Bob Holt - Ozarks Fiddler

Various clips of Ozark fiddle great Bob Holt, of Ava, MO.

1997 Bethel Fiddle Youth Fiddle Camp and Contest

Highlights of the annual Bethel Youth Fiddle Camp held in June each year in Bethel, Shelby County, MO.

KDHX Folk School Fiddle Workshop (April 19, 2014)

We’ll play some signature tunes from National Heritage Award winners, the late Lyman Enloe.  Lyman was from the south central part of Missouri and learned his craft from another famous old time fiddler, Tony Gilmore of Jefferson City.  Primarily a dance player, in later life he moved to the Kansas City area became known as a Bluegrass fiddler.  His playing was very smooth and melodic.

September 2013 Child Grove Dance - Charlie Walden with the Buckhannon Clan

Child Grove Country Dancers Sunday night contra dance.  September 29, 2013 in St. Louis, MO.  Patt Plunkett calling. The band is Cuzzin Curt Buckhannon on mandolin, Emily Buckhannon on piano, Dennis Buckhannon on guitar and Charlie Walden on fiddle.

Harrietville Fiddle Workshop - Charlie Walden

Set of 5 video segments of a workshop I gave in Harrietville, VIC, back in 2008.  Plenty of good playing advice as well as some tunes are taught.  The flies were particularly bad that year, as they can be in rural Australia, so there is a lot of swatting and hand waving.  A few even got swallowed!

Fiddle Tunes 1997 Concert - Nile Wilson, Charlie Walden, Rich Levine and...

Concert at Fiddle Tunes, Port Townsend Washington, in 1997.  Accompanied by Patt Plunkett on piano and Rich Levine on guitar.  Nile Wilson was a traditional fiddler from Bucklin in north central Missouri.

Charlie Walden's Fiddlin' Tip #4

Tip #4   The "Tennis Ball Trick" Improve Bowing

Novices tend to play stiff armed when bowing.  Also, there is tendency to play out of the shoulder when really most action should be in the fingers and wrist.  If you are experiencing this try putting a tennis ball in your right armpit and holding it there while you play.  If you are playing from the shoulder the ball will fall out. This tip is one of the I got from Taylor McBaine of Columbia shortly after I started playing. It works!

Charlie Walden's Fiddlin' Tip #2

Tip #2  Twelve Ounce Curls

Nothing strengthens your bowing arm like repeated 12 oz. curls.  Just pick up your favorite brew and raise it to your lips.  Repeat.  Repeat.  Repeat...

Charlie Walden's Fiddlin' Tip #1

Tip #1:  Practice Effectively

Someone once asked a fiddler standing on a street corner in Nashville, "How do you get to the Grand Old Opry."  To which the fiddler replied, "Practice son. Practice."  How right that fiddler was!  No amount of theorizin', analyzin' or other such activity will get you where you want to be.  But deliberate, regular and well-planned practice will improve your playing no matter what your level.

I envision good practice having three components.  The first of these is passive and active listening.  Passive listening means hearing good recorded fiddle music all through the day.  This means putting on a fiddle tape or CD while you're eating breakfast, driving to work, making dinner, etc. 

Active listening is critical and deliberate listening to recordings a fiddler of your choice.   Listen to rhythm, bowing, melodic passages, chords.  Try to soak it all in.  Pay attention as if it were Monday Night Football, The Man Show or some other such engrossing TV programming.

The second component is to practice specific techniques that improve your left-hand and your right-hand. 

The third component is tunes.  You can learn these by ear or off the page or some combination.  Work on some easy stuff for personal encouragement and for a challenge always be working on something that is over your head.

In order to plan your practice use my Old Fiddlers Practice Log.  Print out a copy each week from the link or download it in PDF format and keep it handy.  Fill one out each week to plan your daily practice and then stick to it.

How To Play For A Square Dance

With square dance mania sweeping America like the swine flu (no, really, it is), more tyros are getting involved in playing music for these crazy kids. 


There are particular considerations when playing for a square dance that even an accomplished player may not realize. Following a few simple tips presented here will make your square dance playing more successful --- that is, the dancers will have more fun. By the way, the comments below apply particularly to Southern, Western and Midwestern-style square. For New England squares tunes suitable for a contra dance will work fine. Of course, these are generalizations for the less experienced player. If what you're doing now works by all means stick with it.

Let's talk about what makes for a good square dance tune. Watch this little video of the late, great, Bob Holt from Ava in the Missouri Ozarks. Bob spent most of his musical life with his fiddle tucked under his chin while playing for square dancers.

So what makes a good tune for a square dance? Well, it needs to be rhythmic, as Bob describes above, and have forward momentum. The tune should lead the beat as if the speed is increasing -- but it's not. The festival back-beat groove, while great fun in the campground trance jam, doesn't work so well on the dance floor.

It should have readily discernible A and B parts - either high and low (or fine & coarse as the old-timers used to say) or have significant and recognizable melodic differences. Stay away from crooked, navel-contemplating, droning, whippoorwill-in-the-forest type tunes and stick with the standards that have 8 bars per part so you end up with a total of 32 bars when the tune is played through one time. 

You can't go wrong with the Tommy Jackson repertoire. 

Tried and true square dance tunes are: Liberty, Sally Goodin, Mississippi Sawyer, Wagner, Ragtime Annie, Polk County Breakdown, Soldier's Joy and Arkansas Traveler. 

Be aware of the key of the tune. A seasoned caller will use patter calling - a rhythmic monotone set to the key of the tune. When in doubt ask the caller what key they like best. And remember that men v. women callers may prefer a different key. Finally, because of this patter avoid tunes that change keys between the A & B parts as this will disrupt the caller's flow.

As for tempo this can vary from region to region. I've seen dancers in the Ozarks cruise along at 140 beats per minute with ease - but that is pretty dern fast. Check these samples...

Cabool, MO Square Dancers with Bob Holt

Bible Grove Dancers (NW Missouri) led by Burrell Snyder. 

Classic patter calling!!

Lastly, a square isn't all about squares. Peppy square dancing is pretty strenuous, even for a younger crowd, so it's good to intersperse the squares with some couple dances like the waltz, schottische and two-step. Future blog post will discuss some of these other forms.

If you're looking for sheet music for some of these great tunes you can download for free HERE. Be sure to Subscribe to my YouTube channel, too.

Brunch & Missouri-Style Fiddlin' at KDHX Radio

Patt and I got to play for the final installment of the KDHX Brunch in St. Louis from 10:00 AM to Noon on Halloween 2015. Tasty eggs with cheese, biscuits and gravy with fiddle tunes on the side.  Thanks Kelly Wells for inviting us.

The tunes we played were Yellow Barber, Clarinet Polka, Turkey in the Pea Patch, Tommy Jackson Medley (with Acorn Hill Breakdown), Silver Dollar Waltz, Tomahawk, The Rustic Dance, a Medley of Midwestern 6/8'ers, Stars & Stripes Waltz, Marmaduke's Hornpipe, Listen to the Mockingbird, Hi-Lo Schottische, Echoes of the Ozarks, Good Neighbour Waltz, Buck Fever Rag, Beaumont Rag and The Waltz of the Wind.

You can find sheet music for a bunch of these tunes at my Sheet Music Download Page. 

Don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube Channel.

Patt & Possum @ Fiddle Tunes 2014

Fiddle Workshop This Saturday, October 31st.

I'm giving a fiddle workshop this coming Saturday, October 31, 2015, from 1:00 to 3:00 PM, at the St. Louis Folk School.  All the details (registration, address, etc.) are in the link below

http://folkschoolstl.org/collections/workshops/products/old-time-fiddle-w-charlie-walden

Callaway County in Mid-Missouri, in addition to once being a hotbed of Civil War secessionists, is known for its many great old-time fiddlers. Among these was legendary African-American Bill Katon of Tebbetts, the namesake of Katon’s Hornpipe. While I never knew Katon, as he passed away in 1934, I heard many stories about him and a lot of the old-timers could play his tunes or tunes referenced to other Black musicians in Callaway County. So we’ll explore this tradition with tunes I derived from Jake Hockemeyer, Taylor McBaine and Keith Orchard. The workshop is open to fiddlers and mandolin pickers at intermediate level and above. Bring a recording device and your instrument. Everyone who attends will be invited to download a sampling of recordings from the old players mentioned above.

Results of 2015 Missouri State Fair Fiddle Championship

The Missouri State Fair Fiddling Champion was held on August 23, 2015, in the Touchstone Energy Tent at the Missouri State Fair Grounds. We had a great turnout of contestants, however, next year we'd sure like to have more Seniors.

Participants included (in no particular order):

Jr. Division

Elijah Baker - Birch Tree
Kaylee Downs - Ava
Anna Belle Wakeland - Hillsboro
Tanner Marriott - Ava
Amanda Arbuckle - Columbia
Corinna Baker - Birch Tree
Preston Marriott - Ava
Coleman Crosby - Kansas City
Savannah Shannon - Fordland
Carlie Cunningham - Fulton

The winner of the Junior Division was Savanah Shannon. Here's her winning performance --

Senior Division

Ed Sellers - Belton
Richard Harness - Stover
Gary Johnston - Nevada

The winner of the Senior Division was Richard Harness.  Sorry no video available.

Open Division

Roger Berggren - Rocheport
Kathy Summers - Bourbon
Trustin Baker - Birch Tree
Elizabeth Kehl - Smithton
Chris Stewart - Lebanon
Tad Johnston - Nevada
Beau Johnston - Nevada
Junior Marriott - Ava
Travis Inman - Sedalia

Here's the winning performance for 2015 by Travis Inman ---

Junior Marriott and Elijah Baker shared Best Accompanist honors. It seemed like Junior played for almost everyone and a big thanks to him for that.

Emcee was Charlie Walden. The contest was administered by Bill Shull and sponsored by the Missouri State Old Time Fiddler Association. Judges were Clifford Hill - Eldon, John Stewart and Joe Hinkebein of Columbia.

Now here's the contest in it's entirety - 21 clips in all (less the Senior Division. Sorry, it was a new camera and I really thought it was running!).

For more information visit www.missourifiddling.com.

That Good Tune in A

This is one of Dwight Lamb's tunes with no title. If I recall what he told me right folks would just ask for him to play "that good tune in A" and the title stuck.

You can get a transcription of the tune here.

SUBSCRIBE

RELATED VIDEOS

Turns out this is a Canadian tune from Don Messer. Compare performances below of Blue Mountain Two Step.

2015 Missouri State Fair Fiddling Championsip

It's time once again to mark your calendars for this year's Missouri State Fair Fiddling Championship. It all happens on Sunday, August 23, 2015, with registration at 12:30 PM at the Touchstone Energy Stage at the Missouri State Fair Grounds in Sedalia, MO. The contest kicks off at 1:30 PM.

This year there will be three divisions, Open, Senior and Junior.  There will also be a prize for the best accompanist.

Fiddlers and accompanists will have there gate admission reimbursed at the contest and can also receive priority parking by going to the Hospitality Booth located on Hwy 65. Just identify yourself as a fiddling contestant and pickup a green hang tag for gate 11.

Please note that you MUST be a Missouri resident to participate. Proof of residency may be required.

For more information contact Bill Shull 660.429.2260 or wshull@lawmo.org.

Download a PDF of the flyer here.

2009 Ed Haley Memorial Fiddle Contest - Video Playlist

Includes performances by Paul David Smith, Nikos Pappas, Jimmy McCowan, Barb Kuhns and Charlie Walden.

SUBSCRIBE

Charlie Walden's North Shore Fiddle Workshop on January, 2015

Get the audio from my November 1, 2014 workshop in Wilmette, IL. Available on my Bandcamp page. Stream, download, pay what you want - just learn these tunes! 

Detailed instruction for playing . Includes Put Your Little Foot, Snowflake Reel & Peacock Rag . Transcriptions of the tunes included. Enjoy.

Charlie Walden's North Shore Fiddle Workshop from November 1, 2014

Get the audio from my November 1, 2014 workshop in Wilmette, IL. Available on my Bandcamp page. Stream, download, pay what you want - just learn these tunes! 

Detailed instruction for playing . Includes Turkey in the Straw and Chicken Reel. Transcriptions of the tunes included. Enjoy.

Charlie Walden's North Shore Fiddle Workshop from September 6, 2014

Get the audio from my September 6, 2014 workshop in Wilmette, IL. Available on my Bandcamp page. Stream, download, pay what you want - just learn these tunes! 

Detailed instruction for playing . Includes St. Anne's Reel, Little Burnt Potato and Black Velvet Waltz. Transcriptions of the tunes included. Enjoy.