Hello! We've had an amazing December - given the circumstances! We've been on Zoom tour and last night was the last of three different shows that we put on in Zoom. This was our Carol Concert
To buy access to the Carol Concert here: CLICK HERE
We released the dots and the words so you can sing or play-along with us.
Hello! It's session time again! I've had a little time away from filming as I've been working very hard on the Praetorius Crowdfunder album. I'll do some blogs for that later, this blog entry is all about the Sunday session! This session is quite special as you'll see and I hope you enjoy it!
The version below uses just one camera - so if you find the two camera version above a little too much - you can choose to watch the version with a camera just facing myself and Jonny.
Hello!
We're playing for a dance! It's a familiar phrase now - it's supposed to be the Tenterden Folk Festival at the weekend and of course it's been cancelled due to Covid-19. So we offered to do a Zoom ceilidh. tune it's Zoom that means you don't have to dance - you can play along. So here is a sneak preview of the dance list and PDF so that you can download it, print it and join in with us! It doesn't include what the actual dances are though, they can be a surprise - although some of the dances have eponymous tunes. Below is the list to the links of the teaching videos. I haven't taught them all - so I should get round to doing those!
If you want to come to the Zoom dance you'll need to register and I will send you the details. It's free (donations welcome) -> CLICK HERE to REGISTER.
On Friday 18th September we're having an online Zoom session to try to make up a little for not being at Halsway Manor itself. (This year the weekend was a weekend later). It's free to come into the session, but you'll need to register yourself and then I can send you the Zoom meeting details!
The tunes are being led by some stalwart Halsway people and the tunes will be pulled form this pdf.
Welcome to this week's session! This is a very special session as you'll discover when you watch it. This is the session that Jonny was too busy working elsewhere to be able to get to in time! So we have a motley crew this week! The tune list is all tunes that you can play on the Swedish säckpipa. (Don't worry, I'm still leading on nyckelharpa!) Some of the teaching videos are currently säckpipa lessons, but I will replace these in the next week!
As we've said before, these sessions take a lot of time to put together and we definitely enjoy doing them. But I am up against a pretty hard deadline with the Virtual Halsway - so there may not be any sessions between now and then as I put together that weekend.
This leads me on to two little adverts!
The Virtual Halsway Weekend. I should have been at Halsway Manor on the 18th and 19th September with many other nyckelharpa players. As we can't do this I'm running some online workshops and session. You'll find all the information on my actual website - Click here! But we have Peter Hedlund, Leif Alpsj¨ø and Thor Pleijel doing some Zoom workshops. I am giving a nyckelharpa focussed Zoom concert in the evening. So check out the website and get yourself booked on!!
My second advert is for a Crowdfunding project I'm doing - an album of Dances from Terpsichore by Praetorius on nyckelharpa quintet. As of today I'm at 50% funded with three weeks to go. Check it out!
Hello I've just finished giving my workshop online in Zoom for Whitby Folk Week and we decided to make a video with as many participants playing along to this video as possible! If you've done a play-a-long for me before you'll know the drill! If not.... If you'd like the dots - CLICK HERE!
Update: I edited until midnight on the Thursday and got the video in! Thank you to everyone who came to the workshop and who sent me in videos!
Hello! This week we should have been at Whitby Folk Week. As with everything else it's been cancelled and put online. Which means that we can do a very cool thing this Wednesday. We were supposed to be playing for the Playford Ball on Wednesday with Purcell's Polyphonic Party. The closest we can get instead is for me and Jonny to play for the Ball in Zoom and this means that you can come along no matter where in the world you are! It takes place at 8-9pm UK time. on Wednesday 26th August. The ball is free but you do need to register to get a login. - REGISTER HERE! Donations to the festival are appreciated (and also to the artists, ie us)
So exclusively on this blog I am releasing the probable dance list and a tune pad so that you can play along if you want! It's totally live with a caller - no pre-record! So anything could happen!
So the dance list? Keep in mind that this might change and might not be the order and there might be technical hitches! (You never can tell!)
The session on the 23rd August is another Swedish tunes session. These are all great tunes that are played in many Scandi sessions in the UK. So here is the list and the lessons so you can get ready for the session next week! They're all my favourite tunes (as always!)
Hello! Since 2012 I have been gradually building up my nyckelharpa course at Halsway Manor. We get on average 45 nyckelharpa players gathering together at the large weekend in September. The courses have been growing and in 2019 I ran a beginners course, an advanced course and the festival weekend. This year everything has been cancelled. So I decided to take inspiration from the World Nyckelharpa Day and run something online at the weekend that we were supposed to be there. Click here to see the details of the day!
The first part of this jigsaw puzzle is The Halsway Parade. Each year we parade around the garden playing this tune. So I'd like two things - one is that people play this tune for real at 2pm UK time. The second is that I would very much like to edit together a large mosaic of as many nyckelharpa players around the world playing this tune as possible!
Below are the things that you will need:
The lesson teaching the tune
A full quartet of me playing the tune
The guide track for you to play along to and film yourself
The instructions:
Film yourself playing along to the guide track. You must wear headphones so I can edit the video into one big ensemble.
Email me your video using Wetransfer.com (or similar) to info [a] worldnyckelharpaday.com (change the [a] for @!
Then I will release the video around the weekend of the 19th September!
This week we have another Playable and Danceable session of Playford dances. So grab your partners and your instruments! This session will be Premiered at 2pm on Sunday 16th August. We love all these tunes and also playing for the dances too. We're really looking forward to the day when we can finally get back out in the field and play them for real!
We are doing a virtual Playford Ball for Whitby Folk Week. We were supposed to be up at Whitby next week playing concerts, sessions and also the Playford Ball. If you'd like to come along to that in Zoom, pop over to their FaceBook page for details!
In the meantime - here is the dance list for Sunday 16th August.
Hello!
A good few years ago I put together a tune book and I thought I would teach a tune from there. So instead of the dots being on the website this time I'm encouraging people to buy the book! It's very reasonably priced and I am filming and putting up tunes by request from the book!
So far I have done Skomakaren and Linnéavalsen. This third tune has been requested and it's Piparens Polska - the Pipers Polska
So you can play along with which ever version you like! I have already filmed a second tune from the book and if you enjoy this - then you can put in a request for more videos!
This week it's another week of British tunes and we also get a sneaky peek into the freshly renovated Marden Room. For a lot of people that have been to Halsway this room is totally unrecognisable and we are very excited to be able to deliver this session from there and even more excited when we get to go back and actually run a workshop in it!!!
Back to the session though, these are some of my favourite tunes. So enjoy!
This Sunday's session is Swedish and these are tunes you'll find at many Scandi sessions around the UK.
The video will be premiered on Sunday 2nd August at 2pm UK time. It'll stay up forever after that, so don't worry if you can't come along at the time. Join us at your leisure! The tune list is below and each link goes to a lesson for that tune. Enjoy!
We met our target for the next two sessions. So the coffees are going to release the next pair. Here is the tune and lesson list for the session.
Back in May we premiered the first Halsway Manor Virtual Bar Session and we asked for people to send in their videos of them playing along. I am really happy to be able to present the first session with a full bar! Thank you to everyone who sent in their videos!!
If you'd like to send in your videos for the Second session I'll start to compile this!
In the mean time enjoy this full bar session one! If you want to play along you'll find lessons and dots in
It's time to prepare for our second Playford Danceable session in Halsway Manor Bar. Play-along or Dance-along - the choice is yours!
The tune list for the Playford session is as follows, we hope you enjoy our choice of dances! The dances are definitely on the Zesty side and this week we did manage to count to the correct number of times through each time! Hurrah!
If you enjoy the sessions, please consider buying a 'Session Coffee'. These go towards funding the sessions. Each session 'costs' about 50 coffees, so every 50 coffees, we'll film, edit and upload the next session.
This week we have a session of tunes that Jonny has written that we play for dance. It's a session that kicks along at a really nice pace. There are two tunes that don't have blog entries, so keep an eye open for those coming up this week. The video will premier at 2pm on Sunday 19th July. You can join us at 2pm or any time after that!
To keep these sessions going please think about donating to the blog. Each session takes about about a day to put together and in these Covid-19 stricken times we are working hard to make an online living. We have one more session in the can after this one, so we've made a special Buy Me A Coffee button - once we've had a hit of 50 coffees, we'll film, edit and publish the next session!
Next week it's another danceable session of Playford tunes.
Hello!
I thought that the Sunday session this week should be one that was a slower one again. So this is a session Zero part 3. It's great to be able to speed through tunes - but its also great to go back to simpler tunes and make sure that everyone can take part. So that's exactly what this week is all about, looking out for the less experienced players. These are lovely tunes to play in any case, so make sure even if you are more experienced that you play with beautiful notes. Of course - you don't have to be a nyckelharpa player to join in with these sessions, you can play absolutely any instrument you like! So join us at 2pm on Sunday 11th July if you'd like to play along live, but as always the videos stay up forever so you can join in any time you like!
If you enjoy the sessions, please consider buying a 'Session Coffee'. These go towards funding the sessions. Each session 'costs' about 50 coffees, so every 50 coffees, we'll film, edit and upload the next session.
It's another session with danceable tunes this week. We love to play for ceilidh and contra. So this week it's a session of tunes that I've written and that we play for dance. Not that we've had any opportunity to play for dance over the past 14 weeks and we sure do miss it!
As promised in the first session we said that as the weeks went by the sessions would get faster and harder. So this week we are pretty much at contra speed and that is 120bpm. Don't forget about the facility in YouTube that allows you to slow videos down if you need it.
If you enjoy the sessions, please consider buying a 'Session Coffee'. These go towards funding the sessions. Each session 'costs' about 50 coffees, so every 50 coffees, we'll film, edit and upload the next session.
We love to play sessions in the bar at the courses at Halsway Manor. We also love to play for dance at Halsway Manor - so this is a session to play or dance along to! We've tried to observe the correct times through for each dance. However we struggled to count to five - but it's all danceable!
The tune list for the Playford session is as follows, we hope you enjoy our choice of dances!
If you enjoy the sessions, please consider buying a 'Session Coffee'. These go towards funding the sessions. Each session 'costs' about 50 coffees, so every 50 coffees, we'll film, edit and upload the next session.
Because so much has been cancelled this year, not only in the UK but in Sweden too, the Swedes have decided to do a large 'mosaic' Grand Play. Det Stora Allspelet 2020. There's still time for you to get your tune filmed sent in! The instructions are simple. Play along to the guide video (with headphones on!), film yourself and send it in!
To make it really easy for you I'm going to put the guide video and links here. The website is in Swedish - but it's all very simple! There are two tunes. Äppelbo Gånglåt (twice through) and Böl-Olle's Schottis (three times through). You can find the dots to these tunes here.
If you don't know the tunes, then I have taught Äppelbo Gånglåt on this blog - Click Here
And before the night is out Böl-Olle's Schottis will be on this blog too - Click Here!
Then send you video to erikaskupmark@gmail.com Using eitherWeTransfer, Sprend, WeSendit, or your own choice! There is time, but you need to get a wiggle on - the deadline is Friday!
Go for it! Film yourself and send it in!! I'll add my version to this page when it's finished!
:))
Vicki
This is the guide video of the melody on its own:
This is the guide video of the melody with an accompaniment:
I'm really looking forward to this session! It's a session comprising of eight tunes written by four people that have been to Halsway. They're all great tunes, so learn them and then join in with myself and Jonny on the 21st June at 2pm!
The playlist for this session is below and each tune is linked to the teaching video so you can learn the tune. You can download a pdf of the tunes too so you can print it to play along with! Of course - all instruments are welcome to play along to all of these sessions, you don't have to be a nyckelharpa player! If you fancied filming yourself playing along (using headphones) once I get enough I'll edit together a big version with everyone playing along!
If you enjoy the sessions, please consider buying a 'Session Coffee'. These go towards funding the sessions. Each session 'costs' about 50 coffees, so every 50 coffees, we'll film, edit and upload the next session.
Hello!
I thought that the Sunday session this week should be one that was a slower one again. So this is a session Zero part 2. It's great to be able to speed through tunes - but its also great to go back to simpler tunes and make sure that everyone can take part. So that's exactly what this week is all about, looking out for the less experienced players. If you started off your nyckelharpa life in a workshop with me or had skype/zoom lessons these tunes will be very familiar. So play along with me and Jonny and enjoy the tunes in their full accompanied glory! If anyone has any photographs of an empty bar at Halsway I'd love to have them and then we can move around the bar a bit! I'm also about to edit together the Session 1 with videos from other people - there's still time to get your video to me if you'd like to join us in the bar! Click here for the details for session 1.
If you enjoy the sessions, please consider buying a 'Session Coffee'. These go towards funding the sessions. Each session 'costs' about 50 coffees, so every 50 coffees, we'll film, edit and upload the next session.
Hello!
Welcome to the fifth session! This week we've got some more British session tunes. Put in your request now for what you'd like for next week! There are four tunes in this first session and they are all very well known and generally will be played at any nyckelharpa session in the UK. As usual I have invited Jonny Dyer to join me on the accordion for this session. Again, if you fancy filming yourself playing along to this session and I get enough I will edit it together so that it at least sounds like we're all in the bar together! The tune list for this week is:
Click Here to download the pdf of dots for session 5
So enjoy this fifth session, there will be more! If you have a request get in touch!
See you at the next session - especially if you send me your video file to edit in! (Remember to wear headphones whilst you're listening to us!)
If you enjoy the sessions, please consider buying a 'Session Coffee'. These go towards funding the sessions. Each session 'costs' about 50 coffees, so every 50 coffees, we'll film, edit and upload the next session.
