A Portland Selection 2: Contra Dance Music in the Pacific
Northwest, contains beautiful, lively jigs and reels played on
fiddle, mandolin, 4-string banjo, and piano. This is a
companion to the popular tune book, The Portland Collection, Vol
2 and includes a cross section of the different styles and
sources of contra dance music encompassed in the book. The CD
contains a mix of both traditional and recently composed tunes as
well as popular standards and tunes that have not been recorded
before. Contra dance music is propelling and energizing. Here,
the musicians use more variety than can be found in a typical
contra dance setting. They employ a wide range of tempo,
expression, and variation from sweet and lyrical to the full,
driving medleys that can be heard at dances everywhere. The
companion tune book serves as the source for all of the tunes on
this . Musicians:
George Penk is a dancer at heart whether it be on the floor with
his feet or on the fiddle strings with his bow. His deep sense of
the pulse of the music translates into an unusual ability to
infuse his fiddling with both driving rhythm and intense emotion.
His music in turn causes dancers respond soaring and gliding to
beautiful jigs or stomping and shrieking to fast-moving reels.
His range is very broad. George s powerful connection between
music and dance has placed him in high demand for Saturday night
dances, week end dance camps and week long instructional events
on both US coasts. When not fiddling, George is a high school
chemistry teacher.
Clyde Curley has been playing folk music on acoustic instruments
since high school. He plays mandolin, octave mandolin, and
4-string banjo and is equally adept at melody, harmony, and
rhythmic back up riffs on all of them. He also plays fiddle and
guitar. In 1986 Clyde began playing for contra dances with Jigsaw
and the Rose City Aces. Since then, he has found himself on
stages at local dances all over the Pacific Northwest and on
staff at festivals and camps in and beyond the Northwest.
Currently, in addition to the above musical interests, he is
pursuing Québécois music with his band, Group du Jour. Clyde has
retired from several decades of teaching high school English.
Susan Songer has been actively involved in the contra dance
community for more than 20 years, first as a dancer and then as a
musician on both piano and fiddle. Susan s driving piano style
invests the music with lift and pulse. Her deep connection to the
dance is evident when she plays in that setting. She has been on
staff at various week end and week-long dance and music camps and
has tutored both fiddle and piano at the American Festival of
Fiddle Tunes in Port Townsend, Washington. Susan is founder and
director of the Portland Megaband, an orchestra of about 75 dance
musicians that plays for special contra dances at least once a
year. Susan has retired from her private practice in psychology.
Susan Songer, Clyde Curley, and George Penk (aka The Portland
Connection) have been involved in contra dance music for more
than 2 decades. They play local and regional dances. In addition,
they have been on staff at week end and week-long dance and music
camps and festivals in the Northwest and in other parts of the
country. George, Clyde, and Susan each play in many different
configurations, with many different musicians. When they play
together, their expertise on their instruments, their musical
commonalities and bonds, their long experience with contra dance
music, and their deep connection to the dance enable them to
invest their music with a danceability that draws dancers to the
hall and keeps them there until the last note of the evening has
been played.