Author: Julia Plumb

The All Comers Band set of the month for February 7 is Snowy Breasted Pearl/Meeting of the Waters. These are two of my current favorites from the New England Fiddler’s Repertoire, edited by Randy Miller and Jack Perron of New Hampshire. These two marches are well known in the New Hampshire dance repertoire and deserve to get more play time here in Maine! Fiddler players, your high 3rd finger G# will get a work out on these tunes (it’s good for you), but in compensation the notes don’t go by too fast. As written, we’ll play the tunes without repeats with four beats per bar instead of the two we’d give jigs or reels. Listen to the recording to help make sense of things.

I hope you all enjoy these tunes as much as I do! You’ve still got a few weeks to learn them before the dance!

Assure you’re in the know about the set of the month! Subscribe to Belfast Flying Shoes’ email list to receive all blog posts in your inbox.

~ Julia

Sheet music with chords:
Snowy Breasted Pearl/Meeting of the Waters

The All Comers Band set of the month for January 3 is a throwback to last January – Old French/Lamplighter’s Hornpipe. These New England classics are two of my favorite tunes and ones Velocipede plays quite often – maybe even for this evening’s contras!

I always think it’s interesting to reflect on how our playing changes (hopefully for the better!) over the course of a year. For many players, attending a fiddle camp or workshop can give that opportunity, but I thought bringing back last year’s set of the month would give folks another chance to do that.

This month we’ll also kick off the community dance with a rousing rendition of Jingle Bells for the first circle dance. We’ll play it in the key of G, starting with the verse (it starts on D and then goes to a B). The chorus will be the “b part” of the tune. There are quite a few holiday tunes that work well with contra and community dances!

Assure you’re in the know about the set of the month! Subscribe to Belfast Flying Shoes’ email list to receive all blog posts in your inbox.

~ Julia

Sheet music with chords:

Old French
Lamplighter’s Hornpipe
Jingle Bells in G

The All Comers Band tune of the month for December 6 is Galopede.

This is a classic New England dance and tune – one of the great tunes to be found in the New England Fiddler’s Repertoire. We’ve played it many times at the First Friday dance but somehow it never made it onto our tune list! We’re bringing it back this month and will play it for the dance of the same name. One of our jobs will be to accentuate the rhythm of the repeated d’s in the third part to help the dancers clap in groups of three along with music.

Assure you’re in the know about the set of the month! Subscribe to Belfast Flying Shoes’ email list to receive all blog posts in your inbox.

~ Julia

Download the sheet music with chords: Galopede

The All Comers Band set of the month for November 1 is Spotted Pony/Shady Grove.

I wanted to pick some old time tunes since we play a set or two of old time tunes pretty much every month! Spotted Pony is a classic in the Maine Fiddle Camp repertoire. Shady Grove is maybe better known as a song than as a tune. I got this version from Isaac Chittenden of Blue Hill.

Assure you’re in the know about the set of the month! Subscribe to Belfast Flying Shoes’ email list to receive all blog posts in your inbox.

~ Julia

Download the sheet music with chords: Spotted Pony/Shady Grove

The All Comers Band set of the month for October 4 is March of St. Timothy/Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine.

I’ve been looking for a pairing for these two well-known and delightfully fun marches. I hope you all like them together!

Assure you’re in the know about the set of the month! Subscribe to Belfast Flying Shoes’ email list to receive all blog posts in your inbox.

~ Julia

Download the sheet music with chords: March of St. Timothy/Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine

The All Comers Band set of the month for September 6 is Old French/Reel Saint Antoine.

This set of widely-known tunes was suggested by Raelin Callahan. We’ll have to be careful to leave a little space between the tunes (usually called a “break”) when we change from one to the other.

Assure you’re in the know about the set of the month! Subscribe to Belfast Flying Shoes’ email list to receive all blog posts in your inbox.

~ Julia

Download the sheet music with chords: Old French/Reel Saint Antoine