tunebook

Reviews of the book Danse ce soir! [Français au-dessous]

"This ground-breaking effort presents an extensive and captivating introduction to the wonderful world of québécois fiddle and accordion music...a thoughtful and carefully-researched collection...Never before has such a comprehensive book been compiled....a grand tour de force." David Papazian, review in Fiddler Magazine Fall 2001.

"The book is wonderful. I found the introduction and notes preceding the tunes as interesting as the tunes themselves. It is an impressive, thorough piece of work. We are looking forward to many hours of tunes from the book, especially the crooked ones." Margaret Matthews, pianist

“To us the book is a gold mine -- we're the only band around here to have picked up on French-Canadian music, and dancers are coming to anticipate it when we play. Probably our greatest delight has been the entire new landscape of chord progressions like those in Carnaval.” Chuck and Katrina Weber
 “You did an amazing job. We have been reading, listening, & playing everything. The selection of tunes is great, the transcriptions are accurate (and I am notoriously picky about transcriptions) and the background information is just enough and really well chosen/well written. The stylistic information, discography, chords and piano accompaniments are a big help too. It's as thorough as you could have been in one volume but still well balanced and clear. We've collected everything we could lay our hands on about Quebecois music since the mid-1980s and this is the best book anyone has done yet. Our most sincere congratulations/felicitations on your accomplishment!” -- Faith Kaufman, fiddler

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From Strings magazine, May/June 2002:
Labor of Love: Authoritative new book/CD combo spotlights French-Canadian traditional music
by Paul Kotapish

From the frontier fusions of the Athabascan fiddlers to the pure Scottish strains heard in the Maritime Provinces, Canada is home to some of North America's most intriguing folk-violin traditions. Quebec boasts a particularly fecund fiddle heritage rich with distinctive rhythms, unique phrasing, challenging bowing, and lots of deliriously "crooked" tunes.
Despite thousands of 78 rpm commercial recordings of traditional music and a small-but-steady stream of new CDs by revival bands in the province, the Quebecois repertoire has been poorly documented in print, and the music has survived in the traditional manner—passed down from musician to musician. Outside the region, the music has been limited to a small coterie of devoted enthusiasts, including a burgeoning group of admirers south of the border. This splendid new volume was a ten-year labor of love by Yankee fiddler Laurie Hart and pianist Greg Sandell, and it goes a long way towards documenting this worthy tradition.
The 122 transcriptions provide a core repertoire derived from many of the most significant practitioners of the tradition—mostly fiddlers and accordionists. The historic role of instrumental folk music in Quebec is the accompaniment of dancing, and the repertoire comprises reels, six-huits (equivalent to jigs in the Irish or Scottish traditions), galopes, marches, gigues, clogs, valses, and valse-clogs. Each form is well represented in the collection, and there are detailed notes about the quirks and characteristics of each rhythm. The extensive introduction also includes notes on the history of the region and its music, and player-oriented information about typical modes, idiomatic ornamentation, syncopation, bowing, and other matters of style.
The authors organized the book by players, and each section begins with a brief biography of the source musician followed by several tunes associated with that player. There are specific notes on the provenance of each tune, as well as some handy style tips and accompaniment details, including suggested chords for accompanying each tune. Unlike the rudimentary backup styles found in many folk-dance traditions, accompaniment in Quebec is a relatively sophisticated affair, and Hart and Sandell have included a useful primer on the typical sequences, harmonies, substitutions, and voicings employed by pianists and guitarists in the region. The book also provides contact information for organizations, festivals, and music camps that feature Quebecois music, as well as an extensive discography and a brief bibliography.
A companion CD featuring the playing of Hart and Sandell presents a selection of 32 tunes in a variety of settings, with fiddle and accordion taking turns on the lead voices, sometimes unaccompanied, other times with piano, guitar, or the spirited clogging associated with fiddling in Quebec providing the pulsating backup. The CD is nice listening, and it brings the details of the printed page to life as real music.
In all, an excellent introduction for those new to the tradition, and an essential resource for anyone already smitten with the bounce and swing of Quebecois music.

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« Félicitations pour ton livre et ton CD sur la musique québécoise. J'ai beaucoup de plaisir à le lire et l'écouter et il s'agit d'un super outil d'apprentissage et de connaissance du répertoire québécois. En plus j'ai découvert avec beaucoup de plaisir que les partitions contenaient les accords... Donc je vais m'en servir beaucoup. Merci pour ta contribution à la diffusion de ce répertoire unique qui nous tient tous à coeur.» Gilles Pitre, calleur.

« Voici enfin le résultat du magnifique travail de la violoniste et violoneuse Laurie Hart et du pianiste Greg Sandell... Ils apportent ici une collaboration importante à notre discographie et à notre librairie ... Respectivement virtuose de l'archet et maître du clavier, ils interprètent une trentaine de pièces tirée du livre qui lui présente plus d'une centaine de transcriptions des pièces du répertoire québécois...Réalisé avec un soin jaloux...le choix des pièces reflètent bien toutes les textures du répertoire québécois actuels et anciens...une remarquable outil d'apprentissage et de diffusion.
Le volume est à ce jour, une des principales collections publiées sur notre musique. Greg Sandell signe les harmonisations avec brio. Le tout est agrémentée de photographies sur la danse, la musique et leurs artisans. Le Centre Mnémo ainsi que de nombreux collaborateurs du Québec ont secondé les efforts de Laurie et Greg pour nous offrir ce jalon important qui vient confirmer l'importance de cette musique dans la culture québécoise.» Guy Bouchard, catalogue Trente Sous Zéro.

« Merci de tout coeur pour un si beau souvenir. Excellent travail de votre part et des musiciens qui vous entouraient. Merci beaucoup pour ce très beau symbole de richesse folklorique. Félicitations.» -- Adélard Thomassin, accordéoniste

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This tunebook by Laurie Hart and Greg Sandell is published by Mel Bay Publications. A collection of 122 traditional and composed tunes by a wide variety of Québécois players and composers, it is the broadest and most informative collection of Québécois repertoire available to date. Click for table of contents including list of tune titles. The text, in both French and English, gives extensive background information about the repertoire and history of instrumental dance music in Québec, an analysis of the fiddle, accordion, guitar and piano style, and biographies of the musicians. Also included is historical, stylistic and discographic information for each tune. Tunes are carefully transcribed complete with ornaments and guitar/piano chords. The book includes maps, photos, discography, bibliography, indexes, lists of festivals and resources, and an extensive discussion of piano accompaniment, including three full piano transcriptions. Appropriate for the beginner or accomplished player on any instrument, for the folklorist and musicologist, and for the listener or dancer who wants to learn more about the beautiful and varied traditional music of Québec. A companion CD is also available.

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Danse ce soir ! par Laurie Hart et Greg Sandell, est publié par Mel Bay Publications. Il est un recueil de 122 airs traditionnels ou de composition originale provenant d'un large éventail d'interprètes ou de compositeurs québécois, ce qui en fait le recueil le plus important et complet disponible à ce jour. Le texte bilingue (français-anglais) donne des informations essentielles à la compréhension du répertoire et de l'histoire de la musique de danse au Québec, et fournit également, en plus des biographies de musiciens, une analyse détaillée du style instrumental pour violon, accordéon, guitare et piano. On y trouve aussi des informations historiques, discographiques et stylistiques pour chacune des mélodies qui sont scrupuleusement transcrites avec tous les ornements et les accords pour guitare ou piano. L'ouvrage comprend également des cartes, des photos, une discographie, des index, un annuaire des associations, festivals et camps musicaux, et un exposé fort complet sur l'accompagnement au piano, incluant trois partitions détaillée pour piano. Un recueil idéal pour le débutant comme pour l'instrumentiste chevronné, pour le folkloriste ou le musicologue, ou encore pour l'amateur de musique ou le danseur qui veullent en apprendre plus sur la richesse et la variété de la musique traditionnelle du Québec. Il y a aussi un disque accompagnant.