You are a Loon (fiddle level 4 Adult ) if you can play several tunes, are working on playing at faster tempos, and are ready to learn tunes in several keys and rhythms. You are experienced in learning by ear. If this is too basic for you, you have the option of moving to the Herons nest. If it is too difficult, you have the option of moving to the Owls nest.
Steve’s Letter to the Loons (click to read)
Virtual Maine Fiddle Camp – Loon’s Nest, February, 2021
Steve Muise fiddlemoose@gmail.com
Welcome to the Loon’s nest!
I’d like to work on the following (through using fiddle tunes of course) – coincidentally these are the elements that will help build your overall musicianship.
• playing in tune • posture tips
• shifting
• vibrato
• bowing / tone (Bringing life to the tune)
• Ornamentation
• discovering the keys/scales and chords that go with the tunes (great for adding theme and variation, and ultimately improvisation)
• chromatic scale (so we can get at some notes like f natural, c natural, B flat, etc.) • adding harmony (2 and 3 parts)
• musicality (building ways for you to add your own style!)
Tunes:
You will find the pdfs of each tune, with chord changes, plus recordings in our Loons folder.
“The Snowy Path”, beautiful slip jig, where we can talk about bowing/articulation “The Skater’s Waltz” – (great vehicle for vibrato, rubato and more)
“Snow Deer” – great for ornaments and doublestop drone strings
“Crooked Stove Pipe” – this one will have us shifting into 3rd position a bit!
I’m looking forward to making music with you in our virtual Loon’s nest!
Sincerely, Steve
Hey everyone,Steve here!
I’m very happy that you’d like to participate in our Virtual Ensemble!Follow the directions, move with the music, and have your videossubmitted to the dropbox by Saturday Feb. 27! Link below.
Have fun!Thank you!
Here is sheet music for the tunes Steve will teach:
Virtual Ensemble Information (click to read)
Here is general information about participating in a virtual ensemble.
Steve has published a video master track for The Skater’s Waltz: https://youtu.be/McbTv_LeVTQ
Here is the link to submit your video, a Dropbox account is not necessary:
https://www.dropbox.com/request/XbWh7Solbu3uHyj2erVE
After you have recorded your video, use the link above to send it to us. Photos or videos of your skating adventures are also welcome! Use the above link to send these along.
If you need technical help, you can email help@mainefiddlecamp.org and someone will get back to you
The most important thing is to have fun participating and remember we all sound better as a group!
Steve’s Parting Note To Campers
Hi everyone!
I just wanted to take a moment to thank all of you for participating in our VMFC first ever “Winter Edition”! It was really fun to lead you through 4 winter tunes in our Loon’s nest – what a great big group of positivity! I wanted to let you know that I appreciate each one of you, and I hope that you’ve had fun and are lookingforward to working on the tunes.
I hope to see you in our “Skater’s Waltz” virtual Loon’s nest video, instructions are on our Loon’s page on the VMFC website. We would like all of the “Skater’s Waltz video submissions to be uploaded to the dropbox folder link(again on the Loon’s page) by Saturday, February 27.
I also got a message that for a moment, Skater’s Waltz couldn’t be downloaded – I have since changed the video’s settings, so that should be resolved.
I’m including bonus spotify and itunes links of a recording that I made with my dad in 2008 called “across the bay of fundy”. It’s a cd of original and favorite tunes from what my dad and I grew up playing – my dad and I joke that we’ve known each other our whole lives! We recorded the cd at my alma mater, Berklee College of Music in Boston.
Crooked Stovepipe on Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/track/41cX3J84Ns8PBUWGJlY66j?si=f719d6cf46154e74Crooked Stovepipe on itunes:https://music.apple.com/us/album/red-wing-crooked-stovepipe/283784668?i=283784829
A few people had emailed to say that they didn’t receive the initial emails that I sent out this week, so I’m including those messages below.
Make music!
Merci mille fois, and be well!
Steve 🤓🎻
You must register or login to see the nest’s Zoom link.
Steve Muise
Steve Muise has been fiddling his family’s Downeast Style for many years. (His parents are 1st and 2nd generation Nova Scotians) He founded the Franklin County Fiddlers, a group of high school musicians that tours around Maine and way beyond displaying, promoting and learning about fiddle styles. Steve is a graduate of Berklee College of Music, and is a stringed instrument teacher in the MBRSD schools (Farmington area). Steve was honored with the “Maine Music Educator of the Year” award in 2007 from MMEA. Steve enjoys playing all styles, ranging from Downeast (maritime), Québécois, Celtic, and jazz, and can be seen playing music with his dad Paul, Boréal Tordu, Frigate, Muisette and the Franklin County (more…)