Country bonfire

Attended an outdoor ceilidh this afternoon/evening, which had plenty of highland pipers and drummers, but also two fiddlers (one of them me and the other my friend/teacher Keadron).

The food and beer were plentiful and it was a perfect day to be sitting on a lakeshore in the country. A bonfire was lit as darkness fell and I played my fiddle better than ever before. I must have played 25 tunes and received several compliments. A number of people brought their chairs near so they could hear better and that was gratifying.

A nice cookie from the universe....

"C" session capitol

I attended the bi-weekly Irish session on Wednesday at Rosie Connolly's in Richmond. I am getting to know many of the regulars by name and am beginning to feel more comfortable there than in the past. They still play at excruciating speed most of the time, but I am nonetheless able to play 8-12 tunes on a given night. It is a mite embarrassing to be the only player in the session about 3/4 of the time who isn't playing a tune, but I swallow my pride, listen, watch, and learn.

More money than cents

Well, I did it again. That is to say, I got spoiled by playing a really good violin. On Fridays, I have my violin lesson with Keadron and two weeks ago, I left home on Friday morning without my instrument. Keadron was nonplussed and told me to come on anyway, that I could use her instrument and bow.

Playing that instrument ruined me for my own. It was so resonant and sweet that mine, when I returned that evening, seemed like frogs croaking in comparison.

I decided to do another upgrade and began looking at instruments. I started in Richmond, where I went through all of the instruments at three shops. When I didn't find what I wanted, then I decided to broaden my search and visited Lashof Violins in Maryland and also Brobst Violins in Alexandria.

At Lashof Violins, I auditioned about six instruments and five bows. I found one very nice German-made instrument. Only problem was it had a small crack in the spruce top and I avoid purchasing instruments with cracks. I did however purchase a bow at Lashof. It is a discontinued model: a Rolland (French) "Spicatto" carbon-fiber bow. The interesting thing about that bow is that it is adjustable. A small wrench came with the bow to increase or decrease the stiffness. I will experiment with it when I get time.

I found a French instrument at the Brobst shop which I liked. It was made by Clotelle of Mirecourt circa 1900 (the label doesn't say) and has a very full, mellow, and sweet sound. I took it on loan and let Keadron play it. She smiled when she did, remarking on its easy playability and "creamy" tone...my thoughts exactly as I purchased it.

I can recommend both the Lashof and Brobst shops as places with a large selection of quality instruments and bows. Their staff is very helpful and low-pressure as well.

A merry welcome

On Sunday, I attended the weekly Celtic instrumental session held at The Shebeen, a great South African pub in Charlottesville. I had been there before, but really enjoyed myself that day. The members of the session were very pleasant and welcoming, inviting me to take a chair in the inner circle and introducing themselves one by one between tunes. At various times, someone prompted me to begin a set for the group and I did so, choosing tunes that I know well. Many tunes were completely unknown to me or played at such a pace that I couldn't keep up, but that was more exuberance on the part of the other session members, than showing off (as I have experienced at other sessions).

This session had four fiddles, two whistles, two bodhrans, hammered dulcimer, button accordion, keyboard, and border pipes. At previous sessions in C'ville, I have also seen guitars, mandolins, bouzoukis, harmoniums, and uilleann pipes.

One very adept young lady fiddler played a particular favorite of mine, Tarbolton Lodge, and did it with elan and grace. I could only smile and nod my ahead in admiration as she played the solo, since no one else could stay with her pace. She displayed beautiful (classical) technique which put most of the other fiddlers in the session to shame and clearly loved the music. Bravo!

I stayed until the session broke up, but thoroughly enjoyed myself and will definitely return. A couple of the fiddlers were especially friendly. After the session, we chatted about music and shared some beer, fish and chips. I found that two of them would be at Swannanoa in July and we talked of our experiences there last year and the classes we would take this year.

During the session, I played these tunes:

My Darling Asleep
Athole Highlanders
Road to Lisdoonvarna
Toss the Feathers (love that title!)
The Full Rigged Ship
Harvest Home
Cock o' the North
Connaughtman's Rambles
Lochanside

I will definitely return as often as possible. I enjoy the Charlottesville sessions more than any others I've attended, including Richmond, Knoxville, DC, and Raleigh, mostly because of the friendliness and openness of the session members.

Virtually everything you need to improve!

The BBC has a wonderful website for Celtic musicians. It contains fifty standard tunes, arranged in sets of two or three (by tune type) and recorded using typical session instruments: guitar, fiddle, flute, whistle, bohdran, and accordian. You can grab your instrument and play along through your computer.

They were recorded at a fairly brisk tempo, but that's the way things go at any good session anyway. The advantage is that you can repeat each tune as much as you like until you learn it. This would be tedious and unacceptable in a live session, but what a great learning opportunity on your computer! Oh, it also displays and allows you to print the sheet music for each tune. Very, very nice.