Chords as harmonies

Chords played on the fiddle throughout a tune can create the effect of a harmony running alongside the tune.

This week we learnt Les Poules Houpées (Crested Hens). The tune is a Bourré, but we played it as a much slower tune.

We revised techniques for controlling how to play chords using the index finger (see the notes on exercises from last week’s class).

We added chords into the tune – I’ve uploaded a copy of the music with the chords added to the music page.

The we looked at putting some of the tunes we’ve learnt recently into sets. This is what we came up with:

Les Poules Houpées, Tolka Polka

Johnstown Reel, Islay (a slow reel that we learnt at the end of last term)

Walter Duglas MBE, The Ale is Dear – this worked well if we slowed the last couple of bars of the march down, then changed into the reel