Bon Matin

On Saturday, I participated in a traditional music workshop with a group called Bon Matin. Besides being something that interests me (see this post), it was kind of my last fling before the baby's born and I won't be able to take a whole day for myself again for awhile. It was happening in a village of about 200 inhabitants about 45 minutes north of Melle where we live. I carpooled there in the morning and then Thomas came and picked me up when it was over at 6:00pm. I had the option of staying for the dance, but it started at 9:00pm, and I was already pretty tired by 6:00.

I learned 3 new tunes, but what was most interesting to me was to hear the girl leading the workshop play the tunes over and over, ornamenting them differently each time. Then, she took some time to explain some of the ornaments and variants. Notably how some of them come from bagpipers trying to make up for limitations inherant to their instrument!

Another thing that was really fun (or funny) was the older gentlement who was there with his violin-shoe. No, really. He had a home-made violin the body of which was a wooden Dutch-type shoe. He let me play it and, you know, it didn't really sound all that bad. He had a hard time, though, because you can't hold an instrument like that steady with your chin. The body...er...shoe is much to thick and rounded. So, you try and kind of block it against your shoulder or upper arm, but it still moves as you move the bow, and moves even more if you try to do anything quickly with your left hand. But, he didn't mind so much. If he couldn't keep up on his violin, he played the leaf along with us instead. No, that wasn't a typo. When he came in, he had, not only his shoe-violin, but several branches of ivy. He would choose a leaf, then insert it into some sort of little apparatus that presumeably held the leaf and allowed him to change the tension. Then he blew across it. He could actually do some pretty amazing things with it. The sound reminded me of a cross between a bagpipe and a klezmer clarinet.

I learned some things. I saw some things I had never seen before, and I met some new people. It was quite a lot of fun!

ps I feel guilty every time I realize I've done a whole series of posts with no pictures of Alina. I promise to rectify this situation soon.