Stagecoach 400: Day 2

I woke up as it got light and after quickly munching on some bars tackled the rest of the climb. Towards the end, the jeep trail becomes very steep with a few hike-a-bike sections that are challenging. Not just pushing your bike, but requiring a bit of climbing and keeping your balance as you hoist up the bike. It is very nice to do that first thing in the morning because it would become grueling in the middle of the day in the heat, but I have positive memories of that stretch.

Then it goes down on the other side towards Highway S-2, which is where the Overland Stage Coach Route of 1849 passed through. Still deep sand and I took a good tumble on the descent with the big chainring taking a bite out of my shin and was probably one of the last ones to make it to the small store at the intersection with the S-2. Jill Homer (1st on the left) was already to leave as I rolled in. Brendan and Mary are in the middle of the picture.

After a short stretch on S-2, we turn right and then comes one of the tougher climbs: Oriflamme Canyon. I've done that climb a few times as part of Rich Wolf's Julian Death March and riding on my own, so I wanted to make sure to get out of the desert before mid-day. Surprisingly, Oriflamme didn't feel too hard and even packed I rode almost the whole climb (whereas I have pushed more of it on previous attempts unloaded). No pictures there and this doesn't look like anything, but it still is a very rewarding view back once you made it to the top!

Some beautiful, although not very long, single track through meadows follows. Almost feels like an alpine area, although this is only about 4000 feet.

Then a bit more single track climbing towards Noble Canyon. That's where I caught up with Jill Homer, but that was the last time I saw her on the ride as I was getting stronger now that the desert was over. 

Noble Canyon is one of the most famous mountain bike trails in Southern California and it isn't bad, but just not my favorite. I don't think it lives up to the hype. Mainly rocky descent, technical and hard work, not fun flowing single track. Largely rideable, even with bikepacking luggage, Chunk riders, i.e. those that enjoy carefully working through small sections of technical trail, or downhill bombers may like it, but it isn't a trail that I find exciting.

And as soon as you hit the bottom, you turn right and it goes up just as steeply, but now on a paved road! That came as a less pleasant surprise, especially as now the sun was getting rather strong. After gaining elevation again, a very nice stretch followed. It was now the middle of the afternoon, but I would have loved to camp in that meadow area for the night.

The rest of the afternoon and early evening was uneventful, slowly got into the San Diego area, some of it through Cleveland National Forest with a few smaller towns. I had dinner in Alpine, I believe. The final big challenge for the day was another long and steep hike-a-bike. That turned out to be questionable routing decision as it crossed an Indian Reservation and the tribal Sheriff didn't want people there. So the earliest riders were chased away and had to take a much faster road short-cut, as did slow riders the next day. But I arrived late in the evening and didn't see anybody on my long hike. You end up at a trashed abandoned house on top and then descend into ritzier suburbs. Met Jay Rall, another rider at the top, first cyclist undertaking the route I had seen for most of the day, about since passing Jill near Julian in the morning.  Hard to know exactly how the area looked as it was night time. Eventually, I was on a trail along the Sweetwater Reservoir and stopped there for the night. If I had known the trail better, I would have gone another hour or so further.

Stagecoach 400: Last Day and Night

I stopped at the beginning of the Sweetwater reservoir since I didn't know what to expect next and getting into an urban area may have made it difficult to find good camping. Although it was a nice place, I didn't sleep very well that night and probably should have just taken a shorter break rather than trying to get a night's sleep. I was close to the ocean, a lot of condensation and didn't think about putting up the tarp, so it was wet and I never got comfortable. A waste of the night, I just should have ridden a few hours more then. Instead, the morning saw me cruise along the Sweetwater Reservoir on single track. Very nice, but not that spectacular that I would have minded missing it riding at night.

A couple hours later, I was in downtown San Diego and stopped at Starbucks for a late breakfast (mainly large coffee). After 2 hot days, it was somewhat chilly and I felt much stronger. In this weather, I can go twice as far! The rest of the morning was a rather urban ride, but as another indicator of careful route planning, the very last part of San Diego was a tour of the UC San Diego Campus and I stopped there for lunch. I didn't have the highest expectation of what was to follow as my impression of the San Diego area is suburbia hell, but I wrong: lots of very nice riding took us out of San Diego back into the mountains.
In fact, one of my favorite part of the whole ride were "the tunnels", a very overgrown maze of single-track trails between developments. But essentially, the next few hours were zig-zagging through open space set-asides between suburban developments and never felt that the ride was actually crossing a major urban area.

Some rather surprising switchbacks between Encinitas and Escondido.

And then along Lake Hodges (Obin and I would be riding there later in the year on a 50 miler starting near Escondido). The trail ends at the I-15 and I had dinner and resupplied at the shopping mall. Around then I noticed that if I just ride through the night or just take a short break, I could actually break 3 days and this new idea energized me and I took off at a faster clip.

On the other side of I-15, the San Dieguito River Trail takes you eastward through the San Pascual valley for an hour or so, but it ends on Highway 78, a very busy road connecting Escondido and Ramona/Julian. No way avoiding this highway for a few miles uphill and that is the worst part of the whole ride. It feels extremely dangerous as the road is hemmed in by rocks on both sides, has no shoulder at all, and cars still go 50+ miles. It only is a few miles before turning left onto a very overgrown dirt road (fence is locked, so there haven't been vehicles for a long time). Didn't take pictures even though it was very nice as it was getting dark and I wanted to get as many miles on the trickier trails before darkness. I have no idea how the next 8 hours or so looked, except in between there was a road through Warner Springs (but no traffic at the time I went through), but it seemed to be all wider dirt road. A very enjoyable night riding alone through the desert - in fact, I probably enjoyed it more than doing it during day time. I believe the many climbs could be disheartening in daylight. A few times, I laid down for a while, sometimes just as much to enjoy lying flat on my back on the trail and looking at the sky as to recover. I took a spill on a sandy spot, soft surfaces are hard to see, but I nevertheless really liked riding through the night.

At dawn, I found myself approaching Anza and all that was left was a climb out of the desert (although a very long and hard climb) back up to Idyllwild. Another snafus near Idyllwild: a couple prevented riders from taking the scheduled route on dirtroads and had us detour on the main road. So halfway up the final climb, I had to ride back down. I caught up with a local, Joshua Weinfeld, as I saw him hopping a fence and followed him on his alternative route to the finish. A bunch of people had gathered at the bike shop, including Ezter Horanyi (on the left) and Jay Petervary (on the right), both clean and recovered after having finished hours before us. In contrast, Joshua  (third from left) looks rather hammered. He, Tracey Petervary, and I were the last ones to be under 72 hours and as it didn't look as if there would be anybody else arriving for hours, the crowd dispersed.

Old-Time and Celtic March: Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine/Sherman’s March to the Sea/ Braes of Dunvegan/Caledonian March

One type of tune that I haven’t covered in this column before are marches. Marches are often overlooked in favor of hoedowns/reels or jigs, but they do exist in all traditions. Since marches are not very fast, they are excellent for intermediate level sessions and yet are fun to play.

One march that got around a lot is Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine or Sherman’s March to Sea. In Europe, it seems to be known as Caledonian March. At the moment, here in Los Angeles, a variation of the tune is making the rounds as Braes of Dunvegan.  There are at least 3 different sessions in town that play it regularly and it has become core repertoire of the Scottish Fiddlers of Los Angeles.

I have known the tune for many years as Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine and may have first heard it on the 1971 recording by the Fuzzy Mountain String Band. The Fuzzy Mountain String Band, together with the Hollow Rock String Band, was one of the seminal old-time string bands  during what may have been the first old-time music revival (and we are currently in the second or third). The Fiddler’s fakebook has a transcription of the tune.

But I want to focus on the variation of the tune that is known as Braes of Dunvegan, which has a little twist in the B-part (a C-natural) that makes it interesting and I think also more appealing. The setting I transcribe below is how I learned it from Cape Breton fiddler Kimberley Fraser.

Not quite a session, a little more organized than that, but here are about 200 fiddlers playing Braes of Dunvegan, led by Kimberley Fraser http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ay4FfB_r35g

You won’t be able to recognize the faces in the video, but that group includes some of my favorite artists in the traditional music genre. I don’t know how often you would get such a group together and this list is far from complete (just can’t remember who else was there): In the cello group, there are Natalie Haas (duo with Alasdair Fraser), Tristan Clarridge (Crooked Still, and 5-times Grand Champion of the Weiser Old-Time Fiddle Contest), Mike Block (Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble, Republic of Strings); in the fiddle section are Britanny Haas (Crooked Still), Hanneke Cassel (solo artist), Ryan McKasson (Syncopaths, McKassons), Lauren Rioux (Republic of Strings), and Weiser Grand Champions Kimber Ludiker and Tashina Clarridge. 

Learning Session Tunes – Hanneke Cassel teaches Jenny Dang the Weaver

My Folkworks Column from Nov 2011

Let’s continue the “classic session tunes” quest started in the last column. There are so many tunes that if you start learning tunes from recordings (or tune collections), chances are slim that you build up a repertoire that lets you play with other people. There are some obvious first choices for beginners, such as Drowsy Maggie, Harvest Home, and maybe one or two dozen that are could be considered universally known. But where do you go next?

So I started asking professional traditional musicians for their suggestion: “Among your favorite tunes to play, which ones are session standards and/or commonly played by other people?” This month, my guest is Boston-based fiddler, composer, producer, and teacher Hanneke Cassel.

Hanneke pursues a solo career and her latest CD, For Reasons Unseen (November 2009) features an all-star cast of musicians - including Alasdair Fraser, Natalie Haas, Rushad Eggleston, Casey Driessen, Brittany Haas, Keith Murphy, and Aoife O'Donovan.  She also tours regularly with Baroque/Celtic group Ensemble Galilei, and is a co-founder of Celtic chick band Halali.  She teaches at the Boston Harbor Fiddle Camp, Valley of the Moon Fiddle Camp, and the Sierra Fiddle Camp and produced recordings by Crooked Still and Scott Alarik. While certainly in the traditional music camp, Hanneke’s playing has its unique edge with a wide range of tones (no doubt reflecting her degree in violin performance). On a recording of her composition Waiting for the Dawn  (on the CD Silver), she suddenly shifts to a tone that sounds like a heavily distorted guitar at the edge of feedback and for a long time I assumed it was electronic processing. But, no, this is all in her right hand.

 Hanneke’s suggestion for a “must know” session tune is Jenny Dang the Weaver, a reel in D of Scottish origin. The melody was already played in the American colonies in the 1700s where it appeared in manuscripts of fiddlers in New England. It also is include in many of the major tune collections of the 19^th century. One of the first recordings of the tune was by uillean piper Patsy Touhey probably around the turn of the century, but I don’t have it. The earliest recording I could find is also an Irish bagpipe solo, but from 1924: http://www.archive.org/details/JimmieMcLaughlinTheRoadtoGalwayJennyBangtheWeaver

These days, the tune is more likely to be associated with Cape Breton repertoire.

Here is Hanneke playing the tune very slowly (the version I transcribe below).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dI0Cv7f-9gs

and here is a faster version

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYU22NKsp2M

You can see how important it is to listen to how the tune is played because the transcription doesn’t capture important pieces (e.g. the triplets are not really played like triplets). Once in a while, you might also want to add a little variation, one that I use occasionally is to add a note in the B-part and make it an even 8^th note run (see alternative B-part).

And since it is more fun to play a set, I added another great reel , the Ale is Dear, which makes a nice tonal transition from D to B-minor. Here in Los Angeles, the Scottish Fiddlers of LA tend to put both of those tunes together and they are also played together at the CTMS celtic session. 

Tunes in Disguise: Old-time hoedown or Irish Air?

In the last column, I covered what may be the best known jam or session tune – Soldier’s Joy - but this column will dive into more obscure territory, although with a tune played by two masters of their respective musical styles: Bruce Molsky (Old-time) and Martin Hayes (Irish).

Before learning obscure tunes, it is always good to refresh your memory of the classics. I recently jammed with some high schoolers. Sure enough, Soldier’s Joy was a tune that worked really well (as did Old Joe Clark, Angeline the Baker, etc.). That actually was one of my first jams this summer because my main activity this summer has been riding my mountain bike from Mexico to Canada along the Continental Divide. That ride was a little over 2700 miles and took a few hundred hours of pedaling time. No music content, but here are my pictures from the ride:

https://picasaweb.google.com/103806633563601589251/TourDivideJune102011July52011

On to today’s topic – how the same melody can sound totally different in two different settings.

My first transcription is based on a track by Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill on their CD Welcome Back Again, a slow Irish Air entitled Coleman’s March. Martin Hayes epitomizes the fiddle music of County Clare for many people, although has his own unique style and his playing is immediately recognizable. As far regional styles are concerned, the Clare style could be characterized by a slower pace and a more wistful or even eerie feel. A contributing factor may be the use of flat keys, F, Gm, Bb, or even Eb. Coleman’s March (which sounds nothing like a march) certainly fills that description.

A few years ago, I learned a very different tune called Acorn Stomp from Bruce Molsky. It was originally recorded by the East Texas Serenaders in 1928, so one of the very early commercial recordings of old-time music. Stylistically a bit between hoedown and ragtime, it leaves not doubt that this must be original American material. The East Texas Serenaders start with a 40 second Beaumont Rag-type introduction (not transcribed) before they get to the actual tune, which they then play 4 times through. I tried to transcribe the version I learned from Bruce Molsky, but he does not seem to have recorded it. So when I could not remember how Bruce played it, I went back to the East Texas Serenader version. The complete recordings of the East Texas Serenaders were recently re-issued on CD, available from all the usual mail order places, and their version of Acorn Stomp is also on a compilation CD called Old-Time Texas String Bands, Vol. 1. Bit ff you need free immediate gratification, try this link:

http://www.archive.org/details/EastTexasSerenaders-AcornStomp

So, what could these two tunes possible have in common? Seems like nothing and I actually did not notice a relationship for a while. But look at the transcription: The A part is identical almost note-for-note. It will be a mystery how this melody made it into such completely different settings, but that is one of the fascinating things about living traditions.

I don’t know how useful these tunes are for playing at sessions. I would have put them into the “obscure” category, but I did hear Acorn Stomp being played in a jam at the Goleta Old-Time Fiddlers’ Convention last year.

But there was a much more important lesson for me here than learning one (or two) tunes: It is not about the notes, it is how you play them.