modern / trad. Volume 1 (with CD)

“Tradition is the passing on of the fire and not the worship of ashes.” (Gustav Mahler)

After the ‘Schnurrpfeiffereyen’ and ‘Ein gutter nerrisch Tantz’ by Martina Sirtl, another trend-setting series for the folk dance scene will be published with ‘Neue Tanzmelodien’.

Schottisch, waltz, mazurka, polka are only some of the most common couple dances, which are widespread in many parts of Europe.

Only through constant change and renewal does a dance festival (or bal folk) remain as good as it once was. Dance music has evolved creatively since the folk revival of the last decades, not only in France, Ireland or Scandinavia. In German-speaking countries, too, there has been a colorful music and dance scene for some years now, inspired by the traditional music of our neighboring countries and equally rooted in our own musical past.

These newly composed dance pieces with a view over the edge of the plate are thus in the best tradition, ‘new German folk dance music’.

Dance music should go to the legs, should not be cerebral, should sound light and yet not banal. In the selection, therefore, emphasis was placed above all on good playability and the fun of making music together. All melodies are provided with accompanying chords, some are set for several voices and are suitable for the common instruments. Regarding the key and the range, in most cases care was taken to make them playable also for drone instruments like bagpipes or hurdy-gurdy (in G-C tuning).

The book is accompanied by an excellent CD recorded by the Duo Cassard on which all the melodies can be heard.

Further volumes are planned:

For the second volume we are looking for beautiful, rousing (and of course again only newly composed) waltzes and polkas. Cercles and Bourrée are to follow.

So, if you have composed melodies and would like to make them available to us, please send them to our publisher. Once the authors have reviewed the selection, we will contact the composers and discuss the organizational aspects.

The editors / The CD to the book:

The two editors, Johannes Mayr and Christoph Pelgen, have been on the road for years with various ensembles (La Marmotte, Hölderlin Express, Adaro, DÁN, Estampie) on German dance and concert stages and as workshop leaders. As ‘Duo Cassard’ they have recorded on the accompanying CD all the melodies of the book in short sequences (1 to 2 runs) with bagpipes, accordion, key fiddle or mandola/mandolin.