Hi Gang

Could someone please post a video of a simple version of Family Waltz? I'd really appreciate it.....

Roger

Sheryl makes it LOOK simple. If you have a tool (Amazing Slow Downer, Windows Media Player, etc.) to slow this one down, it's a pretty clean version to learn from.

thanks nedro....

there's something going on in the A part which is new to me (i am quite a newbie) and was hoping to see fingers up close. but you are correct, a bit of amazing slow downer and it's good to go.....
roger

Yes, it is a very nice version. The words that Russ are singing are not the
ones that Dewey used, but I like them. I can figure out part of the lyrics.
Marc, can you or anyone help me figure out the rest?

Oh, ça fait pitié de blâmer,
Oui ton pap et ta mam pour tout ça qu'arrivé,
Oh, y a pas d'juste toi j'm'ennuie,
C'est mes chers enfants que j'aime autant.

Marc.

Merci Marc! I'm singing it already!

Hey Roger. Here you go. Man, I had to dust this song off. It's been a while. This is essentially the Balfa version. It's one that works just fine played almost all in octaves.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EJZfdUl7co

John in Oregon

Thanks for taking the time to do that. It's a peach of a tune.

roger

Hey John, good to see you're still playing. When I wanted to learn the Family Waltz, I did a search on
this site and saw your version as a SOTM from 2014, good job!

Hey Doc!! Yeah, I play at least some every day. It's been coming together right well.

Remember that A-accordion I was talking about last year at fiddle tunes - it is finished and ships to me on monday. That's gonna be fun.

How you been?

John in Oregon

John, you nailed "the family waltz" down well. I can "C" you got your base pinky in sinc with your foot on that drop beat. What gives man? Are you one of them relocated Cajuns with all that natural rhythm from listening to Cajun music all his life? Way the hell up in Oregon! Dam!
The Family Waltz just caught my attention recently when Bryan Lafleur posted about the Valcor Records videos of notable Cajun Musicians. Sheryl and Russell Cormier chose that song for their presentation. Pretty odd song when it comes to the mechanics of learning it on accordion. It's sort of counter intuitive and makes the accordion player readjust to a rarely used pattern of button presses. Well, rare for my preferred 2nd position playing style. I had never played it before and found myself feeling like a novice as I learned it in about 30 minutes, LOL. My muscle memory was really working against me for this song! But I overcame...finally. And this is one of those special songs that insists that the accordion player sets up the singer! Very valuable to know. Also, the song is done entirely in only the two chords of C and G on the guitar. The guitar comes in on C and ends in C, so it must be a 1st position song in "C" on the "C" accordion. Do you "C"? (see)LOL. What's really strange, is that when the accordion player is playing the "HOME"G" chord buttons pushing buttons 5 and 8 right after the very beginning of the song, the got dam guitar is playing the "C" chord. Now that strikes me funny! They say that when you have a "C" accordion, when ever you push inward with the bellows and hit any buttons on the keyboard side, in groups of 4 buttons at a time, you're really doing variations of "C" chords! But every body should know that already. LOL. Not! I heard it said before, but never really grasped it completely with my steel trap of a brain until just a few minutes ago when I tried it on the accordion and then got on the guitar and stayed in the "C" chord and whistled what I had just done on the accordion. Matched perfectly! You know, like walking down the keyboard, all on the push, hitting 4 buttons at a time to end the song. All in "C". It has been verified! You can tell them I said it. Haha.

For everyone, even though you may not particularly like "The Family Waltz", and have been avoiding playing it like I did, I highly recommend you give it a shot. Learn to set up that singer!!!!! Opens up a whole new world if you're not familiar with such things.

Oh, I have something else! I just went sat down and played the Family Waltz again with a little more confidence and more ad libbing, and I believe I've discovered something. On the b-part or turn of this song, I honestly and truly believe, the accordion player actually switches back and forth between playing in the first position and the second position. And I also believe this kind of things happens more often than we would think! So we almost got ourselves bogged down in the rumor that once you start playing a song in a certain position, you have to stick with it to the end unless you want to fancy it up and modulate to another position. What if some Cajun songs actually call for playing in both the 1st and 2nd position without having to modulate??? And the other instruments in the band will never even notice when you switch between positions! Hmmmm interesting. Oh no! Oh god! I feel the steel trap in my brain starting to take over! Got to go. It beckons to m.................................................

I've always loved that song, especially as done by Hadley Fontenot in the Balfa recordings. I found the B part pretty quick but spent a long time on a very small part of that A part. Dewey's singing in that song still gives me frissons.

I love this song. Suzy Thompson wrote alternate lyrics to it for a friend's wedding and called it "Valse du Mariage". The California Cajun Orchestra recorded it on their first CD.

When my wife and I got married, Danny, Eric and Suzy played our wedding reception. We had them play "Valse Du Mariage" as our first dance.