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Updated 7/1/08 Our Fiddlin's Fun Festival certainly lived up to its name this year! We had our biggest crowd yet, with lots of fiddle and guitar workshop participants, jamming, and fantastic stage concerts. Despite dire predictions of drizzle and thunderstorms, the entire day was bright and sunny. Click HERE for photos from the event. There are two black buttons with links to pictures. |
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| We just returned from the Old Songs Festival in Altamont, N.Y. What a fantastic event! With fiddlers April Verch, Liz Carroll, Donna Hebert, George Wilson, and many more in the stage lineup there was plenty of inspiration to go around. Donna Hebert runs a kids program called "The Great Groove Band", which I highly recommend for any young fiddlers within driving distance. It was great fun to actually be part of the festival this year in "Rosie's Ready Mix". We performed for several dances, including the Saturday night dance which due to rain delays never even started until 1:00 a.m. Adrenlin kept us going; the tough part was getting up the next day and playing for another two hour dance! | ||
More fun things coming up in our area this month: July 9th: Fiddle workshop with Matt Brown, Ithaca, N.Y. July 11 - 13th: The Busy Bird Bluegrass Festival, Newark Valley, N.Y |
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Updated 6/1/08 Every weekend in June is filled with fiddle events in our area: Watkins Glen Fiddler's Gathering: Saturday and Sunday, June 7 and 8 at Watkins Glen State Park. Lots of fiddle concerts, dances and jamming, as well as a fiddle workshop with Laura Orshaw. I'm told Watkins Glen has great hiking, gorges and waterfalls. Take in a little nature and play some tunes! Broome County Irish Festival, Saturday, June 14th at Tipperary Hill (up by the Binghamton airport). Immerse yourself in Irish music for the day: lively concerts, jamming and a fiddle workshop with Bryan Sutton.
Fiddlin's Fun Festival, Sunday, June 22 at the Roberson Museum, Binghamton. 12:30 - 6:00 p.m. A lovely afternoon of fiddle music along the banks of the Chenango river. Fiddle concerts, all day jam tent, fiddle workshop with John Kirk, rhythm guitar workshop with Tom Hodgson, kids jam and an open stage. Old Songs Festival, June 28 and 29. It's just a short drive to Altamont, N.Y. for an amazing weekend of folk music including world-class fiddlers April Verch, Donna Hebert, Liz Carroll, George Wilson, and many more. You'll be inspired! |
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When I was nine years old, my elementary school lost funding for their string program, and the violin teacher graciously offered to teach an early morning group lesson before the regular school day began. I loved walking to school in the wee hours of the morning, toting my book bag and violin case as the sun came up. I was entranced with a giant horse chestnut tree along my route, and often stopped to fill my pockets with its glossy brown chestnuts. Their color reminded me of the finish on my fiddle. We have a horse chestnut tree on the farm near our home today, and I pass it every day while walking our dog. This tree developed a problem with blight last year, and the farmer just cut off the offending limb. The inside looks amazingly like a violin scroll (see picture).
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| I've fiddled around with my webpage this month, changing some of the menus and adding new ones. Let me know if you find any weirdness. Also I've added three more fiddle designs to the coffee mugs, t-shirts, greeting cards, etc. available at cafepress.com. One is a montage of violin parts, one is a neon fiddle, and the last a whirling contradancer. Take a look! | ||
Updated May 1, 2008 George Wilson, one of New England's finest fiddlers, visited our area last month and I had the opportunity to sit in with him at the Ithaca and Owego contradances. Besides being great fun, it was an education just to be there watching his bow and hearing his approach to tunes. He taught a fantastic workshop prior to the Ithaca dance. It was also the five year anniversary of contradancing at the Tioga Trails Cafe in Owego. (Photo HERE). There was a great turnout of dancers, and a large tasty green cake (mint frosting!) to celebrate the occasion. |
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Summer Group Classes: "Beginning Fiddle II" will be held Mondays at 6:00 the weeks of June 2 through July 7. This six week class will build on the skills learned in Beginning Fiddle I, using some fun Irish, Scottish, and American fiddle tunes. Registration deadline is Thursday, May 29th (Call or email me to register). Click HERE for more information. |
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Spring is absolutely glorious right now. Flowering trees and shrubs everywhere you turn, and so much green it feels like Ireland. The only downside is that a rather large woodchuck has decided he likes our yard so much that he's moved in under our front stoop. We've tried mothballs, sparkly shiny dangley lawn ornaments, even blaring country music radio outside his hole. The other day I left a trail of banana pieces hoping to tempt him out so that I could block his entrance with a rock. We had concrete contractors with sledge hammers breaking up the walk in front of the stoop, but the furry rodent was back the next day. He (or she) is even scorning the apples and string beans we've temptingly placed in a live trap. I'm thinking we should just give up and file adoption papers to include him in the family. Any other ideas? |
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| We're looking for volunteers for the Sunday June 22 Fiddlin's Fun Festival in Binghamton. Interested in taking a short shift at the pizza and soda table, working the ticket table, or baking cookies ahead of time? Email me and we'll add you to our core of volunteers. Also if you have a spot you can hang a flyer or two, you can print one from the Fiddlin's Fun website. Thanks! | ||
Updated 4/1/08 Yay! My brother David returns from Iraq this month. I'm very much looking forward to joining my family down in Virginia for his unit's welcome home ceremony. Of course, he's already been asked to return for a third tour of duty.... |
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There is a fantastic exhibit of Audubon prints at the Roberson Museum in Binghamton. Hundreds of stuffed birds complement the stunning prints on display, including an actual specimen of the extinct passenger pigeon. For those of you who might not be bird-savvy, passenger pigeons had red breasts, blue heads, and were larger than a mourning dove. They could fly 60 - 70 miles per hour. Native to North America east of the Rockies, (here!) they migrated in flocks a mile wide and up to 300 miles long. The sky would literally turn black for hours when a flock flew overhead. Hunters could just point their guns straight up and shoot blindly, guaranteed to hit a bird. With the invention of the telegraph, hunters would communicate the location of nesting flocks to each other. Hunting parties were known to kill up to 50,000 birds a day for their meat. What no one knew was that a passenger pigeon needs to be in a large population in order to reproduce. When their numbers decreased from over-hunting, the birds could no longer bear and raise young. From an estimated population of 4 billion birds, the very last passenger pigeon on the face of the Earth, named Martha, died in the Cinncinatti zoo on September 1st, 1914. If you have a chance in April, pay tribute to Martha by visiting her distant relative at the Roberson. |
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Group Class update: The Waltzes and Aires class was too much fun for words. Warm thanks to everyone who participated. One of my favorite bits was listening to the class warm up together on their own while I ate my dinner / snack in the next room. You just don't get job perks like that in corporate America. We're up to three sessions now of Beginning Fiddle for Adults, about 30 beginners total. Learning to tune will most definitely be the number one priority in the first class! |
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Updated 2/29/08 My wishful thinking about spring was rewarded today! There are both tulips and daffodils pushing up two inches above the soil in my front flower beds. Of course as of this evening they are covered again with two inches of snow, but they're there and I know they're there and that's all that matters. It won't be long now! |
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Group Class update: The Waltzes and Aires class kicked off last week with 13 students. I'm looking forward to playing lots of goopy, wistful tunes with the group! Jim will drop in once in a while to give us some proper guitar backup (as opposed to my lame attempts). Amazingly, not one but two sessions of the Beginning Fiddle for Adults class offered through Broome Community College have completely filled, six weeks before the class even begins. The college is taking names for a waiting list. |
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The Dance Flurry in Saratoga Springs was grander and more magical than I'd ever imagined. Favorite memory: 650 contradancers balancing and swinging to the driving rhythms of Nightingale. Swirling skirts, smiling faces, and energy in the room that was overwhelming. Lots of fun jamming with friends from around the region too. And the late night hot tub in our hotel was just beyond words. |
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Updated 2/1 2008 Jim and I are very excited to be teaming up with hammered dulcimer player Curt Osgood for a rare local concert. Mark your calenders for Saturday, February 23rd, 7:00 p.m. at the Vestal Library, 320 Vestal Parkway East, Vestal. We'll have lots of singing as well as some hot fiddle tunes to warm up a February evening. |
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Our grant application for the 2008 Fiddlin's Fun Festival has been approved! Many thanks to the Chenango County Council of the Arts. The festival is moving to Sunday, June 22 this year, still at the Roberson Museum in Binghamton. We have a great line-up of musicians so far, including John Kirk and Trish Miller! |
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| Speaking of the Chenango County Council of the Arts, they are hosting nine-time All Ireland Fiddle Champion Eileen Ivers in concert in Norwich, N.Y. on Friday, February 29th. Many of you may know her as the fiddler in "Riverdance". Visit the Arts Council webpage for more information. | ||
There are just a few spots left in the Waltzes and Aires class, starting Monday, February 25th. "Waltzes and Aires" will be a six week class featuring delightful slow tunes with histories ranging from the 1700's through modern day, and with origins in Ireland, France, England, Scandinavia, Canada, and New England. We'll learn some harmony parts for several of the waltzes as well. Click here for more information. |
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How many places hand you a pair of sunglasses and a walkman CD player when you walk in the door, and invite you to sit in a comfortable chair and relax for a few hours? Sound too good to be true? IT IS. Dentistry has come a long way in the last few years, but the window dressing attempts at making it a pleasant experience I find rather sad. The true purpose of the sunglasses is just to keep the bits of stuff that fly around during the procedure out of your eyes so that you don't scrunch up your face, and between the grinding whine of the drill reverberating through your skull and the constant gasping suction tube hanging off the corner of your mouth the walkman is rendered useless. I will grudgingly admit though, the three second snippet of Rod Stewart's "Maggie May" that I managed to hear between drilling episodes did lighten my spirits a tad during the ordeal. And now I have a shiny white crown to show for my bravery. |
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Updated 1/1/08 I was wonderfully surprised this month to find that I've been nominated and accepted onto the ballot as a candidate for the New York State Fiddlers Hall of Fame. The other fiddlers on the ballot, Vic Kibler and Keith Hunt, are both very strong candidates with deep ties to New York State fiddling, and very deserving of a spot in the Hall of Fame. While I certainly don't expect to win, I feel incredibly honored to be included as a candidate. |
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January and February are shaping up to be "fiddle heroes" months for me. On January 19th, John Kirk and Trish Miller will be performing at the Cranberry Coffeehouse in Binghamton, N.Y. Twenty-five years ago when I was a newcomer to the fiddling world, John's playing showed me the joyful exuberance that this instrument can create and inspired me to learn more. If you live in the area, this is a concert not to be missed. The show is usually standing room only so arrive early. February 15th, at Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y, is a concert so overwhelmingly exciting that the anticipation of it takes my breath away. Titled "Highland, Heath and Holler" this is a concert with Bruce Molsky (utterly jaw dropping and inspirational old time fiddler), Alasdair Fraser (the ultimate in Scottish fiddling - you won't find a sweeter tone on the planet) and Martin Hayes (six time all Ireland fiddle champion). Throw in cellist Natalie Haas and guitarist Dennis Cahill and you will see the audience levitate before the end of the evening. We go directly from the concert to the Dance Flurry in Saratoga Springs. Life just doesn't get any better than that. |
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Looking ahead: Group lessons start back up in February. "Waltzes and Aires" will be a six week class featuring delightful slow tunes with histories ranging from the 1700's through modern day, and with origins in Ireland, France, England, Scandinavia, Canada, and New England. We'll learn some harmony parts for several of the waltzes as well. Click here for more information. |
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We had the opportunity to visit Washington D.C. over the holiday break. When we stepped out of the metro station the monuments were all shrouded in thick fog. The top of the Washington monument was lost in the swirling mist, and the bare trees lining the reflecting pool were like silent soldiers that materialized out of the fog as we progressed down the footpath. Brightly colored ducks sat in the shallow water of the pool, their heads tucked snuggly under their wings, oblivious to the tourists passing by. At the other end of the reflecting pool the enormous sculpture of Lincoln gazed solomnly out at the quiet scene. Once in the museums the silence was shattered, as tourists sheltering from the damp weather chattered excitedly in a dozen different languages, crowding around the exhibits and snapping photos of family groups. A fun exhibit from the Museum of American History offered an eclectic slice of the past, including Judy Garland's ruby slippers (size 5), President Lincoln's top hat, the first artifical heart (some tubes and canvas sacking - astonishing that it worked), and the original Kermit the frog. It bothered me a little that this childhood friend was now silently imprisoned forever inside a glass case. Couldn't there be a retirement home for old Muppets somewhere, employing out of work actors? Maybe we could take up a collection... Despite the Kermit trauma all in all we had a delightful trip. Happy New Year to everyone! |
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