June is already here and it's time for another song - even though submissions have been sorely lacking for a bit.

We'll stick with a waltz theme and for this one, I've not found any lessons or primers, so it's learning the old way - by listening.

For those unfamiliar with Louisiana, this song is named for Calcasieu Parish in southwestern Louisiana with the Parish seat being Grand Lac Charles.

Wade Falcons web site is getting to be a one-stop-shop and he provides great background on the song as well as a link to Iry Lajeunes version here. Thanks Wade and please keep it up.

http://earlycajunmusic.blogspot.com/2015/03/calcasieu-waltz-iry-lejeune.html

A personal favorite is this one done by Robert Jardell with Dewey Balfa on fiddle


Nathan Abshire has a good version also.


The recordings of RVdC at the Liberty Theater always turns up good stuff also


With any luck, we'll be able to count on our more accomplished players to show the rest of us the way.

There we are for June 2015. Lets see what ya got. Allons jouer

John in Oregon

Thanks John. I hope others enjoy and find it useful. PLenty of material for the far future. Working on getting the blog some exposure in local papers as a featured column. Not sure just how to do that yet. I've got a few other projects simmering in the pot right now, not ready to release yet.

In the meantime, I'm looking for anyone that has information on Elise Deshotel. Recorded in the early 50s with the Louisiana Rhythmaires and played with Nathan quite a bit.

Lastly, here's some June births:

Saturday, June 11, 1910 Edwin Duhon
Wednesday, June 04, 1969 Steve Riley
Friday, June 12, 1953 David Greeley
Sunday, June 26, 1960 Al Berard
Monday, June 30, 1930 L.J. Foret
Monday, June 25, 1951 Barry Ancelet
Thursday, June 25, 1925 Clifton Chenier
Thursday, June 02, 1938 Tony Thibodeaux
Friday, June 27, 1913 Nathan Abshire
Friday, June 03, 1921 Joe Bonsall
Tuesday, June 22, 1954 Daniel Cormier
Friday, June 18, 1915 John Olivier
Thursday, June 14, 1900 T-Joe Brasseaux
Wednesday, June 08, 1921 Leroy Broussard
Sunday, June 20, 1954 Jay Cormier
Monday, June 06, 1921 Cleveland Crochet
Wednesday, June 25, 1947 Link Davis Jr.
Sunday, June 06, 1920 Ed & Bee Deshotels
Sunday, June 06, 1909 A.B. Dugas
Sunday, June 27, 1915 Hector Duhon
Friday, June 13, 1958 Errol Verrette
Friday, June 12, 1925 Pott Folse
Friday, June 19, 1925 Abe Manuel


Here's some June deaths:

Tuesday, June 23, 1992 Wade Fruge
Sunday, June 19, 1994 Varise Conner
Wednesday, June 17, 1992 Dewey Balfa
Saturday, June 21, 2014 Jimmy Newman
Saturday, June 05, 1971 Lionel Cormier
Wednesday, June 09, 1965 Shorty Leblanc
Thursday, June 12, 1975 Angelus Lejeunne
Saturday, June 23, 1984 Pete Perez
Saturday, June 28, 1986 Mrs. Jules Vanicor

If you are listening to the version by Robert Jardell and thinking - "crap... this isn't working for my C-accordion"... he is playing a D-accordion.

Get the "FreeYouTubeDownloader" and download the song in MP3
Get Audacity and convert it down from D to C
Prosper

Roberts voice will sound very odd, but you can then follow on a C-accordion. The "Amazing Slow Downer" is very helpful for this also since it will let you slow the song down with no loss of pitch.

For those of us not in or near Louisiana, it requires some technology if you are like many of us who have to work hard for any improvement. If you need technical help, just ask and I'll do what I can.

Those who can play anything they pick up... grrrr....

John in Oregon

Audacity will also let you slow down without loss of pitch, however, it's interpolation algorithm (which "fills in" the data between sample points) isn't as smooth as ASD program. Once a song has been loaded, Audacity has three features in it's menu for this.

Change Pitch, Change Speed, and Change Tempo (see menu image)

Change Pitch allows you to easily change pitch without changing the tempo from one key to another in half steps, change frenquency, or change pitch in percentage. This is useful if you have a C accordion and the song is in a D key. (see popup screen)

Change Speed allows you to easily change the pitch AND the tempo together (similar to slowing down a tape or speeding up a record). You can change both by changing the percentage of speed up or speed down. (see popup screen)

Change Tempo allows you to easily change the tempo without changing the speed. You can change the tempo as a percentage of the speed. This is useful when you're trying to learn a song and need it to "slow down" without changing anything else. You are limited by how much you can do this before the quality is degraded. (see popup screen)

Hope this helps
WF

Awesome! Thanks for that primer, Wade. I mostly use Audacity to change pitch. I also have ASD - which is very good for changing tempo. That is sort of in its name.

The Calcasieu Waltz is proving to be not . It's just gonna take work

John in Oregon

Found time for this one, really busy last month.
A couple of hiccups which I hopefully recovered from- the 'ol camera nerves.

AJ!! Man!! Vous avez joue bien!!!

That would do just fine at any jam at all. You were definitely relaxing into it toward the end. I like the foot stomping.

AJ leads the way!!! Who is next. I'm working at it.

John in Oregon

Does anyone play a turn with the Calcasieu? There are some recordings with one.