hammered dulcimer players -- on Hogfiddle. Permalink at:

http://hogfiddle.blogspot.com/2015/07/over-waterfall-clayville.html

A lead sheet with dulcimer tab is available in Steve Seifert's Join the Jam, and two sets of dulcimer tab are available on line:

It's a Mixolydian tune, but both sets of tab, Bellingham's and Three Rivers' alike, are written in the key of D with the C-natural indicated by an accidental. It's that C-natural that gives the tune its Mixolydian flavor -- what musicians call a "flatted seventh" and old-time southern Appalachian call that old D modal key that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up when it's played right. (The "Musician from Pittsburgh" who's linked above plays it right.)

Monday, June 06, 2016

Saturday's contemporary service -- Peace Lutheran -- Pentecost IV

Come, Now Is The Time To Worship - Brian Doerksen feat. Wendy Whitehead

Gathering Music: Praise Band

Worship Songs:

  • "Come, Now is the Time to Worship" [video above].
  • **Sharing of the Peace - return to chorus of Come, Now is the Time
  • "You Are My King"
  • "Just As I Am"

Travis Cottrell sings Just As I Am with added chorus

Special Music (after Sermon) "There is Nothing Greater Than Grace" - Michele + Jamie/Jessica (if available)

Creed: "Because We Believe" (old one)

Spoken Lord's Prayer - will be in the communion liturgy (not before) - using the spoken version to save on time this week

Closing Song: "Mighty To Save"

Mighty To Save by Laura Story

Music lead sheets attached. Please let me know if you have any questions. See you Saturday at 2:45.

Sunday, June 05, 2016

Clayville-Prairieland slow jam Tuesday -- "June Apple," an old fiddle tune transposed to D Mixolydian and a list of the modal key signatures in Irish and southern Appalachian traditional music

Blast email sent tonight to the Clayville-Prairieland Strings electronic mailing list.

Hi everybody --

A reminder -- our "first Tuesday" slow jam is from 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday at Peace Lutheran Church (formerly Atonement-Faith-Luther Memorial), 2800 West Jefferson, Springfield.

Let's just go around the circle and call tunes. One I plan to call is a fine old Mixolydian fiddle tune called "June Apple." We've played it before, but not for a while, and it's one I think we'll enjoy putting back in the rotation.

JUNE APPLE

Dulcimer tab at http://www.everythingdulcimer.com/files/tab/june_apple2.pdf -- there are two arrangements on the EverythingDulcimer.com website, but we want Ron Zuckerman's since it has backup chords for guitar. It looks like it's in G, but don't let that fool you -- Ron's arrangement is actually in D Mixolydian, and the chords in the A part are going to run to D and C. (It's those C naturals, by the way, that give the tune its Mixolydian, or mountain modal, flavor. I'll link you to an explanation below.) It's also in Steve Seifert's "Join the Jam."

A couple of YouTube clips:

-- Fiddle and clawhammer banjo. A father and son duo - Ryan and Brennish Thomson, who call themselves the Fiddling Thomsons, at the annual Hillside School Farm Day event in Marlborough, Mass.

-- Mountain dulcimer club. Silver Strings Dulcimer Society performing group at a variety night in Garden City, Mich.

MIXOLYDIAN & OTHER MODES

A couple of weeks ago, I found a printout I made of an explanation of how to find the key signature for the different modes in Irish traditional music from a website that went dark in 2014. [The same modes, especially Mixolydian and Dorian, also occur in southern Appalachian fiddle tunes. They're probably called "modal" or "mountain minor," but they're the same modes.] It was put up by the Small Circle Tune Learning Session in Boulder, Colo., a trad Irish club that I modeled our Clayville-Prairieland slow jams after when we were first getting started. It gives you the key signatures for the different modes, and I have put that discussion up on Hogfiddle at:

http://hogfiddle.blogspot.com/2016/05/modes-in-trad-irish-fiddle-keys.html.

There's more to it than that, of course, but I just kept the Small Circle website bookmarked whenever I wanted to look up a key signature. I was tickled to find my old printout, and I'm tickled to pass it along to you on Hogfiddle.

Hope to see you Tuesday.

Saturday, June 04, 2016

Misc. notes -- Ellertsen Schade Walther family geneology

D R A F T

Vallø Salt Works

At Tønsberg (Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C3%B8nsberg -- on west side of Oslofjord, opposite area around Sarpsborg, etc.

description of Tonsberg in Norway: illustrated handbook for travellers, by Christian Tønsberg (Tønsberg, 1875) Google Books.

"Half a mile from Tönsberg are the VALLÖ SALT WORKS, established 1738, and worked at the expense of the government till the year 1813; they have many years been abandoned. A Glass Work is now established here." (183)

Gives history of the town, (pop. 5,000 in 1875; 41,239 today) said to be oldest in Norway, ment. in historical records as early as Harald Haarfagre's reign.


DEAD LINK:

Vallø Museum og omegn historielag (museum) - Tønsberg
www.visittonsberg.com/en/layout/set/print/attractions?lang=en&id=469617

"Not just a local salt works. It was the Nordic, and it was royalty. - Salt Administration on Vallø was in operation from 1739 to 1853. But it really began operations .. "


GoNorway profile of Tønsberg http://gonorway.no/norway/counties/vestfold/toensberg/7635e48e567c830/index.html

Tønsberg, founded in the Viking-Ages, is Norway´s oldest town (celebrating it´s 1125-year jubilee in 1996). The world renowned Oseberg ship which was found just north of Tønsberg centre bears proof of this. In the Middle Ages Tønsberg was one of the centres of power. Tunsberghus, the churches and monasteries and the Earldom of Jarlsberg, have influenced Tønsberg which was, until 1671, Vestfold´s only town. As well as being a commercial and shipping town since the Viking ages, Tønsberg renowned as a Hansa town and also as a whaling town.

* * *

... ...PRI[N]CE CHRISTIANS BATTERY

Prince Christians Battery, on the tip of Vallø, protected Norway´s only saltworks in 1808-14. The Battery together with cannons and cannonball oven was restored 1986-89. Guidet tour from 30.6.- 25.8. every Sunday starting at 12 noon.

VALLØ CHURCH

Wooden chunch built 1782 for the Vallø salt-works. The church has a gallery with a royal chair. Both the building and the interior are in Louis XVI style. Everything is from the 1780's. At Vallø Church there is a memorial for 52 civilians who died when the allies bombed Vallø, 25th April, 1945. The bronze figure is by the sculptor Carl E. Paulsen and shows a mother trying to protect her child.