or Tooriloo the Noo! as my lovely Scottish co-worker says!
Hey, guys?! Just ONE response?
Anyone else want to weigh in?
By the way, David, is it ok if I post a link to your "video"? That was some fierce playing!
The Trad
12.29.2007
12.19.2007
Something New in Oght Eight?
Hi Y'all! Yes, it is December. No, I have not posted since November. I'm sorry! I told you all I started a new job, and fabulous it is, and busy I am...oop, turning into Yoda am I?
Thank you to Colleen and George for staffing the slow session this month. I hope you all had a good time.
I've been watching the dynamics of our group for some while now, and wondering how to meet the needs of all our different participants. It seems to me that you probably have an opinion about that.
This post is a mini survey. I need feedback on what we'd like to be doing with our session in the new year. I think our regulars have come along great, and maybe are looking for something new.
I started this thing because I wanted there to be a place for people to learn the tunes together in a friendly, non-judgemental setting. And thank goodness Colleen and George stepped up to the plate to help guide, lead, and inspire us all!
So, gang, I'm curious to hear what is working for you, and what is not. Please be gentle -- remember, I do have feelings!
Please make "comments" to this post so everyone can see what you think.
Please pick and choose, and give me additional feedback:
"In 2008, I'd like to see us:
1. continue to work on new tunes together
2. have a mix of session and new tunes
3. just play tunes
4. other (fill in your own blanks)"
___________________________________________________________
One caveat to all:
this session focuses specifically on Irish tunes. There are some wonderful groups and sessions out there that open the floor up to French Canadian, old time, folk, country, bluegrass, etc. So those tunes are covered elsewhere. My love, my focus, and my area of interest is Irish music. That's what this gathering is for. (Yes, we worked on Josefins Dopvals. So, I make exceptions!)
Three points to all:
1. I'd really like to see people learning more by ear and relying less on the notes.
2. the best way to accomplish that is to a) buy and LISTEN to IRISH recordings and musicians; and b) to listen to the trad shows on www.clarefm.ie.
and finally,
3. there is no "secret list of Irish tunes" that are popularly played, because the repertoire is different from session to session, town to town, state to state, region to region.
That being said, I WILL have a list of popular tunes to hand out at the January session.
Remember, you all are doing great! You all inspire me, and I look forward to seeing you every month! Keep playing, keep loving it!
The Trad
p.s. Trusty Companion and I have updated our website. Please visit www.lawsontrad.com!
Thank you to Colleen and George for staffing the slow session this month. I hope you all had a good time.
I've been watching the dynamics of our group for some while now, and wondering how to meet the needs of all our different participants. It seems to me that you probably have an opinion about that.
This post is a mini survey. I need feedback on what we'd like to be doing with our session in the new year. I think our regulars have come along great, and maybe are looking for something new.
I started this thing because I wanted there to be a place for people to learn the tunes together in a friendly, non-judgemental setting. And thank goodness Colleen and George stepped up to the plate to help guide, lead, and inspire us all!
So, gang, I'm curious to hear what is working for you, and what is not. Please be gentle -- remember, I do have feelings!
Please make "comments" to this post so everyone can see what you think.
Please pick and choose, and give me additional feedback:
"In 2008, I'd like to see us:
1. continue to work on new tunes together
2. have a mix of session and new tunes
3. just play tunes
4. other (fill in your own blanks)"
___________________________________________________________
One caveat to all:
this session focuses specifically on Irish tunes. There are some wonderful groups and sessions out there that open the floor up to French Canadian, old time, folk, country, bluegrass, etc. So those tunes are covered elsewhere. My love, my focus, and my area of interest is Irish music. That's what this gathering is for. (Yes, we worked on Josefins Dopvals. So, I make exceptions!)
Three points to all:
1. I'd really like to see people learning more by ear and relying less on the notes.
2. the best way to accomplish that is to a) buy and LISTEN to IRISH recordings and musicians; and b) to listen to the trad shows on www.clarefm.ie.
and finally,
3. there is no "secret list of Irish tunes" that are popularly played, because the repertoire is different from session to session, town to town, state to state, region to region.
That being said, I WILL have a list of popular tunes to hand out at the January session.
Remember, you all are doing great! You all inspire me, and I look forward to seeing you every month! Keep playing, keep loving it!
The Trad
p.s. Trusty Companion and I have updated our website. Please visit www.lawsontrad.com!
11.07.2007
Brrrr. Feels like Winter!
Hi! Remember me? The Trad? I'm still here. I haven't forgotten you, I promise! It's already November. I can't believe it! Where did the time go?
I guess when it feels like summer all the way through October, you can't be faulted for not realizing it's nearly winter, can you? But the heat in our house is on, and I cannot ignore reality for much longer. I wear long johns now when I sit at the computer. I'm thinking about breaking out the fingerless mitts my folks gave me for Christmas last year...
Friendly note: If the heat is on in your house, put your dampit in your case or your instrument right away! I gave you this lecture last year, so I'll spare you, but if you need one: for fiddle/mandolin http://www.musiciansfriend.com/navigation?q=Dampit; for guitar/bouzouki http://www.musiciansfriend.com/navigation?q=guitar+humidifier&src=00630&247SEM; for flute: http://shakuhachi.com/Q-Acc-Humidifier.html. For accordion? You wanta go in there and scrape the rust off?
Rick (in Eric's guitar class) keeps his home humidified and leaves his guitars out on stands or the wall. I envy him, frankly, because that means he lives in a more modern dwelling. We live in a 150 year old home. There are gaps in the floorboards. Everything shrinks up in the winter. It's easier (and probably cheaper) for us to slather ourselves with lotion and put dampits in the instrument cases. The cat and dog disagree, but they're not paying the bills, now are they?
Anyway, Slow Session is next Wednesday, Nov. 14 at 7:30 PM. Roger Mock will be finishing up his guitar class at about 7:15, so if you come in early, please just mill around and let them finish up! I will be working on pulling together versions of tunes tonight and will post them on a page on my website. I'll also bring the spots for the tunes. Julie and Jennifer had a great idea in September: they both had binders with their tunes in them. That's one way to keep track of what we've worked on, or tunes you'd like to recommend. I'd still like to get away from using the spots DURING the session, though, as much as possible! I love the idea of having a reference book for tunes, and we should have that before Christmas, but let's keep the session focused on playing tunes slowly, and not using the music so much, ok?
Now that we're picking tunes the month ahead, and posting them, everyone should have time to practice the tunes before coming. We still want to keep tunes as a slow pace. There are other opportunities, such as the Comhaltas session or the Jose Malone's session to try out your tunes in a regular session setting. This is the repertoire building opportunity! And I thank you all for making it possible. I love learning new stuff, going over old stuff, and developing my ear thanks to you guys. I hope you're enjoying it too.
See you next week, and until then, stay toasty!
The Trad
I guess when it feels like summer all the way through October, you can't be faulted for not realizing it's nearly winter, can you? But the heat in our house is on, and I cannot ignore reality for much longer. I wear long johns now when I sit at the computer. I'm thinking about breaking out the fingerless mitts my folks gave me for Christmas last year...
Friendly note: If the heat is on in your house, put your dampit in your case or your instrument right away! I gave you this lecture last year, so I'll spare you, but if you need one: for fiddle/mandolin http://www.musiciansfriend.com/navigation?q=Dampit; for guitar/bouzouki http://www.musiciansfriend.com/navigation?q=guitar+humidifier&src=00630&247SEM; for flute: http://shakuhachi.com/Q-Acc-Humidifier.html. For accordion? You wanta go in there and scrape the rust off?
Rick (in Eric's guitar class) keeps his home humidified and leaves his guitars out on stands or the wall. I envy him, frankly, because that means he lives in a more modern dwelling. We live in a 150 year old home. There are gaps in the floorboards. Everything shrinks up in the winter. It's easier (and probably cheaper) for us to slather ourselves with lotion and put dampits in the instrument cases. The cat and dog disagree, but they're not paying the bills, now are they?
Anyway, Slow Session is next Wednesday, Nov. 14 at 7:30 PM. Roger Mock will be finishing up his guitar class at about 7:15, so if you come in early, please just mill around and let them finish up! I will be working on pulling together versions of tunes tonight and will post them on a page on my website. I'll also bring the spots for the tunes. Julie and Jennifer had a great idea in September: they both had binders with their tunes in them. That's one way to keep track of what we've worked on, or tunes you'd like to recommend. I'd still like to get away from using the spots DURING the session, though, as much as possible! I love the idea of having a reference book for tunes, and we should have that before Christmas, but let's keep the session focused on playing tunes slowly, and not using the music so much, ok?
Now that we're picking tunes the month ahead, and posting them, everyone should have time to practice the tunes before coming. We still want to keep tunes as a slow pace. There are other opportunities, such as the Comhaltas session or the Jose Malone's session to try out your tunes in a regular session setting. This is the repertoire building opportunity! And I thank you all for making it possible. I love learning new stuff, going over old stuff, and developing my ear thanks to you guys. I hope you're enjoying it too.
See you next week, and until then, stay toasty!
The Trad
10.12.2007
Nice Session!
Thanks to everybody who came out, especially George for teaching us tunes. It was great to see Pete and Diane again, too, and welcome to Sean and Dick! Jeff, Karen, Dave, Karin, and Colleen were there, too, so you see we had plenty of talent and a lot of laughs! There's room for more bodies, so if you see something on the list below that you like, plan on joining us for next time.
To our new friends, I should mention that usually we're a little bit more of a lively group, but I think we were all half asleep, so come back next time and I promise to be more cheery!
October 10
We worked on tunes by ear this time -- the photocopier doesn't like me...
Colerain Jig (with all the sharps!)
The Peacock's Feather (Dmaj) Hornpipe
some waltzes, including Gentle Maiden and Southwind. I think there were more, but I can't remember names. I think we all liked Gentle Maiden, so I'll bring copies next time.
Thank you to Pete and Sean for bringing treats....
I enjoyed getting the chance to really learn a tune by ear instead of blasting through it on paper. Keep practicing the tunes from this month, so you have them for next! I told Elaine in an e-mail that Trusty Companion and I loved King of the Fairies so much that we are playing it now in gigs!
Learning Tune List for November 14:
Reels: Father Kelly's Speed the Plough
Hornpipes: review of Peacock's Feather (DMaj) and we'll learn the minor Peacock's Feather
Set Dance: Jockey to the Fair
Waltz: Gentle Maiden
O'Carolan: Morghan Meghan
Jigs: still open for someone to pick! Send me an e-mail or comment on this post!
Just so we're playing the same version anyway, let me pull together some music for y'all to check out. I'll bring spots to the session next time, and not try to rely on the Old Songs copier. As I said, it doesn't like me much...I'm feeling kind of the same way about the copier, frankly!
Best wishes to Julie and her family on their trip to Kazakhsthan! We look forward to seeing you in November!
And don't forget, the East Coast Pipers Tionol (www.eastcoastpipers.com) is coming up on Oct. 26-28 in East Durham (Gavin's Golden Hill Resort). Don't miss a great concert, a chance for fiddle or pipes classes, and plenty of session action!
Happy Playing Y'All!
The Trad
To our new friends, I should mention that usually we're a little bit more of a lively group, but I think we were all half asleep, so come back next time and I promise to be more cheery!
October 10
We worked on tunes by ear this time -- the photocopier doesn't like me...
Colerain Jig (with all the sharps!)
The Peacock's Feather (Dmaj) Hornpipe
some waltzes, including Gentle Maiden and Southwind. I think there were more, but I can't remember names. I think we all liked Gentle Maiden, so I'll bring copies next time.
Thank you to Pete and Sean for bringing treats....
I enjoyed getting the chance to really learn a tune by ear instead of blasting through it on paper. Keep practicing the tunes from this month, so you have them for next! I told Elaine in an e-mail that Trusty Companion and I loved King of the Fairies so much that we are playing it now in gigs!
Learning Tune List for November 14:
Reels: Father Kelly's Speed the Plough
Hornpipes: review of Peacock's Feather (DMaj) and we'll learn the minor Peacock's Feather
Set Dance: Jockey to the Fair
Waltz: Gentle Maiden
O'Carolan: Morghan Meghan
Jigs: still open for someone to pick! Send me an e-mail or comment on this post!
Just so we're playing the same version anyway, let me pull together some music for y'all to check out. I'll bring spots to the session next time, and not try to rely on the Old Songs copier. As I said, it doesn't like me much...I'm feeling kind of the same way about the copier, frankly!
Best wishes to Julie and her family on their trip to Kazakhsthan! We look forward to seeing you in November!
And don't forget, the East Coast Pipers Tionol (www.eastcoastpipers.com) is coming up on Oct. 26-28 in East Durham (Gavin's Golden Hill Resort). Don't miss a great concert, a chance for fiddle or pipes classes, and plenty of session action!
Happy Playing Y'All!
The Trad
10.08.2007
October Tune List
This month's Slow Session is in two days. Wednesday, Oct. 10 (My friend MaryAnn's birthday!) at 7:30 PM. $3, $4 if we make a lot of photocopies.
I'd like to propose, in the absence of last month's notes, that we work on Boys of Ballisodare and The Five Mile Chase (a couple of reels we should have been working on since August), the waltzes -- let's go over Josefin's, but also do the others listed on the Sept. list. Also, let's do Colerain jig, and, when people send me their replies from tonight's frantic e-mail request, I'll post up what people suggested.
I'm also doing a survey: "What were the first ten tunes you learned?" Please answer that by posting a reply to this post!
I'm looking forward to seeing everybody, and I'm pretty sure George will be back, as well as Karen White and hopefully Colleen!
Happy Fall Everyone! -- Hilary
I'd like to propose, in the absence of last month's notes, that we work on Boys of Ballisodare and The Five Mile Chase (a couple of reels we should have been working on since August), the waltzes -- let's go over Josefin's, but also do the others listed on the Sept. list. Also, let's do Colerain jig, and, when people send me their replies from tonight's frantic e-mail request, I'll post up what people suggested.
I'm also doing a survey: "What were the first ten tunes you learned?" Please answer that by posting a reply to this post!
I'm looking forward to seeing everybody, and I'm pretty sure George will be back, as well as Karen White and hopefully Colleen!
Happy Fall Everyone! -- Hilary
Piece of String
OK. We made an observation the other day: Cat has fun playing with piece of string. Needs no other moving parts. String perfectly sufficient for complete amusement.
Humans have fun watching cat play with string. Probably humans have MORE fun watching cat than cat has playing with string. Humans talk to cat, who ignores them and plays with string. Humans talk to each other about how cat plays with string. Humans laugh at cat -- cat playing with string is ridiculous. Oblivious to reality. Doesn't know how silly it looks. Humans mock cat. Cat focuses on string. Continues ignoring humans. Continues playing with string. Cat has nice experience.
So...
Which are you? Cat....or human? Are you actually playing with string? Or just watching?
Thank you. That is all.
Humans have fun watching cat play with string. Probably humans have MORE fun watching cat than cat has playing with string. Humans talk to cat, who ignores them and plays with string. Humans talk to each other about how cat plays with string. Humans laugh at cat -- cat playing with string is ridiculous. Oblivious to reality. Doesn't know how silly it looks. Humans mock cat. Cat focuses on string. Continues ignoring humans. Continues playing with string. Cat has nice experience.
So...
Which are you? Cat....or human? Are you actually playing with string? Or just watching?
Thank you. That is all.
9.10.2007
Some Items of Interest...
Sometimes the good and the bad mingle, and we get....life.
Our friend Ms. J. passed over on Thursday, and our friend Mike D.'s brother died on Friday, we're very sad to say. Our condolences to the families of our friends. We're thinking of you. We wish we had done more. We wish we could do more. Anyway, thanks for letting us be there a little bit for you.
_________________________________________
At the same time, there's a few really wonderful things happening right soon. Let's talk about them:
September 11, 2007 at 7:30 PM Free Concert featuring Brendann Begley & Caoimhin O Raghallaigh
Skidmore supergrrl Kyle Carey has organized another amazing concert up at Skidmore (her home turf) tomorrow night in the Spa of the Case Student Center, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs. You can catch a free concert featuring Breandann Begley and Caoimhin O Raghallaigh. (See the description below for info, and visit www.stateofchassis.com for more about them.) An open session will follow, so bring your instruments.
For directions: http://cms.skidmore.edu/map/directions.cfm
Breandann Begley-A button accordian player from the small village of Brandon on the Dingle Peninsula of West Kerry, Breandann hales from a famous musical family that included his brother Seamus. who partnered up with Steve Cooney and revolutionized the Irish music scene with a percussive guitar technique. Many believe that Breandann is the better accordian player, he just wasn't lucky enough to team up with Cooney...who's to say!
Caoimhin O Raghallaigh-Pronounced Key-Veen. An Irish-speaking Dubliner, Caoimhin has a phD in astro-physics, builds illium pipes, and plays fiddle like he was born in the 1920's...and guess what...he's about 25, with crazy hair to boot. While archiving old recordings at Trinity College, Caoimhin mimicked the style of the players. Bottom line...all the old players in Ireland are crazy about the kid, he has a style similar to the infamous Paddy Cronin, and I've never heard anything like him before. You have to hear it yourselves folks to believe it!
I hope we see you there!!!! Bring your instruments! And your Irish tunes!
_____________________________________________________________
October 7, 2007 in Troy, NY Empty Bowls: A Fundraiser for Capital Region Food Pantries
Potters make and donate bowls and restaurants donate soups. For $10 you can get a bowl and try different soups. All proceeds go to the food banks. Last year they got over 1200 bowls! Please support it if you can!
I'll put up a link once I get it from Colleen, our slow session co-leader. She won't be around on Wednesday, because she'll be making this whole bowl thing possible! You Rock, Colleen!
Our friend Ms. J. passed over on Thursday, and our friend Mike D.'s brother died on Friday, we're very sad to say. Our condolences to the families of our friends. We're thinking of you. We wish we had done more. We wish we could do more. Anyway, thanks for letting us be there a little bit for you.
_________________________________________
At the same time, there's a few really wonderful things happening right soon. Let's talk about them:
September 11, 2007 at 7:30 PM Free Concert featuring Brendann Begley & Caoimhin O Raghallaigh
Skidmore supergrrl Kyle Carey has organized another amazing concert up at Skidmore (her home turf) tomorrow night in the Spa of the Case Student Center, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs. You can catch a free concert featuring Breandann Begley and Caoimhin O Raghallaigh. (See the description below for info, and visit www.stateofchassis.com for more about them.) An open session will follow, so bring your instruments.
For directions: http://cms.skidmore.edu/map/directions.cfm
Breandann Begley-A button accordian player from the small village of Brandon on the Dingle Peninsula of West Kerry, Breandann hales from a famous musical family that included his brother Seamus. who partnered up with Steve Cooney and revolutionized the Irish music scene with a percussive guitar technique. Many believe that Breandann is the better accordian player, he just wasn't lucky enough to team up with Cooney...who's to say!
Caoimhin O Raghallaigh-Pronounced Key-Veen. An Irish-speaking Dubliner, Caoimhin has a phD in astro-physics, builds illium pipes, and plays fiddle like he was born in the 1920's...and guess what...he's about 25, with crazy hair to boot. While archiving old recordings at Trinity College, Caoimhin mimicked the style of the players. Bottom line...all the old players in Ireland are crazy about the kid, he has a style similar to the infamous Paddy Cronin, and I've never heard anything like him before. You have to hear it yourselves folks to believe it!
I hope we see you there!!!! Bring your instruments! And your Irish tunes!
_____________________________________________________________
October 7, 2007 in Troy, NY Empty Bowls: A Fundraiser for Capital Region Food Pantries
Potters make and donate bowls and restaurants donate soups. For $10 you can get a bowl and try different soups. All proceeds go to the food banks. Last year they got over 1200 bowls! Please support it if you can!
I'll put up a link once I get it from Colleen, our slow session co-leader. She won't be around on Wednesday, because she'll be making this whole bowl thing possible! You Rock, Colleen!
9.05.2007
Eight Days a Week [or seven days 'til session day!]
Hey, Sessioneers, it's one week 'til session day! Next Wednesday, September 12!
Here's the list to be working on for this month:
Swallowtail Jig (jig)
Swallowtail Reel Swinging on a Gate (reels)
Margaret's Waltz Southwind (waltzes)
Colerain (jig)
Boys of Ballisodare Five Mile Chase (reels)
Josephine's (waltz) + listening party -- bring a recording of this if you have one!
Also, you'll want to review these tunes from August:
Inisheer (waltz-ish slow tune)
Contentment is Wealth (aka Carty's Jig)
King of the Fairies (set dance)
Out on the Ocean (reel)
Kesh Jig Stool of Repentence (jigs)
Father Kelly's (reel)
Tonra's (jig)
And, finally, did you beg, borrow, or steal a trad Irish recording and listen to it? If not, you still have time! We just borrowed a CD from our friend KDawg: a recording by Traonach, a band from Ithaca. Interesting stuff with nice accompaniment and pleasant arrangements in some cases. I think the weakest piece of the CD may simply be some mixing issues. I wouldn't put the CD at the top of my list, but I enjoyed listening to it. They've selected nice tunes, and have a really nice musical vision. By the way, Traonach will be at the 1st Annual Joe Banjo Burke Festival on Oct. 5-8, 2007 in East Durham. Check out the line-up: www.joebanjoburke.org.
Overall, my goal in listening to this CD was to listen critically. I was thinking about what I want to hear in CD. How does the music flow from track to track? Are there good solid changes? Creative changes? What instrumentation? Are they getting repetitive in their ornamentation or phrasing? Are they rushing? Going too slow? What would I do with that tune? And it is all with the intention of learning from your peers, and getting better at the music!
Critical listening changes as your ear improves. At first, you can't tell when the music shifts from one tune to the next. As you get more familiar, you can hear that. As you improve further, you get interested in the arrangements and the tune versions. Pretty soon, you're listening to to the CD for the 40th time, and are surprised to hear a tune you already play that you didn't hear before. Finally, you're listening to tunes to pick up ornaments, variations, or arrangements so you can use them when you're playing.
Where are you on this scale? Anyway, I'm looking forward to hearing your tales of great joy and discovery! Send me an e-mail if there's any topics you want to see on the blog.
Best,
The Trad
Here's the list to be working on for this month:
Swallowtail Jig (jig)
Swallowtail Reel Swinging on a Gate (reels)
Margaret's Waltz Southwind (waltzes)
Colerain (jig)
Boys of Ballisodare Five Mile Chase (reels)
Josephine's (waltz) + listening party -- bring a recording of this if you have one!
Also, you'll want to review these tunes from August:
Inisheer (waltz-ish slow tune)
Contentment is Wealth (aka Carty's Jig)
King of the Fairies (set dance)
Out on the Ocean (reel)
Kesh Jig Stool of Repentence (jigs)
Father Kelly's (reel)
Tonra's (jig)
And, finally, did you beg, borrow, or steal a trad Irish recording and listen to it? If not, you still have time! We just borrowed a CD from our friend KDawg: a recording by Traonach, a band from Ithaca. Interesting stuff with nice accompaniment and pleasant arrangements in some cases. I think the weakest piece of the CD may simply be some mixing issues. I wouldn't put the CD at the top of my list, but I enjoyed listening to it. They've selected nice tunes, and have a really nice musical vision. By the way, Traonach will be at the 1st Annual Joe Banjo Burke Festival on Oct. 5-8, 2007 in East Durham. Check out the line-up: www.joebanjoburke.org.
Overall, my goal in listening to this CD was to listen critically. I was thinking about what I want to hear in CD. How does the music flow from track to track? Are there good solid changes? Creative changes? What instrumentation? Are they getting repetitive in their ornamentation or phrasing? Are they rushing? Going too slow? What would I do with that tune? And it is all with the intention of learning from your peers, and getting better at the music!
Critical listening changes as your ear improves. At first, you can't tell when the music shifts from one tune to the next. As you get more familiar, you can hear that. As you improve further, you get interested in the arrangements and the tune versions. Pretty soon, you're listening to to the CD for the 40th time, and are surprised to hear a tune you already play that you didn't hear before. Finally, you're listening to tunes to pick up ornaments, variations, or arrangements so you can use them when you're playing.
Where are you on this scale? Anyway, I'm looking forward to hearing your tales of great joy and discovery! Send me an e-mail if there's any topics you want to see on the blog.
Best,
The Trad
9.04.2007
Concert for Jerry Holland
Okay Traddies, I'm going to share an e-mail from a really great person and fantastic singer and musician, Julee Glaub. For those of you who don't know her, she is a staff person for the children's programming at the Catskills Irish Arts Week, and she performs in a duo with amazing guitarist/singer Mark Weems. So, she's writing to everyone to tell us about a benefit to help a musician friend: Jerry Holland. And since his name came up in the comments section of this blog, I thought I might share her message with y'all.
The Trad
Dear Friends,
I am honored to be asked to participant in a benefit concert for fiddler Jerry Holland in Boston next weekend. The past several years I have gotten to know Jerry when we were both teaching Celtic Week at the Swannanoa Gathering in NC. He is a good soul and an amazing fiddler and has been very sick in the last months with cancer. It has been wonderful to watch the traditional music community all over the globe gather around him emotionally and financially.
Seamus Connolly dreamed up a concert in Boston on Sunday Sept. 9th in Jerry's honor. I hope to see you there. If you are unable to attend, but would like to contribute to the Jerry Holland fund, please visit http://www.jerryhollandfund.org/
Please note concert information below.
All the very best,
Julee Glaub
----------------------------------------------------------Center for Irish Programs, Boston CollegeGaelic Roots Music, Song, Dance, Workshop and Lecture SeriesFall 2007 Eventshttp://www.bc.edu/gaelicroots ----------------------------------------------------------Sunday, September 9Boston University, Harvard University, and Boston College will co-sponsor abenefit concert for fiddle player Jerry Holland at Boston University.Details are available at http://www.concertforjerry.org/
The Trad
Dear Friends,
I am honored to be asked to participant in a benefit concert for fiddler Jerry Holland in Boston next weekend. The past several years I have gotten to know Jerry when we were both teaching Celtic Week at the Swannanoa Gathering in NC. He is a good soul and an amazing fiddler and has been very sick in the last months with cancer. It has been wonderful to watch the traditional music community all over the globe gather around him emotionally and financially.
Seamus Connolly dreamed up a concert in Boston on Sunday Sept. 9th in Jerry's honor. I hope to see you there. If you are unable to attend, but would like to contribute to the Jerry Holland fund, please visit http://www.jerryhollandfund.org/
Please note concert information below.
All the very best,
Julee Glaub
----------------------------------------------------------Center for Irish Programs, Boston CollegeGaelic Roots Music, Song, Dance, Workshop and Lecture SeriesFall 2007 Eventshttp://www.bc.edu/gaelicroots ----------------------------------------------------------Sunday, September 9Boston University, Harvard University, and Boston College will co-sponsor abenefit concert for fiddle player Jerry Holland at Boston University.Details are available at http://www.concertforjerry.org/
8.26.2007
I'm feelng guilty.
So summer's over in a week, and I haven't done half the things I had on my list to do. Go for that hike in the Helderbergs; start horseback riding again; read War & Peace. (No. I made that one up.)
Anyway, I always liked fall best. It's my favorite season: crackling leaves, cool, crisp air, beautiful mosquito-free evenings looking at the stars. Plus it means it'll be cool enough to want to be inside more so we can learn more new tunes.
Anybody going to hear any Irish music soon? I don't even know what's happening -- I'm on my own little planet. How 'bout if you guys give me an update, eh? I do know about a few things coming up in October, though:
The Joe Banjo Burke Festival is happening for the first time on October 5-8, 2007: www.joebanjoburke.org. It looks to be a very, very nice fall weekend festival that includes instrument classes, dancing, sessions, concerts and much more.
I encourage everyone to participate in some way, for two reasons: 1) it's Irish music, and it's the real thing. Go hear it, play it, share it, live it! and 2) the organization fundraises for research for Parkinson's Disease, which took Joe's life way too soon, and supports the cultural aspects of Irish life (music, dance, language, sport). They even have a "talent instrument clearinghouse" for deserving students who don't have an instrument. Father Charlie Coen has generously donated several beginner instruments, and I know they can use more, so if you'd like to donate an instrument you're not using or learn more about the program, visit the website.
The Irish Traditional Arts Advisory Board for this organization is full of pretty amazing musicians, including Joanie Madden, Mike Rafferty, Jerry O'Sullivan, Brendan Dolan, and more. They'll be looking for officers for the organization soon, so if you're interested, get in touch with them and get involved!
The other important event to note is The East Coast Pipers Tionol on Oct. 26-28, 2007 (www.eastcoastpipers.com). It's a weekend of classes in pipes and fiddle, sessions, a fabulous concert, and cameraderie in the music. This year, as you noticed the O'Connell Lounge has a distince Kosher flavor, the Tionol will be held up at Gavin's Golden Hill Resort. Make sure you check out the registration info so you can get accommodations if you need them.
These two events, in addition to the thriving Catskills Irish Arts Week, could bring that little sleepy town back to life! Now, if you know anyone who lives in the area, please pass along the info and help us figure out how to publicize these festivals!
OK, down off my soapbox. Enjoy the last hazy days of summer...
The Trad
Anyway, I always liked fall best. It's my favorite season: crackling leaves, cool, crisp air, beautiful mosquito-free evenings looking at the stars. Plus it means it'll be cool enough to want to be inside more so we can learn more new tunes.
Anybody going to hear any Irish music soon? I don't even know what's happening -- I'm on my own little planet. How 'bout if you guys give me an update, eh? I do know about a few things coming up in October, though:
The Joe Banjo Burke Festival is happening for the first time on October 5-8, 2007: www.joebanjoburke.org. It looks to be a very, very nice fall weekend festival that includes instrument classes, dancing, sessions, concerts and much more.
I encourage everyone to participate in some way, for two reasons: 1) it's Irish music, and it's the real thing. Go hear it, play it, share it, live it! and 2) the organization fundraises for research for Parkinson's Disease, which took Joe's life way too soon, and supports the cultural aspects of Irish life (music, dance, language, sport). They even have a "talent instrument clearinghouse" for deserving students who don't have an instrument. Father Charlie Coen has generously donated several beginner instruments, and I know they can use more, so if you'd like to donate an instrument you're not using or learn more about the program, visit the website.
The Irish Traditional Arts Advisory Board for this organization is full of pretty amazing musicians, including Joanie Madden, Mike Rafferty, Jerry O'Sullivan, Brendan Dolan, and more. They'll be looking for officers for the organization soon, so if you're interested, get in touch with them and get involved!
The other important event to note is The East Coast Pipers Tionol on Oct. 26-28, 2007 (www.eastcoastpipers.com). It's a weekend of classes in pipes and fiddle, sessions, a fabulous concert, and cameraderie in the music. This year, as you noticed the O'Connell Lounge has a distince Kosher flavor, the Tionol will be held up at Gavin's Golden Hill Resort. Make sure you check out the registration info so you can get accommodations if you need them.
These two events, in addition to the thriving Catskills Irish Arts Week, could bring that little sleepy town back to life! Now, if you know anyone who lives in the area, please pass along the info and help us figure out how to publicize these festivals!
OK, down off my soapbox. Enjoy the last hazy days of summer...
The Trad
8.16.2007
Tanglewood Schmanglewood
Yeah. We played Tanglewood last night. Pshhhh. Weren't nuthin'. I can do that anytime I want. Phhttt. Whatever.
[silence]
[followed by bursts of laughter]
OK, I Lied!!!!! It was so cool!!!!! We had such a great time! We met so many great people! WOW! Yeah, baby, that's what I'm talkin' bout!
Anyway, we were asked to play by one of BSO's own violinists, so the quartet was made up of Bonnie, Bass-man Ben (also of the BSO), Trusty Companion, and Yours Truly. We had a rollicking good time up there on the steps of the Main House, which overlooks only one of the greatest views I've ever seen (at a gig certainly, but no, pretty much anytime -- it was gorgeous). I tell you this mainly because I want to brag on them. Bonnie and Ben are consummate musicians, really fun to work with, and have a great ear for the music. It was a real pleasure to be asked to join them.
We had a lot of fun playing tunes together, and hearing each other's favorites. Bonnie played a delightfully bittersweet waltz, called Josephine's, which I think I understand is Swedish. Jeff, our slow session waltz man*, and I agree we should work on it in September. Jeff has heard a recording of Alisdair Fraser playing it. It is also on a Natalie MacMaster recording. I know Dervish recorded it on "At the End of the Day." It is also on their compilation album "Decades". I personally know of it because I heard Vasen, a Swedish group, play it both live and on recordings.
*Note to Jeff: Bring your recording of Alisdair so we can hear it. I'll try to get my hands on Vasen's version...if anyone has the Dervish version, please bring it in September. We'll have a listening party.
By the way, gang, I was surprised when I heard how few of you are actually listening to Irish music on a weekly basis. Don't be afraid...There's nothing wrong with trying it out -- it won't hurt your ears, I promise. If you're willing to play it yourself, you should really be listening to the real thing! It will inform your playing -- you'll begin to hear the phrasing and the esprit that is unique to this type of music. Now, I'm not mocking you. I'm not harrassing you. Wellllll. Just a little. I just want to know how you can sit in an Irish slow session and tell me you don't listen to any of it?! My point is that if you're listening to all those other kinds of music, and playing them as well, what is holding you back from listening to the Irish stuff?
Are you afraid of it? (maybe.) Are we too damn serious for you? (not really, we're just concentrating.) Do you think you'll discover you aren't any good at it? (not likely!)
Your assignments, should you choose to accept them, are 1) to go out and get your hands on a current traditional Irish music recording.
By that I mean: De Danaan, Bothy Band, Planxty, Altan, Dervish, Open House, Patrick Street, Craobh Rua, Lunasa, Tommy Peoples, his daughter Siobhan Peoples, Mike & Mary Rafferty, Matt Cranitch, Chris Droney, Brian MacNamara, Michael Rooney & June MacCormack, and a million other people that aren't entering my brain right now. Go to the Catskills Irish Arts Week web page on the links section below and see who the instructors are, and buy a recording.
And 2) to listen to it. Just pop it in the player in the car. Don't study it, just let it wash over you. Enjoy it. You might even like it! We expect a full report on September 12!
Thanks for reading. As always, we do welcome your comments. Or reviews of concerts or albums. Or tips on good sessions to go to. Or whatever...
You're all invited to come and see us, Lawson (a trad Irish duo) on Saturday nights from 9-close at the Morgan House, 33 Main Street, Lee, MA. If Mike and Connie are feeling better they'll dance for you, and maybe tell a story. Food is awesome. No cover charge....
[silence]
[followed by bursts of laughter]
OK, I Lied!!!!! It was so cool!!!!! We had such a great time! We met so many great people! WOW! Yeah, baby, that's what I'm talkin' bout!
Anyway, we were asked to play by one of BSO's own violinists, so the quartet was made up of Bonnie, Bass-man Ben (also of the BSO), Trusty Companion, and Yours Truly. We had a rollicking good time up there on the steps of the Main House, which overlooks only one of the greatest views I've ever seen (at a gig certainly, but no, pretty much anytime -- it was gorgeous). I tell you this mainly because I want to brag on them. Bonnie and Ben are consummate musicians, really fun to work with, and have a great ear for the music. It was a real pleasure to be asked to join them.
We had a lot of fun playing tunes together, and hearing each other's favorites. Bonnie played a delightfully bittersweet waltz, called Josephine's, which I think I understand is Swedish. Jeff, our slow session waltz man*, and I agree we should work on it in September. Jeff has heard a recording of Alisdair Fraser playing it. It is also on a Natalie MacMaster recording. I know Dervish recorded it on "At the End of the Day." It is also on their compilation album "Decades". I personally know of it because I heard Vasen, a Swedish group, play it both live and on recordings.
*Note to Jeff: Bring your recording of Alisdair so we can hear it. I'll try to get my hands on Vasen's version...if anyone has the Dervish version, please bring it in September. We'll have a listening party.
By the way, gang, I was surprised when I heard how few of you are actually listening to Irish music on a weekly basis. Don't be afraid...There's nothing wrong with trying it out -- it won't hurt your ears, I promise. If you're willing to play it yourself, you should really be listening to the real thing! It will inform your playing -- you'll begin to hear the phrasing and the esprit that is unique to this type of music. Now, I'm not mocking you. I'm not harrassing you. Wellllll. Just a little. I just want to know how you can sit in an Irish slow session and tell me you don't listen to any of it?! My point is that if you're listening to all those other kinds of music, and playing them as well, what is holding you back from listening to the Irish stuff?
Are you afraid of it? (maybe.) Are we too damn serious for you? (not really, we're just concentrating.) Do you think you'll discover you aren't any good at it? (not likely!)
Your assignments, should you choose to accept them, are 1) to go out and get your hands on a current traditional Irish music recording.
By that I mean: De Danaan, Bothy Band, Planxty, Altan, Dervish, Open House, Patrick Street, Craobh Rua, Lunasa, Tommy Peoples, his daughter Siobhan Peoples, Mike & Mary Rafferty, Matt Cranitch, Chris Droney, Brian MacNamara, Michael Rooney & June MacCormack, and a million other people that aren't entering my brain right now. Go to the Catskills Irish Arts Week web page on the links section below and see who the instructors are, and buy a recording.
And 2) to listen to it. Just pop it in the player in the car. Don't study it, just let it wash over you. Enjoy it. You might even like it! We expect a full report on September 12!
Thanks for reading. As always, we do welcome your comments. Or reviews of concerts or albums. Or tips on good sessions to go to. Or whatever...
You're all invited to come and see us, Lawson (a trad Irish duo) on Saturday nights from 9-close at the Morgan House, 33 Main Street, Lee, MA. If Mike and Connie are feeling better they'll dance for you, and maybe tell a story. Food is awesome. No cover charge....
8.07.2007
Vertigo Sucks.
Last month I cancelled Slow Session because my Uncle Bob passed away. We just got the autopsy information back, and learned that he had some kind of a lymphoma -- a brain cancer. Additionally there was lots and lots of Alzheimer's plaque floating around in his brain. All of this could have made for a very unpleasant end of life. Instead, they think ultimately his brain suffocated. A bad fall knocked some of that plaque loose and blocked the blood/oxygen flow. On the whole, while I know it was plenty unpleasant for him and the rest of the family, we all got to say goodbye, and he was not kept lingering for too long.
Beginning on Saturday last, I woke up from a dream of Vertigo. I've dreamed a lot of vivid things, mostly wonderful, but on Saturday I woke up from a dream in which I HAD Vertigo. And, when I awoke, I did, in fact, HAVE Vertigo. Let's just say IT SUCKS. Right now I'm feeling pretty woozy, and wishing I hadn't come to work. Maybe they won't notice if I slide under the desk...Or hork on the floor....
Anyway, hopefully we'll have a session tomorrow. We're going to try for a "real" session this time. I think I'd like to have it be a "round robin" and let people start their sets of tunes. This is such an awesome group of people! I'm looking forward to seeing everyone again....I just hope they have the good grace not to tilt to one side while I'm trying to talk to them....
Well, maybe I'll go lie down.
Beginning on Saturday last, I woke up from a dream of Vertigo. I've dreamed a lot of vivid things, mostly wonderful, but on Saturday I woke up from a dream in which I HAD Vertigo. And, when I awoke, I did, in fact, HAVE Vertigo. Let's just say IT SUCKS. Right now I'm feeling pretty woozy, and wishing I hadn't come to work. Maybe they won't notice if I slide under the desk...Or hork on the floor....
Anyway, hopefully we'll have a session tomorrow. We're going to try for a "real" session this time. I think I'd like to have it be a "round robin" and let people start their sets of tunes. This is such an awesome group of people! I'm looking forward to seeing everyone again....I just hope they have the good grace not to tilt to one side while I'm trying to talk to them....
Well, maybe I'll go lie down.
6.15.2007
So...What was I saying?
OK, last time I talked to you was through a mouthful of fish & chips. I'll be doing that a lot more frequently now, as Festival Season has officially started! Mmmmph, mmmph, mmm....
So, I'm thinking a lot about "festival season" and what that means to those of us who don't have two months of summer vacation to waste. Trusty companion and I make all our holidays into music holidays, really. In my job interview (like eight years ago), I told my boss-to-be that I needed a week in July for Irish Arts Week, and a week in February for Folk Alliance. There was no question of when I'd be using my vacation time. It was scheduled by the event. Now we're wedging stuff in left and right on top of our regular Saturday gig! Well, that's what you get when you ask to be "on the road."
I just love getting those phone calls from the Friar Tuck Resort or that place in Lee, Mass where they're trying to sell you a time-share. I always ask if they have time-shares in Ireland, and what about Irish music events? "That's all we do," I say smugly, as the harried voice on the other end struggles to find a way to "overcome the refusal." "But, Ma'am, you could bring your friends there for a reunion or something....In the deluxe condos, there's room for eight..." "No, look, you don't understand," I reply, "We'll be up ALL night playing tunes. How's the soundproofing in your condos?" They still haven't figured out how to work that one into the telemarketer's training manual!
I feel bad about shutting them down, but by the same token, do they really think it wise to give an Irish musician a Disney timeshare?
Well, look. You really can't ever play enough music, can you? So maybe there's a cheesy Disney gig out there waiting for a couple of wannabes to send in a lousy demo. I wonder if they have the booking agent's address at the timeshare office? Maybe I'll call that harried voice back, after all.....
Have a Happy Festival Season, All!
So, I'm thinking a lot about "festival season" and what that means to those of us who don't have two months of summer vacation to waste. Trusty companion and I make all our holidays into music holidays, really. In my job interview (like eight years ago), I told my boss-to-be that I needed a week in July for Irish Arts Week, and a week in February for Folk Alliance. There was no question of when I'd be using my vacation time. It was scheduled by the event. Now we're wedging stuff in left and right on top of our regular Saturday gig! Well, that's what you get when you ask to be "on the road."
I just love getting those phone calls from the Friar Tuck Resort or that place in Lee, Mass where they're trying to sell you a time-share. I always ask if they have time-shares in Ireland, and what about Irish music events? "That's all we do," I say smugly, as the harried voice on the other end struggles to find a way to "overcome the refusal." "But, Ma'am, you could bring your friends there for a reunion or something....In the deluxe condos, there's room for eight..." "No, look, you don't understand," I reply, "We'll be up ALL night playing tunes. How's the soundproofing in your condos?" They still haven't figured out how to work that one into the telemarketer's training manual!
I feel bad about shutting them down, but by the same token, do they really think it wise to give an Irish musician a Disney timeshare?
Well, look. You really can't ever play enough music, can you? So maybe there's a cheesy Disney gig out there waiting for a couple of wannabes to send in a lousy demo. I wonder if they have the booking agent's address at the timeshare office? Maybe I'll call that harried voice back, after all.....
Have a Happy Festival Season, All!
5.11.2007
Why I don't review events...or I was too busy eating Fish & Chips to hear the music
So, two weekends ago, we were pretty busy. Trusty companion and I played music all weekend, including a lovely visit down to New Jersey on Saturday night to visit with accomplished guitarist (and guitar maker, among other things) Iris Nevins and hear her play a few tunes with Tommy Peoples.
Peoples, renowned Donegal fiddle player, has a unique, rich, and heavily stylized way of playing. In fact, I don't know any one of us mere mortals who can actually play like him. As a fan of long-bowed fiddle music, I am always amazed at the power and subtlety of his short, deliberate phrasing. He uses dynamic so brilliantly. A really nice Clare-style fiddle player told me to listen closely to his playing. "When you listen to Tommy," she told me, "you need to listen as much to the rests as you do to the notes." We had a little deja vu moment after the concert, when another fiddle player (who had ostensibly taking the workshop with Mr. Peoples earlier that day) turned to Tommy and said, "I hear what you mean about making the rests have an impact." In my opinion, when the man plays, his music is like a bubbling fountain: soothing, invigorating, inspiring....beautiful. I'll never come close to playing like him, but he sure is fun (and a little awe-inspiring) to listen to!
Sunday was unreasonably beautiful and sunny. Trusty and I drove down into the bowels of Columbia County for an afternoon of "Celtic" music. We were due to play on the Trad Sampler Stage at the Celebration of Celts festival (www.celebrationofcelts.com). So, Cel of Celts....what is it? It is a really fun, really nicely put together festival of all types of music from Scotland, Wales, England, Ireland, Cornwall, Breton, wherever.... They held the festival this year at The Meadowgreens Golf Resort on Route 9H in Ghent. It was a nice space -- rolling green hills, sand traps to stow your toddler in, that sort of thing, and the venue managers seemed to go out of their way to use the sprinkler truck on the roadways to keep the dust down. Always a plus when you're trudging along with sand in your teeth.
We came into the event space, and walked past the food vendors (bridies, pasties, fried things, fish fry....BEER), past the traddie tent where the 77th Regiment Balladeers were singing and playing (very nicely I might add), and went to the far side of a parking lot where a solo act was playing lovely guitar and singing through a more-than-adequate sound system. At first I thought it odd that he was playing to a parking lot, and then I realized he was on the deck of the club's restaurant and there were tables outside, so plenty of people were listening and taking refreshment.
We ambled through the soft goods vending area (t-shirts, CDs, magic wands, dancing shoes, leather head gear, chain mail, wooden swords, Medieval tattoo parlour....) and further on up to what we affectionately call the "Rock Tent". It was particularly nice having the Traditional Sampler (allegedly acoustic traddies) tent far far away from the Trad Forward (traddie rock) tent, so there was no overbleed. Of course, I wasn't there on Saturday night, so I can't really say whether it helped or not for real. (Noone can control those sound guys in the rock tent, anyway. They're just wired differently: loud & proud, like.)
We did manage to catch a bit of The McKrells (Kevin and someone else I didn't recognize) set. Man, what wonderful entertainers -- they know how to get the crowd moving, and they can SING. Yeah! Those of us who are kitchen instrumentalists are always jealous of the singers, and especially of the entertainers. We don't know how to do that. We're like the autistic version of Irish music: we get so caught up in the beauty of the smallest ornament that we're like lost little puppy dogs on stage. We just want to hear the instruments and float away on the music. If the audience is awake at the end of it, so much the better!
We hopped on the traddie stage after Iona (ionamusic.com) stepped down. They had a lovely multi-instrumental approach, fun singing, and a really stellar Scottish-style fiddler who would be in trouble if I was ten (ok, twenty) years younger. Well, I gotta tell ya, I was nervous following his act, but hey, we got on to do sound check and he came running up and wanted to know where I "learned how to play like that?" (Meanwhile, I'm thinking, "Who? Me?") So, my head got inflated, and that was probably why I couldn't hear anything out of the monitors. I don't mean to complain, but I'm so used to playing right on top of everyone else in the band, that having loads of elbow room was really a weird thing. I'd like to pretend I'm really worldly and know what I'm doing, but really I don't. You get on a real stage, with a real sound guy, and monitors that work and everything, and it's like all of sudden you've never played any tunes in your life, and you can't remember what note is where on the fingerboard, and wow, I vaguely remember that song....
Yeah. So I had more fun cruising around checking out everybody else's schtick than I did playing, but it was nice. We survived. The tent didn't burn down around us. At least I think it didn't....I had a mouthful of fish & chips, and I'm not really sure what happened.
Peoples, renowned Donegal fiddle player, has a unique, rich, and heavily stylized way of playing. In fact, I don't know any one of us mere mortals who can actually play like him. As a fan of long-bowed fiddle music, I am always amazed at the power and subtlety of his short, deliberate phrasing. He uses dynamic so brilliantly. A really nice Clare-style fiddle player told me to listen closely to his playing. "When you listen to Tommy," she told me, "you need to listen as much to the rests as you do to the notes." We had a little deja vu moment after the concert, when another fiddle player (who had ostensibly taking the workshop with Mr. Peoples earlier that day) turned to Tommy and said, "I hear what you mean about making the rests have an impact." In my opinion, when the man plays, his music is like a bubbling fountain: soothing, invigorating, inspiring....beautiful. I'll never come close to playing like him, but he sure is fun (and a little awe-inspiring) to listen to!
Sunday was unreasonably beautiful and sunny. Trusty and I drove down into the bowels of Columbia County for an afternoon of "Celtic" music. We were due to play on the Trad Sampler Stage at the Celebration of Celts festival (www.celebrationofcelts.com). So, Cel of Celts....what is it? It is a really fun, really nicely put together festival of all types of music from Scotland, Wales, England, Ireland, Cornwall, Breton, wherever.... They held the festival this year at The Meadowgreens Golf Resort on Route 9H in Ghent. It was a nice space -- rolling green hills, sand traps to stow your toddler in, that sort of thing, and the venue managers seemed to go out of their way to use the sprinkler truck on the roadways to keep the dust down. Always a plus when you're trudging along with sand in your teeth.
We came into the event space, and walked past the food vendors (bridies, pasties, fried things, fish fry....BEER), past the traddie tent where the 77th Regiment Balladeers were singing and playing (very nicely I might add), and went to the far side of a parking lot where a solo act was playing lovely guitar and singing through a more-than-adequate sound system. At first I thought it odd that he was playing to a parking lot, and then I realized he was on the deck of the club's restaurant and there were tables outside, so plenty of people were listening and taking refreshment.
We ambled through the soft goods vending area (t-shirts, CDs, magic wands, dancing shoes, leather head gear, chain mail, wooden swords, Medieval tattoo parlour....) and further on up to what we affectionately call the "Rock Tent". It was particularly nice having the Traditional Sampler (allegedly acoustic traddies) tent far far away from the Trad Forward (traddie rock) tent, so there was no overbleed. Of course, I wasn't there on Saturday night, so I can't really say whether it helped or not for real. (Noone can control those sound guys in the rock tent, anyway. They're just wired differently: loud & proud, like.)
We did manage to catch a bit of The McKrells (Kevin and someone else I didn't recognize) set. Man, what wonderful entertainers -- they know how to get the crowd moving, and they can SING. Yeah! Those of us who are kitchen instrumentalists are always jealous of the singers, and especially of the entertainers. We don't know how to do that. We're like the autistic version of Irish music: we get so caught up in the beauty of the smallest ornament that we're like lost little puppy dogs on stage. We just want to hear the instruments and float away on the music. If the audience is awake at the end of it, so much the better!
We hopped on the traddie stage after Iona (ionamusic.com) stepped down. They had a lovely multi-instrumental approach, fun singing, and a really stellar Scottish-style fiddler who would be in trouble if I was ten (ok, twenty) years younger. Well, I gotta tell ya, I was nervous following his act, but hey, we got on to do sound check and he came running up and wanted to know where I "learned how to play like that?" (Meanwhile, I'm thinking, "Who? Me?") So, my head got inflated, and that was probably why I couldn't hear anything out of the monitors. I don't mean to complain, but I'm so used to playing right on top of everyone else in the band, that having loads of elbow room was really a weird thing. I'd like to pretend I'm really worldly and know what I'm doing, but really I don't. You get on a real stage, with a real sound guy, and monitors that work and everything, and it's like all of sudden you've never played any tunes in your life, and you can't remember what note is where on the fingerboard, and wow, I vaguely remember that song....
Yeah. So I had more fun cruising around checking out everybody else's schtick than I did playing, but it was nice. We survived. The tent didn't burn down around us. At least I think it didn't....I had a mouthful of fish & chips, and I'm not really sure what happened.
3.03.2007
Breaking out of the minors? or Two more innings before Dinner!
Spring training has begun! Exhibition games galore for the next month, and I, the avid Red Sox fan, can only get my fill of the lads on YES Network and all the Yankee games I can stand! My guys (remember? the Red Sox?) have 31 almost straight days of exhibition games, and, as John Sterling sez, "they don't matter." So 0-30 or 30-0 in the pre-season, it all boils down to whether or not you win your first regular season game. That's all the fans care about anyway....and who's paying your salary? Well, says you, you are but I'm the one down here facing down that 90 mph fast ball comin' at me, so who's doin' the work, anyway?!
Well, as I was driving home from class this afternoon, I got thinking about playing for set dancers. It's kind of like playing the bigs during the regular season: doesn't matter how you play it, the dancers have got an opinion, and they're gonna let you know. Every dancer is different, but there's sort of two schools lately: old timers and old-style dancers will lift their feet off the floor maybe an inch or two at most, and do loads of shuffles, shifts and fancy footwork. They like the music at a nice swinging tempo so they can move through the figures smoothly with footwork intact. Newer-style dancers and contra converts will fly up high and do fast and loose, and expect the music to support that with less breathing room in the music and more speed overall. That means they have to wait less to put their next step down and lift their other foot up, so keep it moving already, willya?
I am not one to argue about dance speeds, because if you know me, you know that I have a governer installed, like a school bus. My speed is little-old-lady-going-to-church-on-Sunday-in-first-gear (ahhhh, slow session!). Drives my friends crazy. (I swear I'm working on it.) So realistically speaking, there's ceili speed, which is pretty lively already; and there's the speed you'd need to play to keep up with the high-flyers who put about a foot between them and the floor, and almost no footwork into their dancing. Try doing that for four hours! No, really...
So what's a girl to do? Do the best you can. After all, if you're the one up on stage, and you've got a groove going -- roll with it!
The other thing to remember is that playing Irish music is kind of like playing an exhibition game -- the score doesn't really matter. What matters is that you're having fun doing what you're doing! Come to think of it, Life is an exhibition game -- it's warm, it's sunny, you're doing something you love. So what if you botch the double play? Is anyone really gonna remember that once you start the next set of tunes?
Happy Spring Training,
The Trad
p.s. Old Songs Slow Session coming up in two weeks! We're gonna work on the set dance The Three Sea Captains, and we'll do a session standard: The Maid Behind the Bar. More advanced players, feel free to suggest a tune to follow it.
Well, as I was driving home from class this afternoon, I got thinking about playing for set dancers. It's kind of like playing the bigs during the regular season: doesn't matter how you play it, the dancers have got an opinion, and they're gonna let you know. Every dancer is different, but there's sort of two schools lately: old timers and old-style dancers will lift their feet off the floor maybe an inch or two at most, and do loads of shuffles, shifts and fancy footwork. They like the music at a nice swinging tempo so they can move through the figures smoothly with footwork intact. Newer-style dancers and contra converts will fly up high and do fast and loose, and expect the music to support that with less breathing room in the music and more speed overall. That means they have to wait less to put their next step down and lift their other foot up, so keep it moving already, willya?
I am not one to argue about dance speeds, because if you know me, you know that I have a governer installed, like a school bus. My speed is little-old-lady-going-to-church-on-Sunday-in-first-gear (ahhhh, slow session!). Drives my friends crazy. (I swear I'm working on it.) So realistically speaking, there's ceili speed, which is pretty lively already; and there's the speed you'd need to play to keep up with the high-flyers who put about a foot between them and the floor, and almost no footwork into their dancing. Try doing that for four hours! No, really...
So what's a girl to do? Do the best you can. After all, if you're the one up on stage, and you've got a groove going -- roll with it!
The other thing to remember is that playing Irish music is kind of like playing an exhibition game -- the score doesn't really matter. What matters is that you're having fun doing what you're doing! Come to think of it, Life is an exhibition game -- it's warm, it's sunny, you're doing something you love. So what if you botch the double play? Is anyone really gonna remember that once you start the next set of tunes?
Happy Spring Training,
The Trad
p.s. Old Songs Slow Session coming up in two weeks! We're gonna work on the set dance The Three Sea Captains, and we'll do a session standard: The Maid Behind the Bar. More advanced players, feel free to suggest a tune to follow it.
2.18.2007
I Say "Yay."
Trusty Companion and I were up in Saratoga yesterday for the Dance Flurry. And were just about overwhelmed with all the great music. I'm always amazed at how much talent there is, both on and off stage.
The thing I regret, I guess, is that I'm so focused on Irish music that I missed all the amazing workshops and other types of music that were flying around just everywhere. Sometimes I wish I had the ability to resist the draw to play and just walk around and listen instead. The problem is, when you walk around, you're like a moving target and just the person you'd rather not see [the one who wants to talk to you for an hour about nothing] catches you right as you're stumbling across some magical moment that is happening between some dancers or on stage or in the hallway between two musicians who are having an epiphany. And it's gone. On the other hand, you do tend to run across people whose e-mail address you've regrettably lost.
When I first started going to Folk Alliance (a big sort of Marketing conference for musicians and the weirdos that surround them [i.e. promoters and presenters and agents, etc.]), I would ask my companions what their "festival moment" was. What was the one thing that stood out for you at the event? Did you meet someone you always wanted to meet? Was there a showcase that blew you away? Did you see or learn something that helped you transform your thinking? They used to laugh at me. "Well, you see, it is what it is. Nothing stands out. It's all good." I'd get kind of annoyed because how can you not be excited about being surrounded by amazing musicians and great people and the excitement of the business?!? Ah, youth.
I'm maybe a little more blase about it now, but I will tell you that I will always have a festival moment at everything I go to. I'd say that my festival moment at the Flurry was just walking through the halls and marveling at all the lovely people floating through their day doing something they love! I love seeing friends and families and young people rushing to get to a session or a workshop or their first gig, jazzed up and ready to go!
Yay to the people who organize, and Yay to the people who go! Now go out and find a "festival moment" in your lives and cherish it!
The Trad
The thing I regret, I guess, is that I'm so focused on Irish music that I missed all the amazing workshops and other types of music that were flying around just everywhere. Sometimes I wish I had the ability to resist the draw to play and just walk around and listen instead. The problem is, when you walk around, you're like a moving target and just the person you'd rather not see [the one who wants to talk to you for an hour about nothing] catches you right as you're stumbling across some magical moment that is happening between some dancers or on stage or in the hallway between two musicians who are having an epiphany. And it's gone. On the other hand, you do tend to run across people whose e-mail address you've regrettably lost.
When I first started going to Folk Alliance (a big sort of Marketing conference for musicians and the weirdos that surround them [i.e. promoters and presenters and agents, etc.]), I would ask my companions what their "festival moment" was. What was the one thing that stood out for you at the event? Did you meet someone you always wanted to meet? Was there a showcase that blew you away? Did you see or learn something that helped you transform your thinking? They used to laugh at me. "Well, you see, it is what it is. Nothing stands out. It's all good." I'd get kind of annoyed because how can you not be excited about being surrounded by amazing musicians and great people and the excitement of the business?!? Ah, youth.
I'm maybe a little more blase about it now, but I will tell you that I will always have a festival moment at everything I go to. I'd say that my festival moment at the Flurry was just walking through the halls and marveling at all the lovely people floating through their day doing something they love! I love seeing friends and families and young people rushing to get to a session or a workshop or their first gig, jazzed up and ready to go!
Yay to the people who organize, and Yay to the people who go! Now go out and find a "festival moment" in your lives and cherish it!
The Trad
2.10.2007
This Blog is A-OK.
The Trad would like to brag that a certain hot-shot fiddle dude who lives in Clare says "I like your website." (We won't correct him...but it is only a measley blog, eh?)
Uh-huh...uh-huh....Who's the Dawg....Uh-Huh!
Feelin' good to-day.
The Trad
p.s. Have you signed up for an Old Songs traditional music class today? Eric Everson's Irish Guitar Accompaniment Class will be held on Monday evenings at the Old Songs Building. As usual, George Ward and Roger Mock will be offering up various selections, and a new addition: Nathanial Ward teaching Jazz! Kewl. For info or to register, visit: www.oldsongs.org.
Uh-huh...uh-huh....Who's the Dawg....Uh-Huh!
Feelin' good to-day.
The Trad
p.s. Have you signed up for an Old Songs traditional music class today? Eric Everson's Irish Guitar Accompaniment Class will be held on Monday evenings at the Old Songs Building. As usual, George Ward and Roger Mock will be offering up various selections, and a new addition: Nathanial Ward teaching Jazz! Kewl. For info or to register, visit: www.oldsongs.org.
2.02.2007
Time Flies...
Wow! I know I promised to stay in touch with everybody since we got back into the country. But, boy does time fly when you're catching up with everyday life. We've been busy catching up on business, and of course we're always exhuasted from coming home and going back to our boring old jobs after two weeks of nothing but tunes and travel!
Week One P.I. [post-Ireland]: I miss the food...
We spent the first week home trying to capture the magic of Irish food. You might think that "good Irish food" is sort of an oxymoron, but I beg to differ. The meat is very fresh, great fruits and fresh veg, and the seafood chowder and mushroom soup is to die for! The sad thing is that I still can't figure out how to make proper brown bread!
And to anyone that thinks having beans with your eggs is crazy, I challenge you to try it. The thing about Irish baked beans is that they're in this light tomato sauce that's nothing like the crazy heavy sweet sticky American beans. So go ahead, if you see a can of Batcheler's, buy it. You might want some Beano, though. They are beans, after all.
You know that there's the traditional breakfast called a "Full Irish" or up north, an "Ulster Fry." That's fried eggs, "chips" (french fries) or fried potatoes, beans, mushrooms, tomatoes, black & white puddings, bacon, Irish sausages, toast and tea or coffee. Well, in a nostalgic fit, last night's dinner was what I affectionately a "half Irish": eggs, bacon (can't get good Irish sausages here), toast, beans, "chips". No mushrooms, no tomatoes, no puddings (bleah). Woulda had the veg if we'd had any floating around the house. Plenty of tea, anyway. Ah, it's a good meal any time of day.
My big discovery of the trip: Treacle.....is......MOLASSES!!!! OK, now I know I can make ginger cookies when I'm over there. Whew. What a relief. I did also find this cool type of brown sugar they have over there. It's called Muscovado sugar, and it tastes a bit like molasses itself. I think it's kind of cool, and I did bring a little back to try in baking, but it's not my favorite, and it makes my chocolate chip cookies taste a little funky.
I did try to rein in my undying passion for grocery stores while over there, so as to NOT drive my friend Gary absolutely crazy. I failed miserably. Gary survived. I regret that I didn't take any photos of the stores, and my biggest regret is not getting to the gigantic Dunne's Store on the outskirts of Limerick City -- I was drooling as we drove past on our way to Cashel to climb the Rock. We did manage to get into a Dunne's Home Store, which is like the home section of Target, only better! Next time I'm going to get to the home supply places on the way into Galway City.
[A thought: Why do they tag Limerick and Galway with "City", when Sligo is only its little old self with "Town" tacked on the end? Guess I'll have to go up there to find out.]
Week Two P.I. [post-Ireland]: Back to the Tunes
Week Two was mainly all about getting back into playing tunes here at home. I was off to slow start, though, because I had to hand over my fiddle to my repair tech. A little mishap on holiday resulted in a broken peg, and I needed a replacement asap. I did work out an arrangement to try out a nice fiddle while mine was in the shop, so to speak. This fiddle probably had a good 40 years on my baby, and it had a nice even, full tone. I enjoyed playing it, but in a session setting it was incredibly quiet. The neck on the loaner is considerably thinner than on my fiddle. I enjoyed how responsive the fiddle was, allowing for quicker movements and changes in noting and phrasing, but it also changed how I held my wrist. It's still a little sore from a couple of days in a weird position, like.
Your Assignment, should you choose to accept it...
I think I probably have a harder time trying out other folks' instruments, because I'm a lefty, but I still do ask to try nice sounding fiddles, just to see how they feel. I also like trying out different bows, too. If you haven't done that before (and assuming you're not a flute player with a cold or something), I highly recommend it! Just see how a different instrument feels or plays or responds to a technique that, on your current instrument, isn't working. It could be the way your instrument is set up, or the way it was made. On the other hand (as in my case), it could be the way you're playing and not the instrument. But you won't know if you don't try, will you?
Raise Your Glasses to our Friends! Congratulations to our own Beth Lassi, who performed on mountain dulcimer at the Old Songs Sampler [a fundraiser for the Old Songs Festival]. Also, a hearty hale and welcome to our own Pete Forward, who showed up a local fast session to try his hand at some of the tunes we've been working on! Pete and Beth are good examples of a)loving the music, b) working hard at it, and c) having a great attitude! Keep up the good work!!!!
Remember, it's only two weeks to the next slow session at Old Songs! I'll be putting the list up this weekend. Don't forget to practice the repertoire.
So, hey. Stay warm, keep on playing, and we'll see you around the peat fire....
The Trad
Week One P.I. [post-Ireland]: I miss the food...
We spent the first week home trying to capture the magic of Irish food. You might think that "good Irish food" is sort of an oxymoron, but I beg to differ. The meat is very fresh, great fruits and fresh veg, and the seafood chowder and mushroom soup is to die for! The sad thing is that I still can't figure out how to make proper brown bread!
And to anyone that thinks having beans with your eggs is crazy, I challenge you to try it. The thing about Irish baked beans is that they're in this light tomato sauce that's nothing like the crazy heavy sweet sticky American beans. So go ahead, if you see a can of Batcheler's, buy it. You might want some Beano, though. They are beans, after all.
You know that there's the traditional breakfast called a "Full Irish" or up north, an "Ulster Fry." That's fried eggs, "chips" (french fries) or fried potatoes, beans, mushrooms, tomatoes, black & white puddings, bacon, Irish sausages, toast and tea or coffee. Well, in a nostalgic fit, last night's dinner was what I affectionately a "half Irish": eggs, bacon (can't get good Irish sausages here), toast, beans, "chips". No mushrooms, no tomatoes, no puddings (bleah). Woulda had the veg if we'd had any floating around the house. Plenty of tea, anyway. Ah, it's a good meal any time of day.
My big discovery of the trip: Treacle.....is......MOLASSES!!!! OK, now I know I can make ginger cookies when I'm over there. Whew. What a relief. I did also find this cool type of brown sugar they have over there. It's called Muscovado sugar, and it tastes a bit like molasses itself. I think it's kind of cool, and I did bring a little back to try in baking, but it's not my favorite, and it makes my chocolate chip cookies taste a little funky.
I did try to rein in my undying passion for grocery stores while over there, so as to NOT drive my friend Gary absolutely crazy. I failed miserably. Gary survived. I regret that I didn't take any photos of the stores, and my biggest regret is not getting to the gigantic Dunne's Store on the outskirts of Limerick City -- I was drooling as we drove past on our way to Cashel to climb the Rock. We did manage to get into a Dunne's Home Store, which is like the home section of Target, only better! Next time I'm going to get to the home supply places on the way into Galway City.
[A thought: Why do they tag Limerick and Galway with "City", when Sligo is only its little old self with "Town" tacked on the end? Guess I'll have to go up there to find out.]
Week Two P.I. [post-Ireland]: Back to the Tunes
Week Two was mainly all about getting back into playing tunes here at home. I was off to slow start, though, because I had to hand over my fiddle to my repair tech. A little mishap on holiday resulted in a broken peg, and I needed a replacement asap. I did work out an arrangement to try out a nice fiddle while mine was in the shop, so to speak. This fiddle probably had a good 40 years on my baby, and it had a nice even, full tone. I enjoyed playing it, but in a session setting it was incredibly quiet. The neck on the loaner is considerably thinner than on my fiddle. I enjoyed how responsive the fiddle was, allowing for quicker movements and changes in noting and phrasing, but it also changed how I held my wrist. It's still a little sore from a couple of days in a weird position, like.
Your Assignment, should you choose to accept it...
I think I probably have a harder time trying out other folks' instruments, because I'm a lefty, but I still do ask to try nice sounding fiddles, just to see how they feel. I also like trying out different bows, too. If you haven't done that before (and assuming you're not a flute player with a cold or something), I highly recommend it! Just see how a different instrument feels or plays or responds to a technique that, on your current instrument, isn't working. It could be the way your instrument is set up, or the way it was made. On the other hand (as in my case), it could be the way you're playing and not the instrument. But you won't know if you don't try, will you?
Raise Your Glasses to our Friends! Congratulations to our own Beth Lassi, who performed on mountain dulcimer at the Old Songs Sampler [a fundraiser for the Old Songs Festival]. Also, a hearty hale and welcome to our own Pete Forward, who showed up a local fast session to try his hand at some of the tunes we've been working on! Pete and Beth are good examples of a)loving the music, b) working hard at it, and c) having a great attitude! Keep up the good work!!!!
Remember, it's only two weeks to the next slow session at Old Songs! I'll be putting the list up this weekend. Don't forget to practice the repertoire.
So, hey. Stay warm, keep on playing, and we'll see you around the peat fire....
The Trad
1.08.2007
Nothing Doing here in West Clare...
Well, folks. There's not much to tell.
We're in Ireland. It's raining. What can we say? It is January, isn't it?
There was a day full of sunshine last week when we went down to visit the Rock of Cashel. You'd believe if I told you that most people in Cashel don't even bother going up the hill to see the place. You do the same damn thing with your tourist attractions, don't you? It's a shame though. There are some pretty incredible stone carvings and the view is 360 degrees of absolute beauty. The Galtee range is just to the south, and even on a hazy day, it's pretty impressive.
So far, we've been there, and down to our favorite haunt -- Loop Head in the farthest west in Clare. Otherwise, we've had loads of time to read and walk and visit with friends. Our first day trip last week was a bit of a false start, with a trip up to Birr (yes, "Cat Who" fans, there is, in fact, a Birr) in County Offaly (hold the dead meat comments, please.) to see the Birr Castle. Well, my reading skills being what they are, I missed the fact that it was actually the Birr Castle Demesne, and those of you who speak French can just hold your laughter thank you very much. There was nothing to see but the grounds and gardens and the big-ass moat they dug around all of it.
Well, my trusty travel companions were having none of that. We wanted Castle or nothing. So, instead we wandered the sweet and winding streets of the town of Birr. Only in Ireland do you find Georgian mansions just up the street from a tumble of brightly painted shop fronts and ancient stone buildings. The castle itself, at least what we could see from outside the walls, was pretty nifty, and when I get to a spot where I can upload photos, I'll do so.
We also had our first grocery trip to a local Lidl, and picked up some really nice veg. Meat's a bit dear here, and kind of sparse at that grocery, so we took a trip to Ennis the next day. Mainly we went to Ennis to visit Custy's and spend €€€€ on music.
Here's what we can tell ye: Concertina player Martin O'Brien has his first CD out. It's a must have, but not for this trip. Our purchase was Tola Custy and Mirella Murray -- fiddle and piano accordion. Just lovely, and totally worth buying even if it's not entirely Irish. There are some seriously beautiful Breton tracks on here, and ye'd better buy it if you know what's good fer ye. The Junior Crehan book and CD aren't as dear as folks are making it out to be. They're worth getting, and at €25 each, they're worth it. Our trusty travel companion bought out the shop, though, so there's no getting it for a few days. According to trusty shop clark Paddy O'C, the stockers don't rush to get items out to the shops right away after Christmas, so.
We've been well met everywhere we've gone! Nice sessions just about every night, and some nice visits with musician friends. We've so far had the privilege of crowding into tiny, sweaty rooms with the likes of Jackie Daly, Josephine Marsh, Susie Cox, Vincent Griffin, Seamus Bugler, Martin O'Brien, Cyril O'Donohue, Mark Donellan (Francie's kin he is), Andrew McNamara, Mary McNamara and her daughter, and some pretty hilarious storytellers, up close and personal. (There are actually more fiddle players that we've met, but we seem to be on an accordion tour of Clare this year, but no fears, all is not lost. We have another week here and count on me to find the fiddlers!)
We'll bring you some new tunes when we come home, now. We hope you all go to the slow sessiun tomorrow night out at Old Songs, and play one for us!
Warmest Wishes for a Gloriously Happy (and musical) New Year to All!!!!
The Trad
We're in Ireland. It's raining. What can we say? It is January, isn't it?
There was a day full of sunshine last week when we went down to visit the Rock of Cashel. You'd believe if I told you that most people in Cashel don't even bother going up the hill to see the place. You do the same damn thing with your tourist attractions, don't you? It's a shame though. There are some pretty incredible stone carvings and the view is 360 degrees of absolute beauty. The Galtee range is just to the south, and even on a hazy day, it's pretty impressive.
So far, we've been there, and down to our favorite haunt -- Loop Head in the farthest west in Clare. Otherwise, we've had loads of time to read and walk and visit with friends. Our first day trip last week was a bit of a false start, with a trip up to Birr (yes, "Cat Who" fans, there is, in fact, a Birr) in County Offaly (hold the dead meat comments, please.) to see the Birr Castle. Well, my reading skills being what they are, I missed the fact that it was actually the Birr Castle Demesne, and those of you who speak French can just hold your laughter thank you very much. There was nothing to see but the grounds and gardens and the big-ass moat they dug around all of it.
Well, my trusty travel companions were having none of that. We wanted Castle or nothing. So, instead we wandered the sweet and winding streets of the town of Birr. Only in Ireland do you find Georgian mansions just up the street from a tumble of brightly painted shop fronts and ancient stone buildings. The castle itself, at least what we could see from outside the walls, was pretty nifty, and when I get to a spot where I can upload photos, I'll do so.
We also had our first grocery trip to a local Lidl, and picked up some really nice veg. Meat's a bit dear here, and kind of sparse at that grocery, so we took a trip to Ennis the next day. Mainly we went to Ennis to visit Custy's and spend €€€€ on music.
Here's what we can tell ye: Concertina player Martin O'Brien has his first CD out. It's a must have, but not for this trip. Our purchase was Tola Custy and Mirella Murray -- fiddle and piano accordion. Just lovely, and totally worth buying even if it's not entirely Irish. There are some seriously beautiful Breton tracks on here, and ye'd better buy it if you know what's good fer ye. The Junior Crehan book and CD aren't as dear as folks are making it out to be. They're worth getting, and at €25 each, they're worth it. Our trusty travel companion bought out the shop, though, so there's no getting it for a few days. According to trusty shop clark Paddy O'C, the stockers don't rush to get items out to the shops right away after Christmas, so.
We've been well met everywhere we've gone! Nice sessions just about every night, and some nice visits with musician friends. We've so far had the privilege of crowding into tiny, sweaty rooms with the likes of Jackie Daly, Josephine Marsh, Susie Cox, Vincent Griffin, Seamus Bugler, Martin O'Brien, Cyril O'Donohue, Mark Donellan (Francie's kin he is), Andrew McNamara, Mary McNamara and her daughter, and some pretty hilarious storytellers, up close and personal. (There are actually more fiddle players that we've met, but we seem to be on an accordion tour of Clare this year, but no fears, all is not lost. We have another week here and count on me to find the fiddlers!)
We'll bring you some new tunes when we come home, now. We hope you all go to the slow sessiun tomorrow night out at Old Songs, and play one for us!
Warmest Wishes for a Gloriously Happy (and musical) New Year to All!!!!
The Trad
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