home

about Spare Parts

performing schedule

secure online store:
ORDER NOW

print order form

PR photos

audio sample (Deliciosa Polka; more samples on each CD page)

for booking, email or call Bill at 413-442-9172

CDs, music books, and DVD (click on images for more information)

Returning Heroes CD cover

CD: Returning Heroes brings you more music from the lively ballrooms of the 1860s. The dance card includes quadrilles and contra medleys plus couples dances and the Grand March. Spare Parts has expanded the orchestra to flute, piano, first and second violins, brass, mandolin, banjo and string bass.

Civil War Ballroom CD cover

The Civil War Ballroom transports you to the lively ballrooms of the 1860s. This charming and danceable CD portrays a typical evening's program of popular tunes. The orchestra includes piano, flute, cornet, three violins, mandolin, viola and string bass.

Civil War music book cover

The Civil War Ballroom Band Book supplies sheet music for The Civil War Ballroom CD and more: enough for two full-length Victorian balls. Harmony parts are provided for over half the music. All music is from mid-19th century sources; source information is included along with lists of additonal tunes and resources.

dance manual cover

book: Pugliese's
Dances for the Civil War Ballroom

Instructions for all dances on the recording: waltz, polka, schottische, galop, Grand March, Soldier's Joy, Gothic Dance, Spanish Dance, La Tempete, The Lancers Quadrille and the Virginia Reel. Plus explanations of mid-nineteenth-century ballroom etiquette and refreshments.

Nahant CD cover

CD: Dancing by the Shore: Victorian Music from Nahant features lively dance melodies from the Nahant Historical Society's archives. (Sales of this CD benefit the Nahant Historical Society.) Liz and Bill are joined by Ruthie Dornfeld on violin.

Now Tango CD cover

CD: Now Tango evokes the toe-tapping Ragtime era with one-steps, blues, foxtrots, raggy waltzes and the Half & Half. CD includes two solo piano rags plus five tangos; Liz (flute) and Bill (piano) are joined by Ruthie Dornfeld on violin.

Waltz Book cover

Bill Matthiesen's four Waltz Books are some of the most popular tune books ever produced. Wonderful easy-to-read melodies are a mix of traditional and new compositions, all with chord symbols. These should be in every musician's collection.

Regency CD cover

CD: The Regency Ballroom: English Country Dance Music from the era of Jane Austen takes you to the early 1800s with Scotch reels and country dances, La Boulanger, Sir Roger de Coverley and the newly fashionable waltz and sauteuse. This elegant music is played by Liz and Bill with Eric Buddington on violin.

Habanera music book cover

book: Habaneras, Maxixes & Tangos contains sheet music for 37 piano pieces featuring Latin rhythms from the 19th and early 20th centuries. Includes habaneras from Cuba, Puerto Rico and Mexico. The 7 maxixes by Ernesto Nazareth are sometimes called Brazilian tangos. Also includes 5 early Argentinean tangos.

Tango Viejo CD cover

CD: Tango Viejo means "old tango." This CD is a sampler of romantic piano solos from the first years of the tango. It revives the spirit of the dancers and musicians who first brought this beautiful music to life.

Tango music book cover

book: Argentinean Tangos for Keyboard includes sheet music for 42 tangos. All are from the early years of the guardia vieja, the "old guard" composers who were the originators of this fascinating genre. These beautiful, varied pieces are reproduced from the antique partituras (sheet music) written for piano.

DVD cover

DVD: Couple Dances of the Civil War Ballroom with easy-to-understand instructions and costumed demonstrations of the most popular couple dances of the mid-19th century ballroom. Separate lessons for 11 dances; 66 minutes total.