Here is a Ladies’ Chain, from button accordionist Keith Corrigan of St-Gabriel-de-Valcartier, QC. I chose it in honor of the Big Review (a four-week session which begins May 31st where we will scrape off the rust and polish up 24 tunes from the Quebec session classes I’ve been teaching the past four years). Keith (1933-2010) learned this tune from his father, Patrick, who played it on the fiddle. The Ladies’ Chain is the fourth part of the quadrille known in Valcartier as The Set (there are six parts altogether). As was often the case, Keith did not have a specific title for this tune and referred to it by its association with dancing. Like many of the tunes Keith learned from his father, this melody has all the hallmarks of an Irish jig, but I have been unable to find any ancestral sources.

Ladies’s Chain (dance speed, mp3)[wpdm_file id=443]

Here’s a three-part gigue (a step-dancing tune) I learned from Vermont Franco-American fiddler Louis Beaudoin (1921-1980) way back yonder a long time ago. Louis did not have a title for this tune, so I named it in honor of his wife Julie. I recorded this tune with André Marchand as part of a medley of  dance music from Louis Beaudoin on the album One Fine Summer’s Day.  Here’s a bit of background about Louis:

Born and raised in the mill town of Lowell, Massachusetts, Louis Beaudoin learned to love music from his father Joseph (also a fiddler) and from family relatives who, like his parents and grand-parents, immigrated to the United States from Ste-Emelie-de-l’Energie (a small village north of Joliette, the home of La Bottine Souriante). When Louis was a child, Lowell was a city of ethnic neighborhoods, including a vibrant and large French-Canadian district known as “Petit Canada,” where he was raised. Louis got his start on fiddle, harmonica, and step-dancing at an early age, aided by family and neighbors. He moved with his family to Burlington, Vermont when he was seventeen. After serving in the military, he returned there and worked first as a police officer and later as a radiator repairman. His wife Julie and five daughters shared his love of music, singing, dancing hospitality and laughter. Julie and Louis have passed on, but the Beaudoin clan throw the best house party in New England!

La gigue à Julie (dance speed, mp3)[wpdm_file id=439]

La gigue à Julie (sheet music, pdf)[wpdm_file id=440]