This time around Michael shares a delightful polka. Be sure to check out all the links in his article. Ted Eschliman takes us even further down the jazz road with his helpful insights. Joe Mendel interviews luthier Jonathan Mann. Tunesmith Wendy Anthony shares Spring Creek Gal. Enjoy and let us know how we are doing.

 – Michael B. Gregory
We return to the set of polkas mentioned in our February 2010 issue. There we presented the first polka of this set played by four of the master tutors of Scoiligse. Here we’ll learn the second tune of this wonderful set, called Padraig O’Keeffe’s, as announced by Jimmy Morrisson in his introduction.  The melody is quite straightforward but after you’ve mastered the tune, listen carefully to the banjo in this video, as played by Maeve Buckley. She executes several elementary ornaments that add greatly to the sound.  …

by Wendy Anthony
The Tune:
Spring Creek Gal is a crooked fiddle tune, in the Key of D, played in many old-time jams.

Listen to the MIDI: 120 | 160 bpm
Printable Sheet Music: pdf

Techniques:

Overview of Tune: As most fiddle tunes have a standard 8 measures, repeated twice for each part, this tune is considered crooked because Part A has only 6 measures, repeated twice, while Part B has only 4 measures, repeated twice (or 8 measures, no repeats).
Chords:
Part A: || : D /// | D /// | D /// | G /// …

By Ted Eschliman
About The Lizard Brain
The premise of last month’s Jazz Mandology was simple. Sometimes we get too wrapped up in the rules and construction principles of music theory, and we forget to JUST LISTEN. An architect can look at a structure and get lost in the math and physics in the design, and miss the notion that the building is just simply–beautiful. Musicians, same thing. It’s this “Lizard Brain” appeal, the subconsciously primal satisfaction of a great mandolin chord combination we wanted to explore, and last time we uncovered …

by Joe Mendel
Jonathan Mann spent many years earning his living playing music in the southeast mostly around central FL. He moved to Nashville as country songwriter in ‘95, wrote songs for a couple of years and when songwriting deal ended he worked about ten years repairing instruments at a Sam Ash store. He began building instruments on the side and soon was busy enough that he kept cutting back at Sam Ash until he didn’t have a job there anymore. He started building traditional acoustics first, then made a few …