Welcome to the Ladies' Choice web site.
We are primarily a women's session group that meets every two or three weeks to play music together, but we also enjoy performing every now and then. All women are welcome to come and play with us at any of our practice sessions.
Below are the reports on our meetings, and in the side bar is a repository of some of the tunes we have been working on along with other useful music resources.
April 28, 2012
Laura, Jen, Ursula, Doreen, Sally, Gerry, Cynthia, Ann and newcomer Stephanie (fiddle) met at Gerry's. We played the following: The Blue River Waltz, First of May Hornpipe, Jamie Allen, Shepherd's wife, Country/Molly's Waltzes, Angel Band, My Cape Breton Home, Set of 3 Polkas, Owl and the Pussy Cat, Lover's Waltz (in parts), and the Pride of Erin Waltz Set.
April 14, 2012
Laura, Teri, Jen, Ursula, Doreen, Sally, Gerry, and Marilyn met at Ursula's. We worked on our tunes that are arranged in parts: The Mari's Wedding Polka set, Sibeag Si Mohr, Far Away, and the Pride of Erin Waltz Set. We also played Bodines Waltz.
March 31, 2012
Laura, Jen, Ursula, Doreen, Ann, Sally, Gerry, Ellen and Marilyn met at Jen's. We spent the entire time working on our tunes that are arranged in parts: South Wind, The Mari's Wedding Polka set, Sibeag Si Mohr, The Ash Grove, The Shepherd's Wife, and the Catskill Mountain Air. We talked about giving the Pride of Erin Waltz set a try next time. The sheet music for all of these are available at the
LYCO Sheet Music Archive.
March 17, 2012
Laura, Jen, Ursula, Teri, Sally and Anne met at Laura's. We played: Country/Molly's Waltzes, Bodines Waltz, Jamie Allen, our set of 3 hornpipes, The Shepherd's Wife (3 parts), Innis Sheer, Irish Washerwoman, the Catskill Mountain Air, and South Wind (parts). We also started work on the Mari's Wedding set of 4 polkas in multiple parts. This one should be fun once we get it down.
March 3, 2012
We met at Ursula's. Attending were Sally, Cynthia, Gail, Ursula, Teri and Laura. We played:
Bodine's Waltz (in D, easier to finger)...thought maybe it would be good to do at least once in A;
Catskill Mountain Air (Ursula did an intro with two G's); Southwind, Shepherd's Wife, and our hornpipe set, twice for Fairies Hornpipe, Rights of Man and the Sweeps.
February 11, 2012
Cynthia, Laura, Jen, Ursula, Doreen, and two newcomers--Teri and Beth met at Ursula's. The light snow that was falling seemed to keep a few people away. We played: The Shepherd's Wife, Country/Molly's Waltzes, Da Auld Resting Chair, Angel Band, Bodines Waltz, Old Joe Clark, Lover's waltz, our set of 3 polkas, The Owl and the Pussy Cat, Ladies' Choice (our namesake tune which we are giving another chance), and the Catskill Mountain Air.
January 7, 2012
Anne, Laura, Jen, Ursula, Ann, Doreen, Sally and Marilyn met at Jen's. We played: Willafjord (2 parts), The Shepherd's Wife (3 parts), Catskill Mountain Air (a new one brought to us by Marilyn), South Wind, Westphalia Waltz (2 parts), our set of 3 polkas, The Lovers Waltz (2 parts), and our set of 3 hornpipes. For next time we decided to try 3 new pieces in parts from the
LYCO Sheet Music Archive: Harvet Home (duet), Mari's Wedding (polka set score), Southwind (trio).
December 3, 2011
Anne, Laura, Jen, Ursula, and Sally met at Ursula's. We played: Country/Molly's Waltzes, The Shepherd's Wife (3 parts), our Hornpipe set, Bodine's Waltz, Willafjord (in parts), and several Christmas carols. Marilyn found a nice source for tunes, and songs in parts here:
LYCO Sheet Music Archive. You can get Willafjord, and many more that we know there.
October 22, 2011
Anne, Laura, Jen, Ursula, and Marilyn met at Anne's. We played: Jamie Allen, Country/Molly's Waltzes, Bodine's Waltz, Just Before the Battle Mother, Marino Waltz, My Cape Breton Home, Margaret's Waltz, God and Silver Waltz, The Shepherd's Wife (3 parts).
October 8, 2011
Anne, Gerry, Laura, Jen, Sally, Ursula, Gail, and new member Ann (whistle), met at Gerry's. We worked on the following: The Shepherd's Wife (3 parts), Country/Molly's Waltzes, Bodine's Waltz (a rythmically tricky piece in 9/8 time), Blind Mary, Lover's Walta (2 parts), Carolan's Welcome, Owl and the Pussycat, Bach Minuet, Fairies Hornpipe.
September 24, 2011
We had our first session of the Fall at Jen's with Anne, Gerry, Laura, Jen, Sally and Ursula attending. We talked about our August performance a bit and agreed that we need to work on how we start up each tune. Some of our start-ups were pretty weak. We worked on a brand new tune (to us) that Gerry brought us first--O'Carolan's Blind Mary which is a slow air. The sheet music for it has been added to the Tune Resource box on the right. The we played: Pig Ankle Rag, Westphalia Waltz (2 part), our hornpipe set, The Shepherd's Wife (3 parts), Angel Band, and Remember Me in E (yes, the key of E).
August 23, 2011
We performed at the Falmouth Art Market from 2 to 4:30 pm with a 15 minute break in the middle. We played all of the tunes on our play list once, and then repeated about a quarter of the list to fill the remaining time. Over all it went well. We warmed up at Anne's for about 45 minutes before going over to the venue which turned out to be a very good idea. We learned where our performing strengths and weaknesses are, and we will discuss this at our next meeting. The following played: Anne, Sally, Laura, Ursula, Marilyn, and Jen. Since we have no need for money, we donated the $100 hororarium back to the Art Market, which was gratefully accepted.
August 13, 2011
The following met a Sally's in Marion (yes, over the bridge on a Saturday, there was a 8 mile back-up): Ursula, Jen, Anne, Laura, and Sally. We worked on polishing up the tunes and songs on our August 23rd gig playlist. Due to scheduling difficulties, this was our last rehearsal before the 23rd.
August 6, 2011
The attendees were Ursula, Gail, Jennifer (back at last), Anne, Cynthia, Marilyn, Doris Nieves (a friend of Marilyn's and a fiddler) and Laura. We worked on the following from our August 23 gig playlist:
Innisheer--one person intro (Jennifer on whistle), then the rest join in at the end of the last quarter note of first line);
Country and Molly waltzes;
Polka medley--ending is pause at second B of Dennis...with Laura's drumbeat;
Boda Valse ---3 times, with Jen, Cynthia and Marilyn on harmony part;
Lovers' Waltz;
Hornpipe medley---2 times each;
Jamie Allen;
Shepherd's Wife;
Pig Ankle Rag.
Updated playlist with arrangement notes.
July 30, 2011
We met at Laura's...not too many of us. Just Ursula and me, Laura, and then Sally came...She got caught in the bridge traffic. So our choices were dictated by that.
We played:
The Owl and the Pussycat in D,
Mairie's Wedding in G,
In My Life,
I just Called To Say I Love You,
Remember Me in E (for Laura, try A or D for the fiddles),
Slow Boat to China,
Sunny Side of the Street in C,
Someone to Watch Over Me in C,
Bye-Bye Blackbird in F,
Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen.
After Sally came we played
the Polka medley and Remember Me.
July 16, 2011
We met at Ursula's. Laura, Ursula, Liz and Marilyn were there.
We played: Lovers Waltz;
Angel Band--new arrangement...Ursula played guitar when Laura sang. Four times through...first vocal & chorus sung, then verse and chorus instrumental, then second verse and chorus sung, then instrumental verse and sung chorus (by all);
My Cape Breton Home;
Hornpipe medley (without Sweeps);
Pig Ankle Rag.
July 2, 2011
Ursula, Anne, Jen, Laura, Anna and Marilyn met at Jen's. We worked on: The Owl and the Pussycat, Lovely Stornoway (2 parts), and the 3 hornpipes: Fairies Hornpipe/Rights of Man/The Sweeps. We spend quite a bit of time trying out 3 tunes suggested by Marilyn. Each is in 3 or 4 parts: Si Bheag, Si Mhor, The Ash Grove, and Far Away. They are all lovely, but will take some work to be performace ready.
June 28, 2011 Update
We are scheduled to play at the Falmouth Art Market on Tuesday, July 23 from 2 - 4:15 pm. We have compiled at tentative playlist of tunes to work on for that event. If you will be away or unable to attend our summer practice sessions, work on the tunes/songs on this list.
August 23rd Playlist. This list is somewhat subject to change.
June 11, 2011
Ursula, Sally, Anne, Jen, Laura, Cynthia and Ellen met at Laura's. We played: Country Waltz/Molly's Waltz, Fairies Hornpipe/Rights of Man/The Sweeps, The Shepherd's Wife (3 parts), The Lover's Waltz (2 parts). We stopped at 4:30 as several people wanted to attend Sean Boyce's reception and exhibition at Gallery 333.
May 15, 2011
Ursula, Sally, Anne, Jen, Laura and Gerry met at Gerry's. We played and/or worked on improving: Remember Me, Fairies Hornpipe, Rights of Man, The Sweeps, Lover's Waltz (2 parts), Cape Breton Home, Angel Band, Amazing Grace.
May 1, 2011
Ursula, Sally, Anne, Jen, Laura and Gerry met at Anne's. We played: Valse de los Panos, Shepherd's Wife (3-part), Valse de Jeunes Filles (2-part), Pig Ankle Rag, Fairies Hornpipe, Rights of Man, The Sweeps, Remember Me, Angel Band. Sheet music and a sound files for Angel Band--the way we play and sing it-- and the Sweeps are in the resource box on the right. We tried the three hornpipes (Fairies, Rights, Sweeps) together as a set and think they work together pretty well.
April 10, 2011
Ursula, Sally, Anne, Gail, Jen, Laura and Gerry met at Ursula's. We played: Westphalia Waltz (2-part), Shepherd's Wife (3 part), Inisheer, Pig Ankle Rag, Can't Help Falling In Love, Foggy Dew, Fairies Hornpipe, Sailors' Hornpipe. We discussed developing some more tune sets like our set of three polkas. Perhaps a hornpipe set, a reel set and a jig set.
April 3, 2011
Sally, Laura, Ursula, Anne, Jen and Gail met at Laura's. Ursula reported that she has been notified that we are on the list of groups to be contacted about performing at the open-air art market in Falmouth this summer. No date has yet been set, but we are hoping to get a date in August since some of us will be away during July. We played the following: Shepherd's Wife (waltz in 3 parts), the Owl and the Pussy-cat, Inisheer, Pig Ankle Rag, Angel Band, Westphalia Waltz (2-part version, see tune resources for sheet music), Lover's Waltz (in 2 parts), The Foggy Dew, Fairies Hornpipe.
March 20, 2011
Ursula, Gail, Jen, Laura, Sally, Gerry and Anne met at Jen's and had nice relaxed session. We played: The Gold and Silver Walts, The Piper's Waltz, Pig Ankle Rag, Inisheer, The Shepherd's Wife, Angel Band, Let Me Call You Sweetheart (key D)/Band Played On (key G), and fihished up with our 3 polkas: John Ryan's, Kerry, and Denis Murphy's. We have had the sheet music for The Shepherd's Wife for a while but never really played it. It is a pretty easy but lovely waltz in 3 parts. We worked on it in 3 parts and think it is going to be a nice addition to our play list. See the tune resource box on the right for sheet music. We talked about playing for one of the Falmouth open market afternoons this summer. All present thought it was a good idea.
March 5, 2011
The 'Ladies' played at the wedding reception of Jen Kano and Marc Daniels. THANK YOU Ursula, Anne, Gerry, Gail, Sally, Cynthia, Diane, Marilyn, Laura, and Alecia. You ladies did a terrific job, and I will be forever grateful for all the work you put in getting ready for it. I hope all the rehearsals weren't too grueling for anyone. I really enjoyed the process and feel particularly proud of the way the Lover's Waltz came together. Bravo Ladies--it was a lot of work but the results were spectacular! The complete play-list was: The Owl and the Pussy-cat into the Lover's Waltz, Country Waltz/Molly's Waltz, My Cape Breton Home, John Ryan's/Kerry/Denis Murphy's Polkas. - Jen
February 13, 2011
Ursula, Gail, Gerry, Anne, Sally, Jen, Laura, Cynthia, Diane, Alecia and Marilyn met at the Cataumet Arts Center and worked on the March 5th playlist. County/Molly's is in good shape; and the polkas, the Owl and Pussycat, and Cape Breton Home are almost perfect. We added a bit of a surprise ending to the very end of the polka set which sounds great. We also worked a bit on the transition between the Owl and the the Lover's Waltz. We spent our last 45 minutes on the Lover's Waltz which is really starting to come together. Thanks to Diane and Alecia, we now have 3 fiddles on each part which will give us a fuller, more 'string orchestra' sound. I finally got the recording of the
Owl and the Pussy-Cat we made last week off to Anna. Listen to it. I think we need to play it a little faster than the recording, but not much.
February 5, 2011
Ursula, Gail, Gerry, Anne, Sally, Jen, Laura, and Marilyn met at the Cataumet Arts Center and worked on the March 5th playlist. We spent a long time working on the section of the Lover's Waltz that is in the key of D and went from not being able to get throught it at all to being able to play the whole thing with a minimum of errors. We practiced all the other tunes from the list a few times through, and also made a recording of the Owl and the Pussy-Cat to send to the vocalist.
January 29, 2011
Ursula, Gail, Gerry, Anne, Sally, Jen, Laura, Cynthia and Marilyn met at the Cataumet Arts Center and worked on the March 5th playlist. Most of the tunes are coming along well. Jen's niece, Anna, will be the vocalist for The Owl and the Pussy-Cat. We will be making a recording of it for her to work with at our next meeting. We did some very intense work on the Lovers Waltz in two parts. The section in the key of G is starting to sound good. We have a long way to go on the section in the key of D. Listening to the piece played in two parts should be helpful. There are some good recordings on YouTube. The
Ithica Summer Camp Preludo Concert performance is particularly good and true to the two part version as written by Jay and Molly. This is a good one to play along with for practice. I listened to the
Casey Willis video again while looking at the sheet music and he is not playing it exactly as written. All of the elements of the violin I part are there, but not always in the same places as on the sheet music, and he adds a few little touches of his own, so I would be carefull about using it for learning to play the violin I part by ear.
January 22, 2011
Sally, Anne, Ursula, Jen, Gail, Gerry, Laura and Cynthia met at the Cataumet Arts Center. We worked on all the tunes on the
March 5th event playlist and then played some session tunes for the last 20 minutes or so. We are woking on the Lover's Waltz in two parts from Jay and Molly's sheet music. Gerry and Cynthia are going to play the violin 2 part.
January 15, 2011
Sally, Anne, Ursula, and Jen met at the Cataumet Arts Center which was a last minute change of location due to an icy driveway at the original venue. The Arts Center has wonderful acoustics and easy parking. Thanks go to Andrea York for offering to have us there. We worked on tunes and arrangements we will be playing for the reception. The playlist is still somewhat in flux, so stay tuned for updates. Here is the
current plan. Please note that will be playing "the Owl and the Pussy-cat" in D and G, not A.
January 8, 2011
Laura, Ursula, Sally, Marilyn, Anne, Jen, Gerry, Gail, and a new member AJ who plays fiddle. We played Country Waltz/Molly's Waltz, Lovely Stornoway, and Boda Valsen. Jen then announced that she would like the group to play some waltzes at her wedding reception in March, and requested that the group play the Lover's Waltz, My Cape Breton Home in additon to our three standards. She also handed out sheet music for a waltz/song, The Owl and the Pussy-Cat. The lyrics are Edward Lear's poem, the tune was written by Jen. This is to be the music for "first dance" at the reception. We played it through a few times. The key we will play it in will be determined by the preferance of the singer, who has not yet been selected (probably Jen's niece). Sheet music and midi sound files and available from the tune resource box (see right). We then played: Carolan's Welcome, Fairies Hornpipe, Pig Ankle Rag, and Valse de Los Panos. We are going to meet more frequently to get ready for the gig.
November 20, 2010
Sally, Ursula, Laura, Ellen and Anne met at Anne's and played: Country Waltz, Molly's Waltz, Valse de los Panos (in honor of Gerry being in Machu Pichu (sp?), In My Life, Pig Ankle Rag, Faire's Hornpipe, Inisheer, and Ellen introduced us to Crested Hen (waltz).... she said she'd get the music for us. We ended with 'All I Have To Do Is Dream' by the Everley Bros. We talked about playing next summer at one of the Tuesday Craft Fairs in downtown Falmouth... we should figure some tunes to play and practice.
July - November 2010 Meetings
We have been meeting regularly every two or three weeks through this period and, as always, have been enjoying it immensely.
July 10, 2010
We met at Gerry's house on July 10. Attending were Gerry, Ursula Boyce, Sally Cann, Ann Oberteuffer, Gerry's neighbor Gail Graham, and me, Laura Higgins. Gail came to observe. She is a new mandolin owner and player. She had played the clarinet, so she knows music.
We played:
Angel Band, first and third verses were sung by Laura, with an instrumental in the middle
Country And Molly waltzes, 3 x each
Boda Waltz
Fairies Hornpipe
In My Life
Petronella
San Antonio Rose in D
My Cape Breton Home in G
Over the Waterfall
John Ryan's Polka in D
Dennis Murphy's Polka in D
and the Valse de los Panos
May 22 & June 12, 2010
We met and had a great time. Sorry for the lack of detailed reports.
May 1, 2010
Anne, Gerry, Jen, Ursula and Cynthia met at Gerry's. It was Cynthia's first time playing with us, and we hope she will be an active member of our group from now on. We played: My Cape Breton Home, Country/Molly's Waltzs, Boda Valsen, Lovely Stornoway, Ashoken Farewell, Valse do los Panos, and the Fairies Hornpipe. We have changed our meeting time to 1:00 pm in the hope that this will be a better time for some of us.
April 10, 2010
Anne, Ellen, Gerry, Jen and Laura met at Ellen's and played: Country/Molly's, Lovely Stornoway, Boda, Valse de los Panos, Fairies Hormpipe, Cape Breton Home, Shepard's Wife, Askoken Farewell, Pig Ankle Rag,
Can't Help Falling in Love, Remember Me, Gold and Silver Waltz.
March 13, 2010
We met at Laura Higgins's home in North Falmouth. Attending were Laura, Ann Oberteuffer, Ursula Boyce, Marilyn Rowland and Ellen Bailey.
Opened with Country/Molly waltzes. Then did In My Life. Had guitar intro. from I Can't Help Falling in Love with You (last line). Then instrumental, then vocal version, then instrumental. With a vocal repeat of the last line at the end.
Then played Kinrarra, My Cape Breton Home (2As and 1 B), and Fairies Hornpipe.
February 27, 2010
Ursula, Anne, Laura, Sally, Ellen and Jen met at Anne's. Once again, we started by warming up with our three 'performance' waltzes. The we worked on The Auld Resting Chair, In My Life, My Cape Breton Home and Ashoken Farewell. We clearly need to keep up with our old tunes as even the 'performance waltzes' are a bit rough in places. We decided some harmony on In My Life would be good and will try to come up with some. We do have harmony parts for Cape Breton and Ashoken that sound pretty good. We will keep working on these.
February 13, 2010
Ursula, Anne, Laura, Sally and Jen met at Ursula's. We started by warming up with our three 'performance' waltzes, then played Valse de los Panos. We spent a long time working on "In My Life" both practicing and figuring out the best arrangement. Here is what we settled on after trying many options: 1. Sing first verse with guitar; bridge: guitar. 2. All instruments play (no voice); bridge: single fiddle (Sally). 3. Same as #2. 4. Sing second verse with guitar; instrumental ending: whistle. We also spent a long time working on "Can't Help Falling in Love" in the key of G. Arrangement: Instrumental first, with voices second, end with another round of instrumental only. Sally plays harmony on fiddle.
January 30, 2010
Gerry, Laura, Ursula, Sally, Anne, Jen and Ellen met at Gerry's house. We started with a two-part version of Ashoken Farewell. Then we played through on our 3 'performance waltzes' (see entry below for titles). Next we worked on Pig Ankle Rag which still has a couple of rough spots but is otherwise coming along very well. Then we worked on My Cape Breton Home, first in unision until we all seemed to be getting it, then in two parts. We finished with Valse de los Panos, and Can't Help Falling in Love.
January 16, 2010
Gerry, Anne, Laura, Ursula, Marilyn and Jen met at Jen's house. We started by working on the Pig Ankle Rag which is a new tune for us. We talked about the need to run through our 'performance' pieces each time we meet in order to keep them up to snuff, and will be playing them first each time we meet which will also serve as a good warm-up. These tunes are: Boda Valsen, Country Waltz/Molly's Waltz, Lovely Stornoway. After playing these we worked on: Gold & Silver Waltz, Can't Help Falling in Love, In My Life, Faries Hornpipe, High Road to Linton.
January 2, 2010
We met at Laura Higgins's house. Attending were Anne Oberteuffer, Ursula Boyce, Jennifer Kano, Diane Maranchie, Ellen Bailey, Marilyn Rowland and Laura.
We started with Can't Help Falling in Love, in G. Our arrangement idea is for all of us to sing the whole song with guilar, ending with the bridge repeated and the final part. We need to find out if it changes time signature for the "Like a river flows, surely to the sea part." It appears to be a walz tempo before and it slows up there. We were going to check it out on UTube to see if Elvis sang that part more slowly. (See note below.)
We then played Jamie Allen, follwed by Chinese Breakdown. Diane said our version of Chinese Breakdown is different from the traditional version played at dances. Diane will find sheet music for the more traditional version for us.
Then we worked on the Beatles' "In My Life." We sing both verses with the guitar only. Then Jen and Ursula play once through with whistle and guitar only. Then all instruments play one time through. Perhaps, ending with a song line at the end? We also played Kinrara and Da Old Resting Chair. Tunes we talked about working on next time were: Pig Ankle Rag, Campbell's Farewell to Redcastle, and High Road to Linton.
Note from Jen:
I found free sheet music for Can't Help Falling in Love online (key F). It is in cut time (4/4) through out. I also watched several different renditions on Utube and everyone performs it that way. Here's the sheet music.
Archive of old session reports.
