Music updates

Last time I posted about my search for fiddle music here, I'd discovered a mixed / Irish / singing session at the New Sydney Hotel. There was a few old timey tunes played, so I suspected there'd be some interest. Turns out there's a regular old timey session every Thursday. A couple of guys, who picked up on my enthusiasm, invited me and they seemed interested to hear more. It's an open group called the Hobart Old Time Stringband, acronymized as the HOT Stringband.

In the meantime, I'd been down to the Salamanca Market and chatted with Bruce, the windchime maker and fiddler. I made a few CD's for him culled from my collection of jam tunes. He hadn't brought his fiddle that day, but played mine and we traded back and forth. He said he was interested to try more cross tuning and we agreed to meet up again. Last Saturday was too rainy, so I haven't been back yet.

Liz and I did go and check out the Lark Distillery. It had a very warm tavern atmosphere. Packed to overflowing with the Friday after work crowd. The band was playing western music, though, something akin to Hot Club of Cowtown. At that point I was fearful that what folks percieved as Appalachian old time was actually bluegrass or country/western. But, then I went to the HOT Stringband session and all was well and good.

The people in the HOT Stringband are a friendly, welcoming group. Usually, they would go round robin and choose old timey tunes, either Appalachian or Australian. But, that night, they were rehearsing for the upcoming Buttongrass Ball, so the session was more structured. I am very impressed by the organization. They have a leader, Fred, and he passes out sheet music and play lists. He started the group and runs fiddle/banjo/mando workshops, in part to bring in a steady stream of newcomers. I gave him my tunelist and phone number 'straight-away', as they say here. He called a few days later to ask if we could get together and jam, and he's interested to have me do a cross tuning workshop. We know a good number of tunes in common and I'm looking forward to many more sessions with these folks.

I've learned that Tasmania has a rich culture of old time music. It's been collected and documented. I found a book in the library, The Tasmanian Heritage Apple Shed Tune Book. It has some tunes that were played at the HOT Stringband session. The description says "Traditional Schottisches, Mazurkas, Polkas, Waltzes, Reels, Jigs and Novelty Tunes as played in rural Tasmania 1840 - 1960".

Those of you who are interested, the Trad and Now website has a wide variety of information about the Australian traditional music and dance scene.

Well, here's the short version of the music update... I met Keri at the HOT Stringband session. She's a compendium of music events in the area and beyond. Also, Cathy, who invited us to the Danceholics Unanimous night, that was actually going to be a party for her partner David, the dance caller. At that party, I met the people who collected and authored the Apple Shed collection and got invited to their Tasmanian Heritage sessions, where I can learn more traditional old time Tasmanian tunes. It was great fun meeting the local earthy crunchy dancey crowd. They would fit right in at the Dance Flurry. Liz had fun dancing and I played for the dance with a subset of the HOTStringband. Truth be told, afterward Keri suggested that I get together with them and practice some of the tunes. At first I worried that meant that I didn't always play the same notes as the band. But, after getting to know them better, I understand that they were just being welcoming. More often than not, I'm invited to join in.

Still waiting on our stuff in the mail. I hope to get some recording done and get some sound samples up on the .Mac folders.

Gotta stop for now. It's Saturday and I want to catch up with Bruce.