New Mexico Folk Music & Dance Society

FolkMADS Calendar and Notes

July - August 2004 Volume 7, Issue 4

P.O. Box 40421, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87196-0421

The FolkMADS Calendar and Notes are published bimonthly by the New Mexico Folk Music and Dance Society, a nonprofit organization.

FolkMADS sponsors Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Taos contra dances, concerts, camps, and other special events. "Contra" dances include contras, squares, mixers, and couple dances. Unless noted on the calendar otherwise, admission is $5 for members, $6 for nonmembers. You need not come with a partner. Free instruction for beginners starts at 7:30 p.m. Dances begin at 8 p.m. and are smoke-free and alcohol-free. Children and teens are encouraged to participate if supervised by an adult.

Albuquerque Dances 1st and 3rd Saturdays. Heights Community Center, 823 Buena Vista SE, Albuquerque (or as noted on calendar).

Occasionally dances are held at the Lloyd Shaw Dance Center; watch the calendar for details.
The Lloyd Shaw Dance Center is located at 5506 Coal SE in Albuquerque (2 blocks south of Central and 2 blocks east of San Mateo).

Santa Fe Dances 2nd and 4th Saturday contra dances and 5th Saturday English Country dances. Odd Fellows Hall, 1125 Cerrillos Road (south of Cordova Drive on the western side of Cerrillos).

Taos Dances 3rd Saturdays, Holy Trinity Parish Hall, Arroyo Seco.

Megaband Practices All musicians welcome.

ABQ Megaband Practices Albuquerque Megaband practice is held at the Blue Dragon Coffee House, 1517 Girard NE,Albuquerque, the Tuesday before the 3rd Saturday dance. Bruce Thomson, 277-4729, or email Jane Phillips jphill@NOSPAMunm.edu (remove "NOSPAM" when emailing) for more info or to be added to the listserv.

Acoustic Jam 7 p.m. before the Albuquerque dances. All acoustic musicians are welcome and all types of music are played. Call Jay Cutts for more information, 281-0684.

2004 Officers/Directors

Ongoing Events

Modal Tunes 

Some of the most distinctive old time fiddle tunes are those which use a five note scale. The missing notes give the tunes a sparse and primitive sound. These tunes can be either major or minor, depending on the intervals between the notes. For example, a five note A major scale would be A, C#, D, E, G# then A; the B and F# are missing. Sometimes those notes are used to make the tune fit the meter, but they're mostly absent. Because of the missing notes, these tunes have fewer eighth notes, more quarter notes, and this further contributes to the spare, haunting melody. "Black Jack Grove" is an interesting tune in which the first part uses a fairly traditional A scale then ends with a pentatonic scale. The B part, however, is much more characteristic of the five note scale, has fewer runs, and sounds pretty rustic. This version is from "Big Medicine," (www.bigmedmusic.com) on their CD "Too Old to be Controlled." They're a darn good band from around North Carolina and worth listening to. 

ABC Notation

X:36

T:Black Jack Grove

R:Reel

M:4/4

L:1/8

N:from Big Medicine, Too Old to be Controlled, Yodel-Ay-Hee 043

N:transcribed by Bruce Thomson

K:A

|z4z2ef|:"A"=g^ga=ge2d2|cdef =gfef|=g^ga=ge2d2|cdeg ageg|

abage2d2|cdef =gfef|"E"=geage2d2|[1"A"edc2A2ef:|[2"A"edc2A2AB||

|:"A"c2Ac BAG2|GABGE2AB|c2Ac BAG2|"E"GABG"A"A2AB|c2AcBAG2|

GABGE2ef|"E"=geage2d2|[1"A"edc2A2AB:|[2"A"edc2A4||