Tancuj Tancuj

Slovakian Folk Song

When I am searching for folk songs from different countries, I find this site useful.  https://www.mamalisa.com/?t=es&p=3705#

Today, I am looking for  Slovakian folk songs.  I found a version of the number Tancuj Tancuj which I am told is a very popular song there. 

Here is my video tutorial on playing Tancuj, Tancuj on violin speciully for students Anna and Sara. My version is in the key of G major. Remember to keep 1 and 2 close together on A string 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6CBvjaBb0c&t=218s

Download my version of the sheet music here https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QDbnJPsos9ujmsOUXVn0Gkq_-W75Dpdr/view?usp=sharing

Great Violin Players of the Past: No 2 Fritz Kreisler

 Fritz Kreisler 1875-1962 No 2 in my canon of great violin players is the Austrian, Fritz Kreisler. A child prodigy, Kreisler graduated at age 10! from the Vienna Conservatory. One of the key aspects of his style was a very warm vibrato.  He was the first violinist to make lots of recordings which helped to make him very popular and very famous. He was a 'secret' composer. For encores he sometimes played pieces that he had written himself but he passed them off as works by obscure unknown composers. It seems he was a bit shy about introducing pieces he had penned himself.

He joined the Austrian Army during WW 1 and was injured and discharged. I love Kreisler's  pieces and whenever I hear them I imagine I am in a Viennese Coffee House eating delicious cake as there is a real feeling of lighthearted café music about many of his encores. Here is one I love to play myself; Liebesleid which is in waltz time. Listen to Kreisler himself playing Liebesleid here  http://www.viewpure.com/AqQ2_2qd-5Y?start=0&end=0 and a more recent video version by the German violinist David Garrett.

http://www.viewpure.com/Wh2PkYxCHZQ?start=0&end=0

Vibrato is a technique where you warm up the sound by making  your finger quiver or shake on the string. 

Check out this version played by Joshua Bell on the WAMA Strings Spotify List https://open.spotify.com/track/4PAwFMCI2N0tPqAoX0lBnt?si=nR20gjaISD2ihI8Zs16P4Q

The Sleeping Beauty Waltz: Grade 3 Violin RIAM

 

This lovely waltz is on the Grade 3 Violin Syllabus of the Royal Academy of Music Ireland . The arrangement  Have a listen. 

Listen to a song version here Once Upon a Dream

Find out more about the Russian composer Tchaikowsky here https://www.classicsforkids.com/composers/composer_profile.php?id=75

Great Violin Players You Should Know: 1: Niccolo Paganini

This is the first post on famous violinists of the past that violin students should know something about.
Spotify Playlist 
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2yqqecyPEeJy0GFDoXVqpe

The  first great violinist on my list was born before recording and photography began so we have only the reports of his legendary skill and of course the pieces he wrote. Paganini is still recognized as the most remarkable violinist of all time and one of the world's first international superstars.

 Niccolò Paganini was born in Genoa, Italy in 1782. Paganini's first instrument was the mandolin. When he was seven, he switched to the violin.  He came up with new, dazzling effects on the violin that people had never heard before. His rock star personality onstage had a great influence on Franz Liszt, who decided he wanted to be the Paganini of the piano. Paganini's best-known composition is a set of 24 Caprices for Solo Violin, especially the Caprice #24, which has inspired pieces by dozens of other composers.

Stories of Paganini's performances are legendary, with audiences said to have been moved to tears and hysteria. His astonishing technical ability led many to believe that his mother had sold his soul to the devil in return for a career as the greatest virtuoso in the world. Paganini made a lot of money but he was known for his excessive gambling that at one point forced him to pawn his own violin. By the mid-1830s Paganini's health and ability began to fail and he died in May 1840 from internal hemorrhaging before a priest could be summoned. This added to suspicions that he had entered a pact with the devil.

 Paganini came to perform in Dublin. The concert didn't start out too well for him. Here is an newspaper article recalling the performance 

 'Many years ago I heard an old music lover boast proudly that he had heard Paganini play in Dublin. I am reminded that in 1831 a musical festival was held in Dublin, under the conductorship of Sir George Smart, and the promoters decided to engage the services of the world-famous violinist at a very high fee. Paganini was not only a marvellous violinist, but he was also an accomplished actor. When he came on the stage of the Theatre Royal before his packed audience, he stood for a few moments, as if thinking what he should play. Read the full article published in 1931 here        https://www.irishtimes.com/news/paganini-in-dublin-1.271643

More fascinating facts about Paganini here https://www.connollymusic.com/stringovation/8-secrets-of-paganini

Caprice: A capriccio or caprice, is a piece of music, usually fairly free in form and of a lively character. The typical capriccio is one that is fast, intense, and often virtuosic in nature.
Check out Paganini's best known piece in the videos below and in the tracks on the Spotify playlist.

A version of this appeared on a Grade 3 ABRSM syllabus recently. It is a great piece to have in your repertoire.

Quiz

1: Where was Paganini born (Which country) ?
2: What century was he performing in ?
3: Why don't we have any recordings of him.?
4: What was his nickname?
5: Who recorded a rock fusion version of his 24th Caprice?

Check out this classical rock fusion version played by Juliajn Lloyd Weber

Irish Music Module: Star of the County Down part 2

Continuing from previous post tackling a well known folk tune in E minor. See previous post for more notes and the first part. Link here https://cathysmusicstudents.blogspot.com/2020/05/lockdown-irish-music-module-tune-no-5.html

Second part 

      from Tús Maith Folk Tunes for Beginners Ciaran Deloughrey Greatisle Music

Lockdown Irish Music Module: Tune no 5 The Star of the County Down

The Star of the County Down is a very popular tune to a well known song. I would start by listening to some vocal versions. Van Morrison recorded it with the Chieftains (listen on the link here  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSvVVzH3O5E). and the High Kings have  also recorded it.  It is always good to know a verse or two to help catch the feel of a song. Also  I suggest you listen to an instrumental version on solo cello by well known British cellist Julian Lloyd Weber. I like the way the cellist repeats the last phrase at three different pitches at the finish https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmylIY_d-8I

In the song version, only the second part is repeated.  My source for the version here is 'Tús Maith', a collection of folk tunes for beginners by Ciaran Deloughrey.

Part 2 coming up in the next video

Note Don't Forget you can adjust the setting of youtube videos to slow it down to half or even a quarter speed if you want a slower speed to play along with.

The Star of the County Down.

Near Banbridge town, in the County Down

One evening last July
Down a bóithrín green came a sweet cailín
And she smiled as she passed me by.
She looked so neat in her two bare feet
To the sheen of her nut-brown hair
Such a coaxing elf, I'd to shake myself
To make sure I was standing there.

From Bantry Bay down to Derry Quay
From Galway to Dublin town
No maid I've seen like the fair cailín
That I met in the County Down.

One String Cello Tune and Variations

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRixaQ4hpEI

Click on the link to watch an appearance by Yo Yo Ma on Sesame Street.