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Alden Robinson

Maestro Bistro Plus – April 10th, 2021

March 30, 2021 by Alden Robinson

Register here to receive the link for the Bistro! We will send the Zoom link to the email you provide.

Filed Under: Maestro Bistro Plus

Instructor Materials – Maestro Bistro Plus – March 20, 2021

March 13, 2021 by Alden Robinson

Alden’s workshop – “Fun with Bowed Triplets”

Tune “The Ashplant” (Reel, Em)

Sheet Music – “The Ashplant”Download

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Maestro Bistro Plus – March 20th, 2021

March 8, 2021 by Alden Robinson

The Maestro Bistro Plus returns! This time, it’s part of the Downeast (Virtual) Country Dance festival. Register for the Bistro and get access to the entire festival!

Benjamin Foss – Intro to GDAD Tuning

We’ll take a look at this magical open tuning from an accompaniment standpoint, learn some chord options, and possibly learn a jig that fits into the smaller range of GDAD. Open to any fretted instrument you can tune to GDAD! Mandolin, bouzouki, tenor guitar, use whatever you have!

Elsie Gawler – “Fiddling Cellos”

Are you a cellist who’s wanting to learn more fiddle tunes?! Come join this workshop with Elsie Gawler where we’ll learn a cello friendly fiddle tune or two! We’ll also explore the unique place that cellos have in the world of traditional fiddle music. 

Alden Robinson – Fun with Bowed Triplets

Those crunchy little three-note bowed ornaments … just three little bowstrokes on one note. Simple, easy to learn, but you can spend years getting them “just so”. We will work on a simple Irish reel (“The Ashplant”) with many good triplet opportunities. Then we’ll talk about how to get a good “crunch” in the triplets … how do you set your bowing up for success? We’ll listen to some different triplet styles from around the world. And we’ll talk about what other ornaments you could use if you catch yourself overdoing it.

Zoom In

The DE(V)CDF will take place in one large Zoom call, using breakout rooms for workshop spaces. You should make sure to update your Zoom software ahead of time to ensure compatibility.

Filed Under: Maestro Bistro Plus

Film premiere: “Bonsoir Mes Amis / Goodnight My Friends” — A Film by Huey

February 11, 2021 by Alden Robinson

“Huey explores the changing relationship of two top folk musicians and captures a joyous facet of Maine life. From start to finish the film is a unique, sensitive and satisfying contribution to understanding our time and place.”

(William D. Barry, Maine historian and writer).

“Bonsoir Mes Amis” features cameo appearances by MFC’ers MFC Ellen and John Gawler, Greg, Doug, Smokey, Don and Cindy, plus others from Maine’s Franco community. The film is a wonderful look at how traditional music and dance helps build and maintain community!

Come to the Maine Tent Zoom Room at 6:00 pm EST the filmmaker to put the film in context (and some live music). Watch the film premiere live on YouTube 6:30 – 7:30. Then rejoin the Zoom gathering for questions, dialog, music and rememberances.

https://zoom.us/j/91209198883
password: fiddle

Filed Under: News, Uncategorized

VIRTUAL MAINE FIDDLE CAMP February 19-21 2021

January 12, 2021 by Alden Robinson

Register Now!

An online traditional music camp for all ages and abilities!!!

 

“Twice the program at half the price”. We laugh but it’s really not a joke.
Read on!

What is MFC? Why is it different?
I am often asked “why is Maine Fiddle Camp different?” I don’t normally answer that question here on the MFC newsletter because I’m pretty much preaching to the choir, BUT with the advent of “Virtual” MFC this past June, things have changed a bit. With an enlarged audience that doesn’t have to travel to Maine to go to camp, many of you out there reading this might not know much about MFC, so I thought I’d start out with a short description. The following (PRE-COVID) blurb is from a piece I wrote in 2018. Here we go: [Read more…] about VIRTUAL MAINE FIDDLE CAMP February 19-21 2021

Filed Under: News

Maestro Bistro Plus, December 19, 2020

December 10, 2020 by Alden Robinson

Handouts and recordings from the December Maestro Bistro will appear on this page as they become available.

Lyrics to “Winter’s Grace” from Kaity:

Filed Under: Uncategorized

November Maestro Bistro Plus

November 12, 2020 by Alden Robinson

This page contains links to resources for the November Maestro Bistro Plus. Instructors can post handouts, audio files, etc. on this page for students to use after the workshops.

Jeremiah’s workshop

Ridées 6 tempsDownload

Filed Under: Uncategorized

October Maestro Bistro Plus

October 15, 2020 by Alden Robinson

This page contains handouts and other resources for the workshops of the October 2020 Maestro Bistro Plus

Jennifer Armstrong – 5-string banjo

Cold Frosty Morning – A partDownload
Cold Frosty Morning – B partDownload
Soldiers-Joy-Part-1Download
Soldiers-Joy-Part-2Download
Colemans-March-2Download

Filed Under: Maestro Bistro Plus

Handouts from the August Maestro Bistro Plus

August 18, 2020 by Alden Robinson

We had the best ever Maestro Bistro Plus on August 15. Our fantastic hard-working instructors have followed up with handouts for class participants—click the links below to view them.

Glen Loper – “Learn A Jig – Cavers of Kirkcudbright”

Sheet Music – Melody and HarmonyDownload
Tab – Melody and HarmonyDownload
Audio file – MelodyDownload
Audio file – HarmonyDownload

Isa Burke – Songwriting: Write Now, Edit Later

Songwriting ExercisesDownload

Ed Pearlman – Power of a Tune Title

Seann Truibas UilleachainDownload

Filed Under: Virtual MFC Maestro Bistro, Virtual MFC Workshops

Glen Loper’s “Learn a Jig” workshop

August 15, 2020 by Alden Robinson

Glen Loper taught a workshop for the Maestro Bistro Plus on August 15, 2020, entitled “Learn a Jig – The Cavers of Kirkcudbright”.

Here is a link to a series of Zoom recordings from the workshop.

Here is a list of the different segments within the Zoom recording:

  1. Cavers of Kirkcudbright A part : Call and response
  2. Cavers of Kirkcudbright B part : Call and response
  3. Cavers of Kirkcudbright Doublestop Back-up
  4. Cavers of Kirkcudbright: Double-stop chord progressions
Charts and chord diagrams – NEWDownload
Sheet music – melody and harmonyDownload
Tab – melody and harmonyDownload
MP3 audio file – melodyDownload
MP3 audio file – harmonyDownload

Filed Under: Uncategorized, Virtual MFC Maestro Bistro, Virtual MFC Workshops

Rain

August 13, 2020 by Alden Robinson

A special MFC Rain Song, introduced in 2020.
Play “Rain” | Download "Rain" | View Sheet Music

Filed Under: 2020, All Keys, All Levels, All Types, C, Doug Protsik, MFC Tunes, Ukekestra

Help Jeremiah McLane!

August 9, 2020 by Alden Robinson

Jeremiah, Annemieke, and Luke McLane’s house in Strafford, VT burned to the ground on Tuesday night. Luckily, they were not home and no one was hurt. However, they lost all their possessions—including their treasured instruments. Jeremiah is the second MFC staff member (after Kaity) to lose a house to fire this summer.

[Read more…] about Help Jeremiah McLane!

Filed Under: News, Uncategorized

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Help support “Virtual MFC” and other Camp programs!
You can donate money to MFC right HERE!

2021 Dates(Tentative):

All camp sessions for 2020 have been cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.  Here are the tentative 2021 dates.  We should know by the end of March, 2021 if the August in-person camps will be held.

August Week I – August 8-13, 2021
August Week II – August 15-20, 2021

Quick Links

New Tunes Posted for 2020-2021:

  • A Hundred Pipers
  • After the Ball
  • Britches Full Of Stitches
  • Canadian Reel
  • Daleigh
  • Flop Eared Mule
  • Ganglot från Appelbo
  • Have You Been to Ireland?
  • Highland Laddie
  • In the Good Old Summertime
  • Indian Reel
  • Irish American Waltz
  • La Moquine
  • Maggie Brown
  • Monk’s March
  • Moonlight Bay
  • Quebec Reel
  • Rain
  • Saponette
  • Spotted Pony
  • Wait Till the Sunshines, Nellie

Photos:

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Other Items of Interest

  • Doug’s Letter to Campers (6/18/2020)
  • Videos
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  • Music of Simon St. Pierre
  • MFC Staff Offering Private Instruction

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