Fiddler’s Rag Vol. 48, Number 1 Santa Clara Valley Fiddlers Association Jan 2020 Celebrating 45 years www.fiddlers.org Next Jam: Jan 5

President’s Note are new on their musical journey to progress and share our joy of music. It’s a New Year and SCVFA has Start the New Year right by joining us immediately after a special jam starting on January the jam at Sam’s Bar-B-Que for good food and better 5th. Bluegrass players, this is conversation. Put down your instruments and get to especially for you: Local know one another at “Afters”. You'll be glad you did. fiddle/mandolin player from 1110 S Bascom Ave, San Jose. “Bean Creek”, Pete Hicks, will be the first of professional Volunteers are what keeps SCVFA going and it’s fun! musicians to anchor an This is a great way to connect with more musicians and intermediate-advanced level support our organization. It takes a village... Let’s all do bluegrass jam group at SCVFA our part. monthly jam at least through June 2020. He will be playing --- Susan with the bluegrassers from 1:00 - 5:00 PM. Tell all your friends that this is new. Come give it a try.

February brings the Annual meeting and elections. Check out the pics and bios for the prospective new board members (page 5). Most importantly, mark your calendars now to be here in February for the election.

Mark Tamsula, my very first fiddle teacher, is coming to California for multiple performances throughout the Bay Area. After 2 months of Suzuki violin in elementary school with my daughter, I graduated to Mark’s class of “oldtime fiddle by ear”. Now Mark is joined by Richard “I know that the most joy in my life has come to me Withers and former SCVFA member Barbara Rosner for from my violin.” Albert Einstein a day of oldtime tunes from Southwestern Pennsylvania featuring tunes from the Samuel Bayard collection. More Our annual Membership Meeting will be held at info is listed in the Upcoming Events Section on page 3. the February jam. See page 5 for the Trustee Member Performances are happening every month and candidates' statements. are an important source of fundraising for SCVFA. In December, a group of musicians led by Patti Bossert The two new candidates will be replacing current performed for a 90th birthday celebration for our very trustees Pete Showman and Élan Alford for special member and past SCVFA president, Fritz Buell. respectively seat 1 and seat 2. Thank you Patti, Bob Palasek, George Bradshaw, Paul Clarke, Bill O’Haren and Mike Bell for the music. Special thanks to Lee Clarke for sharing the joy of dance. In This Issue: Page Lee was able to get nearly 30 seniors up and dancing. President’s Message ...... 1 Happy birthday Fritz! SCVFA Happenings ...... 3

Jam photos ...... 4 In December, the Slow Jam played much of the Candidates’ Statements ...... 5 afternoon. Thank you Jean Avram for leading. Even the Column: “Hicks’ Licks: Who’s Afraid of experienced musicians love to play along with this group. the Key of B” by Pete Hicks ...... 6 The mentorship of our musicians is what helps those who Tune: “Bury me Beneath the Willow” ...... 7 “New Year’s Resolution Suggestions” by Susan Goodis ...... 8

The Fiddler’s Rag is published monthly by the Santa Clara Valley Fiddlers Association and is provided to members of the Association. The Santa Clara Valley Fiddlers Association (SCVFA), founded in 1973 in San Jose, California, is a nonprofit, volunteer-operated organization dedicated to the preservation, teaching, and enjoyment of traditional music. The first membership in a household includes the Fiddler’s Rag; additional members sharing the newsletter are steeply discounted. To join, sign up at the jam or see www.fiddlers.org/join. Officers and Chairs President-Trustee ...... Susan Goodis News Editor ...... Patrice Tanti Vice President ...... Élan Alford Newsletter Publisher ... Charlotte Prater Recording Secretary . Jessica Ollmann Performances Contact ..... Susan Goodis Treasurer ...... Dinah Showman Publicity ...... Dave Thomas Membership Secretary Pete Showman Webmaster ...... Pete Showman Trustees Seat 1: Pete Showman Seat 3: Sam Schillace Seat 5: Peter Forrest Seat 2: Élan Alford Seat 4: Dave Thomas Seat 6: Cindy Dinga To Contact the SCVFA: Mail: P.O. Box 2666, Cupertino, CA 95015-2666 Email to Susan Goodis: president [at] fiddlers.org Newsletter Submissions & Comments: newsletter [at] fiddlers.org Address changes: membership [at] fiddlers.org Website: www.fiddlers.org Copyright 2019, Santa Clara Valley Fiddlers Association

The Santa Clara Valley Fiddlers Association is a non-profit member- supported organization.

Donations to SCVFA are greatly appreciated and will assist in keeping traditional music alive by passing it on to the next generation.

Many local corporations offer matched donations for non- profits. Check with your employer... they may offer this benefit. You can easily add SCVFA as a 501(c)(3) organization; our EIN is 51-0196154

Donate as you are able and traditional music will reap the benefits. ------

SCVFA wants musicians to know that we are “not just for fiddlers”. The image to the right side of the Fiddler’s Rag name on page 1 includes a mandolin, a banjo, a guitar and a fiddle, to illustrate the diversity of instruments played at our jams and events.

Quote of the Month “I know that the most joy in my life has come to me from my violin.” Albert Einstein

Page 2 Fiddler’s Rag January 2020 SCVFA Happenings

SCVFA Slow Jam current tune list www.fiddlers.org/learning/#slowjam

Angeline The Baker (D) Red-Haired Boy (A) Arkansas Traveler (D) Red Wing (G) Barlow Knife (G) Shoo Fly (D) Girl I Left Behind Me (G) Soldier’s Joy (D) Jaybird (D) Squirrel Hunters (A) June Apple (A) St. Anne’s Reel (D) Liberty (D) Swallowtail Jig (E) Mississippi Sawyer (D) Whiskey Before Breakfast (D) SCVFA Over The Waterfall (D) Wildwood Flower (C) Presents

Thank you all for participating in the slow jam. The slow jam is for beginners who want to participate in a First Music Jam and Open slow-paced jam (60-90 BPM). Mike of the year 2020

Mark Your Calendar - Upcoming Events Sunday January 5, 2020 1/5 1:00 – 5:00pm Music Jam and Open Mike at Hoover School and a special event: special bluegrass 1:00 – 5:00 PM at Hoover School circle with Pete Hicks.

1/11-1/14 – The Great 48 Jam in Bakersfield. Special Event: More info at: www.cbaweb.org/events/great48. Bluegrass Circle 1/15 – 7:30pm SV House Concerts presents: Fru Skagerrak Scandinavian Fiddle Music with Pete Hicks Reservations: SV.houseconcerts [at] gmail.com

1/25 – 8:00pm SV House Concerts presents: For information check the SCVFA website www.fiddlers.org Mark Tamsula & or contact president [at] fiddlers.org Richard Withers With Barbara Rosner Southwestern Pennsylvania Old Time Music Workshop (4pm) & Evening House Concert (8pm)

Reservations: SV.houseconcerts [at] gmail.com

Fiddler’s Rag January 2020 Page 3

December Jam Photos By Susan Goodis

Lots of music, dance and laughter at the holiday potluck!

Page 4 Fiddler’s Rag January 2020 Trustee Election in February the years, who organize public and private playouts, provide a robust set of resources online, publish a As usual, we’ll have our annual Membership Meeting at monthly newsletter, manage a large membership, and the February jam. The main item of business is the keep that Sunday jam alive. election of two trustees to three-year terms. (There are six As a small business owner and avid fiddler, I'm ready to elected trustees, with two elected each year so their terms contribute where I can be most effective and continue to overlap.) The Board’s Nominating Committee has inspire, expand, and share the benefits and rewards of this nominated two candidates for 2020-2023: Bev Tracey rich community-music experience. and Doug Judd for seats 1 and 2. ------

------Doug Judd Bev Tracey

I currently live in Burlingame with my wife Rebecca, and our two teenage daughters. While I don’t currently reside in the Santa Clara Valley, I work here and have deep roots here.

Eight years ago, on a whim, I attended a "mountain Several years ago I decided to seriously get back into music" class offered in Santa Cruz where I live. playing guitar. Bluegrass always seemed like a good way Requirements for the class were simple: 1) bring an to develop flat-picking skills, which is what initially acoustic stringed instrument, 2) no experience necessary. attracted me to the style of music. I have since fallen in I rented a fiddle a couple hours before the class started love with the songs and the tradition. My wife Rebecca and had no idea how to tune it, hold it, or play it. The also loves traditional fiddle-based music and has recently instructors that night came through and had a mixed taken up learning the banjo. group of beginning musicians playing and singing together. From that moment, I was hooked. I’ve organized a group of Bluegrass players at Google and we jam every Wednesday at noon. I also regularly The SCVFA Sunday Jam was my first stop for jamming attend the South Bay Old-time Jam at the UUCPA on in a public setting. Nervous and self-conscious, I was Monday nights. I love the idea of meeting friends and immediately welcomed by a fun, energetic group. I joined spending time together bonding on a shared musical in a beginner circle playing and learning simple interest. I believe in the mission statement of the SCVFA Americana standards and later in the afternoon I listened and would like to help pass on the love of playing to groups playing old time fiddle tunes, all levels of traditional American fiddle-based folk music to younger Bluegrassers picking and singing, even some Cajun and generations. swing tunes and everything in between.

The SCVFA wouldn't exist without the vision and participation of the many volunteers and members over

Fiddler’s Rag January 2020 Page 5

There are some wonderful other characteristics to the key of B. Your open A note is the 7th of a B chord, the open D is a flatted third, and the open E is a fourth, as in measures 3 and 4 of transcription #1; all very useful notes in bluegrass. Make good use of them. You can also

move notes under the open A string as in transcription #3. Moving the same phrase to the E and A strings gives you an F#7, and on the G and D strings it is an E7. Wow!

Here is a basic version of ‘Bury Me Beneath the Willow’ in B. Transcription #1 is the melody (more or less), #2 presents some ideas for backup playing during the singing, and #3 is a cute little double stop move using an open string a la Dale Potter and others.

Before we go, here are some ideas to help improve intonation. At home, put a tuner on your fiddle and grab Hicks’ Licks: the B note on the A string until you can just nail it every time. Turn off the lights, or close your eyes until your Who’s Afraid of the Key of B? fingers and ears just KNOW it is right. Remember, this is By Pete Hicks the same note you already play all the time in G. Practice

getting the high B with your little finger on the E string. Greetings, fellow fiddlers. If you hold the other B on the A string at the same time, Former Fiddler’s Rag editor Chip Curry asked me to you can hear if you are off and correct it. Don’t forget to write about what has been challenging me as a fiddler, so practice your intonation on the lower strings as well. this month we will be working on playing in the key of B. You may have to hide from people for a time while you I have had a lot of trouble with this key, but I am finally work on this, but when you come out you will be having enjoying it as much as or more than other keys. I took fun playing in B instead of running for the hills. ¡Sí, se some time to study how other fiddlers approach B, and it puede! You can do it! has helped me immensely.

When you start working on this key, don’t be intimidated, ------just dive right in, and I think you will find it well worth the effort. Spend some time locking in your notes by Pete Hicks will be leading a bluegrass jam-group at our practicing the B scale in the first and second positions. January jam. Pete wrote a series of columns for the Don’t get discouraged if it is hard at first. It will become Fiddler's Rag between 2007 and 2010 about playing easier after a while. bluegrass fiddle. Following last month’s re-run from September 2007, this column first ran in the October In B, if you have your first finger on the B note on your A 2007 Fiddler’s Rag. More to come! string, you can hold the F# on the E string with the same finger. Your first finger acts like a capo, and you can Pete performs with Bean Creek, a smooth, solid play all the licks you know with the remaining fingers with the same patterns you use already in the key of A. traditional bluegrass band. With his rough-hewn fiddle Easy, huh? Then you can play the open A to give you strokes, honky-tonk voice and edgy mandolin he conjures time to shift down to first position to finish your musical up a great old time spirit. statement. In first position, playing in B is like playing in C but a half-step lower. View the music for Pete’s lesson on page 7, and listen to it by typing the URL below into your internet browser. Over the E chord in a song in B, you can play ‘Sally Thanks to Pete Showman for typesetting the music and Goodin’-type licks holding the double E with your fourth creating the MIDI file. finger. The open D note makes a gnarly E7 combined www.fiddlers.org/Tunes/BuryMe.mid with a low G# or a B note.

Page 6 Fiddler’s Rag January 2020 Bury Me Beneath the Willow Traditional lyrics; melody: A.P. Carter 1 Basic Melody with Double Stops Arr.: Pete Hicks, Typeset: Pete Showman ~115 Pickup 3 B E ������ Melody � � � �� � � � � � � � � � � � � �� � � � �� � � � � � � � � � � 1 2 3 4 � �� B 1 2 F 3 4 � � � � � � � �� � � �� �� � � � � � � � � � �� � � � � � � � 5 � � � 6 7 � 8 by Pete Hicks B E � � ���� �� � � � � � � � � 9 10 11�� � 12� � � � B F� B 1 2 1 2 0 1 2 � � � � � � � 13 � 14� � � 15 � � �� �� � � � �� � 2 Backup Figure (under singing) (Pickup) B E � � �� � � � � � � � � � � � � � 1 2 3 � � � � 4 � B F� 4 � � �� � � � � � � � � �� � � � 5 6 7 � � 8 � B B7 E � �� � �� � � � � 9 10 �� ���� 11�� � � � 12� B� � � F � B � � �� etc. � � � � �� � � � � � � � � � � 13 14�� �� 15 16 � � � �� � � � � �� � � � �� � � 3 A figure to use over B7, on A & D strings -- to a B7...... or to an E B7 0 0 0 1 2 B7 E � 1 1 2 3 4 �� � � � � � � � � � � � �� � � � �� ��� � �� � Use the same figure� up on the E & A strings for F#7,� 9/24/07 or down on the D & G strings for E7.

Fiddler’s Rag January 2020 Page 7

Santa Clara Valley Fiddlers Association P.O. Box 2666 Cupertino, CA 95015-2666

th Next Jam: Sunday January 5 ,

SCVFA Jam on the first Sunday of each month. 1-5 pm at Hoover Middle School

Location: Hoover Middle School, 1635 Park Ave., San Jose. The school is at the corner of Naglee and Park. Cafeteria parking is on the Naglee side.

Damaged or Missing Issue? Call us, or email to: newsletter [at] scvfa.org

New Year’s Resolution Suggestions by Susan Goodis

1. Practice better and more often: www.classicfm.com/lifestyle/wellbeing/musician-practice-tips/ 2. Play music with others: musicradar.com/how-to/how-to-play-with-other-musicians-5-essential-tips 3. Listen to more music Fiddlers: lauriehartfiddle.com/practice-lesson-tips.html Guitar players & others: andylemaire.com/becoming-a-better-musician-through-listening-to-music/ 4. Volunteer at your favorite music organization (I hope it’s SCVFA) - Volunteering establishes connectedness with other musicians and creates more desire to perpetuate the musical traditions that you value 5. Wear SCVFA art or display a bumper sticker. Email president [at] fiddlers.org to get yours. 6. Jam more often with others: My personal story Shortly after I started attending SCVFA jams, I turned to another beginner who I didn’t know, and said “I don’t want to wait another month to play with others”. At that, Patti Bossert and I (now good friends) started a small slow jam with a few other musicians. We met at a different member’s home each month. After a year or so, as we got better, we renamed it the “NSS” (Not So Slow) jam. We gradually invited others while keeping the jam small. Soon, other styles of music were making their way into our jam. It has once again evolved and took the name “EOP” jam (English, Oldtime, and Portland collection). Becoming too busy in other areas of music, I have handed over leadership of this jam, but still attend when time permits. These jams have contributed to all members’ musical development and have led to many friendships. Consider starting your own jam as a next step in your musical journey.