Reels
(Also check out Jigs and Waltzes!)
Larry Unger, guitar and banjo player from Massachusetts, has left his musical mark on the Portland contra dance scene for years. The Megaband took on Almost Equinox 3 seasons ago–it works very well for the “licks and tricks” of this group. Larry says: “I wrote it for a Pinewoods fund raising auction and that Bill Ossa had the highest bid and named it.” He included it in his tune book The Reckless Reel. In addition to listening to A Beneficial Tradition, you can hear the Megaband play this tune (at the end of the video clip) on YouTube.
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The version printed if you click on the title is the way Keith wrote the tune (and the way he has published it on his own web site. He writes: “because of the basic repetitive quality of the tune, it is particularly open to melodic variations on the part of the player.” Keith’s band, Nightingale, taught this tune in their band lab at Fiddle Tunes 2007 and put their own slant on it there. The Megaband added its own slight variations and chords, which you can see by clicking here.
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Here’s the old time standard tune, Kitchen Girl, the way Megaband lead fiddler Betsy Branch taught it to the rest of us.
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Never Been Better was written by the late Portland musician Hank Laramee. Hank was deeply involved with our dance community as a musician, caller, and dancer. In fact, he helped organize one of the first contra dances in Oregon in the early 80’s, and put together a tune book, The Oregon Country Dance Manual, which served as a music source for Oregon musicians for quite awhile afterwards. Hank played in the band Hands4 and was a faithful member of the Portland Megaband. He passed away unexpectedly in the spring of 2006. We miss him a lot but feel fortunate to be left with his fine tunes. Upon hearing this tune, Flavia Moshofskyvsaid to Hank, “You must have been in a really great mood when you wrote that.” Hank replied: “Flavia, I am always in a really great mood.” See Train to Narbonne below for information about where to purchase Hank’s tune book with this and many other fine tunes.
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Randy Miller fiddled this tune at a dance in Portland in 2007. It was the first time I had ever danced to it, and in doing so, I realized it would lend itself very well to being played by the Megaband with the built-in drama of moving the melody up the strings as the tune progresses. Once through the tune is twice through the contra dance. Randy printed this tune in his book The Fiddler’s Throne, but our arrangement is a little different from what is found there.
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Rodney Miller taught this standard New England tune the way we play it here (more or less) at the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes in 1996.
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I wonder how many thousands of dancers feet have stepped to this classic Irish reel over the centuries.
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This tune was a favorite among Portland Megaband members a few years back. Hank’s wife, Fran Tewksbury says: “I think The Train to Narbonne was written for a train trip in 1993, from Toulouse to Marseille. Hank ‘s ancestry was French & he loved being in France. On our first visit we were backpacking and trainriding. The stations and trips between were often as much fun as the towns themselves. On the train to Narbonne we read about Marseille, ate baguettes and were immersed in French conversations around us & the Mediterranean landscape. A good tune from a sweet memory.” You can purchase Hank’s tune book The Village Dance at the website of his former bandmate Carl Thor. Go to www.talismanmusic.com.
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