Hogfiddle

Herre Gud, ditt dyre navn og ære - Petter Dass

2012-02-11T17:38:00.006-06:00

A catechism song by Petter Dass, according to Wikipedia, now sung to a folk melody from Romsdal that may be Dass'. (Google, by the way, translates the title as ""Lord God of your pet's name and honor" - because dyre means animal?) Text, in Norwegian, and MIDI file from NoS 268 are put on line in Orkdalsmenighetene by Orkdal church. Orkdal is a municipality in Sør-Trøndelag.

An old traditional Norwegian psalm tone. Two clips on YouTube, one very traditional and one by Norwegian pop and Christian contemporary artist Sissel ...

In Vang church --

Video of Musikklinja på Stange VGS - Spring 2010
Folketone fra Romedal, tekst: Petter Dass arr: Roger Andreassen

Magne Otervik og Tom Erik Antonsen, trompet
Anne Gunn Grimerud, horn
Erlend Østbø Juberg, trombone
Roger Andreassen, orgel
Musikklinjekoret og Ringsaker kantori
Torgeir Ziener, dirigent

Sissel in concert --

Sissel gives it the full treatment in what looks like a televised concert. Apparently in Sweden.

Fiskervise / "Det hender sig ofte ..." Petter Dass

2012-02-10T22:19:00.022-06:00

Heard on casette tape Birgette Grimstad, Songs of Scandinavia [Skandisk, 1978], at 14:48

Portrait at left, thought to be of Petter Dass, in Melhus church available through Creative Commons at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Petter_Dass_i_Melhus.jpg (representation of work published before 1923 and in public domain in the US).

Petter Dass was a poet and priest, best known today perhaps for the hymn "Herre Gud, ditt dyre navn og ære" Bio in Norwegian in Den Store Norske Leksikon at http://snl.no/.nbl_biografi/Petter_Dass/utdypning

Caomplete words (all 15 verses) in Dagbladet's kultur diktbasen at http://www.dagbladet.no/docarc/showdoc.php?a=1&d=4210 ...

Petter Dass

BRUDLOPS DIGT TIL RASMUS ANGELL I NORDLANDENE AF PETER DASS.

Det hender sig ofte
Een Mand paa sin Tofte
Har sat sig i Baad,
[Og Sidet i Slimme
Saa mangen en Time
Mens intet har faad.

Med møye tit stræfvis
Tit kastet forgiæfvis
Det Snøre for Bor,]
Det er ey hvers lykke
En Flyndre at røkke
Med Angel og Snor.

Thi Flyndren som Laxen,
Hun bider ey straxen,
Gemeenlig er Seen.
Jeg kiender de Drenge
Der Slimet har lenge,
Fik aldrig et Been.

* * *

Naar Snøren er rundet
Og Senket til Bundet,
Staar lykken hos Gud.
Hand giver ey Skarnet,
Kast derfore Garnet
I Jesu Nafn ud!

* * *

Two verses at dikt.no website under title "Fiskervise" [fisherman's song].

Also on Dagens Dikt blog at http://dagensdikt.blogspot.com/2010/05/god-onsdags-morgen-i-dag-et-lite-dikt.html ... Tuesday, May 25, 2010 ... quoted here with Google translation in italics ...

GOD ONSDAGS MORGEN ! GOOD WEDNESDAY MORNING!

I dag et lite dikt av dikterpresten Today a small poem by the poet priest
Peter Dass. Peter Dass.

FISKERVISE. FISHING SHOW.

Det hender vel ofte, It happens more than often,
du kaster fra tofte you throw the thwart
ditt snøre fra bord, Your line of the table,
men har ikke lykke but do not have good luck
til flyndren å rykke to flounder is to move
med angel og snor, with the angel and cord,
med angel og snor. with the angel and the string

Når snøret er runnen When the line is the runner
og senket til bunnen, and sunk to the bottom,
står lykken hos Gud. luck is with God.
Han giver ei skarnet, He donor a mire,
kast derfor ut garnet throw out the net, therefore,
i Jesu navn ut in Jesus' name out
I Jesu navn ut. In Jesus' name out.

Petter Dass was a poet and priest, best known for the hymn "Herre Gud, ditt dyre navn og ære" Bio in Den Store Norske Leksikon at http://snl.no/.nbl_biografi/Petter_Dass/utdypning

Listed in TOC of Sangboka Syng Med at http://www.syngmed.no/sangbok_ny.htm ... homepage at http://www.syngmed.no/ ... has a song book (Kr 180), a melody book (Kr 425) and a history of the songs (Kr 125).

"Down the River I Go" - a D mixolydian fiddle tune as played by Don Pedi, and a couple of old-time Americana string bands in Copenhagen!

2012-02-01T11:24:00.018-06:00

"Down the River I Go" is one of those D-mixolydian fiddle tunes that sound really old ... but maybe aren't.

I learned it from Don Pedi, mountian dulcimer artist of Madison County, N.C., who got it from the Double Decker String Band, a popular group of old-time musicians on the East Coast, and an a cappella version from McDowell County, W.Va. It isn't listed in Fiddler's Companion, but it's become a favorite on the oldtime music scene. I even found video clips on YouTube of string bands playing it last year in Denmark!

Don has lived in the North Carolina mountains since the 1970s, and he specializes in fiddle tunes he learned from the oldtimers who were still active in those days. As he tells the story, he first heard the dulcimer played by Richard and Mimi Farina (Joan Baez' sister and brother-in-law) in Cambridge, Mass. He fell in love with it, migrated with the folk music scene to the Rockies and eventually to North Carolina. He is now considered a tradition bearer in his own right.

Don Pedi in Townsend, Tenn. -

Don's performance in May 2010 at Wood-N-Strings Dulcimer Shop in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, Townsend, Tenn., "Down the River" is from 4:09 to 5:41. Tab available at http://www.donpedi.com/ (click on "Tab" and scroll down. He also has instructional books, CDs and a DVD with workshops on: 1. Free Style Strumming, 2. Natural Noting and 3. How to Play By Ear. Highly recommended. He also teaches in the dulcimer traditions class at Lois Hornbostel's Dulcimerville workshop in Black Mountain, N.C. This workshop, every year in early June, is also very highly recommended!

In Copenhagen -

Foghorn Stringband, of Portland, Ore., playing at an Irish-themed pup called Bloomsday Bar in the "Latin quarter" or university district in downtown Copenhagen. Filmed by Jesper Deleuran of the Danish band Big Hungry Joe (Peter Lorichs on banjo, Jesper Deleuran on guitar and vocal, Lasse Høi on harmonica and harmony, Mathias Enevoldsen on bass and Tobias Enevoldsen on fiddle). Here they are, below, practicing "Down the River" and "Big Eyed Rabbit."

[Deleuran's YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/r810s also has a vocal of the Dave van Ronk song "He Was a Friend of Mine" and several lengthy videos of a live performance in Denmark.]

Biography of Johan Dilner, articles on psalmodikon in Swedish and English

2012-01-31T22:15:00.009-06:00

Original, in Swedish, at http://medlem.spray.se/psalmbok/Biografier/Dillner_J.htm. Link here for the Google translation. Excerpt:

John was the son of Pastor Erik Johan Dillner in Selangor.
Dillner läste teologi vid Uppsala universitet, doktorerade och prästvigdes 1809, och förordnades samma år till adjunkt vid Finska församlingen i Stockholm. Dillner studied theology at Uppsala University, a PhD and was ordained in 1809, and ordained the same year the lecturer at the Finnish Church in Stockholm. 1810 utnämndes han till eo hovpredikant och blev 1814 regementspastor vid Jämtlands regemente under fälttåget mot Norge. 1810 he was appointed court preacher and became eo 1814 regimental pastes in Jämtland regiment during the campaign against Norway. Som kyrkoherde tjänstgjorde han i Östra Ryd församling från 1820, i Fundbo fg från 1831 och slutligen i Östervåla fg från 1839, alla i Uppland. As a pastor, he served in East Ryd parish from 1820, in Fundbo fg from 1831 and finally in Östervåla fg from 1839, all in Upland. Från 1842 var han vice kontraktsprost. From 1842 he was deputy kontraktsprost. 1860 utnämndes han till jubeldoktor vid Uppsala universitet. 1860 he was appointed Jubilee PhD at Uppsala University.
Dillner var gift med Johanna Lovisa Lidström . Dillner was married to Johanna Louisa Lidstrom.

Linked to the bio is an article on the psalmodikon, translated as follows:

A simple musical instrument consisting of a ring box (often a simple, rectangular wooden box), a string and a fret board with tape (bumps). Det spelas med knäppning, plektrum eller stråke. It is played with buttons, plectrum or bow. Det anses uppfunnet av kyrkoherden Johan Dillner i Östervåla 1829 men bygger på den mycket gamla instrumenttypen monokord , en enkel resonanslåda med en sträng som kan förkortas med ett rörligt stall. It is invented by Pastor John Dillner Östervåla in 1829 but based on the ancient instrument type monokord, a simple sounding board with a string that can be shortened by a movable bridge. Dillner försåg sitt instrument med ett fast stall, som håller upp strängen från lådan, och en greppbräda med band , en trälist med utskärningar så att åsar bildas vilka bestämmer strängens fria längd när man trycker den mot en ås. Dillner provided his instrument with a fixed bridge, which keeps the string from the box, and a fretboard with tape, a strip of wood with cutouts so that the ridges are formed which determines the string free length when pressed it against a ridge. Det fanns 32 band med en halvton mellan. There were 32 bands with a semitone between. (jfr gitarrens greppbräda) och varje band är märkt med ett nummer. (Cf. guitar fretboard) and each band is marked with a number.

Användning Use
Dillners avsikt med lanseringen av instrumentet var att förbättra psalmsången genom att kunna beledsaga sången med ett instrument som alla församlingar kunde ha råd att införskaffa - orglar var ju ofta alltför dyra. Dillner's intention with the launch of the instrument was to improve hymn singing by being able to accompany the song with an instrument that all churches could afford to purchase - organs was often too expensive.
Dillner reste runt i Sverige för att demonstrera instrumentet och gav 1830 ut skriften Melodierna till svenska kyrkans psalmer där psalmerna i 1819 års psalmbok försetts med en enkel siffernotering till ledning för hur melodin skulle spelas på hans psalmodikon - helt enkelt numret på det band i greppbrädan som åstadkommer rätt ton. Dillner traveled around Sweden to demonstrate the instrument and gave 1830 the signature melodies to the Swedish church hymns in which the hymns of 1819 years of prayer book provided with a simple numerical listing for the guidance of the melody was played on his psalmodikon - simply the number of the bands in the fretboard that achieves the right tone. Dillner lär ha sagt att han kunde lära en person utan musikalisk förkunskap att spela psalmodikon på ett par timmar. Dillner reported to have said that he could teach a person without musical prerequisites to play psalmodikon in a few hours.

Instrumentet blev mycket populärt under 1800-talets mitt, både i mindre församlingar och bland kringresande väckelsepredikanter. The instrument became very popular during the mid-1800s, both in smaller congregations and among itinerant revivalists. Ett stort antal koralböcker publicerades med musiken noterade i sifferskrift, anpassade för utförande på psalmodikon. A large number of choral books were published with the music listed in numerical script, adapted for execution on psalmodikon. Flera utgåvor omfattar hela 1820 års koralbok i siffernotering. Several editions covering the entire 1820 year koralbok in the numerical listing.

Several books and manuscripts are listed, published mostly in Stockholm and Gefle between 1830 and 1848 ...

Also a link to Sven H. Gullman: psalmodikon was musikintrumentet in many churches and schools , article in Lysekil Post, 2002

Link here for Google translation ... Psalmodikon was musikintrumentet in many churches and schools
Infört under juli 2002 i Lysekilsposten och Stenungsunds-Posten med Orust-Tjörn/Introduced in July 2002 in Lysekil Post and Stenungsunds-Posten with Orust-Tjörn

Dean Dillner knew of a simple close instrument that was cheap to buy and that would fit both in church and school. Han kallade det psalmodikon. He called it psalmodikon. Det var som instrument en förbättring av monokorden (av grek monos, ensam, och chorde, sträng). It was as instruments improving monokorden (from the Greek monos, alone, and chords, string). Detta bestod av en resonanslåda och på den spänd en tarmsträng, som genom ett flyttbart stall bestämde tonhöjden. This consisted of a sounding board and on the tense a gut string, which through a mobile team decided the pitch. Monokorden, ett slags cittra, hade introducerats i Köpenhamn 1823 i syfte att förbättra sången i skolorna. Monokorden, a kind of zither, was introduced in Copenhagen in 1823 in order to improve the singing in schools. Men instrumentet blev snart populärt också i kyrkliga kretsar. But the instrument soon became popular also in ecclesiastical circles. Dillner tog upp idén som snabbt slog igenom i Sverige. Dillner took up the idea that quickly became popular in Sweden. Med små förändringar kallades instrumentet psalmodikon, ett ord som i dagligt tal också ofta ersattes med notstock, notlåda eller psalmlåda. With small changes called instrument psalmodikon, a word in everyday speech often replaced with notstock, cowhide or hymn box. Det var fortfarande en rektangulär låda som spelades med stråke. It was still a rectangular box that was played with a bow. Strängen kunde vara av metall eller gjord av en tarm. The string could be metallic or made of a gut. Som greppbräda tjänade en smal trälist, fastlimmad på lockets mitt. As fretboard earned a narrow strip of wood, glued to the lid in the middle. Den indelades i ca 30 halvtonsteg genom trappstegsformade nedskärningar. It was divided into about 30 halvtonsteg through step-cuts. Dessa var numrerade med siffror. These were numbered with numbers. ...

Also this, on the music:

From about 1870 began psalmodikon gradually being replaced by the harmonium, but came to be used at a few places for our time. Det finns säkert äldre läsare av denna tidning som själva minns att det användes i skolan. There are certainly older readers of this magazine itself remembers that it was used in the school. Men finns det belägg för att det kom att brukas vid gudstjänster i kyrkan? But there is evidence that it came to be used during services at church? Trots allt var det ett stränginstrument och vi förknippar kyrkorummet med orgelmusik. After all, it was a stringed instrument, and we associate the church with organ music.

Jodå. Oh yes. Johan Dillner skriver själv: John Dillner writes:

" I kyrkan bör sången gå något långsammare, i skolan eller hemma något mindre långsamt." "The church should be the song to go slightly slower, at school or at home slightly less slow."

Han utvecklar det vidare: He develops this further:

"Psalmernas tempo är ej lika för alla. Melodiens eget sinne bestämmer rörelsen. Vissa lofsånger äro eldiga och begära en hastig gång. Andra fordra en stillare rörelse. Begrafningspsalmer fordra vanligen en fördröjd och långsam gång." "Hymns tempo is not the same for everyone. Melodies own mind determines the movement. Some praises are fiery and ask for a fleeting time. Others require a quieter movement. Begrafningspsalmer usually require a delayed and slow time."

Enligt Dillner fick ett psalmodikon en allt behagligare ton, ju längre och mer det nyttjades, och lät, när det var uppspelat, som en god altfiol. According to Dillner got a psalmodikon an ever more pleasing tone, the longer and more the use, and sounded, when there was a break out, like a good viola. Konsten att spela instrumentet var enligt honom lätt och snart lärt. The art of playing the instrument was, according to him easily and quickly learned. På mindre än en halvtimme garanterade han att alla skulle kunna spela vilken psalm som helst. In less than half an hour he guaranteed that everyone could play the hymn at any time. Varför inte låta detta instrument få en ny renässans! Why not let the instrument get a new renaissance! Men tillverkas det i den ursprungliga utförandet? But it made in the original design?

Följande fyra psalmverser ur hans bok är hämtat från 1819 års psalmbok men fortfarande välkända för många. Four hymns from his book is taken from 1819 year book of hymns, but still familiar to many. Siffrorna framför varje ord har sin motsvarighet i instrumentets trälist, där varje skåra har motsvarande nummer. The numbers above each word has its counterpart in the instrument's wooden strip, where each slot has a corresponding number.

It is followed by four hymns in sifferskrift, Nos. 204 and 74 (with parts of 205 and 75 at the bottom of the respective pages).

Separate link to article "Psalmodikon var musikintrumentet i många kyrkor och skolor
Infört under juli 2002 i Lysekilsposten och Stenungsunds-Posten med Orust-Tjörn" at
http://svenhgullman.nu/oevrigt/psalmodikon1.htm

Music Encyclopedia article by Philip Bate at http://www.operas.com.ar/Music-Encyclopedia/67304/Psalmodikon.htm has this:

In its earliest form the psalmodikon consisted of a flat, rather shallow soundbox, in plan a tall trapezium (or occasionally a rectangle), with a single (bowed) string of gut supported by a nut at each end and passing over a bridge. Beneath and parallel to this string was a strip or ‘rule’ of wood transversely ridged to form frets, with the stopping positions marked by letters (see illustration). Thus the player could follow a printed cue-sheet instead of formal music notation. There were also a number of wire drone strings which passed over sections of the bridge that were cut lower so as not to impede free bowing. In some early instruments further clearance was provided by cutting the soundboard away in a concave ‘bout’ on the near side of the bridge. Additionally the more sophisticated examples were provided with several alternative rules differently marked so that the instrument could be played in several keys.

The presence of a bowed string associated with a fretted and lettered fingerboard recalls John Playford´s 17th-century Psalterer (though there is no evidence that either Dillner or Roverud had any knowledge of Playford’s work). Both instruments were designed expressly to support choral singing in lieu of an organ or other skilled instrumental accompaniment.

Psalmodikon. The psalmodikon enjoyed great popularity in Norwegian and particularly Swedish schools until about 1860; it was also used by Scandinavian immigrants, for instance in the USA, where it is reported until about 1900. It appeared in a number of different versions, some with as many as four bowed strings, and with a variable number of drones. Such instruments were professionally made, but certain museum collections have examples of rustic copies of varying sophistication. Probably the most singular of these is one colloquially called notstok, in which the body was boat-shaped (sometimes not even hollowed out) while the fingerboard resembled a long handle passing through it. A keyed psalmodikon was also known at one time: all forms of the instrument, however, except perhaps the rural ones, seem to have gone out of use with the introduction of the harmonium in Scandinavian schools.

New Salem: Reading shape notes, "Amazing Grace," and lining out hymns at Rock Creek campground w/ UPDATE

2012-01-30T23:16:00.040-06:00

UPDATE: The Smithsonian Institution published a 16-page "Shape-Note Singing Lesson" in October 2000 as part of the Smithsonian in Your Classroom series. It is available on line as a PDF file. Designed for use by elementary school teachers and incorporating learning standards for grades 3-8, it is also entirely suitable for adults who want to learn the music.

At this month's workshop on music appropriate to our period at Lincoln's New Salem State Historic Site, we'll take up two songs - both in Ionian or DAA tuning - and learn a little bit about the way people in New Salem would have sung religious music.

The first song is The Devil's Nine Questions. You can hear it on YouTube, in an audio file with still pictures, as performed on "American Songs of Revolutionary Times & the Civil War Era" - an LP featuring songs by Jean Ritchie and Paul Clayton, and storytelling by folklorist Richard Chase. There are several video clips of a slightly different version (which matches the one in Ralph Lee Smith's "Tunes and Tales of the Wilderness Road," by the way, for those of you who have Ralph's book.

Most of the songs that we know were sung at New Salem, or west central Illinois, during our period are religious. And many of them are in The Online Southern Harmony - it's an 1835 shape-note hymn book (updated in 1853 and republished in facsimile several years ago by the University Press of Kentucky) and a wonderful source of music from our period, in the Online Southern Harmony on the Christian Classics Ethereal Library website. I'll link you to a directory of songs in the Southern Harmony, with links below to a recording of some of the more popular pieces at the "Big Singing" several years ago in Benton, Ky. The CCEL website also has the introduction to the UK edition by Harry Eskew, a scholar on shape-note hymnody who comes to it from the perspective of singing in the tradition.

Songs in Southern Harmony with specific ties to New Salem, camp meetings and churches in Menard County, Abraham Lincoln's family, the Rev. Peter Cartwright and/or singing schools in the Sangamon River country include Old Hundred (22t), Idumea (32t), The Promised Land (51), Green Fields (71), Legacy (73), Pisgah (80), Romish Lady (82), The Saint's Delight (104), Hail Columbia (141), Bound for Canaan (193t), The Morning Trumpet (195t), The Saints Bound for Heaven (258), Plenary (262), Hebrew Children (266) and Coronation (299). I'll bring copies of Old Hundred with the words to Ralph Waldo Emerson's "Concord Hymn" that I made for the Fourth of July at New Salem a couple of years ago. It's the poem we all memorized in junior high school that begins "By the rude bridge that arched the flood, / Their flag of April's breeze unfurled," and Emerson wrote it for the dedication of a monment to the Battle of Concord in 1836. So it fits our period.

Reading shape notes couldn't be any easier. Here are the shapes (reproduced with permission of Ottawa Shape Note Chorus) at http://ottawashapenote.org/

And here are the corresponding positions on the fretboard. "Fa" (the tonic) is on the third fret

Southern Harmony also has the original version of New Britain, or "Amazing Grace" ... audio and video clips of several versions are linked or embedded below. In recent years, "Amazing Grace" has suffered from any number of sweetened-up, New Age-y arrangements, and the melody has lost some of its original character from the Anglo-Celtic oral tradition.

But in the 1960s Mrs. Edd Presnell played "Amazing Grace" the old way on one of her husband's dulcimers for an LP called Instrumental Music of the Southern Appalachians. Her version of the melody is the same as in Southern Harmony, and she plays the dulcimer as it used to be played before the folk revival. The CD is a classic recording, collected in North Carolina and Virginia, and it's available for download at Amazon.com. There are 30-second audio clips, but you may want to get the whole album. It has fiddle, guitar and banjo versions of a lot of the songs we can play at New Salem, like "Cripple Creek," "Soldier's Joy," "Pretty Polly" and "Sourwood Mountain," including Maddie Presnell's dulcimer versions of "Shady Grove" and "Sally Goodin," both of which also fit our period at New Salem.

A shape-note version of Amazing Grace" (New Britain) at a traditional Sacred Harp singing convention in Holly Springs, Ga., in 1982. Notice how they sing the fa-sol-la shapes before moving on to the lyrics.

Lining out is a very old tradition in singing religious music. It dates back to the 1640s in England, when hymnals were scarce, and it was just about universal during the 1830s. (See below for details on Rock Creek campground.) The video clip embedded here is from a recent Primitive Baptist church meeting in Kentucky. The hand-shaking is a ritual at the close of worship services sometimes known as extending the "right hand of fellowship." Primitive Baptists, who choose that name because they wish to recreate the spirit of the primitive Christian church of the first century, are deeply conservative; often they cherish "lining out" as part of their unique religious heritage, even if it's not practiced now as much as it used to be. So lined-out hymnody continues to be a living spiritual tradition. When I demonstrate it in talks and performances at living history sites, I always try to keep that in mind.

The singing in religious services at New Salem would have sounded a lot like that in the YouTube clip. Writing in the 1920s, old settler Alice Keach Bone described the singing at Rock Creek campground like this:

Prominent among the preachers on the platform was Rev. John
M. Berry. He would give out the hymn, read it, line it, and, in
a strong voice, lead the singing himself, the people joining in
one after another.

'On Jordan's stormy banks I stand,' and 'How firm a foundation,
ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in His excellent
word' were favorites. These were frequently followed by
'There is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Emmanuel's veins;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains.'
Then came an earnest, heartfelt prayer and, sometimes, another
song. After this he announced the text and began to preach. He
did not time his sermons, neither did the people turn uneasy glances
toward their camps. (Bone 31-32)

When Rev. Berry (whose son was Abraham Lincoln's parnter in what we call the Berry-Lincoln stores) "lined" the hymn, he would have chanted in the same manner as a Primitive Baptist elder in our day. There's more about Rock Creek, Rev. Berry and lined-out hymn singing in my paper on the subject, "American Folk Hymnody in Illinois, 1800-1850." While my focus was wider, the paper relies heavily on county histories and other old settlers' accounts from the vicinity of New Salem and Menard County. There's an exhaustive (exhausting?) discussion of the background of lined-out hymnody, too, and a list of 109 works cited in the bibliography.

Drømde mig en drøm i nat

2012-01-27T14:24:00.017-06:00

According to Wikipedia, "Drømde mig en drøm i nat is the oldest known secular song in the Nordic countries, written around 1300. It is written in Old Danish and is included in Codex Runicus, a transcript of Scanian Law where it forms a final note. Like the law itself, it is written in runes, and the tune is written on two simple staves in an early form of musical notation."

At the Faculty House, Columbia University, Jun 19, 2011, Beowulf Consort. Hanne Ladefoged-Dollase, contralto; Frank Foerster, viola; José Luis Rodriguez, harp; Lawrence Zoernig, cello

At Lindholm Høje Viking Festival, June 2010, Krauaka, Aksel Striim, bowed lyre, shawm, flutes & vocal; Gudjon Rudolf, leadvocal, jew's harp & percussion; Jens Villy Pedersen, lyre, percussion, flutes & vocal; Søren Zederkof, bass. http://www.krauka.dk/krauka.dk/HOME.html

Skyn, Wynde and Wyre [of the Society for Creative Anachronism in Hershey, Pa.] performs at the Vinland Games in the Shire-Marche of Blak Rose on May 8, A.S. XLV (2010 A.D.) Skyn, Wynde and Wyre is an inter-shire music group in the south western corner of the Kingdom of the East. The original piece is monophonic. The arrangement is by Doña Sol la Cantor.

Gjøvik Spelmannslag and Nordic Harp Meeting - langeleik, kantele and various Scandinavian harps

2012-01-26T17:47:00.009-06:00

Gjøvik Spelmannslag in Norway has a langeleik group. The town is north of Oslo on Lake Mjøsa. According to the group's website:

Gjøvik Spelmannslag er et allsidig lag med egen fele-, langleik-, torader- og bygge-gruppe. I tillegg kan vi presentere en rekke eldre instrumenttyper som norske harper, lyre, strykelyre, sekkepipe og diverse fløyter. Mange av instrumentene vi bruker er bygget av vår egen instrumentbygger-gruppe som har innredet et flott verksted, der det holdes årlige kurs i instrumentbygging.

Hosted the 3rd Nordic Harp Meeting in Gjøvik, in 2010. Here they are, playing a reinlender on YouTube:

Langeleikmøte på Gjøvik april 2011
Langeleikmeeting in Gjøvik april 2011
The Nordic Harp Meeting is an interest group (see below) of people who play Scandinavian, Finnish and Icelandic harps and folk zithers, including the Swedish psalmodikon group.

Nordic Harp Meeting home page at http://www.nordic-harp-meeting.se/ ... navigate by clicking on links to the left of the page ... describes the group like this:

Nordisk harpetræf - pohjoismainen harpunsukuisten soittimien kokoontuminen - Nordic gathering of musicians who play harp, lyre, kantele, langeleik and related plucked string. ...
The Nordic Harp Meeting is a gathering of musicians who play, build or simply like the harp, lyre, kantele and related instruments and who have a particular interest in music from the Nordic countries. We meet to get acquainted with each other, learn and teach tunes and play together. Everybody is welcome, no matter if you are advanced harper or beginner, professional musician or just curious! The purpose is to actively share our interests in plucked string instruments and music.

The Nordic Harp Meeting 2011 is made possible by financial support from the Nordic Culture Fund and Gjøvik spelmannslag. It will be arranged in cooperation with Broby Gamle Skole (Denmark), Gjøvik spelmannslag (Norway), Malmös medeltidsförening Torsheim (Sweden), Musikkulturföreningen Kantele- och Kalevala Vänner (Sweden), Nordiska psalmodikonförbundet (Sweden), Finnish Harpist Society (Finland), and Teater Kontur (Sweden).

More details, and music on the "Allspiel" page; click on "Allspel" on left and page will launch ...

The "allspel" is literally translated as "all play": all participants are invited on the stage or in the central place to play some tunes together. The tunes are taken from the common repertoire and can be downloaded here. All tunes are traditional and in public domain.
The allspel is usually led by somebody who knows the tune and makes sure that everybody starts in the same key and at the same time. For example, Maja Lillian Marcussen from Norway might lead the historical tunes Drømte mig en drøm (Denmark), Völuspá tune (Iceland) and Olav's sequence [music for all three].

Music from Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Iceland.

The 2011 programme has more information. There is also a year-long aevents schedulecurrently updated through the fall of 2011. The group has had meetings in Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark so far. Nothing posted yet for 2012.

Op-ed piece on Porgy and Bess, stage history in New York Times

2012-01-21T21:08:00.005-06:00

By op-ed columnist Joe Nocera on the Times' website today, a good brief summary of different productions and changing racial attitudes of the years.

Including this, quoting Jack O’Brien, director of the Houston Grand Opera revival of the original uncut opera version of Porgy and Bess in 1976:

After its 1976 run in Houston, the opera played in Washington, on its way to New York. Todd Duncan, Gershwin’s original Porgy, saw it there. Forty years earlier, Mr. Duncan had refused to sing “Porgy and Bess” in Washington unless the theater where it was being performed was desegregated. (It was, but only temporarily.) When he went backstage to shake the latest Porgy’s hand, he could only marvel at what he had seen. “It’s so black!” he told Mr. [Donnie Ray] Albert [who played Porgy in the Houston production].

Mr. O’Brien says that he doesn’t think of “Porgy and Bess” as African-American music. “It’s American music,” he said — and really, who can disagree? The blues and spirituals that make up the core of “Porgy and Bess,” written by a white Jewish composer and originating in the African-American community, is music we all embrace. It is part of America’s heritage and a source of American pride. It is unlikely that will ever change, for which we should be thankful.

Dan Lundberg:"Swedish folk Music - from village greens to concert platforms" [excerpt]

2012-01-20T13:50:00.004-06:00

Dan Lundberg, Director of Svenskt visarkiv (Centre for Swedish Folk Music and Jazz Research) and a professor in music and cultural diversity, in "Swedish folk Music - from village greens to concert platforms" on the Svenskt visarkiv website at http://www.visarkiv.se/online/swedish_folkmusic.htm:

Festivalisation, concerts and medialisation are all parts of a process where the boundaries between musical genres and categories of musicians become harder and harder to distinguish. Maybe in the not too distant future we will be forced to discard the labels “folk music” and “popular music”, which are already problematical. When what we today call folk music focuses less and less on reproduction and more and more on innovation, then it would seem that we have returned to the order which existed before the term folk music was first introduced at the end of the eighteenth century. Perhaps it is time to dispense with Johann Gottfried von Herder’s prefix folk and simply talk about music.

Gärdebylåten - a Swedish gangar (and it's in D no less!)

2012-01-20T13:17:00.005-06:00

Gärdebylåten med Flemming Fiol
Swedish tune played at a bar in Denmark. Posted by PikaBanditKat on YouTube: Fiol spiller på Kupeen i Nørre Åby [Nørre Aaby, a small town on Funen island in Denmark]. Flemming Fiol is stage name for Flemming Pedersen, a session player from Denmark. Description in Google translation

This background on the tune from Dan Lundberg's "Swedish folk Music - from village greens to concert platforms" on the Svenskt Arkiv website of Stockholm:

With the development of spelmanslag (fiddlers’ groups) during the 1940s, a new type of organised folk music emerged.

The most influential trend-setter was the Rättviks Spelmanslag whose signature tune, Gärdebylåten (The Gärdeby Tune) , became Sweden’s first folk music hit, thanks to the mass media. Through radio broadcasts and gramophone recordings Gärdebylåten became something of a national plague towards the end of the 1940s.

Roselil og hendes moder

2012-01-19T17:52:00.002-06:00

Roselil og hendes moder
Folkemelodi, dansk

Text (1845) by Christian Knud Frederik Molbech 1821-1888

Text on www.danskesange.dk website. Very nice mp3 file by Martin Hagerup, swings it more than I'm used to hearing in Scandinavian folk songs.

Melody in abc file in G and an abc file in A

Piano arrangement by Erling Jan Sørensen on YouTube

Roselil' og hendes moder de sad over bord,
Roselil' og hendes moder de sad over bord,
de taled så mangt et skæmtens ord.

Ha, ha, ha! Så, så, så, så!
Ha, ha, ha! Så, så, så, så!
De taled så mangt et skæmtens ord.

[five more verses]

Jeg løfter opp til Gud min sang

2012-01-18T16:41:00.008-06:00

Heard on Kirsten Flagstad's double CD of Norwegian hymns ...

Jeg løfter opp til Gud min sang NoS 014

A very interesting organ, piano and band arrangement by Iver Kleive on Kyrie (1994), mp3 download of the CD available from Amazon.com ...

Choral version on Nettkirken - Sjømannskirken | Den norske kirke - at https://www.nettkirken.no/23110 (scroll down on No. 10)

Fremført av Bergen Domkantori under ledelse av Magnar Mangersnes. Orgel: Tor Grønn.

Also on Nettkirken website:

Av dypets nød jeg må rope (Luther) -
Deg å få skode er sæla å nå (Be Thou My Vision - T: Irsk tekst frå 700-t/Til engelsk ved Mary Byrne 1905 og Eleanor Hull 1912; O: Arve Brunvoll 1978; M: Irsk folketone)
Den store hvite flokk å se (Brorson - Heddal folketone, sounds like Grieg's arrangement)
Du Far og Herre, du som rår (Text J.G. Whittier 1872, 1884; Oversett: Arve Brunvoll 1978; M: C. H. H. Parry)
Du Ord frå alle æver (T: Arve Brunvoll 1978; M: William H. Ferguson 1919)
Gjør døren høy, gjør porten vid (T: Georg Weissel 1642; O: N. J. Holm 1829/M. B. Landstad 1861; M: Louis Bourgeois, Genève 1551 [Old Hundred])
Guds kirkes grunnvoll ene (The Church's One Foundation)
Herre Gud, ditt dyre navn og ære (Peter Dass 1698; Norsk folketone (Romedal)
Ingen er så trygg i fare (Chldren of the Heavenly Father)
Jeg løfter opp til Gud min sang
Kjærlighet er lysets kilde (T: N. F. S. Grundtvig 1853; M: Ludvig M. Lindeman 1862)
Kjærlighet fra Gud (T: J. N. L. Schjørring 1854; M: H. S. Thompson omkr 1840)
Med Jesus vil eg fara (T: Elias Blix 1875; M: Antwerpen 1540/Norsk folketone [Sunnmøre])
Nærmere deg, min Gud (Nearer My God to Thee)
Nå rinner solen opp (T: Thomas Kingo 1674; M: H. O. C. Zinck 1796)
Nå skrider dagen under (T: Vektervers 1683; Tr: W. A. Wexels 1840; M: Norsk folketone [vektersang])
Om alle mine lemmer (T: Petter Dass omkr 1704/Morten Eskesen 1881
M: Sigvald Tveit 1982)
Tårnhøye bølger går (T: John M. Neale 1862, etter Anatholios 800-t; O: Dagfinn Zwilgmeyer 1958, 1967; M: Egil Hovland 1972)

Misc. notes on creolization

2012-01-15T18:48:00.006-06:00

Pour l'écrivain Edouard Glissant, la créolisation du monde est "irréversible"
LEMONDE.FR | 03.02.11 | 19h19 • Mis à jour le 04.02.11 | 09h53

Le Monde republished interview with Glissant on his death in 2011 ...

Le grand écrivain antillais Edouard Glissant est mort le 3 février, à Paris, à l'âge de 82 ans. Poète, romancier, essayiste, auteur dramatique et penseur de la "créolisation", il était né à Sainte-Marie (Martinique) le 21 septembre 1928 et avait suivi des études de philosophie et d'ethnologie, à Paris.

Nous republions ici l'intégralité de l'entretien qu'il avait accordé au Monde 2, en 2005. Il venait alors d’achever son dernier ouvrage “La Cohée du lamentin” (Gallimard).

Qu'entendez-vous par la nécessité de développer une "pensée du tremblement", à laquelle vous consacrez votre prochain livre ? Selon vous, seule une telle pensée permet de comprendre et de vivre dans notre monde chaotique et cosmopolite ?

Edouard Glissant : Nous vivons dans un bouleversement perpétuel où les civilisations s'entrecroisent, des pans entiers de culture basculent et s'entremêlent, où ceux qui s'effraient du métissage deviennent des extrémistes. C'est ce que j'appelle le "chaos-monde". On ne peut pas diriger le moment d'avant, pour atteindre le moment d'après. Les certitudes du rationalisme n'opèrent plus, la pensée dialectique a échoué, le pragmatisme ne suffit plus, les vieilles pensées de systèmes ne peuvent comprendre le chaos-monde.

Même la science classique a échoué à penser l'instabilité fondamentale des univers physiques et biologiques, encore moins du monde économique, comme l'a montré le prix Nobel de chimie Ilya Prigogine. Je crois que seules des pensées incertaines de leur puissance, des pensées du tremblement où jouent la peur, l'irrésolu, la crainte, le doute, l'ambiguïté saisissent mieux les bouleversements en cours. Des pensées métisses, des pensées ouvertes, des pensées créoles.

Pourriez-vous donner une définition de la "créolisation" ?
L'apparition de langages de rue créolisés chez les gosses de Rio de Janeiro, de Mexico, ou dans la banlieue parisienne, ou chez les gangs de Los Angeles. C'est universel. Il faudrait recenser tous les créoles des banlieues métissées. C'est absolument extraordinaire d'inventivité et de rapidité. Ce ne sont pas tous des langages qui durent, mais ils laissent des traces dans la sensibilité des communautés.

Même histoire en musique. Si on va dans les Amériques, la musique de jazz est un inattendu créolisé. Il était totalement imprévisible qu'en 40 ou 50 ans, des populations réduites à l'état de bêtes, traquées jusqu'à la guerre de cessetion, qu'on pendait et brûlait vives aient eu le talent de créer des musiques joyeuses, métaphysiques, nouvelles, universelles comme le blues, le jazz et tout ce qui a suivi. C'est un inattendu extraordinaire. Beaucoup de musiques caribéennes, ou antillaises comme le merengue, viennent d'un entremêlement de la musique de quadrille européenne et des fondamentaux africains, les percussions, les chants de transe. Quant aux langues créoles de la Caraïbe, elles sont nées de manière tout à fait inattendue, forgée entre maîtres et esclaves, au cœur des plantations.

La créolisation, c'est un métissage d'arts, ou de langages qui produit de l'inattendu. C'est une façon de se transformer de façon continue sans se perdre. C'est un espace où la dispersion permet de se rassembler, où les chocs de culture, la disharmonie, le désordre, l'interférence deviennent créateurs. C'est la création d'une culture ouverte et inextricable, qui bouscule l'uniformisation par les grandes centrales médiatiques et artistiques. Elle se fait dans tous les domaines, musiques, arts plastiques, littérature, cinéma, cuisine, à une allure vertigineuse…

Selon vous, l'Europe se créolise. Vous n'allez pas faire plaisir au courant souverainiste français…
Oui, l'Europe se créolise. Elle devient un archipel. Elle possède plusieurs langues et littératures très riches, qui s'influencent et s'interpénètrent, tous les étudiants les apprennent, en possèdent plusieurs, et pas seulement l'anglais. Et puis l'Europe abrite plusieurs sortes d'îles régionales, de plus en plus vivantes, de plus en plus présentes au monde, comme l'île catalane, ou basque, ou même bretonne. Sans compter la présence de populations venues d'Afrique, du Maghreb, des Caraïbes, chacune riche de cultures centenaires ou millénaires, certaines se refermant sur elles-mêmes, d'autre se créolisant à toute allure comme les jeunes Beurs des banlieues ou les Antillais. Cette présence d'espaces insulaires dans un archipel qui serait l'Europe rend les notions de frontières intra-européennes de plus en plus floues. * * *

Click here for translation by Google

* * *

Marc Chemillier, "Jazz, Africa and creolization: about Herbie Hancock. Interview with French Jazzman Bernard Lubat." Full version in French published in Les Cahiers du jazz, n° 5, 2008, pp. 18-50 (Éditions Outre-Mesure). http://ehess.modelisationsavoirs.fr/lubat/creolisation/

The purpose of this article is to analyze examples of traditional African music and to discuss with jazz musician Bernard Lubat (pianist and drummer who played with Stan Getz) whether or not one could imagine a cross-fertilization of jazz with this music. We shall also analyze recordings by jazz pianist Herbie Hancock presenting various kinds of fusion music including recycling of traditional African repertoires and we shall study what kind of meeting of jazz and Africa is actually realized in these recordings. According to the aesthetic of Bernard Lubat, these different kinds of meetings will be critized in relation to the concept of "creolization" of poet and philosopher Edouard Glissant. Here are a few statements by Glissant about creolization (available online):
The Caribbean is the exemplary model of interbreeding: "Take the example of West Indian music in which new rhythms are being born of the interaction with Africa and the United States. We are at the present time witnessing the "archipelagoization" of the Caribbean, which is exemplary and is moving in the direction of creolization. But the entire world is being creolized today."
Creolization, which implies no domination, is the way to protect us from globalization: "Globalization is universality achieved through the lowest common denominator, through homogenization, through standardisation. It is the screen behind which new oppressions and dominations hide".
Creolization is related to the impossibility of predicting and governing the world: "We now have to get used to the idea that we can live in the world without having the ambition to predict it or dictate to it. We should also get accustomed to the idea that our identity is going to change profoundly on contact with the Other as his will on contact with us, without either of them losing their essential nature or being diluted in a multicultural magma. "
[A native of Martinique, Glissant is teaching French Literature at the City University of New-York]

* * *

Thomas Hylland Eriksen [University of Oslo], 2007. "Creolisation in anthropological theory and in Mauritius." In Creolization: History, Ethnography, Theory edited by Charles Stewart (Left Coast Press 2007). http://folk.uio.no/geirthe/Creolisation.html

very interesting, nuanced discussion of linguistic, anthropological language ... Eriksen argues for broader definition

“Creolization,” as the term is used by some anthropologists, is an
analogy taken from linguistics. This discipline in turn took the term from
a particular aspect of colonialism, namely the uprooting and displacement
of large numbers of people in colonial plantation economies. Both in the
Caribbean basin and in the Indian Ocean, certain (or all) groups who
contributed to this economy during slavery were described as creoles.
Originally, a criollo meant a Spaniard born in the New World (as opposed
to peninsulares); today, a similar usage is current in La Réunion, where
everybody born in the island, regardless of skin color, is seen as créole,
as opposed to the zoréoles who were born in metropolitan France. In
Trinidad, the term “creole” is sometimes used to designate all Trinidadians
except those of Asian origin. In Suriname, a creole is a person of African
origin, whereas in neighboring French Guyana a creole is someone who
has adopted a European way of life. In spite of the differences, there are
resemblances between the conceptualizations of the creole. Creoles are
uprooted, they belong to a New World, and are contrasted with that
which is old, deep, and rooted.

A question often posed by people unfamiliar with these variations is
“What is really a Creole?” They may have encountered the term in connection
with food or architecture from Louisiana, languages in the Caribbean,
or people in the Indian Ocean. The standard response is that whereas
vernacular uses of the term “creole” vary, there exist accurate definitions
of creole languages in linguistics and of cultural creolization in anthropology.
There are nevertheless similarities, although there is no one-toone
relationship, between the ethnic groups described locally (emically)
as creoles and the phenomena classified as creole or creolised in the
academic literature. ...

* * *

... The incorporation of Country & Western music into the standard cultural repertoire of rural southern Norway can accordingly be described as a process of creolization, just as the complex cultural dynamics, involving interaction among various groups of Europeans, Asians, Africans, and Native-Americans, leading to the emergence of a distinctive Caribbean cultural intersystem during and after slavery. ... (19)

Raymond Hickey. 1997. "Arguments for creolisation in Irish English." http://www.uni-due.de/~lan300/19_Arguments_for_Creolisation_in_Irish_English_(Hickey).pdf

JSTOR has "The World in Creolisation" by Ulf Hannerz, Africa: Journal of the International African Institute Vol. 57, No. 4, Sierra Leone, 1787-1987 (1987), pp. 546-559 (article consists of 14 pages) http://www.jstor.org/pss/1159899

Anchorage Daily News video, radio talk show on KXMT-FM of Kodiak on "Starring" and Russian Orthodox Christmas

2012-01-10T10:36:00.005-06:00

Russian Orthodox Christmas Starring from anchoragedailynews on Vimeo.

KXMT public radio of Kodiak aired a 30-minute segment "Talk of the Rock: The Russian Church in Alaska" hosted Jan. 3 by Jennifer Canfield of KMXT. "On today's show we'll be discussing Russian Christmas and New Year, the history of the church in Kodiak and what it means to be a part of the church. Our guests today are Father Paisius and Father Michael from St. Innocent's, Katie Oliver from the Baranov Museum and Sven Haakanson from the Alutiiq Museum." Singers from St. Innocent's Academy and Saint Herman Seminary singers at 21:15. Yup'ik troparion and carolers' songs. "Skania" (phon.) at 25:10.

Oops! Double-blind test shows concert musicians can't tell the difference between a Stradivarius and a modern violin

2012-01-02T17:54:00.006-06:00

Say it ain't so, Joe!

According to a story on the Guardian.co.uk website today, a double--blind study indicates that musicians prefer modern violins to 17th-century instruments valued at more than a million dollars. While the sample is small, the study appeared in a reputable journal, The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and it replicates other studies.

Ian Sample of The Guardian sums up the study like this:

... it appears that concert violinists cannot tell from the sound alone whether they are playing a 300-year-old Stradivarius or an instrument made last week. And, for playing quality alone, the virtuoso will opt for the modern one when asked which fiddle they would like to take home.

These discordant findings emerge from experiments by Claudia Fritz, a researcher at the University of Paris, at an international violin competition in Indianapolis in 2010. She asked 21 musicians to play six different violins, three modern instruments and three by Italian maestros – one made by Guarneri del Gesu around 1740, and two made in Antonio Stradivari's workshop around 1700.

The Guardian also contacted a luthier, who said the study confirms other findings:

Kai-Thomas Roth, secretary of the British Violin Making Association, said that double blind tests, where neither experimenter nor musician knows which violin is played, had already shown people cannot distinguish a modern violin from a priceless work of art.

"There's some myth-making that helps old instruments," Thomas said. "If you give someone a Stradivari and it doesn't work for them, they'll blame themselves and work hard at it until it works.

"Give them a modern violin, and they'll dismiss the instrument straight away if it doesn't work for them. That's the psychology at work. Modern violins are easily as good, but even a good maker can make an instrument that doesn't work out."

A shameless plug for my presentation to the Sangamon County Historical Society, Jan. 17

2012-01-02T10:30:00.001-06:00

An amateur musician and historical interpreter of Springfield will present a talk on "Roads and Rivers: Minstrels, Waggoners and the Music of the Old Northwest" at a meeting of the Sangamon County Historical Society at 5:30 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 17, at Lincoln Library, Carnegie Room North. A volunteer interpreter at Lincoln's New Salem State Historic Site and guide at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum, Pete Ellertsen will will share 19th-century tunes and accompany himself on the Appalachian dulcimer.

As soon as the first (and last) steamboat made it up the Sangamon River to Springfield in 1832, it was greeted by a parody of a newly popular minstrel show tune. American popular music, like almost everything else in the popular culture of the day, followed the roads and rivers. Ellertsen is author of "'Clar de Steamboat': A Minstrel Show Tune, Springfield's Small-Beer Poets and the Voyage of the Talisman" and other articles on music history in Illinois Heritage and other magazines. He is an adjunct instructor at Benedictine University Springfield.

Prairieland Dulcimers - "Bonaparte's Retreat"

2012-01-01T11:29:00.027-06:00

Thursday night, Jan. 5, we'll take up "Bonaparte's Retreat" at our first Thursday session of the Prairieland Dulcimer Strings (7 to 9 p.m., Atonement Lutheran Church, 2800 West Jefferson on Ill. 97-125 just west of Veterans Parkway). It's one of the grand old fiddle tunes, and it turns up everywhere. You can recognize it in a old gutbucket country-and-western song, a classical orchestra piece and - most important of all for our purposes - a good, rowdy dulcimer jam tune.

But unlike most of the old fiddle tunes, it's not basically a dance tune. Old-time fiddlers would use it to show off their skills - kind of like "Orange Blossom Special" today - and they'd adapt it freely. It's become more standardized in recent years (hasn't everything), and the festival version we usually hear sounds a lot like the country song.

But there are still a lot of variations.

"Bonaparte's Retreat" began as a march. Here, to set the mood, is a version featuring Scottish fiddler Aly Bain, Nashville dobro player Jerry Douglas and several equally talented musicians from the U.K., Ireland and North America.

The YouTube clip isn't identified, but judging by the personnel and production quality, I'd guess it came from a BBC television series called the "Transatlantic Sessions." Personnel:

Aly Bain - Fiddle
Jerry Douglas - Dobro
Danny Thompson - Bass
Tommy Hayes - Percussion
Michael Doucet - Fiddle
Russ barenberg - Guitar
Donald Shaw - piano

More inspiration. Dulcimer and vocal artists Richard and Mimi Farina included "Bonaparte's Retreat" on a medley they titled "Celebration for a Grey Day" that was kind of an anthem for dulcimer players when the instrument was coming down out of the mountains in the 1960s and '70s. I've identified "Frere Jaques," "Old Joe Clark," "Spin and Turn, Jubilee," "Good King Wenceslas," "Yonder Comes Little Maggie" and "Boil 'Em Cabbage Down." The quotations from "Bonaparte's Retreat" begin around 1:08.

What we're used to hearing is actually an old country-and-western song about an even older fiddle tune. Here's a 1953 version featuring Archie Campbell, probably broadcast on WROL-TV in Knoxville, Tenn. It's in three parts, corresponding to the A, B and C parts of the fiddle tune.

The lyrics are by Pee Wee King, who recorded it in the 1940s. They're available - with chords in D, no less! - on the CowboyLyrics.com website. The first verse, beginning "Met the girl I love / In a town 'way down in Dixie ...," corresponds to the A part of the fiddle tune. The chorus, beginning, "So I took her in my arms ...," corresponds to the B part. And the second verse, beginning "All the world was bright ...," corresponds to the C part.

As we'll see, the C&W song simplifies the old fiddle tune considerably. But it's reflected in the way most of us have played it ever since the 1940s. And the way it's gotten into the dulcimer world, too.

Another dulcimer version on YouTube. YouTube user dustyturtle says, "It is based mainly on the guitar/slide guitar rendition by Doc and Merle Watson (which is why the 'B' part is central) and an older rendition by [traditional old-time artist] Johnny Gimble on the fiddle."

Well, the B part is central for another reason, too.

"Bonaparte's Retreat" was one of those tunes that traditional fiddle players would try to dazzle the judges at old-time music competitions. It's a type of program music, like the 19th-century crowd-pleasers that mimicked a fire or a shipwreck or - best of all! - both a fire and a shipwreck. It mimicks, well, the Napoleonic wars. The way I've heard it explained, the high course or A part - the part that begins with "Met the girl I love," - is a battle and the low course or B part - "So I took her in my arms" and so on - is the long, long route march of a Napoleonic army in between battles.

At least that's the story. Apparently, the old-timers would lay on all kinds of fancy ornamentation and pizzicato effects during the battle. Then they go back to a soulful, mellow, hard-driving drone during the B part. (Yep, soulful and hard-driving at the same time. That's the artistry of old-time Appalachian music.)

They'd play the whole thing in an open D tuning, too, and double-stop it - play two strings at once - to bring out the drones and give them that rich, mellow, lonesome sound that makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck.

"Bonaparte's Retreat" is an old Irish march, and there's lots more to know about it. Andrew Kuntz' Fiddler's Companion has too much information to copy all of it here, and it's too good to ignore. So go to http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/BOH_BONIN.htm and scroll down for the rest of the story. I'll just bring out a couple of things here that might be helpful to dulcimer players who want to earn the song. Kuntz has this:

BONAPARTE'S RETREAT [1]. AKA – “Napoleon’s Retreat.” Old‑Time, Texas Style; March, Reel. USA; Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, North Carolina, Kentucky, northeast Alabama, Mississippi, southwestern Va., West Virginia, Pennsylvania. D Major (most versions, though one version in A Major was collected from Mississippi fiddler John Hatcher in 1939). DDad (W.H. Stepp, Absie Morrison), EBee (Henry Reed), or DDae tunings. ABB: ABB’CC’BB’ (Beisswenger & McCann). A classic old‑time quasi-programmatic American fiddle piece that is generally played in a slow march tempo at the beginning and becomes increasingly more quick by the end of the tune, meant to denote a retreating army. Versions very widely from region to region, some binary and some with multiple parts. One folklore anecdote regarding this melody has it that the original "Bonaparte's Retreat" was improvised on the bagpipe by a member of a Scots regiment that fought at Waterloo, in remembrance of the occasion. The American collector Ira Ford (1940) (who seemed to manufacture his notions of tune origins from fancy and supposition, or else elaborately embellished snatches of tune-lore) declared the melody to be an "old American traditional novelty, which had its origin after the Napoleonic Wars." He notes that some fiddlers (whom he presumably witnessed) produced effects in performance by drumming the strings with the back of the bow and "other manipulations simulating musket fire and the general din of combat. Pizzicato represents the boom of the cannon, while the movement beginning with Allegro is played with a continuous bow, to imitate bagpipes or fife." The programmatic associations of many older fiddlers are also wide-spread. Arkansas fiddler Absie Morrison (1876-1964) maintained the melody had French and bagpipe connotations (as told to Judith McCulloh—see “Uncle Absie Morrison’s Historical Tunes”, Mid-America Folklore 3, Winter 1975, pgs. 95-104)…”Now that’s bagpipe music on the fiddle…That was when (Bonaparte) had to give back, had to give up the battle…This in what’s called minor key, now … It’s French music.”

And this story from Kentucky (following a story of a Civil War execution of bushwhackers by Confederate Home Guard in the mountains of western North Carolina). The Kentucky story, along with the tune's widespread in Irish oral tradition, puts it squarely in our period at New Salem, by the way. Here are the details:

The Kentucky Encyclopedia gives another story which mentions “Bonaparte’s Retreat” in connection with an execution. It seems that a Colonel Solomon P. Sharp, a former attorney general of Kentucky, was murdered in the middle of a September night in 1825 by an unidentified assailant who stabbed him in his chest. Sharp had political enemies, all of whom had alibis, but who had circulated rumors that he had seduced one Ann Cook of Bowling Green, fathering her illegitimate child in 1820. Suspicion soon shifted to Ann’s husband, Jereboam Beauchamp, who married her after the birth of the supposed love-child but who was infuriated at the circulating handbills containing the rumor. Beauchamp was dully arrested, tried in Frankfort in May, 1826, found guilty and was sentenced to death by hanging. Ann could not bear to be parted from him and somehow gained permission from the jailer to stay with him in his jail cell. The couple tried unsuccessfully to commit suicide by taking an overdose of laudanum, but were still permitted to share the cell. Another suicide attempt with a smuggled knife was made on the day of the execution, with somewhat better results. Ann, mortally wounded, was taken to the jailers house for treatment, but Beauchamp was hustled to the gallows lest he die from his wounds before the sentence was carried out. He proved too weak from his wounds to stand and had to be supported, but he was presumably able to hear the strains of “Bonaparte’s Retreat” played before he made the leap, as he had previously requested. Ann and Jereboam were buried in a joint grave in Bloomfield, Kenctucky, graced by a tombstone engraved with an eight-stanza poem written by Ann.

Even before Pee Wee King and Archie Campbell got ahold of it, "Bonaparte's Retreat" turned up in a classical composition by Aaron Copland in an orchestral suite called Rodeo. Says Kuntz:

[A traditional] Kentucky fiddler, William H. Stepp (of Leakeville, Magoffin County, whose name, Kerry Blech points out, is sometimes erroneously given as W.M. Stepp, from a misreading of the old abbreviation Wm., for William), appears to be the source (through his 1937 Library of Congress field recording) for many revival fiddlers' versions. Stepp’s version of the tune was transcribed by Ruth Crawford Seegar and was included in John and Alan Lomax’s volume Our Singing Country (1941). The Crawford/Seegar version has been credited as the source Aaron Copland adapted for a main theme in his orchestral suite “Hoedown.” {Lynn “Chirps” Smith says he has even heard people refer to the tune as “Copland’s Fancy” in recent times!}. North Georgia fiddler A.A. Gray (1881-1939) won third place honors playing the tune at the 1920 (10th) Annual Georgia Old Time Fiddler's Association state contest in Atlanta, and four years later recorded it as a solo fiddle tune for OKeh Records (the earliest sound recording of the tune). Other early recordings were by Gid Tanner & His Skillet Lickers (1929) and the Arthur Smith Trio (1936).

There's also a very, very informative post by blogger "horus kemwer" on his blog Against the Modern Grain that embeds sound clips of different versions of the song from traditional fiddlers collected by the Library of Congress to 1970s rockers Emerson, Lake and Palmer. His discussion of the fiddle tune is intertwined with the Copland, but it is worth reading:

"As with all fiddle tunes, the essence of the piece is a loose melodic and rhythmic structure, in this case built around a central narrative metaphor," says horusa kemwer. The metaphor, he adds, is "a monotonous march punctuated by bursts of cannon, a trek, hastened and desperate, but also dignified and glorious."

OK, I'd only add monotonous is in the ear of the beholder.

At the top of his post, horus kemwer quotes a passage from Jeff Todd Titon, ethnomusicologist and author of Old Time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes (2001):

"Bonaparte's Retreat" is not a dance tune. Rather, it represents another fiddle tune genre, more poular on the concert stage than anywhere else: a programmatic piece meant to depict an event imitating the action in its sound. . . . Bayard (1944) traces the tune to an Irish march, "The Eagle's Charge," (also known as "The Eagle's Tune") and gives references to printed versions in Irish collections.

horus kemwer's discussion of "Bonaparte's Retreat" picks up where Titon leaves off:

"Bonaparte's Retreat" is an instance of a genre which has largely died out at its origin, but which has remained trapped in Appalachia for a century. As with all fiddle tunes, the essence of the piece is a loose melodic and rhythmic structure, in this case built around a central narrative metaphor.

(I'm going to take a deep breath and pass over that "trapped in Appalachia" stereotype.) The narrative metaphor, of course, is the march followed by the pyrotechnics of battle. horus kemwer discusses and links to YouTube clips of three traditional versions, by William Stepp, Luther Strong and Tommy Jarrell, and Stepp's influence . He says:

Now, despite Titon's comments above, Stepp does indeed perform "Bonaparte's Retreat" in a break-down, or hoe-down style. Nevertheless, to use this particular melody as a representative instance of such a dance demonstrates a profound insensitivity to both the particulars of the style and of this tune.

More striking than this, however, is the fact that Copland's version mimics the melody and rhythm of Stepp's version so precisely. Comparing the two, we find a far stricter melodic and rhythmic similarity than exists between any two of the performances of Stepp, Strong, and [Tommy] Jarrell. In following Stepp's performance so precisely, in fact, Copland has lost the distinction between the tune (its melodic and thematic backbone) and the interpretation of it (the idiosyncrasies of different players which emphasize different strands in the melodic / thematic core).

The three fiddle versions each illustrate a monotonous march punctuated by bursts of cannon, a trek, hastened and desperate, but also dignified and glorious. Stepp's version is more glorious than the others, yet there is still a sense of monotonous march punctuated by desperation and excitement. Stepp layers a frantic and ecstatic veneer onto the incessant flight, the chaotic running, of the underlying melodic structure. Yet Copland, in lifting the literal melody from Stepp's performance, lifts this ecstatic veneer without the underlying desperation. The monotony and rhythm of the march is absent from "Hoe-Down" where the melody, Stepp's idiosyncratic frills and all, is put through the paces of orchestral variation. The lull and swell of dynamics and instrumentation here is not motivated by any particular thematic or aesthetic narrative, but rather exemplifies the standard moves of a large orchestral spectacle.

Here are some YouTube clips of different versions:

Hank Williams (the C&W song)
Clyde Davenport, of rural Kentucky.
Luther Strong, also of rural Kentucky.
Tommy Jarrell, of North Carolina
William H. Stepp recorded by Alan Lomax

Recorded for the Library of Congress 1937, Stepp's is the version of the tune that Copland incorporated in the "Hoedown" section of Rodeo. For the sake of comparison, here's the Artosphere Festival Orchestra at the Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville, Ark, playing it on May 17, 2011:

Samuel Asbury on camp meeting singing in Frank Dobie's Tone the Bell Easy

2012-01-01T11:18:00.005-06:00

Samuel E. Asbury (1872-1962) on camp meetings ... brief bio of Asbury in UNC's Southern Historical Collection. His family was active in camp meetings, as circuit riders, etc.

[p. 169 - cf. “the present abominable Sunday-school stuff, instead of the grand old hymns and the beautiful Old-Time White Camp Meeting Spirituals.”
… fifty years ago, when I was a boy ten years old …]

There was no instrument, not even the tuning fork. Those old-timers held that the Devil came in with the organ and the choir, and God went out. Some brass-lunged relative of mine pitched the tune. If he pitched it in the skies, no matter. The men singing the leading part with him were as brass-lunged as he. As for the women, they placed an octave over the men’s leading part, singing around high C with perfect unconcern because they didn’t realize their feat. The immediate din was tremendous; at a hundred yards it was beautiful; and at a distance of a half mile it was magnificent. (170)

Samuel E. Asbury and Henry E. Meyer, “Old-Time White Camp-Meeting Spirituals.” Tone the Bell Easy. Ed. Frank Dobie. 1932. Austin: Texas Folklore Society, 1965. UNT Digital Library, University of North Texas. http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc38876/

New Salem: "Pretty Saro" in open Ionian tuning played w/ noter

2011-12-31T16:02:00.011-06:00

We'll meet as usual Saturday, Jan. 7, from 10 a.m. till noon at the Visitors Center, but I'll have to leave a few minutes early to sing at the memorial service for Becky Schildman in Springfield. Becky was an inaterpreter in New Salem historic village and a founding member of the New Salem Shape Note Singers during the 1990s. Link here to her obituary.

We'll learn two tunes in the Ionian tuning Saturday. (See information on modal tunings linked below.) If you have a dulcimer, we'll tune to DAA. If you don't, contact me ahead of time and I can bring a loaner. My email address is peterellertsen - @ - yahoo.com (delete the spaces and hyphens I put in there to discourage spammers).

The first tune will be the version of "Pretty Saro" in Jean Ritchie's Dulcimer Book. It's a great song, well attested in the oral tradition. Ritchie's version, which is under copyright, is lovely. So I'm posting it under fair use since we're involved in an educational venture in the historic village. The YouTube clip below shows the song being played with a noter on the mountain dulcimer.

Pretty Saro (traditional), played by Ginny White, using noter on mountain dulcimer. Place: Johnson County Missouri Historical Society.

I'll bring some noters, BTW.

I found a whole bunch of homemade noters when we were cleaning out the gargage the other day. I like to whittle on them, and I have a lot of extras. So if you find one you like, you can keep it.

The other tune is one we started to learn last month, "The Legacy" from Irish Melodies by by Thomas Moore. John Armstrong, an old-time Menard County fiddle player and son of a New Salem village, called it "Missouri Harmony," and we know it was sung at Rutledge Tavern, but it's available on line in the Southern Harmony, and I'll bring copies with dulcimer fret numbers written above the melody line (the lead or tenor part, the middle line in the three-part harmony of the day). The Southern Harmony version is easier to play with a noter than the piano-and-voice arrangement I handed out last month. And I plan to use it to show you how to play Ionian tunes directly from a shape-note tunebook without fooling around with tablature.

"Ionian" isn't just a fancy word for "major." A lot of the traditional music we play on the dulcimer is modal - i.e. it comes down to us from vocal music that was sung to different scales in medieval and early modern Europe. The scales, or modes, were given Greek names by church musicians of the Renaissance era. Which is why we know them as "Ionian" (major), "Aeolian" (minor) and so on. But the same scales found their way into instrumental music in the British Isles, and they came to America with the old Anglo-Celtic ballads and fiddle tunes.

The best explanation I've found on line is by Colorado dulcimer player Bonnie Carroll, in a webpage titled Modes, Keys, and Tunings. She explains:

A mode is simply a name given to a particular seven-note order of whole and half steps. It is a scale or sequence of notes or sequence of whole and half steps, but it is not a tuning or a key.

The names of the modal scales and the frets at which they begin are:

open -- Mixolydian

1st fret -- Aeolian

2nd -- Locrian

3rd -- Ionian

4th -- Dorian

5th -- Phrygian

6th -- Lydian
The mode of a piece is determined by the notes of that piece as laid out in the linear form called a scale. Further, if you learn at which fret each modal scale begins (the above list), the order of whole and half steps is automatic on the dulcimer due to the location of the frets. Each of the modal scales has a different sound and feel. Let me characterize each one.

The Ionian mode we know as the major scale: Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti, Do. The Mixolydian mode has exactly the same whole and half steps as the Ionian, and therefore sounds the same, until we reach the seventh tone, Ti. It is a half step lower in the Mixolydian scale (Ti flat) than the seventh tone in the Ionian. It is, however, still a major sounding mode. The Lydian is the same as Ionian, except the 4th is a half step higher, another major sounding mode. The Aeolian scale is the same as the natural minor scale. The Dorian has the same notes as Aeolian and sounds minor, except the 6th is a half step higher than the Aeolian 6th. It is sometimes called mountain minor by old time musicians. The Phrygian is a minor sounding mode, and the 2nd tone is lowered a half step from the Aeolian. It is the scale that Flamenco music uses. All of the modes mentioned so far differ from the most common major or minor scale by only one note. That leaves the Locrian mode, a minor sounding mode but with a lowered 5th, which makes it sound most unusual for the structure of our usual western European music.

Remember: This is the clearest discussion I could find on line! For practical purposes, we only deal with three modes on the dulcimer - the Ionian (which Jean Ritchie calls the "do scale"), the Aeolian ("la scale") and the Dorian ("re scale") or "mountain minor."

Bonnie Carroll also has this from a traditional Irish music listserv. You may enjoy it after trying to wade through the discussion above:

Subject: Modes and Human Sexuality

The five original modes were the Androgynous, Bubonic, Carthusian, Derranian, and Eucalyptic. All except the Derranian were quickly abandoned when it was discovered that they required a nine-note scale (although you could get away with eight and a half in the Eucalyptic if you had to). The reason for this anomaly was never made clear, but after an initial flurry of curiosity during the first few months of 43 B.C., no one really seemed too interested in pursuing the matter further. The Greek philosopher Ctesiphon (or "the big C," as his friends used to call him) reportedly wrote a lengthy treatise explaining the whole mess, but most of the scrolls comprising the only extant copy of this work were erased and re-used for a collection of really dirty Corinthian limericks. (i.e. "A daring young girl from Mycenae / Wore naught but a bright purple beanie," etc., etc. - the translation work continues).

(Parentheses in the original.)

Roskilde Passionen i Helligaandshuset på Strøget, optagelser fra langfredag 2011

2011-12-27T23:41:00.006-06:00

A website called Roskildes Musikhistorie has this (in Google translation) account:

Since the early church days have been in the week leading up to Easter entered the Passion as a kind of singing games. Opførelsen var en blanding af soloer og korsang. The building was a mixture of solos and choral singing. Fra Roskilde Domkirke har man bevaret en Johannes-passion fra 1673. From Roskilde Cathedral has preserved a Johannes-Passion from the 1673rd Under ledelse af domkirkens domkantor eller kordegn har udvalgte elever fra Roskilde Katedralskole opført lidelseshistorien, som den beskrives i Johannes evangelium. Under the leadership of the Duomo cathedral precentor and sacristan has selected students from Roskilde Cathedral School listed Passion, as described in John Gospel.

n we as a whole has preserved the old passion play, because it is an opaque, pietistic pastor at the cathedral, H. Jacobsen Buch, who were offended over this relic of Catholic times. Han fattede derfor pennen den 1. He therefore took the pen the first marts 1736 og skrev til kongen via sin foresatte, Sjællands biskop CW Worm, for at foreslå, at denne skik blev erstattet af en opbyggelig prædiken. March 1736 and wrote to the king by his superiors, Bishop of Zealand CW Worm, to suggest that this practice was replaced by an edifying sermon.

Upshot: "Instead of an exciting Singspiel was a boring church sermon of a fellow servant," and this: "And it sent copies of Roskilde passion smoke in the National Archives, so we know it today."

Bibliographic entry w/ library holdings in the U.S. on the WorldCat website: Roskilde-Passionen. Johannespassion efter Dansk tradition; 1673. Udgivet af Samfundet Dansk Kirkesang, 1946. A setting in Danish of the Passion test from St. John's Gospel, for unaccompanied tenor and bass soloists and chorus (STBarB). Columbia, Unaiversity of Arizona and Lutheran Theological Seminary of Philadelphia have it.
Description: 24 p. 29 cm.

Dec., Jan. music workshops at New Salem

2011-12-21T23:44:00.006-06:00

Emailed tonight to the Prairieland Dulcimer Strings electronic mailing list.

Finally! Finals are over, and I have the time to write up this month's period music/mountain dulcimer workshop at New Salem and plan for our next session Saturday, Jan. 7. It's from 10 a.m. to noon in the Visitors Center, and I'm going to send this message to everyone on the Prairieland Dulcimer Strings list in case anybody else wants to join us. There's no charge for the workshops, and all are welcome.

We had five people there Dec. 3 at our first workshop, and I think this year we're off to a better start than ever before. We introduced a song that was sung at Rutledge Tavern, an Irish jig called "The Legacy" with lyrics by the poet Thomas Moore, and we talked about what we want to do in the remaining workshops, January through March.

What we decided on:

-- Playing tips on the mountain dulcimer, both for beginners and for more experienced players who want to learn the old-fashioned, traditional pick-and-noter style.

-- How the music fits into the "Southern upland" culture that early settlers brought to Illinois, plus background on specific songs like "Barbar'y Allen"

-- A written guide to dulcimer history and playing the dulcimer at New Salem, as well as building repertoire, or learning new tunes that are appropriate to the period.

We can do all of those things.

On Jan. 7, I plan to go over the open modal tunings in Jean Ritchie's "Dulcimer Book" and introduce a couple of her tunes in the Ionian, or major, mode: "Pretty Saro" and "Barbr'y Allen." (They're written in C, but we'll play them in D since you can do that easily on a dulcimer.) I also want to do a little more with "The Legacy," and show you how to read shape notes.

It'll take me some time to write a guide - I've been trying to find the time since summer - but in the meantime, here are links to a couple of sources on the internet with background on dulcimer history:

-- Ralph Lee Smith's article "The Appalachian Dulcimer's History: On the Trail of the Mountains' Secrets" in Mel Bay Dulcimer Sessions, July 2003, at http://archive.dulcimersessions.com/jul03/Appalachian.html

-- My article "Drones, Picks and Popsicle Sticks" on the EverythingDulcimer.com website, September 2009, at http://www.everythingdulcimer.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=91%3Adrones-picks-and-popsicle-sticks&catid=30%3Adulcimer-happenings&showall=1

Ralph's article talks about the history of the dulcimer in America, and mine traces it from some of its European ancestors through to the folk revival of the 1960s. It has a lot of quotes on early styles of playing and tuning the dulcimer. And it's a pretty good cure for insomnia, too.

Hope to see you all Jan. 7 at New Salem!

- Pete

How Brightly Shines the Morning Star / Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern, Philipp Nicolai

2011-12-19T17:10:00.008-06:00

Philipp Nicolai, pasor, poet and composer of 16th-century Germany, "published the chorale first in 1599 in his book FrewdenSpiegel deß ewigen Lebens (The Joyous Mirror of Eternal Life) in Frankfurt, together with Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme ("Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern," Wikipedia). A good bio of Nicolai in the English website Hymns and Carols of Christmas. He also wrote the lyrics and music for "Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme." Together, they are sometimes known as the king and queen of chorales.

Bach cantata BWV 1. Thus saith Wikipedia: "Bach wrote the chorale cantata in his second annual cycle for the feast of the Annunciation on 25 March. ... The cantata was chosen by the Bach-Gesellschaft to begin their first publication of Bach's complete works in 1851."

The ChristmasCarolMusic.org website has lead sheet and SATB sheet music harmonized by J.S. Bach

J. S. Bach - chorale from Cantata "Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern", BWV 1 (1/-) St. Thomas' Episcopal School, Houston, Christmas Concert, 2009

Also on YouTube a series of six segments on YouTube of a recording of BWV 1 - Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern by Ton Koopman, conducting the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and Choir, beginning at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5A1O8MjFVzw.

Michael Praetorius has a lovely choral version.
Polyhymnia Caduceatrix et Panegyrica (1619). Musica Fiata, La Capella Ducale, Dir: Roland Wilson. Uploaded by GustavAdolphusRex on Oct. 29, 2010.

(Also available on YouTube is a 17-minute video recorded wild from the audience at a concert in Italy (?) performed by Concerto da EMM- Coro da EMM.)

Congregation singing "Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern" [Wo hell schient us de nee'e Steern] in Plattdeutsch. Gottesdienst am 25. Januar 2009 in der evangelisch-lutherischen St. Petrikirche in Langen bei Bremerhaven.

I trumål - Religiøse folketonar

2011-12-08T23:04:00.001-06:00

I trumål - Religiøse folketonar med Ragnar Vigdal, Asbjørg Ormberg og Sondre Bratland by Ragnar Vigdal; Asbjørg Ormberg; Sondre Bratland (MP3 Download - Nov 29, 2011)

Amazon.com

Ave Maria (Schubert) John Green, baritone - J.J. Sheridan, piano

2011-12-06T20:35:00.001-06:00

Cf. sheet music in C from Musicnotes Inc.

Notes to self - futures - etc. - "Sweet Rivers of Redeeming Love"

2011-12-01T23:27:00.015-06:00

"Sweet Rivers of Redeeming Love" - SH 166
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/walker/harmony/files/hymn/Sweet_Rivers.html
- has mp3 from the Big Singing (down left)

Jackson puts it in his "Roll Jordan" family - similarities with "Oh Susannah," etc.

Tne tune was first written down by WIlliam Moore -

John Adam Granade - early camp meeting revivalist in Middle Tennessee "wild man of Goose Creek" -

YouTube

Sacred Harp - Missouri Convention, St. John's UCC, Pinckney, Mo. in Missouri River bottomland - March 12-13 2011 - Peggy Brayfield filmed, shows front bench tenors beating time "in two" - nice framing shots of the church
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNYahASJmlM

Sweet Rivers - Out Loud: The Colorado Springs Men's Chorus w/ interesting piano backup that captures the dronal sound of traditional shape-note singing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvCNDQdtIxA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvCNDQdtIxA

soprano solo (Jewel Watson) backed by S.C. Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities in Greenville, S.C. - choir - arr. "Sacred Harp: Redeeming Love, Repeated Praise" by Robert J. Powell, organist and composer in Greenville, S.C. - "Sweet Rivers" at 1:15 - search "SCGSAH 13"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49UFbfJqkGY

J.S. Bach - Cantata 194 "Hocherwünschtes Freudenfest"

2011-12-01T13:05:00.001-06:00

J.S. Bach Kantate BWV 194 "Hocherwünschtes Freudenfest" - für den Sonntag Trinitatis - 1.Teil (18:49)

See also post on Thomas Kingo: Hører til, I høje himle May 18, 2011.

Background on chorale melody Freu dich sehr, o meine Seele, from the French psalter of 1551, in Chorale Melodies used in Bach's Vocal Works at http://www.bach-cantatas.com/CM/Freu-dich-sehr.htm bach-cantatas.com

Sheet music of Freu' dich sehr, o meine Seele from Cantata BVW 194 "Hocherwünschtes Freudenfest" http://www.cipoo.net/downloads/scores/BWV194-6.pdf

Off-season period music workshops begin Saturday, Dec. 3, at New Salem

2011-11-29T09:00:00.000-06:00

Blast email sent to members of the Prairieland Dulcimers mailing list with press release enclosed - symbols in my email address are written out in CAPS to discourage spam.

Hi everybody -

It's nearly December already, and Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon we'll have the first of this year's off-season workshops in period music at Lincoln's New Salem State Historic Site. I'm pasting more details below. If you have Jean Ritchie's "Dulcimer Book," please bring it and tune to DAA. (But you don't need a dulcimer!) We'll talk about how and where to find songs in old books, and how to transpose them to "D for dulcimer." And I'll bring in a song by Irish poet/songwriter Thomas Moore that young Abraham Lincoln and the Rutledge kids sang at Rutledge Tavern. It's called "The Legacy," and if you want to hear it there's a very nice solo by Denise Myriam Cannas backed by harp and violin on YouTube at ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fHVVAoVJv4

I don't think it sounded quite like that at Rutledge Tavern, but it's a really nice song.

Hope to see you there Saturday!

- Pete

Period Music Workshops at New Salem
A series of off-season workshops in music appropriate for playing in New Salem’s historic village will begin Saturday, Dec. 3, and continue through the first Saturdays in January, February and March 2012. Volunteer interpreter Pete Ellertsen will coordinate the workshops, to be held from 10 a.m. to noon in the Visitors Center at Lincoln ’s New Salem State Historic Site.

This year’s workshops will focus on tunes and techniques for playing the mountain dulcimer in “Songs and Tunes of the Wilderness Road ” by Ralph Lee Smith and “The Dulcimer Book” by Jean Ritchie. Both books are available from online booksellers, and Smith’s can be ordered on his website at http://www.ralphleesmith.com/ . In addition, we’ll talk about how to find songs appropriate to New Salem in books like Carl Sandburg’s “Songbag,” John Lair’s “Songs Lincoln Loved” and David S. McIntosh’s “Folk Songs and Singing Games of the Illinois Ozarks” and transpose them for the dulcimer in open modal tunings.

You don’t have to play the dulcimer to take part, and singers as well as people who play other instruments have joined the workshops in past years. You don’t even have to be particularly musical! In addition to the songs, we will discuss how to relate musical performance to “Big Picture” core interpretive themes at New Salem and different ways of involving visitors in the music. Weather permitting, workshops will be held Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011; and Saturday, Jan. 7, Feb. 4 and March 3, 2012.

For information, please contact Pete Ellertsen in Springfield at 217-793-2587 or by email at peterellertsen(AT)yahoo(DOT)com.

# # #

Heinrich Schütz, Die Weihnachtshistorien

2011-11-26T20:42:00.000-06:00

Posted by theprof1958 The King's Consort, Robert King director (highlights)

Part 1 (9:24)

Part 2 (9:22)

"Innsbruck, ich muß dich lassen" - notes

2011-11-10T21:58:00.004-06:00

Das a Cappella Ensemble ProNobis of Blensheim in Germany sings "Innsbruck, ich muss dich lassen" von Heinrich Isaac.

Very good profile of Isaac (1445-1517) on Aryeh Oron's Bach Cantatas Website at http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Isaac-Heinrich.htm. "His best known work is probably the lied Innsbruck, ich muss dich lassen, of which he made at least two versions. It is possible, however, that the melody itself is not by Isaac, and only the setting is original. The same melody was later used as the theme for the Lutheran chorale O Welt, ich muß dich lassen, which was the basis of works by J.S. Bach and J. Brahms." It adds, "As if in gratitude, German-speaking musicians of several centuries (particularly the 19th) have cherished him as the composer of Innsbruck, ich muss dich lassen; at the same time, they searched feverishly for the presumed German folksong behind the famous setting." Wikipedia also has a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_Isaac"target="_blank">well-sourced profile of Isaac with links.

Probably a native of Flanders, Isaac sang at the Hapsburg court in Innsbruck early in his career before moving to Italy where his career flourished. Is there an autobiographical echo in the song?

* * *
"Inßbrügg, ick moth dy laten" A very nice folkish arrangment by longtime folk music group Liederjan, of Hamburg, singing in Plattdeutsch [?] backed by guitar -

String quintet arrangement of the Lutheran chorale - Paul Luetkemann [???] O Welt, ich muss dich lassen E21 30.01.2010 Lutherkirche Wunstorf-Luthe

Paul Luetkemann (ca. 1555-1611)

Bibliog. entry on Paul Luetkemann (ca. 1555-1611) @ Library of Congress, Cites New Grove, 2nd ed. (Luetkeman (Lütkemann, Lutkeman, Littkeman), Paul; b. ca. 1555, Kolberg, Pomerania (now Kołobrzeg, Poland), d. 1616; German composer and musician).
A Google directory hit for Paul Lütkemann (c.1555-1616). Fantasia on "Innsbruck, ich muß dich lassen" adapted for recorders by Ulrich Alpers ... [?] at www.meg.nu/recorder/mondrup/Composers/Luetkemann.php but page not found ...
Luetkemann, Paul c1555-1616 Germany, Kohlberg Pommern / Stettin - ?,? stadtpfeifer at http://composers-classical-music.com/l/LuetkemannPaul.htm Fantasia on Insbrueck ich muss dich lassen - from 5 and 6 part Fantasias p1597. ccm :: composers-classical-music :: com ~~~ dates and places of 20073 composers by timdebrie ~~~ © Tim de Brie, The Netherlands

Vocal backed by harp - w/ strong Norwegian accent - Petter Udland Johansen & Arianna Savall

Brass quartet in Telc (Czech Republic), April 17, 2009. Grand opening of "Niederösterreich Landesausstellung 2009"

Clavichord Arr. Elias Nicolaus Ammerbach (c.1530-1597) "Innsbruck ich muss dich lassen" & "Wer das Töchterlein haben will" (clavichord)

2 Keyboard pieces by Elias Nicolaus Ammerbach (c.1530-1597).
Ammerbach published the earliest printed book of organ music in Germany and he was organist at the Thomaskirche (Bach's church).

See also the embedded videos and lyrics - 15th-century German, modern German and English translation - at offene Ablage: nothing to hide ... Abbrev:..oAnth.....Motto:...'Nothing to Hide'.#25c3/#CCC.:.. Den Nachgeborenen ein gemahnendes Vorbild & zur bleibenden Erinnerung - Loc: München (Munich - Germany).

"Gumbo Chaff" - T.D. (Daddy) Rice

2011-10-18T23:23:00.000-05:00

Gumbo Chaff .wmv giggletoot

Lyrics and MIDI file at http://ingeb.org/songs/ondeohio.html on Frank Petersohn's Volkslieder website

Sheet music at Gumbo Chaff : a Negro song sung with great applause at the theatres Detroit Public Library | The E. Azalia Hackley Collection

Link to my free-lance story in Mel Bay Dulcimer Sessions

2011-10-10T22:10:00.000-05:00

Cross-posted from The Mackerel Wrapper, my blog for journalism students at Benedictine University Springfield ...

In addition to teaching, I write free-lance articles. And my new story in the online magazine Mel Bay Dulcimer Sessions came out today. I wrote the story, and Mike Thomas of Springfield arranged the music. It's titled "'Children of the Heavenly Father' – A Swedish-American Hymn Arranged for Mountain Dulcimer," and it's available at http://dulcimersessions.com/?p=297 ...

Nice blurb on the homepage, too, by editor Lois Hornbostel:

A beautifully written article, music, mountain dulcimer tablature, and sound file from Peter Ellertsen and Michael Thomas on a lovely, historic Swedish-American hymn that plays beautifully on the mountain dulcimer – “Children of the Heavenly Father” from Jenny Lind.

In COMM 337, I'll walk you through the story and talk about the strategies I used writing it, the things that worked and some things that didn't.

"Cherry Tree Carol" - Jane Gentry's version, collected by Cecil Sharp, 1916

2011-10-02T19:52:00.000-05:00

Lengthy series of notes and several variants, both in England in America, on the Hymns and Carols of Christmas website

... an old carol, dating to the Coventry Plays performed during the Feast of Corpus Christi, ca. 1400,1 and more than 400 years later, [in 1823 William] Hone reports, the carol is "still sung in London, and many parts of England."

* * *

As William Studwell points out, however, there is not a single "Cherry Tree Carol." Rather, this is a combination of three separate folk carols which later merged. The first carol, based on the above quoted exchange, is "Joseph Was An Old Man." The second carol begins with the stanza "As Joseph Was A Walking" (also known as Joseph and the Angel). Finally, there is the Easter carol, "Mary's Question," which begins with the stanza "Then Mary took her young Son."

Cecil Sharp collected the following version Joseph Were A Young Man from Mrs. Jane Gentry at Hot Springs, N.C., Aug. 24, 1916
Hepatonic. Mode 3, a+b (ionian).

----------

Excerpt from Songs of the Carolina Charter Colonists 1663-1763, by Arthur Palmer Hudson. (Raleigh: Carolina Charter Tercentenary Commission, 1962). Out-of-Print Bookshelf, Colonial Records Project, North Carolina Office of Archives & History, Department of Cultural Resources, Raleigh http://www.ncpublications.com/colonial/Bookshelf/Monographs/songs/chap1.htm:

THE CHERRY TREE CAROL: CESPB 54 (from 18th c. broadside, based on an old apocryphal legend); SEFSA [Sharp] I.90-91 (2 N. C. te. and tu.); BCNCF [Brown] II.61-63; HCF (tape). The pregnant Mary asks Joseph for cherries. He tells her to let the father of her baby get them for her. From her womb Jesus rebukes Joseph and bids the cherry tree bow down. He then prophesies His death, burial, and resurrection.

The Happy Sailor - variant of Old Ship of Zion in the Sacred Harp

2011-09-29T20:34:00.001-05:00

Sacred Harp 388 The Happy Sailor Coker UMC Hour 3 San Antonio Texas 1991 Denison Revision.mp4

=======

Excerpt from introduction to National Sacred Harp Convention CD by John Bealle - ©2003 by the Alabama Center for Traditional Culture, http://www.arts.state.al.us/actc/vol3all.pdf http://www.arts.state.al.us/actc/vol3all.pdf

4 - “The Happy Sailor” (388)
Seth Holloway, Nashville TN
C. J. Griggs (1911) | Arr. B. F. White (1859)
Seth Holloway is in the music business in Nashville and was chair of the Young People’s Convention when the singing was hosted in that city. He is descended through his mother Sarah Smith from the singing Beasley family of Marion County, Alabama. His uncle Joe Beasley (1929-1995) made some important recordings of Sacred Harp beginning during the 1950s that were recently released on compact disk. Beasley moved from Alabama to New York City and was a pivotal figure in the Sacred Harp revival there during the years before his death in 1995. In Beasley’s honor, a scholarship fund has been established that is awarded to young Sacred Harp singers to help with college expenses. Benjamin Franklin White (1800-1879) was the chief compiler of The Sacred Harp. In 1842 he moved his family from Spartanburg, South Carolina, to Harris County, Georgia. It was there that White, having contributed in some now-unknown capacity to William Walker’s Southern Harmony, set about to compile his own book. Along with The Sacred Harp, his chief contribution to religious song was the founding of the Southern Musical Convention (1845), thereby setting in motion
the practice of democratically-organized singing conventions that has endured continuously since then. The tune of this song was arranged by B. F. White for the 1859 edition of The Sacred Harp; singer C. J. Griggs of Atlanta contributed the second and third verses. Griggs was a steadfast supporter of old sacred songs through the period when many turned to gospel music, and served J. S. James as assistant president of the United Convention in its early years. According to James,
the author of the original verse of the text is unknown. Both text and tune have circulated widely in variants under the title “The Old Ship of Zion,” notably as an African-American spiritual. As a spiritual, the most famous printed setting is surely the transcription by Lucy McKim in the book Slave Songs of the United States (1867), pp. 102-3. See: Jackson, Spiritual Folksongs, song #210. Information on C. J. Griggs is from the 1911 James footnote to “The Happy Sailor.”

Listing on the CD in list of recent SH recordings on Warren Steel's website at http://www.mcsr.olemiss.edu/~mudws/resource/chap05.html http://www.mcsr.olemiss.edu/~mudws/resource/chap05.html "Traditional Musics of Alabama, Vol. 3: 2002 National Sacred Harp Singing Convention." This professionally produced CD recording contains 32 songs sung by the very large class at the 23rd National Sacred Harp Convention on June 14, 2002 in Birmingham, AL. It was recorded, produced, and digitally mastered by Steve Grauberger of the Alabama Center for Traditional Culture. Perhaps the most outstanding aspect of this recording is the 30-page liner booklet written by historian and Sacred Harp authority John Bealle, who attended some of the early National Conventions, along with numerous photos taken by Steve Grauberger. The notes feature an authoritative essay on the history of the National Convention and a track list which provides impressively detailed information about the author of each text and the composer and history of each tune, as well as some information about the song leaders. The liner notes can be downloaded from the Internet as a pdf file. The price of the CD is $12.50 per CD plus $2.50 shipping per order. Order online or by phone at 334-242-3601.

Link to Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary Handbook

2011-09-26T20:48:00.000-05:00

http://www.blc.edu/comm/gargy/gargy1/ELHHB.html

Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary Handbook
(Online Draft edition)
Copyright © Worship Committee of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod

Copyright and other information:

Most of the articles are from Library of Christian Hymns by John Dahle, a resource book on the Lutheran Hymnary (1913) and from Handbook to The Lutheran Hymnal (1942) which accompanied The Lutheran Hymnal (1941). We have placed the articles one after the other, without any editing or consolidation.

Our information tells us that these books are both in the public domain. However, the arrangement of the material in these pages is copyright by the ELS worship committee. Please feel free to copy and distribute public domain material from these pages for non-profit, non-commercial use.

"Et barn er født i Betlehem" (a Danish version of a Reformation-era Christmas carol)

2011-09-22T21:42:00.000-05:00

Performances of a Danish variant of a very old northern European carol, words in Latin from the 14th century set to different chorale melodies from the 16th century. (At least two, with more variants collected especially in Norway during the 1800s.) Translated into Danish by Nikolai F.S. Grundtvig.

In the Danish Psalm Book (Den Danske Salmebog Online), No. 104, there are two melodies. One is a minor-key 15th-century chorale attributed to Lossius, 1553, and picked up by Praetorius among others. The other is described as a German folk melody (Tysk visemelodi) from around 1600 harmonized by A.P. Berggreen in 1849. This setting is the Danish carol. To hear the MIDI file, click on the button labeled "Tysk visemelodi omkring 1600" under "Vælg melodi" (which means to choose a melody). There are several 78rpm recordings on YouTube.

And an interesting piano arrangement by Erling Jan Sørensen, with improvisation before and after the basic chorale melody by Sørensen himself ... and the Danish text scrolling past in time with the music.

Members of the Danish Radio Choir (Radiokoret) were recorded in 1941 at Matthæuskirken i Copenhagen. Martellius Lundqvist directed, and Palle Alsfelt played the organ.

And in 2010 "elves" from local music classes in Favreskov, near Aarhus, performed it at the Hadsten Centeret there.

Other links are embedded below, and still others are available on YouTube. Last year I linked to a haunting Norwegian version of the song, with Arve Moen Bergset singing backed by Bukkene Bruse. It has a different melody, although it may be in the same tune family as the Danish one.

Some Danish versions follow, including one at http://youtu.be/0tZ-1KFF6lM that shows a choir, Koren Glomma [choir from Glomma, a river in eastern Norway] in the city of Cluj-Napoca in Romania singing the Danish song, "with a Norwegian accent," in 2007.

Et barn er født i Bethlehem - Statsradiofoniens Pigekor 1944
Statsradiofoniens Pigekor (Girls' Choir). Dirigent: Lis Jacobsen 1944

Et Barn er født i Bethlehem - Aage Thygesen 1931
Operasanger Aage Thygesen, 1931

John Stenson's No. 2 / for Prairieland Dulcimer Strings

2011-09-15T22:02:00.000-05:00

Our song for the "first Thursday" session of the Prairieland Dulcimer Strings on Oct. 6 is "John Stenson's No. 2." It's an Irish reel adapted for American dulcimer. It was originally played in A major, and string bands still play it in that key, but there are lots of "D for dulcimer" versions out there. DAD tab and a MIDI file are available on the Mountain Dulcimer Association website of Huntsville, Ala.

I'll link to performances of the tune in both its Irish and American versions so you can hear how it's evolved ... and if you get bored with the DAD chords, it has a really nice melody.

A favorite jam tune in the mountain and hammered dulcimer worlds, "John Stenson's No. 2" has come a long way from County Sligo, where Irish fiddler Kevin Burke's relatives played it on a button box accordion. From a melodic, highly ornamented Irish fiddle tune, it's changed into a high-octane, flat-out tour de force for dulcimers. It's also changed its spelling, for reasons that aren't quite clear to me, and Americans often know it as John Stinson's with a "i." However you spell it and whatever key you play it in, it's a fine jam tune.

I first heard it in jam sessions at Western Carolina University's dulcimer week (now Lois Hornbostel's Dulcimerville workshop), with more than a hundred players joyously strumming away. It's always played fast (it's a reel), but I think it sounds best when it retains some of the bounce and lilt of good Irish session music.

As with all fiddle tunes, the tablature is only a rough outline. Most mountain dulcimer tab, at least in DAD, has some interesting chord changes in the B Part, but it tends to flatten out the melody.

My inroductory notes are in italics, and I'll copy the information from YouTube below with the embedded videos.

Irish (well, Australian)
and American string bands

First, two members of an Irish band in Hobart, Australia (called the "Craic-pots" if you like puns!) play it very much as Irish fiddle player Kevin Burke learned the tune from his relatives in County Sligo:

Reels by the River - Anna & Ryan: John Stenson's no.2 / Otter's Holt
Uploaded by AnnaAndRyan07 on Dec 6, 2009. Tasmanian Irish folk duo Anna & Ryan. Band Members:Anna Elliston & Ryan Garth. "Anna and Ryan playing some exciting reels down by the Richmond Bridge, Tasmania, oldest bridge in Australia." John Stenson's to 2:00 and a little reprise at the end.

Next, an American old-time string band's version. It's a little more laid-back and easy-going than I usually hear it, but the melody comes through.

John Stinsons Number Two - Rachel Eddy, Krisitan Herner, and Bill Fahy Uploaded by polishbill on Jul 8, 2010. Fahy's 2010 Yard Concert Featuring Rachel Eddy, Kristian Herner and Bill Fahy perfoming Rachels new favorite tune, Stinsons #2, followed by Rachel and Kristian perfoming Dance all Nite with a Bottle in your Hand

In the dulcimer world
(hammered and mountain)

Midwestern hammered dulcimer maven Rick Thum, of High Ridge, Mo., followed by Bing Fulch and J.T. Taylor letting it all hang out on mountain dulcimer. Listen for Bing's chords in the B Part.

John Stenson's #2 and Hangman's Reel. In concert in Rockford, Mich., November 2009. Ken Kaiser backed Thum on guitar.

Bing Futch & JT Taylor - John Stinson's #2 (Part 1). Portage Dulcimer Day Concert 2010, Portage Pa, 7/3/2010

Bing Futch & JT Taylor - John Stinson's #2 (Part 2)

Outtakes. Here are some other versions. Give them a listen: You may hear something you want to incorporate into your own playing.

Kevin Burke ~ The Star Of Munster ❖ John Stenson's No. 1 ❖ John Stenson's No. 2
Uploaded by user eireann0 in 2011, from the CD If the Cap Fits. Third in a set of three reels by the Irish master fiddler. John Stenson's No. 1 begins at 1:24 and John Stenson's No. 2 at 2:03. The Stenson family is related to Burke. Of Co. Sligo.

Evart2010 John Stinson's #2
Posted by GingerJaneM. 6:06. "Around midnight Saturday, July 17." Jamming w/ four hammered dulcimers.

John Stinson's #2
FlatMountainDulcimer "[M]ountain dulcimer performing group out of eastern North Carolina, playing mountain music in the flatlands of the southeast. the group players are Nancy, Dave and Margit."

Kiowa Special + John Stenson's #2
From: dfusselman Feb 23, 2008. Progressive version on mandolin and mountain dulcimer. John Stenson's starts at 2:14.

Mountain Dulcimer - Dulcimerica Video Podcast #63
Part seven of a series from the 2008 Suwannee Dulcimer Retreat at Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park in White Springs, Florida. This episode features a couple of pairs: Mary Z. Cox and Bing Futch play a rousing rendition of "John Stinson's #2"; David Beede and Aaron O'Rourke play David's original "meta-protest song", "Shadow of Dylan."

See also http://hogfiddle.blogspot.com/2011/06/john-stensons-no-2-in-and-d-for.html

There really was a Per Spelmann ...

2011-09-12T18:17:00.000-05:00

... but I don't know if he had only one cow!

[Click on embedded video below for trad and heavy metal versions of the favorite children's song by Norwegian metal band Glittertind, with lyrics and translation.]

Olav Sæta says in history of North Gudbrandsdalen [search under "Blomstringstid på 1800-tallet"] in his Feletradisjoner i Oppland (1992), that he was named Per Kringelhaugen, and he played with Fel-Jakup (Fiddling Jacob) [see Jakup Lom in Norsk Lexikon] and Else-Lars [Lars Kjørren 1824-1894], celebrated traditional fiddlers. Sæta has this:

... Per Kringelhaugen (1830-1907) fra Bøverdalen, også kalt Per Spelmann. Han lærte først av Per Bergom og Jo Lilleødegard, og etter hvert også av Else-Lars. Per Spelmann var den som f6r mest i lag med Fel-Jakup de var bl.a. 13 ganger i følge til Romsdalsmarten. Det må bety at Jakup verdsatte Per Spelmann høyt, og det var Per som i første rekke førte hans spill videre da Fel-Jakup gikk bort i 1876.

Ola Gjerdet (f. 187 1) hørte Per Spelmann og Gamel-Sjugur spille i lag i 1880-åra (Erling Kjøk etter Hans Wiker). Han sa at de to og Else-Lars spelte likt, men la til at Per Spelmann kunne spelle på mange måter.

Da Jakup var borte, ble Per den ruvende spelemannsskikkelsen i distriktet. Det ser ut til at han på sommerstid stort sett dro bygdimellom med fela, men at han nå for det meste holdt seg i Ottadalen (Flå 1963)..

Google translates:

... Per Kringelhaugen (1830-1907) from Bøverdalen, also called Peter Fiddler. He taught first by Per Bergom and Jo Lilleødegard, and eventually by Else-Lars. Per the Fiddler was the most f6r together with Fel-Jakup, they were such 13 times, according to Romsdalsmarten. This must mean that Jakup valued Per Fiddler high, and it was Peter who primarily brought his game on when Fel-Jakup passed away in 1876.

Ola fence (b. 187 1) heard Per the Fiddler and the Gamel-Sjugur play together in the 1880s (Erling Kjøk after his Wiker). He said that the two and Else-Lars played the same, but added that Peter Fiddler could concertina in many ways.

When Jakup were away, As the fiddler towering figure in the district.It appears that he was in the summer pretty much went built between the fiddle, but he mostly remained in Ottadalen (Flå 1963).

As with so many master fiddlers of the 1800s, there was a body of legend about Peter Fiddler. This from the message board VGDebatt on the Olso newspaper Verdens Gang website, on a thread asking people to name their favorite fiddle player [search Favorittfelespelar - Musik- VG Nett Debatt].

On Aug. 13, 2010 [at 8:51], New_Romatic wrote:

Min favorittfelespiller er helt klart Veslefrikk. Han hadde en helt unik evne til å trollbinde sitt publikum. Jeg har også sansen for Per Spelmann, som var så glad i felen sin at han byttet bort en ku for å få den tilbake. Da snakker vi keep it real.

And Google translates:

My favorite fiddle player is clearly Veslefrikk. He had a unique ability to enchant his audience. I also sense for Peter Fiddler, who was so fond of his fiddle that he traded away a cow to get it back. When we talk keep it real.

Veslefrikk is a fairy tale about a boy who played the fiddle in Asbjørnsen & Moe. To New_Romantic's post, Zinklar replied [at 10:10]:

Eg er òg svak for Per Spelmann, eller Per Kringelhaugen som han eigentleg heitte, i frå Lom. Det var ikkje alle forunt å vera sveinnen hass Fel-Jakup, men det sette sine spor, og Per Spelmann enda som mange andre spelmenn på den tida som ein fordrukken mann. Det er dei som ikkje likar Fel-Jakup som hevder at Per Spelmann var ein mykje gjevare spelmann enn han, og at mykje av Fel-Jakup-tradisjonen eigentleg er Per Spelmann-tradisjon.

Han enda sitt liv då ei avlaus øyk råkte han i hugu med bakføtene sine.

Obviously having a little trouble with the nynorsk, Google translates:

I am also weak for At Fiddler, or Per Kringelhaugen that he actually named, the Lom. It was not all people ever to be Sveinn hass Fel-Jakup, but it put its mark, and Per Fiddler even as many other musicians at the time that a drunken man. There are those who do not like Fel-Jakup claiming that Peter Fiddler was a much gjevare fiddler than he, and that much of the Fel-Jakup tradition actually is Per Fiddler tradition.

He even their lives when a avlaus smoke will be generated råkte he Hugues with his back leg.

There's another legend about Per Spelmann in Aslak 0. Brimi's "Kva skal barnet heite?" posted to Brimi's Blog at Folkemusikk.no:

Per var ein dyktig spelemann og damesjarmør. For dei som ikkje veit det heitte han Per Kringelhaugen, og var frå Bøverdalen i Lom. Han var ein mykje brukt dansespelemann, og ein gong han sat og spelte på ein ball, var det ein gut som vart ståande å sjå på han. I ei pause gjekk guten bort til Per og ville skjenke han ein dram (Merk det i desse kappleikstider: Det var skikk og bruk å skjenke spelemannen). ”Sjå her nå bestefar ska’ du få ein dram hjå me’”, sa guten. Per snudde seg mot han, såg han djupt i augo, og sa: ”Neimen, æ du ein ette’ me du au?”

Google has:

Peter was an accomplished fiddler and lady charmer. For those who do not know it was called Peter Kringelhaugen, and was from Bøverdalen in Lom. He was a very common dance fiddler, and once he sat and played on a ball, it was a boy who stood looking at him. In a break went the boy over to Peter and he would pour a dram (Note that in these times of Major competition: It was the custom to bestow fiddler). "See here now grandfather ska 'you get a nip among me,'" said the boy. Peter turned to him, he looked deep into his eyes and said, "Oh, I'm to continue a 'we can au?"

I'm not sure exactly how to translate his dialect, but it sounds like he was mooching an extra drink from the boy.

Citations in passage from Olav Sæta are in bibliography for Feleverkene in Institut for Musikvitenskap website at University of Oslo [search under "Litteraturliste for feleverkene"].

Flå, L. (1963). "Per Kringelhaugen fra Lom".I: Årbok for Gudbrandsdalen.

Kjøk, J. (1995). A Spelman Saga. Otta.

San Francisco blogger on Natkirken på Strøget

2011-09-06T22:48:00.000-05:00

Posted April 10, 2007, on a blog Find and You Shall Seek by "Mystic Seeker" of San Francisco -

"Night Church in Copenhagen" ...

* * *

The first Friday, I attended the 8 PM International Evensong, which was conducted in English. The service consisted of songs, readings, and prayers, with participation by both the clergy and the congregation. There was no Communion. There was a creedal recitation included in the order of service, which I wasn't crazy about, but my reaction to that was simply that I did not participate in that part of it. The reason this service was conducted in English was to accommodate the many tourists who visit Night Church. Of course, late March is not exactly high tourist season in Scandinavia, but to my surprise a steady stream of what I presume to be tourists did come in, watch for a while, and then leave. I was actually rather amazed by all the coming and going--I wouldn't have had enough nerve to just drop in on the middle of a church service and then leave like that. I was sorry to say that the pews were virtually empty of people. Other than the clergy, staff, and choir, and the parade of visitors who came and went, there were only three people who sat through the entire service--myself, my girlfriend, and one other person.

The following Friday, I attended the 10 PM candlelit service. It was conducted in Danish, so I didn't understand much of what was said, but in some ways that might have been a blessing, since I was able to just sit back and enjoy the beauty of the service and the music in the candlelight. The priest, a very tall and slender man with a deep, resonant voice, is the same one who had conducted the International Evensong a week earlier. He may have recognized me from the week before, because after service he asked me where I was from. When I said "San Francisco", he asked me if I lived in Copenhagen now. I said no, and told him I just wanted to check out the service while vacationing. I added that I didn't understand what was said. He laughed and said, "Of course". Danes don't expect foreigners to speak their language.

I really enjoyed the candlelit service a lot. As I left the church walked out into the cold nighttime air, I felt a pleasant glow; I really was glad that I had attended it. If I ever go to Copenhagen again, I will definitely go to the candlelit service at Night Church.

Follows a lengthy post April 9 on the "intellectual failure of orthodox Christianity" and Danish theologians

Vachel Lindsay's meeting with Civil War veteran, old-time fiddle player in west central Illinois

2011-09-02T16:51:00.000-05:00

Excerpted from the first of his vignettes in Adventures While Preaching the Gospel of Beauty (1912). Copied and pasted from Archive.com

[p. 21]

* * * These selections from letters home tell
how I came into Kansas and how I adven-
tured there. The letters were written avow-
edly as a sort of diary of the trip, but their
contents turned out to be something less than
that, something more than that, and some-
thing rather different.

Thursday, May 30, 1912. In the blue
grass by the side of the road. Somewhere
west of Jacksonville, Illinois. Hot sun.

22 THE GOSPEL OF BEAUTY

Cool wind. Rabbits in the distance. Bum-
blebees near.

At five last evening I sighted my lodging
for the night. It was the other side of a
high worm fence. It was down in the hol-
low of a grove. It was the box of an old
box-car, brought there somehow, without its
wheels. It was far from a railroad. I said
in my heart "Here is the appointed shelter."
I was not mistaken.

As was subsequently revealed, it belonged
to the old gentleman I spied through the
window stemming gooseberries and singing :
"John Brown's body." He puts the car top
on wagon wheels and hauls it from grove to
grove between Jacksonville and the east
bank of the Mississippi. He carries a saw
mill equipment along. He is clearing this
wood for the owner, of all but its walnut
trees. He lives in the box with his son and
two assistants. He is cook, washerwoman
and saw-mill boss. His wife died many
years ago.

I START ON MY WALK 23

The old gentleman let me in with alac-
rity. He allowed me to stem gooseberries
while he made a great supper for the boys.
They soon came in. I was meanwhile as-
sured that my name was going into the pot.
My host looked like his old general, McClel-
lan. He was eloquent on the sins of
preachers, dry voters and pension reformers.
He was full of reminiscences of the string
band at Sherman's headquarters, in which
he learned to perfect himself on his wonder-
ful fiddle. He said, "I can't play slow mu-
sic. I've got to play dance tunes or die."
He did not die. His son took a banjo from
an old trunk and the two of them gave us
every worth while tune on earth: Money
Mush, Hell's Broke Loose in Georgia, The
Year of Jubilee, Sailor's Hornpipe, Baby
on the Block, Lady on the Lake, and The
Irish Washerwoman, while I stemmed goose-
berries, which they protested I did not need
to do. Then I read my own unworthy
verses to the romantic and violin-stirred

24 THE GOSPEL OF BEAUTY

company. And there was room for all of
us to sleep in that one repentant and con-
verted box-car.

Friday, May 31, 1912. Half an hour
after a dinner of crackers, cheese and raisins,
provided at my solicitation by the grocer in
the general store and post-office. Valley
City, Illinois. * * *

From Vachel Lindsay. 1914. Adventures While Preaching the Gospel of Beauty. Internet Archive http://www.archive.org/details/adventureswhilepOOinlind. Italics supplied.

Carolan's Draught - w/links to Pierre Bensusan playing "Shi Bhig Shi Mhor" and a very good tin whistle website

2011-09-01T12:08:00.000-05:00

"Carolan's Draught" arranged and played Celtic finger-picking style by Jean Banwarth ... Tablature Trad Magazine n° 120 Tabs book (+ scores) avalaible on line from MusTraDem website.

"Shi Bhig Shi Mhor" played by Pierre Bensusan in a free-form, improvisational style

Wandering Whistler Music Archives has tin whistle lead sheets for both, Carolan's Draught in G and Shi Bhig Shi Mhor in D. This is a great website for sheet music!

"Dagsens auga sloknar ut" - Elias Blix

2011-08-30T13:18:00.000-05:00

Find more artists like Torhild Ostad at Myspace Music

Lots of background at Salmebloggen til Leif Haugen - in Norwegian, but w/ a really nice picture of the harbor in Bergen

"Pride of the Springfield Road" - sheet music w/ note on drones and modal harmony

2011-08-27T10:36:00.000-05:00

Catchy song from Belfast that I learned from Jim Rainey of the Irish traditional band Craobh Rua (pron. "crave roo-uh") at Common Ground on the Hill. Rainey said Springfield Road is a working-class Catholic neighborhood once dominated by the textile mills, now gone overseas of course; Protestants had a lock on the shipbuilding industry, and Catholics were relegated to working in the mills. This background is reflected in "The Pride of the Springfield Road," but it's a lovely little song about a young couple who hope to get married and work in the mills. Very nice YouTube clip here of Rainey fronting Craobh Rua.

Apparently "The Pride of the Springfield Road" is performed in B dorian in Ireland. At least the sheet music and chord sheet have it so (written as B minor with the 6th - a G - sharped). Music at:

Sheet music - PDF file of a lead sheet in B dorian on a German website (so H = B natural in the chords above the notes)!
Lyrics and chords - chord progression over the lyrics with a little background below (in English notation so B = B this time) on an Andy Irvine fan site.

The fansite has a link to a very brief, tinny sounding clip of Irvine singing it. It may be the quality of the recording, but I like Craobh Rua's better.

Although the song is sometimes given as traditional, and it's apparently been around Belfast for quite a while, it's usually credited to Andy Irvine of Planxty and the Patrick Street trad supergroup.

Tangent on modes, drones and Irish trad music: Irvine's website has a detailed first-person bio. A couple of extracts follow. One from the early to mid-60s, when he was mostly busking in Dublin and learning traditional music:

But at that time I loved the really old "classic" ballads. Songs like Sir Patrick Spens, The Douglas Tragedy and Edward. Other publications that made a deep impression were Bert Lloyd’s "Penguin Book of English Folk Songs" with lovely modal tunes.

I used to sing them in O’Donoghue’s [pub] in the very early morning in the Men’s toilet, smelling of disinfectant. There was something wrong with the cistern and a drone emanated from somewhere all the years I frequented the place. Singing against a drone is something I love to this day.

I had begun to try to accompany myself on the mandolin some years before and my style was simple. I more or less played along with the tune adding the odd harmony note and half chord as I had learned from records of Old Timey American musicians accompanying themselves on the fiddle. Johnny Moynihan had taught me to tune down the top string of the mandolin—GDAD instead of GDAE which gave echoes of 5-string banjo playing with the top D usually a constant note.

Also Irvine's reason for naming his first duo Sweeney's Men (formed w/ Joe Dolan in Galway in 60s): "... we decided to name ourselves after the pagan king, Suibhne, who was cursed for throwing a pushy cleric’s bell in the lake. We found it quite easy to identify with Sweeney against the power of the clergy in 1960’s Ireland."<

Sinikka Langeland on Bach, drones and 'my mother's Mixmaster'

2011-08-26T09:33:00.000-05:00

Min første organist var mammas miksmaster. - Sinikka Langeland

A new way of thinking about Bach in in Norwegian folk-jazz artist Sinikka Langeland's liner notes to her CD Kyriekoral: Norwegian Folk Hymns And Bach Chorales, with Langeland on vocals and Kåre Nordstoga on the organ in Trondheim's Nidaros cathedral. (Click on links to discography and "Kyriekoral," a word that Langeland coined from the Kyrie Eleison [Lord have mercy upon us] and the Norwegian word for a type of Lutheran hymn called a chorale.)

I've been playing a melody-and-drone instrument for 25 years, and I've been listening to organ music since I was a little boy growing up with my father's E. Power Biggs LPs playing in the background, but I never thought of the organ as a dronal instrument.

But that was before I read this from Langeland:

My first organist was my mother’s Mixmaster. At the age of four I discovered how a sustained drone made me hum and sing almost involuntarily. Something similar happened when I started listening to Bach’s chorales: I was inspired to create my own melodic lines. This was my point of departure. I have never made any attempt to “compose my way into” the masterpieces; I have only wanted to play with, and improvise on, the old hymn melodies that are part of Bach’s complex structures. They sometimes emerge distinctly in the melodic lines, and sometimes so slowly that they are barely perceptible…in the pedal, high, low,
inverted, canons – in short, in every method Bach used to create his masterpieces. When I improvise within Bach’s music itself, I feel very close to him, while at the same time I gain a heightened awareness of my own folk song tradition, especially the religious folk songs of Andris Vang, Ragnar Vigdal, Ingebjørg Liestøl and Sondre Bratland, to name my most important sources of inspiration.

And - you know what? - she's right.

Gud Helligånd! o, kom - bios of Johannes Johansen, August Winding and Thomas Laub

2011-08-19T13:57:00.000-05:00

At Heligeaandkirken. Hymn for noon service when we were in Copenhagen was Danske Salmebog 523 Min nåde er dig nok, a paraphrase of 2 Cor. 12:9 by Johannes Johansen (1983 and 1995). Mel.: Gud Helligånd! o kom

http://www.dendanskesalmebogonline.dk/salme/302
Gud Helligånd! o, kom
Mel.: August Winding 1861
Thomas Laub 1917

Johannes Johansen
Den Store Danske, Glydendal's open encyclopedia, has this: "Johannes Johansen, f. 1925, dansk præst og salmedigter; biskop over Helsingør Stift 1980-95. Han udgav sin første digtsamling, Thurø-Rim, i 1974 og sine første salmer i 1975; en omfattende samling foreligger i Min egen Salmebog (1996). Det har været Johansens bestræbelse at videreføre det bedste i dansk salmetradition, og han var 1900-t.s betydeligste danske salmedigter efter K.L. Aastrup." The Danske Salmebog bio counts 13 psalms and 2 translations.

August Winding
Not much on him ... what there is comes from liner notes of his recordings ... The Bach Cantatas website has this:

The Danish composer, August Winding, was the son of a clergyman who had a passion for collecting and arranging Danish folk songs. Naturally, August studied with his father. Soon, however, he was to move to greater things; he studied piano with Anton Ree who had known Chopin. This was followed by composition lessons with Carl Reinecke and theory with no less a person than Niels W. Gade, the father of Danish music.

In the first instance August Winding was a pianist. He made quite an impression both in Denmark and in concert halls and recital rooms throughout Europe. His specialities were the concerti of Mozart and Beethoven. He enjoyed playing in chamber ensembles as well as performing as a recitalist. From 1867 he taught at the conservatoire in Copenhagen.

As a composer, August Winding is unfairly remembered only for a few hymn tunes. However, he wrote much other music - including a symphony, Concerto for Piano & Orchestra in A minor, Op.16 (1869); Concert allegro for Piano & Orchestra in C minor, Op.29 (c1875); chamber works; songs; piano pieces.

Source: MusicWeb, from liner notes to the album Piano Concertos by August Winding and Emil Hartmann (Danacord)
Contributed [to the Bach site by its administrator] Aryeh Oron (August 2007)

This review, by blogger John Kersey of a recording of solo piano compositions, adds a couple of details:

August Winding was the son of a pastor, and received his first piano lessons from his parents. In 1847 he studied with Carl Reinecke and from 1848-51 with Anton Rée, also studying composition with Niels Gade. In 1856 he completed his studies in Leipzig and Prague, where he studied with Dreyschock. Returning to Denmark, he became well-known for appearances as a soloist, particularly in Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto. In 1864, he married Clara, daughter of J.P.E. Hartmann. From 1867 he taught at the Royal Conservatory, as well as privately. In 1872 he developed a nervous injury to his arm as a result of overwork which forced him to stop concertizing and devote his attention to composition. He resumed teaching at the Conservatory in 1881 and became a member of its board after the death of Gade in 1890. In 1888 he reappeared in public as a soloist and gave a limited number of concerts between then and his death, receiving the accolade of a state professorship and annuity in 1892.

Thomas Laub
Wikipedia's article "Music of Denmark" has this: "Thomas Laub (1852–1927), an organist, was devoted to reintroducing the old Protestant hymn tunes which had been forgotten or altered over the years. He published a number of important works including Kirkemelodier (Church Melodies) (1890), Udvalg af Salme-Melodier i Kirkestil (Selected Hymn Tunes in the Church Style) (1896 and 1902), Dansk Kirkesang (Danish Church Song) (1918) and Musik og Kirke (Music and Church) (1920). Laub also wrote folk song music and together with Carl Nielsen published En Snes danske Viser (A Set of Danish Folk Songs) (1917)." Pix (left) available on Creative Commons license via Wikipedia. But the main bio is a Wikipedia stub.

Laub collaborated with Carl Nielsen on the songbook used for Folk High Schools. See the discussion of Danish songs and hymns" on the Carl Nielsen Society website ... lots of information, summarized in this cutline: "Thomas Laub was one of Nielsen's collaborators on the Folk High School Melody Book and composed two volumes of Danish Songs together with Nielsen." And this:

Carl Nielsen was not religious in the conventional sense of the word. This did not prevent him from writing music for a number of hymns (Salmer og aandelige Sange, composed 1913-1915, published 1919). His friend the organist, composer and reformer of church music, Thomas Laub, had reproached him:

"A composer of hymns must be A Child of the House, by which I do not mean that he has a patent on faith - his faith can be weak, it can be wrong - but he must feel at home, that is to say he must have lived with congregational singing preferably from childhood, he must know it from its uses ...", he wrote to Nielsen.

But there's quite a bit more, including some pretty good atmospherics on Danish folk music.

Buskers - in the free city of Bremen and a story in today's Irish Times - mashed together with a really weak transition

2011-08-19T13:21:00.000-05:00

Marktplatz in Bremen
A very informative, well written story on busking in The Irish Times today ... which gives me an opportunity to get some pix up from our trip to Europe ... especially Bremen, a lovely Hanseatic city we visited in northern Germany. Busking is thought of as a typically Irish thing, but it's international. And it was in evidence in Bremen.

In fact, musicians are part of what makes Bremen special.

Statue at left isn't a busker - it's the Town Musicians of Bremen (Stadtmusikanten) on the Market Square downtown. It's shiny in places because people like to rub the statue for good luck. (Sort of like Abraham Lincoln's nose!) It comes from a folktale collected by the Brothers Grimm. Says the summary in Wikipedia, "In the story a donkey, a dog, a cat, and a rooster, all past their prime years in life and usefulness on their respective farms, were soon to be discarded or mistreated by their masters. One by one they leave their homes and set out together. They decide to go to Bremen, known for its freedom, to live without owners and become musicians there." In a word or two, they live by their wits. And the story is delightful. I won't spoil it for you - the rest of their story is in Wikipedia. The city has sort of adopted the animals as mascots, and the statue by Bremen sculptor Gerhard Marcks shows the animals.

Bremen and its port city of Bremerhaven have long enjoyed their common status as a "free city" - i.e. a chartered city pretty much ruled by its burghers, or middle class, rather than the feudal nobility - and even today its formal name is the Freie Hansestadt Bremen (the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen). And the Grimm Brothers folk tale symbolizes that spirit of freedom ... and living by your wits.

At right are some real musicians of Bremen, busking on the other side of the Market Square from the statue.

Here's how Una Mullally begins her story in the Irish Times:

Some are good, some are bad, some are insufferable: you know it’s summertime when the buskers take over the streets. But what separates the talented from the talentless and how does a busker earn €7,000 in one day? ...

A bare-chested dreadlocked man attempting to limbo underneath a blazing stick, an elderly harpist, two men in full native American garb playing panpipes to a backing CD, teenage boys mangling Damien Rice songs on a duo of barely tuned guitars, an artist rolling out a canvas of a remarkably detailed stained glass painting, a bored looking man constructing the likeness of a dog out of sand, a deft spray-painter making surrealist space-scapes with moons and pyramids, a lone opera singer, a trad group, a tightly honed raucous band, a drumming circle, a tuneless accordion-player, a classical trio. Summertime is when the buskers take over our streets, becoming moveable street furniture that annoy, amuse, distract and pleasure in equal measure.

So what makes a good busker, and what makes a rubbish one? Roger Quail is the label manager of Model Citizen and Rubyworks, founded by Niall Muckian who was promoting the primarily singer-songwriter night The Ruby Sessions in the early 2000s. The weekly gigs in Doyle’s pub in Dublin saw several former buskers such as Glen Hansard and Paddy Casey take the stage.

“A good busker is someone who can hold an audience and make them forget where they are, even if it’s only for five minutes,” Quail says. Rubyworks know all about good buskers.

And this vignette that reminds me of the buskers I heard on Grafton Street last year in Dublin:

SUCH IS IRELAND’S bustling busker scene that some people even temporarily move here to get a slice of the action. Kamila and Magda from Katowice in Poland will stay here for three weeks, playing their viola duets every morning on Henry Street in Dublin and every evening on Grafton Street, before returning to their studies in a music academy back home. “We started at 8am and we’ll play until 10pm,” Magda explains, midweek on Grafton Street.

They were here two years ago, “and it was better, definitely” in terms of earnings. These days, they can make anything from €40 to €100 each. They play a mixture of classical music and the occasional pop curveball, concentrating mainly on Bach and Mozart. While they like being their own bosses and choosing when to play, there are downfalls – “the weather” exclaims Kamilla.

And no transition at all for this one. On the motorways in Sweden, they have fast food resaurants called "Rasta."

So I decided it was the best chance I'll ever have to be a Rasta man.

Here's the picture.

Bellman - Fredmans sånger n:o 5C - MIDI

2011-08-18T10:48:00.000-05:00

Cool! Up tempo, and sounds like a harpsichord. Instrumental only, tho'.

Bellman - Fredmans sånger n:o 5C - MIDI file rendered by Kapten Kaos -

Text
Notes (modern - 4 sharps - E). Click on "Noter."
Notes (original - 2 flats - B flat). Click on "Originalnoter."

Tips for Longer-Lasting Laptop Batteries - link to Yahoo! feature

2011-08-12T22:42:00.000-05:00

http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/113310/longer-lasting-laptop-battery-bnet

Excerpt:

* * *

Recondition your battery regularly. Most laptop manufacturers (except Apple) don't generally tell you about this, but a simple process known as reconditioning (or occasionally, recalibrating) can breathe new life into your laptop battery and add capacity back. To do that, turn off your screen saver and any other power management tools which put your PC to sleep. Fully charge the laptop, and then let it run all the way down — right until it powers down due to lack of juice. Then charge it back up again and restore your power management stuff. Do this every few months (such as three times a year).

Remove it when you're not using it. When you leave your laptop plugged in at your desk all day every day, the battery never gets a chance to discharge and recharge — which is critical to its long-term health. Thankfully, there's a simple solution: Remove the battery. As long as your laptop is connected to AC power, the battery isn't necessary; it'll run without it. Just remember to pop it back in before you take your laptop on the go.

* * *

"Samson af hendelse Gasa besøgte"

2011-08-09T22:08:00.000-05:00

Catchy tune on Kingoløg CD by jazz artist Kristian Blak of the Faroe Islands called "Samson af Hændelse Gasa Besøgte." The CD is a suite "based on traditional Kingo-hymns afrom the Faroe Islands," but this one doesn't sound like Kingo.

Maybe that's because it isn't.

I haven't tracked it down yet, and it may turn out to be by Kingo. When I Googled it, I found the title by a contemporary of Kingo's named Petter Dass, a parish priest in Nordland, in the north of Norway, who would have attended university in Copenhagen at the same time as Kingo and who wrote songs on the bible and Luther's catechism. This one is pretty racy ... the title means something like "Samson visited the fleshpots of Gaza." Was sung to the tune of another song, "Kommer I cimbriske helte." It's listed in a Swedish data base, the Song and Tune Catalogue of Svenskt visarkiv – The Centre for Swedish Folk Music and Jazz Research as "Kommer I cimbriske helte med ære" ... the Google translation calls it a "16. og 17. århundredes verldslige danske visesang ... 16th og 17th århundredes worldly wise Danish song" ... no other info

Dagbladet has the text and bio with links in its Kultur diktbasen (culture - poetry) data base. It goes on for quite some length. The first stanza is:

Petter Dass
SAMSONS ANDEN HISTORIE

Mel.: Kommer I Cimbriske Helte etc.

Samson af hendelse Gasa besøgte,
Fandt der en Hore til hvilken hand gaar,
Da de Gesiter fik høre det Rygte
Komme de sammen som Ulven om Faar,
Lader med Krigsfolcket Staden omringe,
Meente de hannem ret visselig finge.

* * *

It's also available on the University of Oslo website at http://www.dokpro.uio.no/litteratur/dass/pd2.txt
[several further pages. Click here for info on the documentation Project of the University of Oslo.

Luther, sermon on the Passion [excerpt]

2011-08-03T09:56:00.000-05:00

The following sermon is taken from volume II of, The Sermons of Martin Luther, published by Baker Book House (Grand Rapids, MI). It was originally published in 1906 in english by Lutherans In All Lands (Minneapolis, MN), in a series titled The Precious and Sacred Writings of Martin Luther, vol. 11. The original title of this sermon appears below (preached by Luther approx. 1519-1521). This e-text was scanned and edited by Shane Rosenthal; it is in the public domain and it may be copied and distributed without restriction. Original pagination from the Baker edition has been kept intact for purposes of reference.

THE TRUE AND THE FALSE VIEWS OF CHRIST'S SUFFERINGS

http://www.reformationhappens.com/works/sermons-luther/

* * *

[excerpt from SECTION III. THE COMFORT OF CHRIST'S SUFFERINGS].

* * *

16. Sixteenthly. When your heart is thus established in Christ, and you are an enemy of sin, out of love and not out of fear of punishment, Christ's sufferings should also be an example for your whole life, and you should meditate on the same in a different way. For hitherto we have considered Christ's Passion as a sacrament that works in us and we suffer; now we consider it, that we also work, namely thus: if a day of sorrow or sickness weighs you down, think, how trifling that is, compared with the thorns and nails of Christ. If you must do or leave undone what is distasteful to you: think, how Christ was led hither and thither, bound and a captive. Does pride attack you: behold, how your Lord was mocked and disgraced with murderers. Do unchastity and lust thrust themselves against you: think, how bitter it was for Christ to have his tender flesh torn, pierced and beaten again and again. Do hatred and envy war against you, or do you seek vengeance: remember how Christ with many tears and cries prayed for you and all his enemies, who indeed had more reason to seek revenge. If trouble or whatever adversity of body or soul afflict you, strengthen your heart and say: Ah, why then should I not also suffer a little since my Lord sweat blood in the garden because of anxiety and grief? That would be a lazy, disgraceful servant who would wish to lie in his bed while his lord was compelled to battle with the pangs of death.

Another translation, with notes, at the LutheranMissiology.org website ... with this intro:

On Invocavit Sunday, March 13, 1519, Luther wrote his friend George Spalatin, “I am planning
a treatise dealing with the meditation of Christ’s passion. I do not know, however, whether I
shall have enough leisure to write it out. Yet I shall try hard.”1 In the same letter he cites the
reasons for this lack of leisure: activities directed toward the renewal of the university
curriculum, his work on the Lord’s Prayer,2 a commentary on Galatians, and particularly
pressing and irksome, his intense study of canon law in preparation for the upcoming Leipzig
Debate with John Eck, July 4 to 14. Nevertheless, it was a mere three weeks later, on April 5,
that Luther was able to send a printed copy of his work on the passion to Spalatin.3
By 1524, a total of twenty-four editions had been printed in Wittenberg, Basel, Augsburg,
Zurich, Erfurt, Munich, Nürnberg, and Strassburg. The number of editions testifies to the
widespread response aroused by this writing. A Latin edition, whose translator is unknown,
appeared at Wittenberg in 1521. As the sermon for Good Friday, this treatise was included in the
Church Postil of 1525, which Luther termed his “very best book.”

Malene Bjørnestad Schmidt, Salmernes rolle i den lutherske gudstjeneste - links

2011-07-31T20:03:00.000-05:00

Malene Bjørnestad Schmidt. Salmernes rolle i den lutherske gudstjeneste – historisk og ritualteoretisk med særligt henblik på den danske højmesse. Institut for praktisk teologi, Aarhus universitet,
24. januar 2006

LINKS
In Danish.
Google translation.

Passion hymns of Hallgrímur Pétursson in Iceland

2011-07-30T16:47:00.000-05:00

aHallgrímur Pétursson (1614 – October 27, 1674) According to his profile in Wikipedia, "Because of his contributions to Lutheran hymnody, he is sometimes called the Icelandic Paul Gerhardt." He ran away from home, got a scholarship to study in Copenhagen after "an Icelandic priest travelling through Glückstadt (now in Germany but then a part of Denmark), heard Hallgrímur curse his employer in Icelandic." He got one of his students pregnant in Copenhagen, ran off again - this time to Iceland - but when her husband died (the student was married, no doubt another complication for a seminarian), "she and Pétursson promptly married." For all of that, he was a gifted poet.

According to the Wikipedia article on the passon hymns ...

The Passíusálmar or Passion Hymns are a collection of 50 poetic texts written by the Icelandic priest and poet, Hallgrímur Pétursson. The texts explore the Passion narrative, as traditionally presented, from the point where Christ enters the Garden of Gethsemane to his death and burial. Hallgrímur began composing the work in 1656, while serving as priest of Saurbær in Hvalfjörður. It took him three years to complete, the final poem being written in May 1659; the first edition was published seven years later, in 1666. By the end of the century they had become so popular in Iceland that five editions had been published. Since that time, they have been reprinted 65 times, a unique achievement in Icelandic literature.

The Passíusálmar quickly became an important part of Icelandic religious expression, being sung or read during Lent in every Icelandic home; today, they are broadcast on the radio during that time of year. They have been set to music by many composers of Icelandic church music, including Þorkell Sigurbjörnsson and Jón Hlöðver Áskelsson, but use outside Iceland is rare. ...

PDF files of the 1923 translation by Charles Venn Pilcher are available on line. Pilcher "has in every case [but one] preserved the metre and the rhyme-scheme of the original - thus makaing it possible to the music of those stately German Chorales with which the words are associated in Iceland" (vii).

Radio Iceland has a very full website on the Passion Psalms, but it's in Icelandic ... the link Söngur on the left of the page takes you to text, notes and sound files of what appear to be field recordings of the psalms. And, yep, they sound like chorales.

Samples from the oratorio Hallgrímspassía by Sigurdur Saevarsson are available on YouTube. ssía. Performed by Schola cantorum, Caput and Jóhann Smári Sævarsson, conducted by Hörður Áskelsson. Also available on Sigurður Sævarsson's website.

Download of Sacred Music of Iceland - The Hallgrimskirkja Motet Choir - RARE - FLAC has info on a 1989 performance by Mótettukór Hallgrímskirkju (The Hallgrimskirkja Motet Choir) conducted by Hörður Áskelsson.

An English adaptation. On YouTube a trailer for a documentary on the Passion Hymns. Blurb as follows: "This is a trailer for a documentary in progress by Dall Wilson. In 1600 European democrats in Moravia were displaced from their homeland. In those days, Icelandic poet Hallgrimur wrote the Easter Saga to Moravian hymn-tunes. This was adapted for performance in English by Dall Wilson. In the 1700s, three displaced Moravians from Brno settled in Greenland. The documentary looks at the shared musical tradition and its influence. The playbook with music score and chords is available at http://stores.lulu.com/dallwilson."

Wilson has videos of a choir from the Faroe Islands at Dall - Passion-Hymns of Hallgrimur by dallwilson Part 1 and Part 2 Not much about Wilson other than an interview on North Carolina public radio, but apparently he does mixed media projects involving music and cinematography ... he's from Winston-Salem, has Moravian roots there. His arrangements carry notations indicating melodies come from Gerhardt and other composers of the Reformation period. They sound like chorales.

A fun article by Sindri Eldon of The Reykjavík Grapevine headed "Come All Ye Faithful, But Other People Can Totally Come If They Want To" advancing performances of Pétursson's work:

Not all artists are assholes. Some, in fact, can be quite friendly. While the Hallgrímskirkja Friends Of The Arts Society may not befriend artists, they are, as their name suggests, great fans of art, so an appreciation of artists would be implied; indeed, it would kind of be necessary, considering what it is the Friends Of The Arts do. They promote art exhibitions and concerts in Reykjavík’s iconic Hallgrímskirkja church, that pointy edifice that looms over the centre of town like some crazed monolithic seal.

This month, the Friends Of The Arts have organised some kick-ass classical music for us, including a free organ concert, some chamber music although most notable is a celebration of Iceland’s most notorious composer of hymns (and the man who gave Hallgrímskirkja its name), Hallgrímur Pétursson. His hymnody, the ‘Passion Hymns,’ will be read in its 50-psalm entirety on Good Friday, and there will also be a performance of select hymns on Maundy Thursday.

All snark aside, the pictures of the church do look a little bit like a seal balancing a cross on its nose.

Music theory: Want to drive your roommate out of his/her mind?

2011-07-30T10:46:00.000-05:00

... or tune your instrument to standard pitch?

Or hear the relationships between the major, Dorian, Mixolydian and natural minor modes?

Use the Flash Piano ap on Benjamin Hollis' website "The Method Behind the Music." Says Hollis, "We have created a virtual piano that you can use to play scales and intervals to help your understanding of these and other topics. You can even play a tune!"

http://method-behind-the-music.com/piano

"Jante laws" and terrorism in Norway

2011-07-29T13:12:00.001-05:00

Jante laws (pron. YAN-teh) are a typically Scandinavian code of behavior, from a Danish novel but widely recognized in all the Scandinavia countries ... here's what Wikipedia says: "The Danish-Norwegian author Aksel Sandemose in his novel A fugitive crosses his tracks (En flyktning krysser sitt spor, 1933, English translation published in the USA in 1936) identified the Jante Law as a series of rules. Sandemose's novel portrays the small Danish town Jante (modelled upon his native town Nykøbing Mors as it was at the beginning of the 20th century, but typical of all small towns and communities), where nobody is anonymous." The Jante laws are also in force, naturally, in Lake Wobegon. Small towns everywhere, I suspect.

Snippets from July 28 article "In Norway, Consensus Cuts 2 Ways" by Steven Erlanger and Michael Schwirtz in the New York Times, which quotes the Jante laws rather perceptively ...

“When you are confronted with multicultural immigration, something happens,” said Grete Brochmann, a sociologist at the University of Oslo. “That’s the core of the matter right now, and it’s a great challenge to the Norwegian model.”

Norway’s leaders, from the royal family on down, have all praised the country’s solidarity, democracy, equality and tolerance, and all vow that these values will not change. Virtuous, peaceful, generous, consensual — this is the Norwegian self-image, aided by the oil wealth that props up one of the most comprehensive social welfare systems in the world.

xxx

For all its virtues, the emphasis on consensus here can also promote small-mindedness, smugness and political correctness. That is especially true when newcomers have different notions on certain values, including gender equality and secularism, even in an officially Christian country, that Norwegians hold dear.

“We’re a lucky society for many reasons, and not just oil,” said Ms. Brochmann, citing Norway’s distance from both the euro and the American financial crisis and its strong and transparent democracy.

“But many of these aspects of this consensus society have another side,” she said. “This is also a society of conformism,” she said, citing the “Janteloven,” or Jante law, based on small-town Scandinavian norms that govern group behavior, promoting collectivism and discouraging individual initiative and ambition in a world where no one is anonymous.

Text of Jante laws below, in Danish and English, courtesy of my cousin Lise in Copenhagen:

Janteloven

1. Du skal ikke tro, at du er noget.
2. Du skal ikke tro, at du er lige så meget som os.
3. Du skal ikke tro, at du er klogere end os.
4. Du skal ikke bilde dig ind, at du er bedre end os.
5. Du skal ikke tro, at du ved mere end os.
6. Du skal ikke tro, at du er mere end os.
7. Du skal ikke tro, at du duer til noget.
8. Du skal ikke le ad os.
9. Du skal ikke tro, at nogen bryder sig om dig.
10. Du skal ikke tro, at du kan lære os noget.

Jante law

1. Do not think that you are something.
2. Do not think that you are equal to us.
3. Do not think that you are smarter than us.
4. Do not delude yourself into thinking that you're better than us.
5. Do not think that you know more than us.
6. Do not think that you are more than us.
7. Do not believe you are worth something.
8. You must not laugh at us.
9. Do not think that anybody cares about you.
10. Do not think you can teach us something.

Ralph Lee Smith at Common Ground on the Hill, Westminster, Md., July 2011

2011-07-26T12:01:00.000-05:00

On the last day of his mountain dulcimer traditions classes during the second week of Common Ground on the Hill, dulcimer historian Ralph Lee Smith brought several antique instruments from his collection. At the end of the session, he was presented with a Common Ground shirt by members of the afternoon class.

Ralph Lee Smith opens gift shirt
Ralph taught two classes at Common Ground, one on the "world of the mountain dulcimer" and one on ballads. Both were heavily, although not exclusively, based on ballad collecting by Cecil Sharp, Maud Karpeles and Olive Dame Campbell between 1907 and 1917. And Ralph brought to Common Ground his knowledge of how the mountain dulcimer developed during the 19th and 20th centuries.

He also brought his collection of dulcimers ...

In photo above, Ralph chats with a member of the class. To the left are several hourglass dulcimers from Kentucky, along with one of similar shape from East Tennessee, all from the 20th century. To the right (mostly obscured by the bottom edge of the photo), are early instruments from West Virginia and Virginia; while the provenance is uncertain on most of the instruments, they most likely date from the early 20th to mid-19th centuries.

Kentucky (and one from Tennessee). From left, a non-traditional early folk revival instrument by Bill Davis of Gatlinburg, Tenn., and hourglass dulcimers by Kentuckians Warren May of Berea; Homer Ledford, of Winchester; Jethro Amburgey (two instruments, one behind the other), of Knott County, and "Uncle Ed" Thomas, also of Knott County. (The Davis, the Ledford and one of the Amburgeys are mine; the others are Ralph's.) Amburgey and Thomas both made instruments for the Hindman Settlement School. Note how similar all the Kentucky instruments are in shape.

Transitional instruments from Virginia. (Others in Ralph's collection are on loan to the Blue Ridge Institute, Ferrum, Va.) From left, an early Galax dulcimer; a home-made instrument that Ralph dates from about 1875; and a "coffin-shaped" dulcimer and a Scheitholt or Pennsylvania German-style folk zither, both dating from the 19th century. Ralph's hypothesis is that the dulcimer evolved by stages from German folk zithers brought to southwestern Virginia by Pennsylvania Dutch settlers.

One from West Virginia and one from North Carolina. To Ralph's right, in lower left foreground, are a dulcimer made in the 1960s by Leonard Glenn of Watauga County, N.C., and in the late 19th-century by Charles Prichard of Huntington, W.Va. As Ralph explains in his books, the pattern was brought to North Carolina by a traveling salesman during the 1880s and copied by artisans in the Glenn family for the next hundred years.

A sweet little tangent. Ralph let us play some of the instruments (i.e. the ones that can be played ... some of the others are long past that point)! I played both the Prichard, which Ralph often plays in concerts, and the boxy little Virginia style dulcimer dated 1875. It's heavy, and it looks like it was slapped together out of barn wood and decorated with house paint. But Ralph has it strung Galax style (to dddd or in unison to D an octave above middle C), and after adjusting the friction pegs a little, I was able to get a clear, sweet ringing tone out of it. I got out one of my floppy yogurt-tub picks and a noter made from the round end of a Starbucks coffee stirrer, and I couldn't keep my hands off it!

"Til ungdomen" [to youth] - song at Oslo cathedral memorial service after July 22 terrorist attack

2011-07-24T11:49:00.005-05:00

Our image in America is that the state church of Norway is largely irrelevant to a secular, post-Christian society, but in the aftermath of Friday's terrorist attacks it proved quite relevant.

A memorial service at Oslo's Domkirke Sunday ... and the imprompteau shrine outside the cathedral throughout the weekend ... were communal focal points as Norwegians began coming to terms with what has happened. People traveled hundreds of kilometres to attend the service.

Included was the singing of a choral piece, "To Youth," with words by Norwegian poet Nordahl Grieg set to music by Danish composer Otto Mortensen, at the memorial service. Its text was especially appropriate to the occasion, since more than 80 young people had been shot to death. NRK [Norsk rikskringkasting, the Norwegian state broadcasting service] posted the entire song to its website under headline "Kongen og dronningen gråt av sang i domkirken" [king and queen cry during song in cathedral].

NRK's cutline: "Den sterke teksten 'Til ungdommen' av Nordahl Grieg rørte mange under minnegudstjenesten" [the stark text "To youth" by Nordahl Grieg moved many at the memorial service].

According to Wikipedia, the poem was written in 1936; it is often referred to by its first line, "Kringsatt av Fiender' [surrounded by enemies]. Set to music by Otto Mortensen in 1952, it has been included in the Danish folk high school songbook and covered by choirs and metal bands alike. In a recent translation posted to Wikipedia, it begins:

Surrounded by enemies,
go into your time!
Under a bloody storm -
devote yourself to fight!

Maybe you ask in fear,
uncovered, open:
with what shall I fight
what is my weapon?

Here is your defense against violence
here is your sword:
the belief in our life,
the worth of mankind.

For all our future's sake,
seek it and cultivate it,
die if you must - but:
increase it and strengthen it!

And so on for 10 more verses.

ITN News has footage of the service and Eurovision TV has a 60-second report. By far the best coverage overall is on Storyful, a website that "uses the power of social networks to create an innovative, interactive and socially useful journalism." It appears to be an aggragator that collects from personal blogs and social media as well as mass media content posted to the web. It's headed "Norway mourns its dead" ... Brief English-language accounts incorporated into stories on the guardian.co.uk and Irish Times websites. The Irish Times' report, by Derek Scally, led:

NORWEGIAN MASSACRE: A KING’S tears summed up better than any words the confusion and distress gripping an entire country yesterday.

Norway’s King Harald wept openly at a church service to honour the 93 people killed in Friday’s twin tragedy that has left Norwegians reeling.

Outside the cathedral, near the site of Friday’s bomb blast, Oslo came to a standstill. Survivors gripped each other to fight back tears as they studied the sea of flowers and candles.

“Each and every life lost is a tragedy,” said a solemn prime minister, Jens Stoltenberg, addressing the service. “Together the number of people killed amounts to a national tragedy.”

Mark Townsend, reporting Sunday in Oslo:

Thousands of people have gathered outside Oslo cathedral, many travelling hundreds of miles to do so, to insist that Norway's "open" society would not be compromised by Friday's attacks.

As a memorial service dedicated to those killed and injured in the atrocities got underway, a huge crowd assembled on the plaza outside.

Throughout the 90-minute service, most stood in silence, heads bowed, moving only to place flowers on a steadily growing pile of wreaths outside the cathedral. Others wept or held radios, listening intently to the service, which was broadcast live.

Among those present was 15-year-old Sindre Kolberg from Mo i Rana, 700 miles north of Oslo, and home to many of those caught up in the shootings on Utøya island. Kolberg knew 10 children involved in the attacks, but only eight have come home. One is in hospital with gunshot wounds, the other, a girl, is still missing.

"I have talked to two of the survivors and they are shocked. They saw two friends from another city being killed. Norway is such a safe country. You see attacks in the US, London, but never here. I hope it doesn't change," he said.

It was a sentiment replicated throughout the crowd outside the cathedral, a 90-second walk from the police cordons sealing the part of Oslo's government district bombed two days earlier. The cathedral is famous as a place of refuge, often for asylum seekers whose applications have been rejected - the people who Anders Behring Breivik, the 32-year-old who has confessed to the attacks, so despised.

LATER: Posted to the NRK website Tuesday, a story with links about Kjersti Sofie Løvåsdal Halvorsen, 17, who posted a version of "To Youth" to YouTube a couple of years ago (Google translation here). Karina Lystad, arts and entertainment reporter for NRK, has this account:

Nordahl Grieg's poem "To Youth", with music by Otto Mortensen, has been a kind of renaissance after shooting at Utøya .

Sangen ble sunget under minnegudstjenesten i Oslo Domkirke på søndag, og på rosemarkeringen på Rådhusplassen i går kveld, og det siteres hyppig fra teksten på nettsteder som Twitter. The song was sung during the memorial service in Oslo Cathedral on Sunday, and the praise celebration at City Hall last night, and it cited from the text on Web sites like Twitter.

Den økte oppmerksomheten rundt sangen har også fått konsekvenser for 17 år gamle Kjersti Sofie Løvåsdal Halvorsen. The increased attention the song has also had consequences for 17-year-old Kjersti Sofie Løvåsdal Halvorsen. Hun oppdaget plutselig at trafikken på en av YouTube-videoene hennes hadde økt drastisk. She suddenly discovered that the traffic on one of her YouTube videos had increased drastically.

- Tidligere var det rundt ti visninger hver dag, frem til for noen dager siden. - Previously, it was about ten views a day, until a few days ago. I det siste har det vært oppe i 1500, sier hun. In the past there have been up in 1500, she says.

I videoen det er snakk om sitter Kjersti med en kassegitar og synger “Til Ungdommen”. In the video in question is Kjersti an acoustic guitar and sings "The Youth". Og det er ikke bare klikktallene som har gått opp. And it is only then the numbers have gone up.

- Jeg fått veldig mange flere kommentarer. - I received many more comments. Folk sier de liker versjonen min og at de føler diktet er veldig riktig og gir dem mye trøst. People say they like my version and that they feel the poem is very appropriate and gives them much consolation.

Adds Lystad of NRK:

It was more or less a coincidence that Kjersti posted just this video. Hun kom over diktet da hun jobbet med krigslitteratur på ungdomsskolen, og fordypet seg i skriveriene til Nordahl Grieg og Arnulf Øverland. She came across the poem when she was working with war literature in middle school, and immersed herself in the writings of Nordahl Grieg and Arnulf Overland.

- Jeg hørte den først i Herborg Kråkeviks versjon og bestemte meg for at jeg hadde lyst til å lære meg den på gitar, forklarer hun. - I heard it first in [pop singer] Herborg Kråkevik version and decided that I wanted to learn it on guitar, she explains.

- Hva var det for noe med akkurat det diktet? - What was it for something with just the poem?

- Det er et utrolig fint budskap om menneskeverd og solidaritet, som var verdier som Nordahl Grieg var opptatt av. - It is a very good message about human dignity and solidarity, which had values that Nordahl Grieg was concerned. Jeg syns også det er et utrolig godt skrevet dikt med tanke på strofene og rimene. I also think it is an incredibly well-written poems in terms of stanzas and rhymes.

Tutorial, FAQs on Creative Commons licensing

2011-07-21T22:44:00.000-05:00

http://theedublogger.com/2011/02/27/everything-you-should-know-about-enhancing-posts-with-images/

http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Frequently_Asked_Questions http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Frequently_Asked_Questions

How do I properly attribute a Creative Commons licensed work?
All current CC licenses require that you attribute the original author(s). If the copyright holder has not specified any particular way to attribute them, this does not mean that you do not have to give attribution. It simply means that you will have to give attribution to the best of your ability with the information you do have. Generally speaking, this implies five things:

•If the work itself contains any copyright notices placed there by the copyright holder, you must leave those notices intact, or reproduce them in a way that is reasonable to the medium in which you are re-publishing the work.
•Cite the author's name, screen name, user identification, etc. If you are publishing on the Internet, it is nice to link that name to the person's profile page, if such a page exists.
•Cite the work's title or name, if such a thing exists. If you are publishing on the Internet, it is nice to link the name or title directly to the original work.
•Cite the specific CC license the work is under. If you are publishing on the Internet, it is nice if the license citation links to the license on the CC website.
•If you are making a derivative work or adaptation, in addition to the above, you need to identify that your work is a derivative work i.e., “This is a Finnish translation of the [original work] by [author].” or “Screenplay based on [original work] by [author].”
In the case where a copyright holder does choose to specify the manner of attribution, in addition to the requirement of leaving intact existing copyright notices, they are only able to require certain things. Namely:

•They may require that you attribute the work to a certain name, pseudonym or even an organization of some sort.
•They may require you to associate/provide a certain URL (web address) for the work.
If you are interested to see what an actual license ("legalcode") has to say about attribution, you can use the CC Attribution 3.0 Unported license as an example. Please note that this is only an example, and you should always read the appropriate section of the specific license in question ... usually, but perhaps not always, section 4(b) or 4(c):

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode

Songs from Emil i Lönneberga

2011-07-20T16:21:00.000-05:00

http://www.pippisworld.com/emil.php Pipi's World fan site

Hujedamej http://www.tsrocks.com/a/astrid_lindgren_texts/hujedamej.html lyrics and

Hör nu på, govänner, så ska jag för er berätta
vad en gosse gjorde, det är nu längesen,
men nog lever minnet kvar i Smålands sköna dalar,
Katthult, Lönneberga, det var den gossens hem.
Hujedamej sånt barn han var,
ej värre tänkas kan,
och Emil var det namn han bar,
ja, Emil hette han.
Sing-dudel-dej sing-dudel-dej
sing-dudel-dudel-dej,
sing-dudel-dej sing-dudel-dej
hu-jeda-jeda-mej

: Read
Hujedamej Lyrics
here.

Adas sommarvisa / "Du ska inte tro det blir sommar"
YouTube clip and brief notes at http://www.last.fm/music/Lena+Wisborg/_/Idas+Sommarvisa last.fm

chords and lyrics on http://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/a/astrid_lindgren/idas_sommarvisa_crd.htm UltimateGuitar.com website. Lyrics in Swedish:

Du ska inte tro det blir sommar
ifall inte nå´n sätter fart
på sommarn och gör lite somrigt,
då kommer blommorna snart.
Jag gör så att blommorna blommar,
Jag gör hela kohagen grön
och nu har sommaren kommit
för jag har just tagit bort snön

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=sv&u=http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idas_sommarvisa&ei=D0YnTsT7C-j-sQLcuaE7&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=4&sqi=2&ved=0CDkQ7gEwAw&prev=/search%3Fq%3Didas%2Bsommarvisa%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1R2GGLL_en%26biw%3D1132%26bih%3D571%26prmd%3Divns Wikipedia (in translation - Swedish at http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idas_sommarvisa http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idas_sommarvisa)click )

Ida's summer show, or you will not believe it is summer, is a Swedish children's song with a summer theme . Astrid Lindgren wrote while Georg Riedel composed the melody for the film Emil and griseknoen from 1973 , where it was sung by Lena Wisborg who plays Ida.

"Idas sommarvisa" har tre verser och har blivit vanlig på skolavslutningar , där den blivit omtyckt och betraktas som ett icke-religiöst alternativ till " Den blomstertid nu kommer " och " I denna ljuva sommartid ". "Ida's summer show" has three verses and have become common on school closings , where it has become popular and are considered a non-religious alternative to " The blomstertid now "and" In the sweet summertime . " Andra har dock menat att orden "ifall inte nån sätter fart" kan tolkas så att det är Gud som "sätter fart". [1]

IMDb has a http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067047/soundtrack soundtrack list from Emil i Lönneberga (1971) ...

Hujedamej http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPUXcMpd98c the long version of the opening song from Emil i Lönneberga

Natkirken: 'liturgical laboratory' - 2001 report to diocese of Copenhagen

2011-07-19T20:41:00.000-05:00

Excerpts from English-language report on Project Night Church covering its first year as a pilot project at Københavns Domkirke, Vor Frue Kirke

By Signe M. Berg, Inger Ravn and Thomas Söderqvist

PROJECT NIGHT CHURCH -

A liturgical laboratory in the Cathedral of Copenhagen.

* * *

In the late summer of 1999 a new project was launched in the Cathedral of Copenhagen. Originally the idea was to open the church to the public in the late evening hours and to give visitors an opportunity for a personal talk with a minister. In the course of the first year several new practices and ideas were introduced which have turned the project into a liturgical laboratory and a place of dialogue.

The first year of the Night Church project (Danish: "Natkirken") has recently been evaluated on behalf of the twelwe founding downtown churches. This article summarises our evaluation report (available in Danish at www.natkirken.dk).

* * *
The ideas and visions for the Night Church project have developed gradually as a result of our practical experiences. Something unexpected may happen in the course of an evening, new perspectives emerge, new reflections and a new practice is born. When the Night Church project started in 1999 the idea was to provide an open and quiet church punctuated by a short service. Today, however, we envisage the entire evening as an extended service. The long stretches of time when "nothing happens" are part - and a most appreciated part - of the service. The Night Church thus becomes a refuge from everyday life with its career pressures and constant demands for personal achievement. Several visitors have expressed their gratitude to this dimension of the Night Church (see below). The message that many a minister tries to convey to his congregation in elaborate ways, namely, that we do not need to perform or do anything to receive the love of Christ, is here replaced by a personal experience that grows out of the simple practice of "doing nothing", just being - in the calm.

The noise generated by today's information and media society has turned people's attention to the blessing of quietness. Similarly, the common experience of a normative vacuum in today's society has contributed to a revival of ritual. We wish to develop credible rituals. Credibility is bound up with resonance and the content and mode of expression in the rituals and the service must therefore resonate with the individual's perception of holiness and sense of the fundamentals of life. That is, the service must resonate with the visitorís need to find a suitable vocabulary, a direction of mind, and a spiritual context for his or her search. Our task is to find modes of expression that are credible to the individual visitor and which provide a space for dialogue - a dialogue that (post)modern man expects to be a natural part of the state of being together, with other human beings as well as with God.

Many of our visitors can be characterised as "seekers", and we consider it one of our primary aims to establish a dialogue with this group of people. In order to enter into a dialogue with "seekers", however, we must meet them on their own terms. A well-known graffiti says that "Jesus is the answer, but what was the question?" In other words, there is no point trying to preach the gospel if we cannot see our visitorsí distress and if we cannot give them an opportunity to articulate their own questions. To "see" somebody does not necessarily imply accepting everything he or she say - to be "seen" also includes being contradicted and corrected. But whether we agree with our visitor or contradict him, his sense of having been seen is a necessary condition for his being affected.

* * *

Berg, Ravn and Söderqvist's report is also incorporated verbatin in a newsletter of the World Council of Churches Ecumenical Letter on Evangelism - Geneva, 2002. Carlos E. Ham, WCC Programme Executive for Evangelism, has a nice summary in his introduction:

... In a quiet setting, right in the middle of the city’s noise, the project provides an opportunity for “outsiders” and for the “seekers” to meet, to have a cup of tea or coffee together, to write, to walk around, or simply to kneel and pray.

Frequently Cathedrals have been used for performing concerts and this is also the case in Copenhagen, but what makes the experience unique is the way that art is used as an instrument to share the good news. Furthermore the regular church activities such as worship, Holy Communion, reading and interpreting the Bible, prayers, etc., are developed in an innovative way, enabling people to feel welcome and embraced. But perhaps the most meaningful characteristic of the project is sharing in the love of Christ “doing nothing”, just being in calm, in silence.

We are very happy to share with our readers this beautiful and meaningful project, which indeed has been a blessing for the people related to it.

There is also a YouTube clip on a NiteKirk program in Scotland. According to the Mission and Discipleship Council of the Church of Scotland, "Following the success of the night church movement in Denmark, the NiteKirk transformed Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh during the Edinburgh Festival of 2008 into a space for reflection, encounter and transformation." Quotes several clergy at length. See the Greyfriars website for ongoing services: "NiteKirk takes place one Friday evening each month and offers a place for stillness, prayer and relection. Come for the evening, or pop in for a quiet moment in our sanctuary of peace and tranquillity. There are occasional services and liturgies, prayer in the style of [Taizé], readings and music. There are volunteers you can chat with over a drink of the famous warm and spicy apple juice, or you can just take time to sit and think. We will publicise NiteKirk here on the site and on the blog, so watch this space."

"The Pride of the Springfield Road"

2011-07-18T23:54:00.000-05:00

Learned from Jim Rainey of Craobh Rua in his Irish song class at Common Ground on the Hill on the McDaniel College campus in Westminster, Md.

"The Pride of the Springfield Road"
(I'm learning it in D dorian on the Appalachian dulcimer.)

Lyrics and chords (in B minor) on an Andy Irvine fan page.
The website also has lyrics of "The King of Ballyhooley" - also an Andy Irvine song learned from Jim at Common Ground.

Craobh Rua's website is at http://www.craobhrua.com/ ...

A bagpiper's story

2011-07-18T23:47:00.000-05:00

One of those viral emails, courtesy of my cousin on Long Island ...

Very touching story...

As a bagpiper, I play many gigs. Recently I was asked by a funeral director to play at a graveside service for a homeless man. He had no family or friends, so the service was to be at a pauper's cemetery in the Kentucky back country. As I was not familiar with the backwoods, I got lost and, being a typical man, I didn't stop for directions.

I finally arrived an hour late and saw the funeral guy had evidently gone and the hearse was nowhere in sight. There were only the diggers and crew left and they were eating lunch. I felt badly and apologized to the men for being late. I went to the side of the grave and looked down and the vault lid was already in place. didn't know what else to do, so I started to play.

The workers put down their lunches and began to gather around. I played out my heart and soul for this man with no family and friends. I played like I've never played before for this homeless man. And as I played 'Amazing Grace,' the workers began to weep. They wept, I wept, we all wept together. When I finished I packed up my bagpipes and started for my car. Though my head hung low, my heart was full.

As I opened the door to my car, I heard one of the workers say, "I never seen nothin' like that before and I've been putting in septic tanks for twenty years."

Pix - Jenny Lind / Tryggare kan ingen vara

2011-07-06T20:44:00.000-05:00

Pix under Creative Commons license ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jenny-lind-chapel.jpg - photo of Jenny Lind Chapel in Andover

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jenny_Lind_-_JLAsher_1845.jpg - JL seated at piano - 1845 - oil by J.A. Asher

Also:

more thumbnails @ http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Jenny_Lind
Wikipedia page in Google translation on Tryggare kan ingen vara

"Å kjøre vatten, og kjøre ved" - a Norwegian children's song with a Caribbean beat

2011-07-03T13:46:00.000-05:00

"Å kjøre vatten, og kjøre ved" by a group from Stavanger called Vindrosa recasts a classic Norwegian children's song with a Caribbean steel band rhythm ... "fra VINDROSA´s album "Østenfor sol" som nå er ute (release 15. februar 2011). Se også www.vindrosa.no.

Vindrosa has its ultimate origins in a 1980s ska-reggae band ... two of its members got together in recent years in Stavanger and cut the record, with singer-songwriter Stina Kjeland fronting the band, which also features Moroccan hand drums, a kletzmer-style clarinet and more traditional stringed instruments like a bouzouki. According to the blurb on their website, they are a sort of Norwegian/world music combo:

The songs they chose are all traditional Norwegian folk songs well known to most of the above-forty generation of Norwegians, but maybe lesser known to younger people. These songs have been dressed up in foreign clothes and scented with exotic fragrances so that they now appear new and fresh, but also familiar. Hopefully this new appearance will cause many people to rediscover these wonderful songs and also give them the new audiences that they very well deserve.

Another version. Andy Irvine, an Irish singer, sings same melody to new lyrics ... "I drove to Oslo on a winter's night ..." osv. @ Dent Folk Festival 2009 ... nice, bright bouzouki backing his voice. Cute lyrics.

Lönneberga - tracing family roots; pork and potato dumplings with lingonberries; and a popular children's story

2011-07-02T15:51:00.000-05:00

We found Lönneberga, the rural community in Småland where Debi's great great-grandfather was born on a nearby farm. Our time was limited, so we chose a couple of places in the family records that we could easily reach. And we got lucky!
Rural areas (landsbygd) in Lönneberga
The community is called Lönneberga (pronounced luna-BER-ya), and it's located on a two-lane blacktop (No. 129) in Hultsfred municipality or kommun in Kalmar county (län) near the Jönköping (yon-SHOWP-ing) county line (if you care about such things, its latitude and longitude are are 57° 33' 0" North, 15° 43' 0" East). A pretty little town, with a housing estate on one side of the road and a nice little restaurant - Lönneberga Boa - on the other. Surrounded by evergreen forest set in rolling hills. The proprietor said Sjoarp (SHOW-arp), where the family farmed before coming to America in the 1860s, is no longer occupied year-round but vacationers have second homes there. The Wikipedia page on Hultsfred kommun indicates the area has been losing population over time: "Much of the geography is taken up with forests, a notability for the entire province of Småland, with some few scattered areas suitable for agriculture."

Local histories, several of which are available on the World Wide Web, also give the picture of an area where people scrabbled for a living on small farms hacked out of the woods.

The Lönneberga Historical Guild (hembygdsgille) hosts a food and craft fair in the fall and maintains a homestead museum (hembygdsgård) near Lönneberga church (for an English translation, Google keywords Lönneberga Mat och Hantverk and click on "Translate this page"). Its website also features a map that shows Sjoarp, which is pretty out-of-the-way. The guild's organizational website has an interesting hodgepodge of information (Google keywords Lönneberga hembygdsgille and click on the link that says "Translate this page") compiled by local historians. Among other things, it mentions historical records going back
to the 1300s, an essay on farming and an account of emigration during the 1800s from another community in Hultsfred commune.

Lönneberga is one of the villages mentioned in family records. Our time was limited, so we chose it partly because it was located not far off the road to the E4 motorway that led to Stockholm and Arlanda Airport, where we had to drop off our rental car that afternoon. Other communities mentioned are Krisdala and Misterhult in Kalmar and Horn, which I wasn't able to locate. From Lönneberga were:

Petter Admundson, farmer in Sjoarp, Lonneberga Parish, Kalmar County, Sweden. Born Mar. 8, 1805 in Hasselby Parish, Jonkoping County, Sweden. Married Stina Cajsa Jonsdotter, born Mar. 30, 1811, in Lonneberga Parish. Came to America probably in 1870s, after their children came here. (?) Petter died in Woodhull, IL in 1881. Stina died in 1911, in Woodhull,IL.
Anders Johan Admund (Adman), son of Petter and Stina, born Nov. 3, 1833, at Sjoarp farm #2, Lonneberga Parish, Kalmar County, Sweden. Emigrated to America June 26, 1865? 1868? Died 1918 in Orion, IL.

We ate lunch at Lönneberga Boa, a smallish restaurant with wood paneling with prints including an old (1920s-ish?) group portrait of the Swedish royal family, on the walls and a discreet selection of crafts and tourist kitsch on sale.

Lunch was kropkakor - pork meatballs surrounded by potato dumplings in a white sauce (cf. German Fleisch Knödel) that tasted like a combination of American-style Swedish meatballs and potato baloney. Served with a lingonberry sauce on the side. It was quite good. Filling, though. Very filling. Debi had a fruktkaka that was nothing at all like an American fruitcake. Turns out kroppkaka is a traditional dish common throughout Småland and other districts (landskaps) in southern Sweden.

Among the touristy items on sale were several black-and-white glossies of a tow-headed little boy. He's Emil of Lönneberga, the title character of several novels by children's author Astrid Lindgren. They're proud of their namesake in Lönneberga. While the books aren't readily available in English, Wikipedia has this: "Emil of Lönneberga (from Swedish: Emil i Lönneberga) is a series of children's novels by Astrid Lindgren, covering twelve books written from 1963 to 1997. Emil, the title character, is a prankster who lives on a farm in the district of Lönneberga in Småland, Sweden. The books have been published in 44 languages. In most translations, the original illustrations by the Swedish illustrator Björn Berg are used." Adds the Wikipedia profile, "[Emil] has fair hair and blue eyes and looks like an angel, but is not, as he also has a prodigious knack for getting into trouble. Contrary to what most people around him think, Emil is not malicious, but does not think about the consequences of his actions. He even states at one point that 'you don't make up pranks, they just happen'."

There's a copy of the 1971 movie version available on YouTube. It's in Swedish, and I didn't watch it all, but the opening credits give a feel for the characters ... and an idyllic - idealized? - impression of what a youngster from Småland might remember from the early 20th century when Astrid Lindgren was growing up. Details on the 1971 release available on the Swedish Film Database website.

St Basil's Hymn - Greek Christmas/New Year's song for hammered dulcimer

2011-06-15T11:20:00.000-05:00

A nice Christmas piece in E minor for hammered dulcimer ... adapted by Malcolm Dalglish from a Greek children's song sung on New Year's Day ... part of the Orthodox Christmas and New Year's celebration (St. Basil's Day is Jan. 1), very similar to the "starring" carol-singing during Russian Orthodox Christmas in Alaska.

A couple of versions follow, one for HD and two of the original song from Greece:

Ann Robinson: St. Basil's Hymn, Hammered Duclimer - hrpplayer - on a very interesting YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/hrpplayer - by a harp and hammered dulcimer player who also has several clips of Ken Bloom playing bowed dulcimer ... and a nice harpish sound to her HD pieces, including "Jesu Thou Joy of Man's Desiring."
Κλασικά Πρωτοχρονιάς - kalanta - Audio of a recording of an up-tempo children's choir singing in Greek. Uploaded by kalanta2008 on Dec 30, 2008a. No other information available in English.
St. Basil carols (kalanta) in Upatras 1-1-2007 stylianosm - Children singing the carols (in greek: kalanta) of St. Basil the Great in the entrance of the Church of the University of Patras dedicated to the Holy Three Hierarchs after the holy liturgy on 1-1-2007. Amateur footage and very nice. Tempo is as lively as you can get when very young children are singing.

Best source of information on the music, as always is the Mudcat Cafe thread: http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=20736 - "Lyr Req: St. Basils Hymn" - which includes this post by Mudcat contributor Joe Offer:

I went under my bed and dug out the Christmas CD's and found Winston's wonderful December album- Winston says his tune "Minstrels" was inspired by St. Basil's Hymn, a traditional Greek children's New Year's carol based upon a rendition by Malcolm Dalglish, from his Flying Fish album, Thunderhead.

For background the Greek children's carol, see the Byzantine Texas website (Josephus Flavius, Fort Worth), which has several good links -

One of them is the Greek Songs - Greek Music website ... which explains:

The most common version of Greek carols for the New year are the one called "Arhminia kai arhihronia" which translates to It’s the beginning of the month, beginning of the year.

The Greek carol songs are a particular type of songs in Greek music, belonging to the folk tradition. We are not certain about their origins and their lyric writer - as with all folk songs, the creators are actually unknown.

New Year's Day is St. Basil's Day in the Orthodox calendar. Lyrics, in translation:

It’s the beginning of the month, beginning of the year
High incense tree
Beginning of my good year
Church with the Holy Seat

It’s the beginning of our Christ
Saint and spiritual
He got out to walk on earth
And to welcome us

St. Basil is coming
From Caesaria
And doesn't want to deal with us
May you long live, my lady
He holds (St. Basil) an icon and a piece of paper
With the picture of Christ our Savior
A piece of paper and a quill
Please look at me, the young man.

If some of the lines sound a little odd in a Christmas carol, that's because there's another song embedded in the carol. Explains the Greek Songs-Greek Music website:

... the folk tradition reveals us that this Greek carol song has actually disguised 2 songs in one. Of course there are all about greetings and wishes, but almost every second lyric there is a reference to a love story.

The story takes place in the 17th century - more or less: A young man who is in love with a noble woman has the idea to express his love in the only way he can: creating a song that communicates his message disguised within love lyrics: Please look at me, the young man, he sings to his noble woman, calling her tall and beautiful like a high incense tree, a noble woman that doesn't deal with him because he is of a different social status.

It's actually quite interesting how the lyrics reveal the truth if you pay close attention, but still they are considered part of the Orthodox tradition - as if the love story of the lyrics in these Greek carols doesn't exist!

More background: The Christmas and New Year's Celebrations website has this: "old New Year’s Eve tradition encourages children and adults to go from house to house, singing carols called kalanda," cf. starring in Alaska ... a good summary on the St. Herman Theological Seminary website (scroll down to Following the Star - 01/08/11):

Throughout Alaska Orthodox Christians "follow the star," a brightly decorated Star of Bethlehem with an icon of Nativity as its center, proclaiming that "Christ is born" to the homes of communities with traditional hymns and carols. Although caroling--and starring--originated in the Ukraine and is done in central Europe as well, it spread to Alaska a century ago and now is identified as a tradition of Native Orthodox Christians in Alaska. As we go from house to house in the days following the liturgical celebration of the birth of Christ--"God with us"--we remember the ancient prophecy that "a star will come forth from Jacob" (Numbers 24:17) to shine the light of God upon the nations of the world for our salvation. "Thy Nativity, O Christ our God, has shone to the world the Light of Wisdom. For by it those who worshipped the stars were taught by a star to adore Thee, the Sun of Righteousness and to adore Thee, the Orient from on high. O Lord, glory to Thee" (troparion of Nativity). Christ is born! Glorify Him!

To hear a a public radio program on Russian Orthodox Christmas in Anchorage with a group of singing a Slavonic carol in the background, go to my Hogfiddle post of Sept. 22, 2006 and follow the link.

"Shepherd's Hey"

2011-06-13T11:40:00.001-05:00

A morris dance tune ... collected by Cecil J. Sharp from the playing of the fiddler of the Bidford Morris dancers (1906) and arranged in various settings Percy Aldridge Grainger.

Shepherds Hey Ravensthorpe
FiddlerNick - Moulton Morris Men dancing Shepherds Hey from Ravensthorpe (Northants). The dance and its tune were collected by Revd Watkins-Pitchford from an old dancer from the Ravensthorpe side in the early 1900's and the details lay in Percy Grainger's papers in Melbourne until they were unearthed by Barry Care in 2004. Recorded Adderbury Club Day, Sep 09 2007 [stick dance w/ fiddle and box].
Shepherd's Hey Morris Dance at Kintbury May Day
juliacrobinson - Kintbury villagers join in to celebrate May Day! Kintbury Morris and the Garston Gallopers lead the way with Derek Shaw on melodeon: www.also-known-as.org.uk
Cumberland Morris Men perform Shepherd's Hey
allybeag - A somewhat slow version of this famous dance! Cockermouth Christmas Lights switch-on 2007 [with vocal chorus].

Grainger's versions include a tour de force band piece and an impossible-to-dance-to piano arrangement:

Shepherds Hey, English Morris Dance, Percy Grainger, SWO Symphonic Wind Orchestra, SYO A1okEZ - "Shepherds Hey" English Morris Dance by Percy Grainger. Performed by the Symphonic Wind Orchestra, conducted by Russell Hammond. The SWO is for wind, brass and percussion musicians aged 14 - 22 years. ... Recorded live on 20 March 2010 at the Sydney Youth Orchestras SYO Autumn Concert at Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Australia.
Percy Aldridge Grainger (1882-1961): Shepherd's Hey
d60944 - Percy Grainger is a fairly well-known composer, and his interest in collecting and arranging folksongs is also well known. As well as his compositional activities, he was a very fine pianist. No lesser a figure than Grieg transferred his endorsement as the finest interpretater of his own music to Grainger after they met a few years before Grieg's death ... / This recording is of a folksong arrangement by Grainger, and it was recorded by him in 1908. / I particularly like - and am fascinated by - the large degree of "swing" injected into the playing. Stride jazz piano was developing at this time too, and the sort of swing is approaching that (later jazz sort of merged the swung rhythm into a more strict 4/4=12/8, whereas the earlier swung rhythms from the 1910s through 20s were only around halfway toward this outright tripletting effect).

Excerpts from an article by Jonathan Brown in The Independent [London] that gives a good history of morris dancing along with a first-person beginner's account. "Hell's bells! The joy of Morris Dancing" Sept. 21, 2009:

I am standing in a Scout hut on a rainy Wednesday night in a leafy suburb of York, preparing to be initiated in to the ways of morris. Few would imagine that danger is at hand. Morris dancing – with its tinkling bells, clink of pewter tankards and brightly-clad participants – evokes the timeless, gentle charm of an English village. ...

* * *

The good ladies of the Acorn Morris, York's first all-female team (who have been strutting their stuff since 1977), have already nurse-maided me through a gentle Shepherd's Hey – really a dance for children but deemed suitable for a beginner such as myself – before progressing to the slightly more vigorous Brighton Camp, which involves some enjoyable knee-slapping and culminates in a satisfying gurn. I am also allowed to backswagger and caper (these are technical terms) along to a (for me) rather demanding Jenny Lind Polka, named in honour of the celebrated Victorian opera singer known as the Swedish Nightingale and still widely venerated in morris circles.

* * *

To see the Acorn team dance the Skirmish [a lively stick dance] is to forget the tedious old instruction of Sir Thomas Beecham about morris dancing and incest being two of life's more optional leisure interests and instead seek out the stirring description of Philip Stubbs, the 16th-century pamphleteer. Writing in his The Anatomie of Abuses (1583), a sort of Elizabethan version of the Daily Mail which excoriated the declining state of England and the degenerate behaviour of its people, Stubbs turns the full force of his censorious quill on the morris men: "They strike up the Devil's Dance withall: then march this heathen company towards the church and churchyards, their pypers pyping, the drummers thundering, their stumpes dancing, their belles jyngling, their hankercheefes fluttering about their heads like madde men." More than four centuries later, they are still doing so; in fact, the pastime appears to gaining popularity.

portal to old faculty page message board

2011-06-12T14:26:00.000-05:00

http://www.sci.edu/faculty/ellertsen/boardgate.html

Also

http://disc.yourwebapps.com/Indices/139587.html

"Carolan's Draught"

2011-06-09T21:28:00.000-05:00

Three versions from YouTube:

Carolan's Draught
kenhardtofind - in Japan - playing hammered dulcimer at slow tempo -

Carolan's Draught - Finger Picking
jeanbanwarth - "Recueil de tablatures (+ partions) disponible à partir de la boutique en ligne de MusTraDem.
Tabs book (+ scores) avalaible on line from MusTraDem website.
Turlough O'Carolan / Arr. Jean Banwarth. Tablature Trad Magazine n° 120. Accordage : EADGBE"

The Irish Group - O'Carolan's Draught
celteast - Gitar Cafe Concert in Istanbul - mandolin, guitar (and bodhran on 2nd number in set)
Personnel, per YouTube channel:

Nilufer Ketenci-Fiddle
Feride Sofugil-Tin Whistle, Low Whistle, Mandolin
Ayhan Unal-Acoustic Guitar

"John Stenson's No. 2" (in D-for-dulcimer and in the original key of A)

2011-06-05T09:49:00.000-05:00

Two threads in The Session ... in the first at http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/1817, user murfbox writes, "The Stensons are relatives of Kevin Burke and live in Co. Sligo. John Stenson was a box player and Kevin learned the tune from him." In the second at http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display.php/1163, CeadurMawnOrganig writes, "This is the second John Stenson's reels played by Kevin Burke on 'If The Cap Fits'. He includes the two reels in a 3-tune set starting with a G-dorian setting of The Star of Munster."

A couple of versions on YouTube featuring mountain dulcimer:

John Stinson's #2
FlatMountainDulcimer "... mountain dulcimer performing group out of eastern North Carolina, playing mountain music in the flatlands of the southeast" [description from their YouTube channel].
Bing Futch & Jt Taylor - John Stinson's #2 (Part 2)
reddhawk1964 - Portage Dulcimer Day Concert 2010, Portage Pa, 7/3/2010

And three for hammered dulcimer:

Evart2010 John Stinson's #2
GingerJaneM - A late-night jam at the hammered dulcimer festival in Evart, Mich.
rickthum John Stenson's #2 and Hangman's Reel - Rockford, MI Concert Rick Thum does a couple of his favorite tunes at the concert in Rockford, MI, November 2009. Ken Kaiser backed him up on guitar.
John Stenson's #2 - Midland 2010 - Kaiser Family Band
KenKaiser "The Kaiser Family Band performs at the Saturday night stage show at the Midland Folk Music Festival in Midland, Michigan on August 27, 2010. Be sure to check them out at www.kaiserfamilyband.com!"

John Stinson #2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCwtZSvlFqg banjojudy Mary Z. and Bob Cox play John Stinson #2 at the Albuquerque Folk Festival, June 21, 2008.

Kevin Burke - If The Cap Fits - 5 -The Star of Munster, John Stenson's no. 1, John Stenson's no. 2 [starts at 2:00]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8K6YlDSTsU fujenti
Kevin Burke - If the Caps Fits (1978)
Recorded in Ireland in the late 70's, and still seen by many as one of the most innovative, refreshing and influential fiddle recordings ever made.

Kevin Burke: fiddle
Peter Browne: flute, uilleann pipes
Jackie Daly: accordion
Paul Brady: mandolin, piano
Donal Lunny: bouzouki
Gerry O'Beirne: slide guitar
Micheal O'Domhnaill: guitar

FolkWorld - Home of European Music – Folk, World & Roots Music Webzine

2011-05-31T23:03:00.000-05:00

http://www.folkworld.eu/

Imprint | Impressum
Editors, Publishers, Webmasters, Layout, Idea, ©opyright:
Michael & Christian Moll

FolkWorld is a web magazine and internet portal, being online since 1997. At the time being, we publish three issues every year that appear in spring (1st March), summer (1st July) and autumn (1st November), respectively.

FolkWorld is an independent and non-profit making web magazine. All material published in FolkWorld is © The Author via FolkWorld. Storage for private use is allowed and welcome. Reviews and extracts of up to 200 words may be freely quoted and reproduced, if source and author are acknowledged. For any other reproduction please ask the editors for permission. ...

* * *

"A Decade of Folk: Editorial" by Michael and Christian Moll, FolkWorld Issue 34 Nov. 2007 http://www.folkworld.de/34/3/ed.html - has kind of a prospectus ...

FolkWorld, the European online folk, world and roots music magazine celebrates its 10th anniversary in the world wide web on 1st November 2007. This issue is being published to coincide with the anniversary. Also with this issue, FolkWorld is re-launched at a new .EU domain: www.folkworld.eu, to fully reflect the European dimension of the publication.

Over its 10 years, FolkWorld has developed into the biggest and ultimate resource for European folk, world and roots music on the internet. The "Home of European Music" has accumulated on its website more than 5,000 CD reviews and over 500 articles, live reviews and interviews, plus regular news updates, from European and international artists. Every day 10,000 worldwide visitors are looking for information about European folk music on the FolkWorld website.

Back in 1997, the trigger for developing FolkWorld was the discontinuation of the German print magazine Folksblatt, to which we had been main contributors over the previous few years. Folksblatt was merged with the other German magazine, Folk Michel, to form the new magazine Folker. Thus Folker has also reached its 10th anniversary this year, and FolkWorld would like to take this opportunity to congratulate our colleagues. ...

usw.

Article about FolkWorld: Reprinted from Folker! ... "Folkworld.eu – Home of European Music: Internetmagazin feierte Zehnjähriges - Ultimative Adresse im Netz" - FolkWorld Ausgabe 37 11/2008; Folker!-Artikel von Dirk T. Fellinghauer. http://www.folkworld.eu/37/d/folker.html

Creole = diversität ... globale Musik aus Deutschland

2011-05-31T20:57:00.000-05:00

File under creolization ... a German world music website ... homepage at creole – globale Musik aus Deutschland 2011

Who they are and what they do:

creole = diversität
creole steht für die unverwechselbare Kulturdiversität Deutschlands. Nur hier kann entstehen, was wir bei den alle zwei Jahre stattfindenden Bundeswettbewerben musikalisch erleben dürfen: Die KünstlerInnen, die alle in Deutschland leben und arbeiten, experimentieren mit dem, was hierzulande – teilweise seit Jahrhunderten, teilweise seit gestern – an transkulturellem Reichtum vorhanden ist.

Identität, Tradition, Regionalität, Grenzen und deren Wegfall dienen den MusikerInnen als Inspiration; gesellschaftlich relevante Themen werden so mittels Musik be- und verarbeitet. Die aus Migration und Kulturkontakt resultierenden musikalischen Neuentwicklungen werden damit zu einem Spiegelbild Deutschlands im 21. Jahrhundert. ...

At http://www.creole-weltmusik.de/index.php5?lang=1&lm=CREOLE&lc=aktuell

"There Once Was an Owl"

2011-05-30T10:51:00.001-05:00

I learned it from Betty Smith ... words by the poet John Ciardi, music by Bob Beers, who played psaltry and was active on the New England festival scene in the 1950s or 60s ...

InspiredPreK on YouTube
There Once Was an Owl Song Sung for class by Carolyn
I learned this song from wonderful folk musician, Betty Smith, in her 1977 June Appal recording of For My Friends of Song. I saw her performing in Baltimore in 1980 and am so glad I bought that album.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m166cbg6qUA

Wilfried Ulrich, "Story of the Hummel"

2011-05-28T15:49:00.000-05:00

Copy of a blast email I sent out today promoting Wilfried Ulrich's new book The Story of the Hummel (German Scheitholt). 181 pages. Published by the author. A translation of Die Hummel: Geschichte eines Volksmusik-Instruments. Volume 42 of Materials Pertaining to the Everyday History and Folk Culture of Lower Saxony. Clopppenburg: Museumsdorf Cloppenburg, 2011. Price: 22 euros, plus 7 euros shipping (approximately $45 total at current exchange rates).

Hi everybody -

A couple of months ago Wilfried Ulrich, a German luthier whom I met when he taught in Mountain Dulcimer Week at Western Carolina, came out with a book called "The Story of the Hummel." He asked me if I could help with publicity for the book, and I'm happy to do what I can. It's a fascinating book, and it's changed the way I think about the origins of the mountain dulcimer. In a word, I really liked it and I highly recommend it.

"The Story of the Hummel" is a translation of the catalog for an exhibition of hummels and other European folk zithers at Museumsdorf Cloppenburg, an open-air museum in North Germany. I'm attaching a synopsis and a PDF file of a flyer for the exhibit; the flyer is in German, but the pictures are thumbnails of visuals in the book. The blue instrument on the flyer is a North German hummel that is also pictured on the book's cover. It was apparently a wedding present, and you can see the bride's and groom's initials intertwined with a bridal crown in the soundhole. Like so many exhibit catalogs, it's a hardback coffee table book with very nice photography.

The synopsis I've attached elaborates on Wilfried's history of the hummel. In addition to pictures and history, dulcimer players will find a chapter on how to tune a hummel in Ionian, Aeolian, Dorian and Mixolydian modes, along with tablature; it would work on most American dulcimers. Full measurements of the instruments in the exhibit, including vibrating string length and fret placement, are also given.

"The Story of the Hummel" costs 29 euros with shipping from Germany included (a little less than $45 at today's exchange rates), which isn't bad for a hardback coffee table book. For more information, or to order a copy, contact Wilfried Ulrich, Am Diekschloot 40, D-26506 Norden, East Frisia, Germany. Email: ulricus.norden@t-online.de Web site: www.ulrich-instrumente.de ...

- Pete

"De Boatman Dance" - sheet music, pix, etc.

2011-05-21T11:34:00.000-05:00

De Boatman Dance: An Ethiopian Ballad Arranged for the Spanish Guitar by Philip Ernst. New York: C. G. Christman, 1844.

Available on line in several versions:

Library of Congress, Music for the Nation: American Sheet Music ...
Arr. for piano, "De Boatmen's Dance: An Original Banjo Melody by Old Dan D. Emmit, in collection of Dan Emmit's songs Levy Collection, Johns Hopkins

Like other early minstrel tunes, it was in the oral tradition before Dan Emmit adapted it for the stage ... Andrew Kuntz in Fiddler's Companion has this:

BOAT(S)MAN [2]. AKA and see "Sailing Down the River on the O‑hi‑o," "Ohio River," "Boatman Dance." Old‑Time, Breakdown. USA; W.Va., Pa. A Major (Krassen, Phillips): D Major (Johnson): G Major (Spandaro). Standard tuning. AABBC: ABCC (Johnson): AABBCC (Phillips). The fiddle tune is derived from the minstrel piece credited to Dan Emmett called "De Boatmen Dance" or "Dance, Boatman, Dance;" the tune (words below), according to some accounts, was first heard in performance in Boston in 1843. Emmett published it in that year, advertising it as "An Original Banjo Melody." The tune appears in many American and even English songsters of the 19th and early 20th centuries; Scott (1926) prints it as "Sung by the Ethiopian Serenaders." Both Nathan and Cauthen (1990) assert the melody was in folk currency before the minstrel era, and that it made its way back to folk currency in the fiddle tradition after popularization by minstrels; this is probably true, for it was in print (as "Ohio River") in George P. Knauff's Virginia Reels, volume IV (Baltimore, 1839) -- associated with Ohio River boatmen -- before it was played on the minstrel stage. See also "Boatman's Dance" for version of the tune in the morris dance tradition and "Little Rabbit" for a related old-time version.

... with reference to two pictures ... George Caleb Bingham (1811-1879). Raftsmen Playing Cards and Flatboat Fiddler. From Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspapter, v. 50, April, 1880.

http://www.csufresno.edu/folklore/ballads/BMRF566.html
The Ballad Index Copyright $TrueYear by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.

Wikipedia article on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minstrel_show#cite_note-124 Minsterel Show notes that "... when the sound era of cartoons began in the late 1920s, early animators such as Walt Disney gave characters like Mickey Mouse (who already resembled blackface performers) a minstrel-show personality; the early Mickey is constantly singing and dancing and smiling" - cited to Sacks, Howard L.; Sacks, Judith (1993), Way up North in Dixie: A Black Family's Claim to the Confederate Anthem, Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, p. 158.

Thomas Kingo: Hører til, I høje himle (melody Freu dich sehr) w/ English translation of Hymns on the Passion, bio of Kingo

2011-05-18T15:51:00.000-05:00

Promotional video on YouTube for public singing of Kingos passionssalmer at Helligaandskirken [Church of the Holy Spirit], Copenhagen, Friday April 8, 2011.

From YouTube blurb: "Barokkens største danske litterære perle! Kingos passionssalmer fra 1689. Enevældens største salmist."

De 17 salmer:
1) Hører til, I høje himle (Om Jesu lovsang)
2) Over Kedron Jesus træder (Om Jesu sved i urtegården)
3) Sover I? hvor kan I sove ( Om de sovende disciple)
4) Mørket skjuler jorderige (Om den forrådte Jesus)
5) Længe haver Satan spundet (Jesus føres bunden)
6) Ingen højhed, ingen ære (Om St. Peders fald)
7) Vælder ud, i øjne-strømme! (St. Peders tårer og omvendelse)
8) Søde synd, du vellyst-engel (Om Judas, som fortvivler)
9) pengene som Judas slængte (Om pottemagerens ager)
10) Jesus, som skal verden dømme ( Om Jesus i Pilati domhus)
11) Til Herodes Jesus føres (Jesus sendes til Herodes)
12) Se, nu er Pilatus gangen (Barrabas løsgives, Kristus begæres korsfæstet)
13) Vil dog himlen intet tale (Jesus hudstryges, bespottes og tornekrones)
14) Hvordan end Pilatus hinked (Se hvilket menneske)
15) Rettens spir det alt er brækket (Jesus dømmes til at korsfæstes)
16) Kommer I, som vil ledsage (Jesus bær sit kors til Golgatha)
17) Bryder frem, I hule sukke (Om Kristi korsfæstelse, pine og død)
I Den Danske Salmebog findes ca. 50-60 vers ud af originalens 209.

No. 80 in Den Danske Salmebog Online:

Hører til, I høje Himle
Mel.: Jesus, dine dybe vunder
1
Hører til, I høje Himle,
hører til, I englekor!
Hører, o I folk, som vrimle,
som på jordens klode bor!
Høre, hver, som høre kan,
hver, som sans har og forstand!
Alt det, som har ånd og øre,
lave sig nu til at høre!

osv.

English transaltion of the text at http://www.blc.edu/comm/gargy/gargy1/KingosPassionHymns.html [Translation © Mark DeGarmeaux unless noted]

HYMNS ON THE PASSION
which can be used in the congregations during Lent
at the weekly service and on Days of Prayer
according to the custom of each place
Gradual of 1699

THE FIRST WEEK IN LENT
Jesus' Hymn of Praise
HØRER TIL I HØYE HIMLE [8]
tune: Freu dich sehr

1 O ye highest heavens, listen,
Hear the angels' anthem swell!
People without number, listen,
All who on the earth do dwell!
Listen, all who now can hear;
Every heart and mind, draw near;
All with breath and life, draw near Him,
Now prepare yourselves to hear Him.

etc.

Fairly detailed bios of Kingo, including from Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns, on the Wittenberg Trail "an online community for people exploring and confessing the Lutheran faith" ... mention of Kingo in a sermon at Mindekirken in Minneapolis Pastor Jens Arne Dale on Oct. 3, 2004:

We celebrate today’s worship service with a Danish flavor. That’s nothing new to Norwegians. For 400 years Norway was under the rule of Denmark. Sermons were delivered in the Danish language in Norwegian churches. Until 1814 pastors and other officials were sent to Norway from Copenhagen.

Many have judged the Danish time negatively, but the picture is not unambiguous. We received a rich spiritual and cultural heritage from our brother people in the south. For instance, it’s hard to imagine Norwegian church- and Christian life without the hymns of Kingo, Brorson and Grundtvig, just to mention a few. They are all represented on today’s hymn list.

Let’s stop for a moment by Thomas Kingo whose hymn we just sang. How really was this giant writer of hymns who made such an impact also in Norway? Ask one of his enemies, of whom there are not few, and you’ll get to hear that he was a calculating flatterer of the king, an unpredictable hothead, and a skinflint. His friends, however, portrayed him as a humble Christian, a powerful preacher, and a brilliant hymn writer. The words on Alexander Kielland’s grave stone fit for Kingo: Those who knew him, loved him. Those who didn’t love him, didn’t know him.

Kingo himself was painfully aware of his shortcoming. It’s clearly expressed in the hymn we just sang: I’m never free from failure, never though, without God’s grace, I have always sigh and woe, God me always Jesus show. Kingo admits his own failures and sins, but at the same time he experiences himself enveloped by God’s incomprehensible grace. ...

A history is available on line of Kingo Lutheran Church founded by Danish immigrants in the Milwaukee area ... there is also a Kingo Lutheran Church in Fosston, Minn., a town founded by Norwegian immigrants. "The incorporation papers of Fosston were recorded June 8, 1889, by the Register of Deeds in Crookston, the County Seat of Polk County, Minnesota. Fosston was named for Louis Foss (1849–1920), who was an immigrant from the village Nyttingnes in Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway. Mr. Foss was the founder and owner of Louis Foss & Company, one of the first business to be established in the community. The city of Fosston is reputed to be the adopted hometown of Cordwood Pete, younger brother of famed lumberjack Paul Bunyan." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fosston,_Minnesota

cWikimedia Commons photo of Thomas Kingo (1634-1703) from: J. P. Trap, Berømte Danske Mænd og Kvinder [Famous Danish Men and Women], 1868. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Thomas_kingo.jpg

Swedish radio show signs off in Rockford

2011-05-15T16:10:00.000-05:00

http://www.rrstar.com/carousel/x401387193/Swedish-radio-show-Temple-Toner-to-sign-off-next-month Rockford Register Star

Swedish radio show 'Temple Toner' to sign off next month
By Corina Curry
RRSTAR.COM
Posted May 14, 2011 @ 11:25 PM
Last update May 14, 2011 @ 11:46 PM

ROCKFORD — Seventy-five years of broadcasting a half-hour of worship and music in Swedish on Sunday mornings is ending.

The Salvation Army Rockford Temple Corps is pulling the plug on “Temple Toner,” a radio program that has long served as a lifeline and a comforting reminder of home to scores of the city’s Swedish immigrants.

“It’s run its course,” said Salvation Army Maj. Randy Hellstrom. “In some ways it’s sad. But in some ways, it’s time. The show served its purpose. It had a really good 75 years. There are just fewer and fewer people out there who speak the language.”

“Temple Toner” airs at 8 a.m. Sundays on WNTA (1330 AM). The last show will be June 26.

Hellstrom said there’s no way to know just how many people are listening, but he’s sure the number has dropped dramatically in recent years as the older, Swedish-speaking population of the city shrinks.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey 2005-09 estimates, there are 295,803 people living in Winnebago County, 27,536, or 9.3 percent, of whom claim Swedish ancestry.

“So many of our listeners are no longer with us,” said Marita Sjogren, the show’s host for the past 15 years. “We used to get a lot of feedback but not any more. ... Every now and then, we’ll hear from someone. But it’s a lot of work for such a small number of people.”

Connecting old and newSjogren, 66, was born in Sweden. She’s one of few people, she believes, from her generation who came to Rockford as a child and still speaks fluent Swedish. For 13 years before her, her mother hosted the weekly radio broadcast. Sjogren took the reins when her mother died. Back then, plenty of people tuned in on Sunday mornings, she said, to hear sounds from the old country.

For more than seven decades, dozens of voices and technicians have helped produce the show. Salvation Army Brigadier Gunnar Erickson, who died last fall at 101, gave the show’s devotional reading every week for almost 40 years. Dale Runberg, a radio equipment operator, helped record the show for more than 30 years.

Sjogren said she knew the end had come when Erickson died, and there was no one to take his place. For the past six months, the show has been about 95 percent Swedish. Hellstrom gives the devotional in English.

The idea for the radio show sprang from Rockford’s deep and much-celebrated Scandinavian roots. Thousands immigrated here to work in the city’s booming manufacturing industry starting in 1852.

“It started as a way to connect to the Swedish immigrants,” Hellstrom said. “It was a way to help them mesh their new lives with their old lives.”

‘No longer the case’The broadcast started in the basement of the Salvation Army Temple Corps Church on Rockford Avenue. Back in the day, the church had a Swedish-language service that provided much of the show’s audio, but that ended in the 1970s.

Today, Sjogren records the show in front of a computer at the home of her good friend Bob Slack. With his skills, dozens of CDs featuring Swedish language music and an archive of recordings — some going back 40 years — Slack and Sjogren can crank out about a dozen shows in a couple of hours.

Sjogren greets the listeners, makes a series of announcements and reads from the Bible. Slack then takes those recordings and combines them with songs and the devotional message.

The duo recorded the broadcast’s final four shows a couple of weeks ago. They put the recordings on a disc and high-fived, Sjogren said.

“It’s time,” she said. “It’s a passing. There’s always a sadness when things end.”

Hellstrom said the church may look into a different kind of radio ministry. “Perhaps there’s an audience out there for a Spanish broadcast. We did the show in Swedish because it was the most common second language of people in Rockford back in the days. That’s no longer the case.”

Want to play dulcimer at New Salem?

2011-05-11T18:07:00.000-05:00

Sent the afternoon of May 11 to people on the Prairieland Dulcimer Strings email list, soliciting volunteers to take the one-day historical interpreters' training at Lincoln's New Salem State Historic Site and play acoustic instruments in the historic village. If anyone sees it here and wants more information, I can be reached by email at peterellertsen [at] yahoo.com ...

An important disclaimer: My thoughts on how and why I play music appropriate to the 1830s in a living history environment reflect my personal opinions and should not be interpreted as a statement of official policies and procedures of Lincoln's New Salem State Historic Site, the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency or any other agency.

* * *

They need people who play in the historic village to have the volunteer training, other than during festival weekends like the Traditional Music Festival in September, but [they have] boiled it down to one morning of orientation, from 9 a.m. till about 1 p.m. (it used to be three days)! The training gives an overview of the historical themes, frequently asked questions and things like emergency procedures, logging in (volunteer hours count as in-kind donations for grant applications), keys to the buildings, handling artifacts and reproductions, etc. I've taken the training, and it's really interesting. New Salem is kind of a magical place, and the magic gets stronger the longer I volunteer there and the more I know about it, so I think this is a real opportunity.

Several of us attended my off-season workshops this year in playing music of the 1830s in modal dulcimer tunings (mostly DAA and DAG), and we discussed this idea of jamming in the historic village in period dress. I think these trainings that Glen is willing to do for us will be a big step toward making that happen. While most of us in the workshops play mountain dulcimer, we had fiddle, banjo, autoharp and tin whistle represented, too, and I think just about any kind of acoustic instrument is appropriate in the historic village. (I've been looking for documentation of early Fender Stratocaster electric guitars on the Illinois frontier, but so far I haven't found any!) So I don't want to limit it to Appalachian dulcimers or to people who play with the Prairieland Dulcimer Strings. Any and all who are interested in playing at New Salem are welcome.

Also: We have the Summer Festival coming up the weekend of Saturday, June 11, and I'm recruiting musicians.

Here's what the New Salem website says about Summer Festival: "Come join New Salem interpreters as they will be demonstrating various crafts and trades throughout the village. Children will be able to participate in early 19th century activities such as butter churning, basket weaving, making corn husk dolls, quilting, broom tying, playing games and attending the 'blab' school. Musicians will be performing throughout the village to entertain visitors." It's a busy weekend, with the Dulcimerville workshops in North Carolina the week before and the Gebhard Woods Festival that weekend. But if you're going to be in the area Saturday, June 11, please let me know. We need musicians!

If you have questions, comments, suggestions or want to volunteer, please don't hesitate to get back to me. You can reach me any time at this address. I look forward to hearing from you.

And the following excerpt, from a later message, further explains why I think it's important for musicians to have some training as interpreters ...

Overall, I think it's important for all of us who play music in the historic village to have at least a minimal amount of historical background as well as a knowledge of emergency procedures, etc. ... a lot of visitors say they appreciate talking with trained interpreters in period dress, that it makes the history come alive for them. ... So when we play music in New Salem village, we're entertaining the visitors, but in a way we're also demonstrating historical arts and crafts on the same basis as the weavers, the blacksmiths or the ladies who demonstrate cooking in a dutch oven in the Rutledge Tavern. And very often we're talking about history with the visitors as well.

I hope this isn't getting too long-winded, but the reasons for wanting some level of training for people in the historic village are kind of hard to explain. Anyway, I really do believe New Salem is a magical place and the training is a big part of what helps us create the magic. ...

"Five Pounds of Possum (in my Headlights Tonight)"

2011-05-04T11:27:00.000-05:00

Five Pound Possum- by New Highway
Uploaded by newhighwaybluegrass on Jan 24, 2010
Here's a fun song entitled "Five Pound Possum" that NH has a lot of fun with! It was a great tune found on youtube but Tim (lead singer) decided to write another (third) verse to the song- so ENJOY! Come visit our website at www.newhighway.net and become a member and sign our guestbook! New Highway is a bluegrass band in N.W. Arkansas.

Appalachian dulcimer tab (DAD) by Dogwood

http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=10228 Mudcat Cafe threads

Lyrics at http://mudcat.org/thread.CFM?threadID=2605#10962 Lyr Req: Five Pounds of Possum http://mudcat.org/thread.CFM?threadID=2605#10962

Sweeney Clan Web Site - Notable Sweeneys

2011-05-03T11:25:00.000-05:00

Sweeney Clan Web Site - Notable Sweeneys

"Jenny's Gone to Ohio"

2011-05-02T19:41:00.000-05:00

A.k.a. "Jenny's Gone Away." Dulcimer tab by Doofus ...

Peggy Seeger sings it on her album Heading for Home (click here for an audio clipA). Joe Hickerson, in the liner notes, says the song is traditional. He adds:

In June 1959 folksong collector Philip Kennedy attended a Tart family reunion in Benson, North Carolina, where he heard Carlie Tart and his sister leading a 3-verse song about Ginnie. He described the incident in his article "An Unusual Work-Song Found in North Carolina: "Ginnie's Gone to Ohio'," in North Carolina Folklore, volume 15, number 1, May 1967, pp. 30-34. The song was part of a family "group-singing" tradition going back at least a century and had originally been learned from black singers. The three verses began with "Ginnie's gone to Ohio, Ginnie's gone away," "Ginnie's a pretty girl, don't you know," and "Ginnie's dressed in her strings and rags." The chorus was "(Oh) Ginnie's gone away, Ginnie's gone to Ohio, Ginnie's gone away." In the article, Phil mentions two parallels to the song: "Jenny shake her toe at me, Jenny gone away," which was reported as early as 1839 from black singers on St. Simon's Island, Georgia; and the sea chantey, "Tom's Gone to Hilo."

I learned the song from Phil Kennedy in 1960. I soon added three verses and have performed it many times since, occasionally as "Jenny's Gone To Ohio." My melody with Kennedy's words and notes appeared in Sing Out!, vol. 17, no. 2, April-May 1967, pp. 16-17. ...

Peggy recalls learning the song in England from an American singer. So, from wherever Ginnie or Ginny or Jenny started her journey to Ohio, her peregrinations (with added details from myself and others) eventually took her from the USA to England and back to the USA and, of course, to all those places good songs go.

103rd Illinois - marching out of Memphis to strains of "Girl I Left Behind Me"; playing a fiddle on warm day in winter quarters in North Alabama

2011-05-02T16:38:00.000-05:00

Charles W. Wills. Army Life of an Illinois Soldier: Including a Day-by-Day Record of Sherman's March to the Sea. 1906. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1996.

Feb. 7, 1864, in winter quarters at Scottsboro, Ala. 213-14 -

This has indeed been a day of rest. More like a home Sabbath, than the Lord's day often seems, here in the "show business." None of my company have been on duty, and as the day has been bright and warm, the men have been all out in front of the quarters; all looking natty and clean and healthy, sunning themselves real country-Sunday fashion. ... The boys brought a fiddle in with them yesterday from our Lebanon march, and as nearly all of them play, "more or less," it has seen but little rest today.

Adjutant General's Report, 103rd Illinois Volunteer Infantry http://civilwar.ilgenweb.net/history/103.html

September 28th we received marching orders, and the next day the Fifteenth Corps was on the road and arrived at Vicksburg, taking transports for the North as fast as they could be furnished.

The One Hundred and Third arrived at Memphis on the 11th, at 9 A.M., drew new arms (we had heretofore been armed with old fashioned "69" Harper’s Ferry muskets), and at 11:20 were marched out of Memphis to the tune of "The Girl I Left Behind Me".

We arrived at Iuka about the 20th, having made two considerable detours from the direct line of march from Memphis. Here we received pay, transferred some men to the Invalid Corps, refitted the command, and on the 27th crossed the Tennessee River at Eastport, arriving at Florence the 29th, and began fortifying the place.

The 3d of November we again moved out, striking the N. & C. R.R. at Cowan about the 12th following the railroad to Stevenson and Bridgeport, where we arrived about the 18th.

An attempt had been made by General Corse, commanding, to mount the Brigade, and enough horses were picked up to mount the Fifteenth Michigan, and two companies - C and G - of the One Hundred and Third, who were then detached from, and did not rejoin the Regiment until the last of December, at Scottsboro, Ala.

On the 20th we left Bridgeport, and crossing Sand Ridge moved southeast so as to strike Trenton, near which we camped the night of the 21st. After building numerous and extensive fires to mislead the enemy, about midnight we quietly withdrew, marching towards Chattanooga, arrived at Wauhatchie the afternoon of the 22d, crossed the Tennessee at Brown’s Ferry, and moved up back of the hills near to the place where Sherman’s army subsequently crossed.

The morning of the 24th, with our Division, we crossed the river on the pontoon bridge and began the attack on the north end of Missionary Ridge. By 3 P.M. we had assisted to take the first of the hills, which we securely fortified, and at night drew up by hand the guns of Richardson’s First Missouri Battery and placed them in position.

The next hill, the one through which the tunnel passes, was the strong point of the Confederate right, and was accordingly strongly fortified. On the 25th our Brigade charged these works, and had it been possible, would have taken the point. Captain Walsh, of Company B, was killed within fifty feet of the rebel works, as were a number of men. After doing all that could be done General Corse ordered us to retire, which we did (part way down the hill) and fortified, expecting to try it again soon. In the meantime the rebel left and center had been crushed, which relieved us of further serious fighting. The eight companies at the beginning of the engagement mustered 237 men, of this number, one commissioned officer, Captain Walsh, and 19 enlisted men were killed on the field, and 68 wounded, 5 or 6 of whom died of their wounds.

After the engagement we followed Bragg for nearly two days and then went to the relief of Burnside at Knoxville. Arriving within 20 miles of Knoxville, we learned that General Longstreet had raised the siege and "fled to the mountains".

‘Having rested, we set out on our return to Chattanooga, which place we passed through about the 16th of December, arriving at Bridgeport the 19th, many of the men being literally barefooted.

Being newly clothed and paid the 24th, we marched to Stevenson, Ala., where we remained over Christmas. The next day we started for Scottsboro, Ala., but a heavy rain setting in we did not reach that place until the 28th.

In 91 days since we had left Vicksburg we had been transported 500 miles, marched over 1100 and participated in one of the most glorious victories of the war.

While in Scottsboro, nominally winter quarters, few days passed on which we were not called out for forage or scout.

Companies C and G returned to the Regiment, and Company F was again detailed to the commissary department.

About the 8th of February 1864, we were ordered to report at Cleveland, Tenn., which we did on the 14th. Here we were attached to a Provisional Brigade composed of nine regiments drawn like ourselves from the Fifteenth Corps, Colonel Dickerman, of the One Hundred and Third, being in command.

On the 23d we left Cleveland, Division commanded by General Chas. Cruft, and marched to Catoosa Springs that night. Here we joined General Palmer, commanding this detachment of the army.

The 24th we occupied the valley west of Tunnel Hill. During the night of the 24th moved to within three miles of Buzzard Roost Gap. The next morning formed the advance line and moved forward to wake up the enemy, which being accomplished, we were placed in reserve.

This was the beginning of the Atlanta campaign.

US Gazetteer > Alabama Gazetteer > Alabama Cities > Lebanon, AL (DeKalb County)

Lebanon is a community or populated place (Class Code U6) located in DeKalb County at latitude 34.366 and longitude -85.816 (Lebanon Panoramio Photos). The elevation is 735 feet.

Misc. JPEGs from Harpers Weekly, 1861-1865

2011-04-30T14:18:00.000-05:00

Quakers in Virginia, misc. notes

2011-04-29T11:01:00.000-05:00

http://www.lynchburgonline.com/history.html historical overview at LynchburgOnline.com

The year in which Lynch began operation of his ferry (1757) also saw the beginning of regular meetings of the South River Society of Friends (Quakers) in which John's mother Sarah played a key role. The third and last South River meeting house was built in 1798, and served the Quakers until 1839 when it was abandoned (most Quakers had left the area in the 1820's due to their opposition to slavery). The building soon fell into ruins (pictured to the right), but was restored in the early 1900's after the land was purchased by area Presbyterians ...

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~quakers/iberian.htm THE FRIENDLY VIRGINIANS
AMERICA'S FIRST QUAKERS - THE FRIENDLY VIRGINIANS depicts vividly the rise and progress of Virginia's Quakers since 1655 — a golden thread shining in the warp and woof of America's history. Jay Worrall uses diaries and journals to portray the personal lives and thoughts of early Quakers. He places Virginia Quakers solidly in the mainstream of pivotal events forging American history, while focusing on the individual or the family in the context of developing Virginia society. - 1994. 632 pages. Cloth binding with dust jacket. 22 illustrations. Endpaper map. Complete index. (Frvg) cloth.

Bert Williams, other 78s at Archive.org

2011-04-28T13:33:00.000-05:00

http://www.archive.org/details/BertWilliams Collected Works of Bert Williams

1 BertWilliams-AllGoingOutandNothingComingIn
2 BertWilliams-BorrowfromMe
3 BertWilliams-BringBackThoseWonderfulDays
4 BertWilliams-BrotherLowDown
5 BertWilliams-CheckersItsYourMoveNow
6 BertWilliams-Constantly
7 BertWilliams-ElderEatmoresSermononGenerosity
8 BertWilliams-ElderEatmoresSermononThrowingStones
9 BertWilliams-EveCostAdamJustOneBone
10 BertWilliams-Everybody
11 BertWilliams-EverybodyWantsaKeytoMyCellarProhibitionSong
12 BertWilliams-GetUp
13 BertWilliams-HereItComesAgain
14 BertWilliams-HesaCousinofMine
15 BertWilliams-HesaCousinofMine_2
16 BertWilliams-HowFried
17 BertWilliams-ICertainlyWasGoingSome
18 BertWilliams-IWanttoKnowWhereTostiWentWhenHeSaidGoodbye
19 BertWilliams-IllLendYouAnything
20 BertWilliams-ImGoneBeforeIGo
21 BertWilliams-ImGonnaQuitSaturday
22 BertWilliams-ImNeutral
23 BertWilliams-ImSorryIAintGotItYouCouldHaveItifIHadItBlues
24 BertWilliams-ImTiredofEatingIntheRestaurants
25 BertWilliams-IndoorSports
26 BertWilliams-ItsNobodysBusinessButMyOwn
27 BertWilliams-ItsNobodysBusinessbutMyOwn
28 BertWilliams-IveSuchaFunnyFeelingWhenILookatYou
29 BertWilliams-LetItAlone
30 BertWilliams-LonesomeAlimonyBlues
31 BertWilliams-MississippiStoker
32 BertWilliams-MyLandlady
33 BertWilliams-MyLastDollar
34 BertWilliams-NeverMo
35 BertWilliams-NoPlaceLikeHome
36 BertWilliams-Nobody
37 BertWilliams-Nobody_2
38 BertWilliams-Nobody_3
39 BertWilliams-NotLately
40 BertWilliams-ODeathWhereisThySting
41 BertWilliams-OhLawdySomethingsDoneGotBetweenEbecaneezerandMe
42 BertWilliams-OntheRightRoad
43 BertWilliams-PlayThatBarber-ShopChord
44 BertWilliams-Purpostus
45 BertWilliams-Samuel
46 BertWilliams-SaveaLittleDramforMeProhibitionSong
47 BertWilliams-Somebody
48 BertWilliams-SomethingYouDontExpect
49 BertWilliams-TenLittleBottlesProhibitionSong
50 BertWilliams-TheDarktownPokerClub
51 BertWilliams-TheLeeFamily
52 BertWilliams-TheMoonShinesontheMoonshineProhibitionSong
53 BertWilliams-ThePhrenologistCoon
54 BertWilliams-TwentyYears
55 BertWilliams-Unexpectedly
56 BertWilliams-UnluckyBlues
57 BertWilliams-WhenIReturn
58 BertWilliams-WhentheMoonShinesontheMoonshineProhibitionSong
59 BertWilliams-WoodmanWoodmanSpareThatTree
60 BertWilliams-WoodmanWoodmanSpareThatTree_2
61 BertWilliams-YouCantDoNothingTillMartinGetsHere
62 BertWilliams-YouCantGetAwayfromIt
63 BertWilliams-YouCantTrustNobody
64 BertWilliams-YoullNeverNeedaDoctorNoMore

http://www.archive.org/details/Creek Charlie Poole & The North Carolina Ramblers-Shootin' Creek (July 23, 1928). This tune is clearly related, if not the same tune, to the old-timey and bluegrass standard "Cripple Creek." Alan Jabbour has speculated that the "Cripple Creek" title may be related to certain labor disputes in the Cripple Creek area of Colorado during 1903 and 1904. On the other hand, a Cripple Creek flows through Grayson and Carroll Counties in Southwest Virginia. As for the title "Shootin' Creek," there exists a Shooting Creek region in Franklin County also in Southwest Virginia. This area was famous as a center for distilling homemade whiskey and it appears that Poole was a frequent visitor.

http://www.archive.org/details/Deal Charlie Poole & The North Carolina RamblersCharlie Poole & The North Carolina Ramblers-Don't Let Your Deal Go Down Blues (July 25, 1925) The Ramblers on this recording includes Poole on vocals and banjo, Posey Rorer on fiddle and Norman Woodlief on guitar. This a gambling tune, with many floating lines that have appeared in older tunes. It is thought that the phrase "let your deal go down" refers to a popular card game among gamblers during the early part of the 20th Century called the Georgia Skin Game.

http://www.archive.org/details/Collins Mississippi John Hurt-Louis Collins (December 21, 1928). Recorded on December 21, 1928 in New York City. Hurt said, when asked about this sweet murder ballad, that he "made it up from hearing people talk. He was a great man, I know that, and he was killed by two men named Bob and Louis. I got enough of the story to write me a song." [Covered by Jerry Garcia and "Dawg" Grisman in the early 90s. "... angels laid him away ..."]

http://www.archive.org/details/AlbertaHunter-DarktownStruttersBall Alberta Hunter - Darktown Strutters Ball 1920s [No text: Vocal with piano and dixieland band backup.]

http://www.archive.org/details/Dove Bascom Lamar Lunsford-Little Turtle Dove () Recorded in 1928 most likely in Ashland, Kentucky. Lunsford was known as "The Minstrel of the Appalachians." In addition ot banjo player and collector of mountain tunes, Lunsford was also a country lawyer. This particular tune is a composite of various tunes, many of which have no relation one to the other. Some of the lines of this tune may be from "The Storms Are On The Ocean" and "Fare You Well, My Own True Love."

http://www.archive.org/details/Mindreader Bertha Lee w. Charley Patton Mind Reader Blues (January 31, 1934). This tune, along with "Yellow Bee," was recorded at Patton's last recording session. He died two months later. Bertha Lee was Patton's common-law wife at the time. Lee appears to be lecturing Patton, who was an inveterate womanizer, with her sultry voice. In the fourth verse Lee sings: "I remember a day when I were livin' at Lula town, I remember a day when I were livin' at Lula town, my man did so many wrong things 'til I had to leave the town." Lee was from Lula, Mississippi and Patton lived there with her for a period of time. One can only wonder what Patton did that they had to leave.

"Per Spelmann"

2011-04-23T12:17:00.000-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUsD1IHHXhg backed by hardinfele - and by "folk metal" band Glittertind
with english translation in notes - 23 singers of the http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PFimkbeR-Y Junge Chor Speyer directed by Marie Theres Brand performed to a full house in New York City

http://multemusic.com/2008/09/02/per-spelmann-corporate-spokesperson/ Multe Music

Per Spelmann han hadde ei einaste ku.
Per Spelmann han hadde ei einaste ku.
Han bytte bort kua, fekk fela igjen.
Han bytte bort kua, fekk fela igjen.
Du gamle, gode fiolin, du fiolin, du fela mi.

Per Spelmann han spela, og fela hu let, :||
Så gutane dansa, og jentene gret. :||
Du gamle, gode fiolin, du fiolin, du fela mi.
Per Spelmann han spela, og fela var go. :||
Så gutane dansa, og jentene lo. :||
Du gamle, gode fiolin, du fiolin, du fela mi.

Og om eg vart gamal som stein under bru. :||
Nei, aldri eg byter bort fela for ku. :||
Du gamle, gode fiolin, du fiolin, du fela mi.
Og om eg vart gamal som mose på tre. :||
Nei, aldri eg byter bort fela for fe. :|||
Du gamle, gode fiolin, du fiolin, du fela mi.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCBKjmEv2pk Fjordland commercial interior of a typical apartment in Oslo or Bergen

ranslation http://www.norwegianmelodies.com/translations.htm "Norges Melodier" (Norwegian Melodies) . Ingrid Olsson - soprano - New York City area - Scandinavian folk music and art song

David Brooks on 'dry and schematic' maps, theologies

2011-04-23T10:14:00.000-05:00

David Brooks, op-ed columnist for the New York Times, has a thoughtful and provocative review of "The Book of Mormon," the new Broadway musical about Mormon missionaries in Uganda. It's headed "Creed or Chaos" and came out Thursday, April 21, which just happened to be Thursday of Holy Week:

The central theme of “The Book of Mormon” is that many religious stories are silly — the idea that God would plant golden plates in upstate New York. Many religious doctrines are rigid and out of touch.

But religion itself can do enormous good as long as people take religious teaching metaphorically and not literally; as long as people understand that all religions ultimately preach love and service underneath their superficial particulars; as long as people practice their faiths open-mindedly and are tolerant of different beliefs.

But ...

The only problem with “The Book of Mormon” (you realize when thinking about it later) is that its theme is not quite true. Vague, uplifting, nondoctrinal religiosity doesn’t actually last. The religions that grow, succor and motivate people to perform heroic acts of service are usually theologically rigorous, arduous in practice and definite in their convictions about what is True and False.

That’s because people are not gods. No matter how special some individuals may think they are, they don’t have the ability to understand the world on their own, establish rules of good conduct on their own, impose the highest standards of conduct on their own, or avoid the temptations of laziness on their own.

The religions that thrive have exactly what “The Book of Mormon” ridicules: communal theologies, doctrines and codes of conduct rooted in claims of absolute truth.

Rigorous theology provides believers with a map of reality. These maps may seem dry and schematic — most maps do compared with reality — but they contain the accumulated wisdom of thousands of co-believers who through the centuries have faced similar journeys and trials.

"Flickorna i Småland"

2011-04-22T11:58:00.000-05:00

In D ...

Words by Karl Williams, journalist of Ljungby in Småland, in 1912. http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flickorna_i_Sm%C3%A5land Wikipedia - when he was repairing a flat tire on his bicycle between Hamneda and Torpa (the one in Östergötland?), he noticed three girls on a nearby hillside and waxed poetic about lingonberries, girls, the wind sighing in the trees and such.

On YouTube:

Margareta Kjellberg - a classic version of "Flickorna i Småland" on 78rpm Odeon record
Delta Rhythm Boys, no less, sing in passable "Swenglish" (i.e. Swedish and English), "Flickorna i Småland." They visited Sweden several times during the 1950s.
Eddie Meduza - rockabilly - raggare singer - sounds like basic three-chord rock to me.

18th-century Swedish songwriter - Carl Michael Bellman

2011-04-20T21:44:00.000-05:00

Carl Michael Bellman (1740 – 1795). Reminds me of Robert Burns ...

I'd never heard of him till I ran across a reference when I was Googling "Gubbe Noak" (which translates as "Old Man Noah" and which I had always thought was a Norwegian song). In a post by user janolov in Banjo Hangout Tune of the Week for 18 Jan 2009: Two Swedish songs, this thumbnail biography:

He was a Swedish poet and composer, whose songs have remained very popular in Scandinavia. Beginning as a writer of "Bacchanalian" songs, Bellman produced over seventeen hundred poems, most set to music. His life was very turbulent. For a period he had to run away from Swedish creditors. He has good musical and poetic gifts but was devoted to drinking. Carl Michael Bellman was born into a respectable middle-class family in Stockholm. Around 1760 he started to write drinking songs. By the late 1760s Bellman had already became famous with his songs and biblical parodies, which circulated by word of mouth and in handwritten copies and printed sheets.

In most of his songs, Bellman borrowed the tunes from minuets, folk songs, opera, and march music. Some of the melodies Bellman composed himself. The two songs here are probably composed by him. ...

TOTW gives a word-for-word (unsingable) transaltion of "Gubben Noak." The other song is "Måltidssång" (Dinner Song, also known as Fredmans Sång No 21), with lots of stuff about Bacchus and a carpe diem theme to make Burns look like a dour Scots dominie by comparison (sample verse: "Do you feel that the grave is too deep? Well, then get yourself a drink / Then have another, have a second, have a third ...") and a really catchy, syncopated melody ... says janolof of the songs he posted to Banjo Hangout, "When I have worked with them I have found that they also are good instrumental tunes. You don't have to neither drink nor sing to enjoy the songs (well.....)."

For information on Bellman, Wikipedia, as usual, is a good starting place. Also a detailed English-language bio on the Bellmanssällskapet website

Fredmans Sång No 5c
And while I was looking for information on Bellman, I blundered into this ... Fredmans Sång No 5c ... which is lovely ... uploaded by user Elolinona to YouTube and other social media ... Fredmans Sång No 5c [Also "Glimmande Nymph" another beautiful melody ... sounds too complex for a dulcimer, tho' ... ] Lyrics to Fredmans Sång No 5c at http://www.bellman.net/texter/sang.php?nr=5c ... First verse:

Så slår min Glock nu locket til
Uppå sitt stop och vandrar,
Hvarthän, jag icke veta vil;
Gutår! jag dig ej klandrar;
Du har förfall, du måste dö,
Och skiljas från vår lusta,
Men vi med glas på denna ö,
Ditt lof i klunkar pusta. ...

Ulrich schwärmt für Hummeln: Folk zither exhibit in Germany, irresistible pun in local newspaper

2011-04-16T14:10:00.000-05:00

Wilfried Ulrich's exhibition of hummels in teh folk museum at Cloppenburg got a nice writeup April 11 in NWZ Online, website of the Nordwest Zeitung in Oldenburg. First, the headline ...

Ulrich schwärmt für Hummeln

Google, with its usual flair for more-rough-than-ready translation, has the headline as "Ulrich crush on bumblebees." That's crush as in "have a crush on" ... but schwärmen also means to swarm as in what bees do when a lot of them take flight. And Hummel, the instrument, got its name from the word for bumblebee. Explains Sigrid Lünnemann, writing for NWZ Online:

Die Hummel kam zu ihrem ungewöhnlichen Namen, weil sie neben den Melodiesaiten frei mitschwingende Begleitsaiten hat, die einen charakteristischen Brummton erzeugen, der an eine fliegende Hummel erinnert. In den Kammern und Spinnstuben wurde abends die Hummel auf den Tisch gelegt und einfache Volksweisen, die jeder mitsingen konnte, wurden gespielt, erklärte Ulrich. In Belgien wird sogar jedes Jahr ein nationaler Hummeltag gefeiert, schwärmte der Hummel-Liebhaber und gestand, dass ein ostfriesischer Hummeltag sein größter Traum wäre.

Which Google translates as:

The bumblebee got its unusual name because it has next to the melody strings freely vibrating string accompaniment, producing a characteristic humming sound that is reminiscent of a flying bumblebee. In the chambers and spinning rooms in the evening, the bumblebee on the table and simple folk songs, which everyone could sing along, were played, said Ulrich. In Belgium, even celebrated every year a national Hummeltag enthused the Hummel-lover and confessed that an East Frisian Hummeltag would be his greatest dream.

As always with Google's translations, you have to take it as a starting point ... change the word order around, find the verb, decide whether you're reading about a "hummel" or a "bumblebee," etc., etc. But it gives you an idea. Click here for the NWZ Online story and here for Google's translation.

Handel's Messiah in Fishamble Street, Dublin

2011-04-14T16:05:00.000-05:00

Anniversary of the first performance of Handel's Messiah in Dublin ... the RTE report on Six One News And a story in the Irish Times by staff writer Luke Cassidy. Lede (complete with cheesy pun):

WHILE “HE shall reign forever”, the rain stayed away for the annual Handel’s Day celebrations in Dublin yesterday.

There were overcast skies and the wind played havoc with the National Sinfonia’s sheet music. But Our Lady’s Choral Society, with guest soloist Ross Scanlon, took it in their stride as they lifted hundreds of people packed along Fishamble Street with a rousing performance of highlights from Handel’s Messiah. George Frederick Handel led the first performance of the piece in the now defunct Musick Hall Theatre on almost the same spot on April 13th, 1742.

The “Messiah on the Street” has become an annual event since 1992. Proinnsías Ó Duinn, who has been conducting Messiah since the 1960s, interspersed the hour-long performance with snippets of biography. ...

The Irish Times also has a slideshow set to the Hallelujah Chorus ...

James Kennard - author of "Who Are Our National Poets" (1845)

2011-04-13T13:59:00.000-05:00

"The Agony and the Ecstasy of James Kennard Jr" by J. Dennis Robinson SeacoastNH.com

Disgusted by the institution of slavery, Kennard published an 1845 essay in which he proposed that African Americans in the South were "our only truly national poets". Superstar poets Walt Whitman and John Greenleaf Whittier made note of Kennard’s essay, which is still debated today. ...

--- Ebook and Texts Archive > California Digital Library > Selections from the writings of James Kennard, Jr. : with a sketch of his life and character http://www.archive.org/stream/selectionsfromwr00kennrich/selectionsfromwr00kennrich_djvu.txt Author: Kennard, James, 1815-1847; Peabody, Andrew P. (Andrew Preston), 1811-1893 Publisher: Boston : William D. Ticknor Possible copyright status: NOT_IN_COPYRIGHT Language: English Call number: nrlf_ucb:GLAD-17166991 Digitizing sponsor: MSN Book contributor: University of California Libraries Collection: cdl; americana "Who Are Our National Poets" (1805-127) also essays on transcendentalism and an Alabama black code law, as well as a memoir of Kennard's life From profile by A.P Peabody, a friend

Sympathies thus active could not be confined within the circle immediately around him. He kept himself constantly informed of every phasis and movement of social and political life, and took a deep interest in all plans and measures of reform and phi- lanthropy. His ethics were entirely of the Christian school. He called evil, wrong, and sin by their own names, and admitted in justification of them neither ancient prescription, nor venerable authority, nor the most plausible grounds of expediency. Yet he was most tolerant in his judgment of the motives both of individuals and bodies of men ; and, while he strikingly verified that portion of St. Paul's des- cription of charity, "rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth," his considerate candor and his confidence in the ultimate triumph of the Right and the Good reminded us of those other traits in the same sketch, " believeth all things, hopeth all things." He early became warmly interested in the cause of the slave, not as an Ishmaelitish partisan of some one idea of emancipation or some one unvary- MEMOIR. XXX111 ing mode of agitation, but in communion of spirit with all who, with the slightest measure of sincerity, gave their efforts, influence, or simple Godspeed, to the work. On all subjects of this class, as well as on the politics of the nation, he united, to a degree perhaps almost unattainable by one not withdrawn from the turmoil of active life, decided opinions, strong preferences, and the most comprehensive fel- lowship for all of every party whose aims and pur- poses seemed patriotic, philanthropic, and benevolent. Nor were his judgments on such matters those of a secluded theorist, or founded on a defective and one- sided acquaintance with facts and circumstances. The accuracy with which he kept himself informed as to all the significant transactions, movements, and speculations of the passing day, in fine, of every thing worthy of a benevolent curiosity, alike in the larger and the narrower circle, excited our contin- ual surprise. It seemed as if the figures of all the prominent actors in the great drama and in all the little by-plots were perpetually passing and repassing before his eye, as in the mirror of a camera obscura. Mr. Kennard's literary attainments and activity, though by no means the most interesting, present one of the most extraordinary aspects of his charac- ter. From the preceding sketch of his life, it will be seen that he was far from having received a schol- d XXXIV MEMOIR. arly education. The studies of his boyhood had been chiefly directed with reference to his destination for the counting-room ; and, though faithfully pursued, they were closed at too early an age for extensive ac- quisition. But, during the last nine years of his life, he made himself a thorough proficient in many de- partments of historical, critical, and elegant literature. He was satisfied only with the most accurate knowl- edge. If an unfamiliar location was referred to, he inquired at once its place on the map. If an un- known historical personage was named, he sought out his history. If a new word occurred, he never passed it by, without ascertaining its etymology and its exact significance. He was master of that most essential element in the acquisition of knowledge, the art of shaping questions. On every subject, he seemed to understand intuitively just what to ask, what were the points really at issue, what the prime topics of investigation, what the collateral sources of evidence or illustration. The impulse which made him an author it is not difficult to define, yet to some minds it may be hard to understand. He had no thought of fame, nay, seemed unconscious to the last of the degree to which his productions had attracted notice and found circulation. He was led to write, we believe, solely from the desire to be useful. He felt the importance MEMOIR. XXXV of his own opinions, and was solicitous to make others feel them. The editor of the Portsmouth Journal was his friend and neighbour, and that quite extensively circulated paper was his first, and for some time his only, medium of communication with the public. He commenced by furnishing articles almost every week, under the signature of " Vattel," on such subjects as from time to time occupied a prominent place in the general mind, especially on the moral bearings of the great political questions, and on the reformation of existing wrongs and evils. Many of these pieces were extensively copied, and read by thousands. Some of them were among his choicest productions, and might have occupied a place in this volume to the exclusion of much of the excellent matter that we have inserted, had not the occasions on which they were written, and the ques- tions which they discussed, so far passed out of mind, as to deprive them of much of their original interest. When he became known as a writer, he was solicited to furnish articles to be read before the literary asso- ciations of the town. Subsequently he was urged to become a writer for several of the leading literary publications of the day, especially for the Knicker- bocker, the editor of which repeatedly expressed a high sense of obligation to him for his valuable con- tributions.

See also "Our Only Truly National Poets": blackface minstrelsy and cultural nationalism" ATQ (The American Transcendental Quarterly), March, 2006 by Robert C. Nowatzki http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_7008/is_1_20/ai_n28347893/ Nowatzki says he's "sarcastic" - I'm not so sure, for reasons suggested by my cursory reading of the essays cited above ...

Intro: In his 1845 essay "Who Are Our National Poets?",
which sarcastically celebrates American literary nationalism, James Kennard, Jr.
argues that a truly American poet must reject European tastes, remain at home,
and develop a strong provincial identity. He asks:

What class is most secluded from foreign
influences, receives the narrowest education, travels the shortest distance from
home, has the least amount of spare cash, and mixes least with any class above
itself? Our negro slaves, to be sure! That is the class in which we must expect
to find our original poets, and there we do find them. From that class come the
Jim Crows, the Zip Coons, and the Dandy Jims, who have electrified the world.
From them proceed our ONLY TRULY NATIONAL POETS. (332)

Kennard's ridicule of American literary nationalism stems not only from his
Eurocentrism, racism, and contempt for blackface minstrelsy, but also from the
nationalist discourses within and surrounding minstrelsy. Thus, understanding
his essay requires that we understand its contexts of cultural nationalism and
minstrelsy. While Ralph Waldo Emerson, Herman Melville, and other American
authors and cultural critics were obsessed with forging a uniquely American
culture, American theatres were overrun by minstrelsy, a form of entertainment
that promoted nationalism and that American cultural critics often described in
nationalist terms. Kennard combines these cultural trends and raises the
question (though sarcastically) of whether black culture, or white
representations of it, could fit into American culture in ways that would set
America apart from Europe. Indeed, minstrelsy was thematically linked to the
cultural nationalism of Emerson and Melville with its coarse brand of
anti-British and anti-European patriotism and hypermasculinity.

Hummel collection in Musik- och Teatermuseet in Stockholm

2011-04-12T21:24:00.000-05:00

The Stockholm Music and Theatre Museum is part of The Swedish National Collections of Music together with The Music and Theatre Library of Sweden and The Centre for Swedish Folk Music and Jazz Research -Sibyllegatan 2, Box 16326, 103 26 Stockholm 08- 519 554 90 museum@musikmuseet.se

Pix of a dozen to two dozen (I didn't count 'em) hummels in the museum. Says the introductory paragraph:

The Swedish hummel is played with a plectrum or with the fingers.
It is also called långspel or långharpa (cf. the Norweigian langeleik).
It probably got its name from the German word Hummel (bumblebee) – maybe referring to the instrument’s “buzzing” tone. The hummel has 1-4 melody strings and a varying number of sympathetic strings." Most of them are from Småland or southern Sweden, most half-pear shaped.

Hummel is discussed in The Hawaiian steel guitar and its great Hawaiian musicians By Lorene Ruymar, Hawaiian Steel Guitar Association ... on Google Books on pages 20 and 21 ... quotes Hortense Panum ... mentions Otto AMalmberg ... unsourced but very likely accurate: "The strings of the zither were not raised and in Scandinavian countries the string pitch was usually changed by the player stopping them against the fret with the fingers of the left hand, not by sliding an object over them." on p. 21

-----

Stig WALIN, Die Schwedische Hummel. Stockholm, Nordiska Museet Handlingar : 43., 1952

Die schwedische Hummel
eine instrumentenkundliche Untersuchung.
Published 1952 by Nordiska Museet in Stockholm .
Written in German.
Edition Notes
German text.

Series NordiskaMuseets Handlingar -- 43

http://openlibrary.org/works/OL10562117W/Die_schwedische_Hummel

Fiddle at "jubilee" - 104th Illinois Volunteer Infantry during Sherman's March

2011-04-11T19:25:00.000-05:00

William Calkins. The History of the One Hundred and Fourth Regiment of Illinois Volunteer Infantry, War of the Great Rebellion. Chicago: Donohue & Henneberry, 1895.

Calkins was 1st Lt., Co. E, 104th, and aide de camp staff, Gen. John Beatty.

257. Sherman Leland said of first day's march, Nov. 15, near Stone Mountain. "The weather was clear and perfect and the wrought-up expectations of the men found expression in mirth and song, "Old John Brown" and other popular pieces being sung with a vim that must have had an effect, pleasant or otherwise, on the natives of the country, white and black."

265 [ca. Nov. 30, after crossing Ogeechee River and Rocky Creek, "...where for the first time, cypress trees and palms were seen ..."

C.C. Courtright of Co. G - "The negroes had a grand jubilee after dark; the boys built a platform, provided a fiddle, and the darkies more than hoed it down, one old fellow dancing on his head and keeping time to the music."

musician William J. Porter - enlisted from Fall River 1862 as a musician. d. Marseilles, Ill., Jan. 19, 1893

Japanese mobile phone ad plays Bach on gravity-powered xylophone

2011-04-10T22:38:00.000-05:00

Touch Wood - Bach’s "Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring"

Details in a story in Digital Life magazine:

It takes a lot to get attention in the world of ads, especially cell phones, but the DOCOMO Touch Wood SH-08C video has definitely turned a lot of heads lately.

To showcase the natural resources that give the Touch Wood its unique look, an ad agency engaged Invisible Designs Lab's Kenjiro Matsuo to make a giant wooden xylophone that stretches across a lengthy swath of forest. The Rube Goldberg-like contraption (thanks, CNET, for filling in what it reminded me of) plays Bach’s Cantata 147, "Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring" in (seemingly) one take, using one wooden ball that rolls down the length of the custom-made instrument. The Touch Wood cellphone doesn't even make an appearance until the very end.

Catherine Market on lower East Side - WHERE SLAVES DANCED - New York Times

2011-04-10T15:57:00.000-05:00

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50B11F73C5E1A738DDDA10A94DC405B8984F0D3

Headline: WHERE SLAVES DANCED; CATHARINE MARKET'S RISE AND DECLINE. CURIOUS OLD CUSTOMS WHICH DIED OUT MANY YEARS AGO--A RESORT AND EXCHANGE FOR THE BURGHERS. April 28, 1889

quotes Thomas De Voe, interviewed by a Times reporter - gives more general background on the market befofre and after 1820s

opens PDF document

James T. Ayers diary: Fiddle played by black recruits, Nashville, 1864

2011-04-08T16:10:00.000-05:00

The Diary of James T. Ayers, Civil War Recruiter, ed. John Hope Franklin. Occasional Publications of the Illinois State Historical Society. Springfield: ISHS, 1947.

Ayers, of the 129th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, was on detached duty recruiting freed slaves in Tennessee for service in U.S. Colored Troops

Thursday June 9th [1864]

Left Clarkesville with 18 Col. Recruits for Nashville. River quiet Low now only three and 1/2 feet water on Harpeth Shoals. Landed at Nashville, mustered my Boys into two Rank and one of them ad A fiddle so we took the streets for Headqrs [3-em space] fidler in front playing Away. Some big eyes made [39] you had better believe.

81

[Feb. 6, 1865, in a military hospital at Savannah]

fire . "we have A big fire in Some Large Buildings Acrost the Street oposite us. Several ingines are at work and A large crowd gathered Round as Spectators, but in the midst of the flames quiet a Cannonading Broke Loose, one of those buildings being stored with Loaded guns. They commenced playing A merry tune and you had better see the Crowd Scatter. ... Just now the firemen are Passing by here singing one of there fire songs. It Sounds well to me as I sit here. The firemen here are all darkes and when they fight and Conquer A big fire Like the one Just on hand they feel well and will Express there feelings by singing and you know they sing Harty. ..."

xxiv ... diary was handed down in family of Charles Lawton, a freed slave to whom he had entrusted his belongings ... wound up at St. Augustine's College in Raleigh, where the librarian told Franklin about it]

Possum Up a Gum Stump

2011-04-08T11:12:00.000-05:00

Possum Up a Gumstump
Uploaded by adams0424 on Feb 19, 2010 ... learned this tune from Jenni Wallace

Category:
Music

Tags:
chromatic mountain dulcimer old time fiddle tune randy adams

http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/PORT_POY.htm

POSSUM UP A GUM STUMP(, COONIE IN THE HOLLOW) [1]. AKA and see "Off/Going to California [1]," "Whiskey You're the Devil," "Whiskey in the Jar [1]," "Lexington," "Old Towser," "Gypsy Hornpipe [4]," "Fireman's Reel," "Buttermilk and Cider." Old‑Time, Breakdown. USA; Alabama, north Georgia, Arkansas. D Major. Standard tuning. AABB. The tune was mentioned in chronicles before the year 1830 (Mark Wilson). It was cited as having been played in a 1914 Atlanta, Ga. fiddlers' contest, and listed in the Northwest Alabamian of August 29, 1929, as one of the tunes likely to be played at an upcoming fiddlers' convention. The title appears in a list of traditional Ozark Mountain fiddle tunes compiled by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, published in 1954. See also related tune family under "Dubuque,” and the related “Green Back Dollar.”

***

Possum up a gum stump, coonie in the holler,

Little gal at our house, fat as she can waller.

Saddle up the old nag, martingale and collar,

Fetch her down to my house, I'll give you half a dollar. (Ford)

***

Charles Wolfe, in notes to Thomas Talley’s Negro Folk Rhymes (1991), says the first two stanzas of the song below were collected from both black and white sources, although the last two stanzas are rather rare:

***

‘Possum up de gum stump,

Dat raccon in de holler;

Twis’ ‘im out, an’ git ‘im down,

An’ I’ll gin you a half a doller.

***

‘Possum up de gum stump,

Yes, cooney in de holler;

A pretty gal down my house

Jes as fat as she can waller.

***

‘Possum up de gum stump,

His jaws is black an’ dirty;

To come an’ kiss you, pretty gal,

I’d run lak a goobler tucky.

***

‘Possum up de gum stump,

A good man’s hard to fin’;

You’d better love me, pretty gal,

You’ll git de yudder kin’.

***

The tune/song appears in several collections, including Brown (3:207), White (236-38), Scarborough (173), Randolph (2:361) and Lomax and Lomax (American Ballads and Folk Songs), pg. 238. Source for notated version: Joe Hermann with the Critton Hollow String Band (West Virginia) [Phillips]. Ford (Traditional Music in America), 1940; pg. 29. Kuntz, Private Collection. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), vol. 1, 1994; pg. 187. Copper Creek CCCD-0196, Tom, Brad & Alice – “We’ll Die in the Pig Pen Fighting.” Document 8039, “The Hill Billies/Al Hopkins and His Buckle Busters: Compoete Recorded Works in Chronological Order, vol. 1” (reissue). Flying Fish FF 355, Critton Hollow String Band ‑ "By and By" (1985). Recorded Anthology of American Music, 1978 ‑ "Traditional Southern Instrumental Styles." Vocalion 5118, 1926 (78 RPM), The Hill Billies (east Tennessee).

X:1

T:Possum Up a Gum Stump

L:1/8

M:2/4

Z:Transcribed by Andrew Kuntz

K:D

(A,|A,)/B,/D/E/ F/G/F/E/|D/E/F/A/ BA|B/A/B/c/ d/c/d/B/|A/F/D/F/ E/D/B,/G,/|

A,/B,/D/E/ F/G/F/E/|D/E/F/A/ BA|B/A/B/c/ d/c/d/B/|A/G/F/E/ D:|

|:ff|f/ a f/ aa/g/|f/e/d/f/ e/d/B/A/|f/ a a/ ba|f/e/d/f/ ee/e/|f/ a f/ aa/g/|

f/e/d/f/ e/d/B/A/|B/A/B/c/ d/c/d/B/|A/G/F/E/ D:|

Jim Crow - misc. notes

2011-04-08T10:39:00.000-05:00

Jim Crow Jubilee - 1847 - sheet music cover in Library of Congress website

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2001701399/ http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2001701399/

Johns Hopkins - sheet music

https://jscholarship.library.jhu.edu/handle/1774.2/18021 Jim Crow Jubilee. A Collection of Negro Melodies.

Title: Jim Crow Jubilee. A Collection of Negro Melodies.
Author: Augustus Clapp (arranger); Stephen Collins Foster (composer)
Description: piano and voice

Uncle Ned

---------------

Segregating Sound: Inventing Folk and Pop Music in the Age of Jim Crow
Author(s): Karl Hagstrom Miller
Published: 2010
Pages: 384

------------

Advanced Book Search

Jim Crow, American: selected songs and plays By T. D. Rice, W. T. Lhamon
http://www.dukeupress.edu/Catalog/ViewProduct.php?productid=12782

Possum up a Gum Tree

POSSUM UP A GUM TREE. AKA - "Opossum Up a Gum Tree." American. Cecilia Conway (1995) finds references to the song "Opposum up a Gum Tree." An English performer, Charles Mathews, witnessed the tune being rendered by the noted tragedian and performer Ira Aldridge (1807-1867) at the African Grove Theater in New York. The theater was a venue for black performers, and at the conclusion of Hamlet (rendered in dialect) the audience had called for their favorite song; Aldridge obliged. Mathews (who later incorporated the material into a comic act for the British stage) made several transcriptions of the song, the tune of which appears to be similar to the "Turkey Buzzard" family of tunes. Ceclia Conway, in African Banjo Echoes in Appalachia (1995), states that "the song is apparently a variant of the dance tune 'Cooney in de Holler,' which was popular in Philadelphia and the Five Points dance halls and dives of New York during the time of 'Juba' Lane and Charles Dickens." Hans Nathan (Dan Emmett and Negro Minstrelsy, Univ. of Oklahoma Press, 1962), citing T. Allston Brown (The Origins of Minstrelsy), writes that the song was known to white boatmen and African-Americans in South Carolina. The song was published in London by J. Willis & Co. c. 1824:

***

Possum up a Gum-Tree,

Up he go, up he go

Racoon in the hollow

Down below, down below.

Him pull him by hims long tail,

Pully hawl, pully hawl,

Then how him whoop and hallow

Scream and bawl, scream and bawl.

Possum up a Gum Tree

Racoon in the hollow

Him pull him by hims long tail

Then how him whoop and hallow.

***

X:1

T:Possum Up a Gum Tree

M:C

L:1/8

R:Air

S:Willis & Co., London (c. 1824)

Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion

K:A

EAA>B c2 {B}A2 | df B2 df B2 | EAA>B c2 {B}A2 | AcE2 AcEE |

EAAB c2 {B}A2 | dfB2 dfBE | EAA>B c2{B}A2 | AcE2 Ac e2 |

e>f e>c B2A2 | f>g fd c2 Be | efec {c}B2AA | AFGE EA3 ||

http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/PORT_POY.htm

Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir 2.0 - Sleep

2011-04-07T22:50:00.000-05:00

http://ericwhitacre.com/the-virtual-choir

Bei Führung „Brummen“ der Hummel erleben

2011-04-07T22:44:00.000-05:00

http://www.nwzonline.de/Region/Kreis/Cloppenburg/Cloppenburg/Artikel/2577423/Bei-Fuehrung-Brummen-der-Hummel-erleben.html

Bei Führung „Brummen“ der Hummel erleben

Museum Seltene Instrumente ausgestellt

Cloppenburg - Zu einem Sonntagsspaziergang durch die neu eröffnete Ausstellung „Die Hummel – Geschichte eines Volksmusik-Instruments“ im Museumsdorf lädt der Instrumentenbauer Wilfried Ulrich für Sonntag, 10. April, ein. Der Hummel-Kenner aus Norden, der auch das Konzept der Ausstellung erarbeitet hat, bietet den Teilnehmern Klang- und Hörproben des nur noch selten gespielten Instruments. Treffpunkt für diese Veranstaltung ist um 14.30 Uhr an der Museumskasse.

Die Ausstellung stellt die Entwicklung und Ausprägungen des recht einfachen Saiteninstruments dar, das wie eine Zither auf dem Tisch liegend gespielt wird. Neben den Melodiesaiten besitzt die Hummel frei mitschwingende, tiefe „Brummsaiten“, die dem Instrument seinen lautmalerischen Namen gegeben haben. Seit 500 Jahren ist die Hummel als Volksmusikinstrument bekannt. Sie war besonders in ländlichen Gebieten verbreitet.

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Cloppenburg - On a Sunday stroll through the newly opened exhibition "The Hummel - story of a folk music instrument" in the Museum Village invites the instrument maker Wilfried Ulrich for Sunday 10 April, ein. April, a. Der Hummel-Kenner aus Norden, der auch das Konzept der Ausstellung erarbeitet hat, bietet den Teilnehmern Klang- und Hörproben des nur noch selten gespielten Instruments. The bumble bee expert from the North, who has developed the concept of the exhibition is to provide participants with sound and audio samples of the rarely played instrument. Treffpunkt für diese Veranstaltung ist um 14.30 Uhr an der Museumskasse. Meeting place for this event is at 14.30 clock at the museum.

Die Ausstellung stellt die Entwicklung und Ausprägungen des recht einfachen Saiteninstruments dar, das wie eine Zither auf dem Tisch liegend gespielt wird. The exhibition represents the development and characteristics of the simple stringed instrument that is played like a harp lying on the table. Neben den Melodiesaiten besitzt die Hummel frei mitschwingende, tiefe „Brummsaiten“, die dem Instrument seinen lautmalerischen Namen gegeben haben. In addition to the melody strings free bumblebee has the resonant, deep roaring strings ", which gave the instrument its onomatopoeic name. Seit 500 Jahren ist die Hummel als Volksmusikinstrument bekannt. For 500 years the bumblebee as a folk musical instrument is known. Sie war besonders in ländlichen Gebieten verbreitet. She was particularly widespread in rural areas.

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