The Gold Ring Project Part Three!

Nicole is back from cloudstreet's great New Zealand tour, and back into the tunes!

Last night we revisited St Anne's Reel in D, and we did the third part of The Gold Ring, which is quite an odyssey. Only four more parts to go!

Here is part one, part two and part three. As before, if you would like to hear them, copy and past the text including the header into http://www.folkinfo.org/songs/abcconvert.php, select abc2midi and click on "submit".

X: 1
T: Gold Ring, The
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
R: jig
K: Gmaj
|:BAG A2d|cAF G2A|BAG A2d|cAG FGA|
BAG A2d|cAF GBd|~g3 afd|cAF G3:|
|:~B3 Bdc|A2A dcA|~G3 GFG|Add cAG|
B2B Bdc|A2A dcA|FDE F2d|[1 cAF G2A:|[2 cAF ~g3 |

|:fdd edd|fdd edd|fdd ed=c|dcA G2g|
fdd edd|fdd edd|dfa gfd|[1 cAF G2g:|[2 cAF G3 |

Jem Dunlop teaching this Wednesday!

While Nicole is away on tour in New Zealand with cloudstreet, Steve and Jem are teaching the class. This week, its Jem, the beautiful fiddle player from Witta. Don't miss this rare class!
And before Nicole went to New Zealand, we managed to get to part two of the Gold Ring. Here is part one and part two. As before, if you would like to hear them, copy and past the text including the header into http://www.folkinfo.org/songs/abcconvert.php, select abc2midi and click on "submit".

X: 1
T: Gold Ring, The
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
R: jig
K: Gmaj
|:BAG A2d|cAF G2A|BAG A2d|cAG FGA|
BAG A2d|cAF GBd|~g3 afd|cAF G3:|
|:~B3 Bdc|A2A dcA|~G3 GFG|Add cAG|
B2B Bdc|A2A dcA|FDE F2d|[1 cAF G2A:|[2 cAF ~g3 |

The Gold Ring Project Part One. And the Orphan.

The Tunes Class has begun an odyssey. We are learning the seven-part jig, The Gold Ring. To make each part more separate and more memorable, we are only doing one part a week. This week was the beginning of the journey, with Part One. We thought about naming each part after the colours of the rainbow (ROYGBIV, there are seven refracted wavelengths, oh shut up Nicole), or the seven Chakras, or John suggested the four horsemen of the apocalypse, and three of their wives-or-girlfriends, but in the end simplicity won.

The Gold Ring, Part One.

This is the abc notation for the first part. If you would like to hear a midi file of it (how cool is this...) copy it including the header section and paste it into this link:

http://www.folkinfo.org/songs/abcconvert.php

Select abc2midi and click on "submit". It will create a sound file so you can hear the tune. I know its old-school, but its pretty cool.

X: 1

T: Gold Ring, The

M: 6/8?L: 1/8?R: jig

K: Gmaj

|:BAG A2d|cAF G2A|BAG A2d|cAG FGA|BAG A2d|cAF GBd|~g3 afd|cAF G3:|

I'll put an actual recording up asap, along with a recording of the main tune we learned, The Orphan, a jig in Em.

Nic

We Rocked!!

The Maleny Celtic Winter School has been and gone and we squeezed every last drop of fun out of it!! At one point during the Ceili, I counted twenty-six musicians on the stage, and more than a hundred dancers! Congratulations to all the Tunes Class players who flexed their fine repertoire on the night!

Since then we've taken it on the road, playing at the Maroochy Bushland Botanic Gardens on Sunday. Big thanks to the eleven members of the band, Mal, Kate, Keith, Philippa, John, Tania, Peter, Miggy, Steve, Nic and Jem, who delighted the crowd with six sets of tunes, one of which we learned last week. The event was run by the Sunshine Coast Council and is was part of a series called Sundayze. The other acts on the day were John Thompson and Steve Cook, Cloudstreet, and Ironstone.

Last week's tune was Inisheer, a beautiful waltz named after an island off the west coast of Clare. We played it with a harmony line, it sounded luscious.

This week is the wild card class, the fifth class in a month. We might do a new tune, or we might play through a bunch of our favourite tunes. It will depend completely on who comes to class and what they need or ask for. There will be cake. And if its as chilly as last week, we may squeeze into the smaller room for warmth!

See you there

Nic

Maleny Celtic Winter School, THIS WEEKEND!

This is it, the weekend we've all been waiting for, when a hundred fine musicians crowd into Maleny for wall to wall tunes and fun. Classes, sessions, dancing, sessions, and more sessions.

So this week's Maleny Tunes Class is all about practising for the Céili on Saturday night. Tania has graciously allowed us to use some terrific arrangements she's done of some of the reels, so we have a simplified part for those who would like to participate, but are finding the tunes a bit fast at dance speed, or for those who just enjoy sitting on the groove! For the rest of us, the melody and groove await. The sets we will practise are listed below.

See you for tunes and supper at 7pm!

Reels.

The Peelers Jacket (G)/ Miss Monaghan (D)/ The Banshee (G)

The Plough and the Stars (G)/ The Bank of Ireland (Am/D)/ Wind that Shakes the Barley (D)

The Musical Priest (Bm/D)/ The Monaghan Twig (Amixo)/ Star of Munster (Am)

Jigs.

Willie Coleman's (G)/ The Black Road (D)/ My Darling Asleep (D)

Tatterjack Walsh (Dmixo)/ The Pipe on the Hob (Dmixo)/ Nora Crionna -aka Lilliburlero (G)

Polkas.

Rakes of Mallow (G)/ Egan's (D)/ Bill Sullivans' (D or A/ Finnish Polka (Bm/D)

Barn Dances.

Thadelos (D) /Campbells (G)/Terry Teehans (A)

Here's the ad that's in the Range News this week, do pass it on!

New Tune - The Woman of the House

On Wednesday night we had a new reel, The Woman of the House. Its a beauty, and I promised to put a slow practice version up on the blog by the weekend, so here it is, in the tunes sidebar to the right.

Its been a massive couple of months, with members of the class attending the National Folk Festival in Canberra and playing their heads off. So many good tunes, so little time. Steve has been taking the class quite a bit because Nicole (me, this is hard to write between first and third person) has been back and forth to Townsville. Sadly, my mother died from her ovarian cancer on April 24 in Townsville, and the month has been full of much loving family time and of course the funeral.

I'm back in the teaching seat, though, and Steve and Jem (with John and Jenny) have all gone on a Musica Viva tour of schools in the Northern Territory. Next Wednesday is Ceili Practice, where we take sets of tunes we have learned and get them going at a more danceable speed.

And with only 29 sleeps (I think) to the Maleny Celtic Winter School and our chance to play at a real ceili (or ceilidh), we'd better get that groove going!

see you on Wednesday,

Nic

Tunes Class takes a short break - some time to practise?

Its festival time! The National Folk Festival is happening over Easter in Canberra, and we're all going. Well, lots of us are. So there will be....

NO TUNES CLASS ON APRIL 20 AND 27.

Maleny Tunes Class will resume on May the Fourth, which is of course Star Wars Day. Please don't make me explain.

Could you please let any friends know who might be planning to attend for the first time!! And just pass the message around? That would be much appreciated.

After two years of Maleny Tunes Class, the time has come for a small rise in the class fee. From May, the fee for the two-hour class including supper will be $12 instead of 10. Please tell me if this causes anyone any concerns, I'd rather you played tunes than worried about money. But it will help with chocolate cake and petrol costs!

Once again, my apologies for being absent so much due to my mother's failing health.

Nicole

May classes:

4 May New tune

11 May Tunes from the Vault - revisit tunes you have barely met.

18 May New tune

25 May Ceili practice - get those tune set closer to dancing speed.

June classes:

1 June New tune

8 June Tunes from the Vault

15 June New tune... followed by the Maleny Celtic Winter School that weekend

22 June Ceili practice

29 June Wild card night - maybe Vault tunes, maybe new tunes, maybe a guest teacher, who knows? That's what happens when you get five wednesdays in a month!