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Dots

Collection Halsway Manor, 2022

I'm so sorry, I spent the whole workshop calling "Hjortingens Polska" by the incorrect name "Husombyggnadspolska" which is another, different — but also very tricky, long and showy — polska in A. One day I'll teach it to you.

  1. Shuffle bowing patterns
  2. Unser Oide Kath
  3. Five Miles of Ellum Wood
  4. Vals efter Carl Johann Björklund
  5. Hjortingens Polska av Hjort Anders Olsson

What's important here is, of course, the direction of the bow rather than the actual notes. But, since you have to play some notes, you might as well play these, for practice. Perhaps you'd like to let an open A drone ring out while you're noting the D string. Or you might like to hit the A string just on down bows, for instance. Experiment with this, and with things like how much bow you use, and how much swing you give the rhythm.
I learnt this tune from my father when I was a child. It also appears in the film Bagdad Cafe (not Fried Green Tomatoes as I thought, thanks to those who have pointed that out!)

There are other ways to write this out, depending on how you analyze the rhythm, but this does the job, and it has the virtue of being simple.

Thanks to William West for letting me know the German name of this tune, or at least the Bavarian name, I don't think it's standard German. Now that I know what to look for I discover it's all over YouTube in various versions, some with lyrics.
I learnt this tune from the great banjo player Dan Stewart.

When you're playing this, try experimenting with the pitch of the Cs, Gs and Bs. Check out Buce Greene's version on his 1998 album "Five Miles of Ellum Wood" for some really great intonation.
If you can find it, listen to the 1979 album Värmlandslåtar [Fabo SLP 33118] by Bo i Rannsätt and Bengt Lindroth. Their version of this tune is wonderful.
I can't remember where I got my version of this tune, I think possibly from Staffan Larsson. It's a bit different from Hjort Olsson's version.

Don't be scared of all the double stops — they are much less complicated than they seem to look at.

Once through the tune is AA, BB, CC and back to BB.

Trad arr. © 2005 Ben Paley

Trad arr. © 2022 Ben Paley

Trad arr. © 2022 Ben Paley

Trad arr. © 2022 Ben Paley

© Hjort Anders Olsson, arr. © 2022 Ben Paley

Generating the image

Generating the image

Generating the image

Generating the image

Generating the image

Recordings:

  • Bruce Greene, "Five Miles of Ellum Wood", 1998

Recordings:

  • Bo i Rannsätt and Bengt Lindroth, "Värmlandslåtar" [Fabo SLP 33118], 1979

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