Irish Mist Session moves to The Altamont Fair TONIGHT!

“In the summer, the song sings itself.”


― William Carlos Williams



Hi, Friends!

It's that time again -- tonight's the night for the monthly Irish Mist trad Irish Session. We've been asked to help out Old Songs and bring our session over to the Altamont Fair. We'll be in the 1890s Building, as far as we know.

Unfortunately, we didn't get listed on the Fairgrounds website, so you won't know where to look for us if you look there.

We'll be there from 7-10 PM playing tunes and singing songs. All trad Irish appropriate instruments are welcome to join. Tickets to the fair are $15 and include all the rides and everything, so if you're going to join us, come early!

The Trad

Matt & Shannon Heaton at Old Songs June 25-27, 2010

Just a quick plug for some really wonderful musicians from the Boston area. Also of note in my book: Becky Tracy and Keith Murphy from Nightengale will be there. These two duos will be doing a duet workshop! DO NOT MISS!

We Need Your Help!

Safety Pup sez...."always learn tunes you would want to listen to yourself." So...that being said, we need your help to decide what's going in the Slow Session Repertoire Book. I'm attaching a .pdf of a little list asking for the top five tunes you play well (and like!), the top five tunes you'd like to learn in the coming months, and if you'd be willing to lead/"teach" a tune at some point in the near future.

E-mail me at fidilkid@hotmail.com and tell me your answers!

Our next session is next Wednesday, May 13, so get me your ideas right quick and I'll get a move on!

Best,

The Trad

Cancelled.....Again.

*sigh* Well, this is the last time this month we can cancel the slow session.

We'll just plan to meet the second week of March. I'll be posting and e-mailing notifications and agenda/information soon for next month.

Take care, stay warm, and play some tunes, okay?

Best,

the Trad

Slow Session Cancelled for 2/10/10

Cancelled.
OK, sorry to say, but I'm going to cave to the fear factor and cancel for tonight! I'd love to reschedule, but have to take people's schedules into account.

Reschedule?
Andy tells me that the building is available a couple of nights next week. Which do you prefer: Tuesday or Thursday?

Let me know, and stay safe and warm tonight. Hopefully we won't get the heavy snow.

Archie Fisher at Old Songs 2/11/10
By the way, Archie Fisher is performing tomorrow night at Old Songs. If you haven't made plans, give the office a call and reserve your ticket! Archie is the real deal. Many, many traditional singers and musicians have been influenced by him, including one of my favorites, Old Blind Dogs. He's a magnificent singer, master guitarist, and just plain brilliant: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leomhFmH62o

It's Time for the DanceFlurry!!!!

Gang, I just wanted to remind you that this weekend, February 12-14, 2010, is the annual DanceFlurry Festival!

Visit http://www.danceflurry.org/festival/index.html for more information, including times, schedules, locations, jamming, performers....and parking!

Have a great time and hope to see you there!!!

The Trad

p.s. make sure you go see Nightingale, one of my very favorite bands! Also, Storyteller Bairbre McCarthy will be there with her very large posse, including one of our very favorite local fiddlers: Maura MacNamara! Bairbre and Maura are finishing up an album to be released very soon. Eyes open here for details!

And Then I Saw the Weather Report...

An aside: [I have the biggest crush on Steve Caporizzo...oh. Did I say that out loud? God.]

OK, I haven't decided yet, because I hate to cancel if I don't have to.


I will decide by 3:00 PM tomorrow. I will send out an e-mail directly to you, and post on the blog: http://HudsonValleyTrad.BlogSpot.com. If you're forwarding other Slow Session messages, please make sure you forward this one!

If I cancel, I will find a couple of alternative dates to switch to. If one night of the week is better than another for you, please let me know, and I will take it into account.

Thanks,


Trad

February Slow Session 2/10/10, 7:30 PM

Hi, Friends!



Just a quick reminder that tomorrow night, we'll be holding our February slow session at the Old Songs Building, 37 South Main St., Voorheesville, NY (http://www.oldsongs.org/).

Guest teachers include:
Dave Smith with a hornpipe, "The Pleasures of Hope"; David Pease with a jig, "The Mouse in the Mug" (we may do this one by ear!); Jeff Haas with a waltz, "The Valley of Knockanure";
and maybe we can get Fritz to help us work out the reel "Trip to Durrow."

Yeah, and what else?
In addition to Trusty's Listening Corner, and The Trad Tracks, we may go around the table and ask people to pick a tune for us to play. Please think about a tune you like to play. We won't make you start it, only suggest it and we'll all play it slowly together. We won't be providing sheet music for this.


What if there's a snow storm?
I don't expect there to be one. So maybe Trusty and I take a little longer to get home (all the snow is supposed to be further south by us), but there's nothing expected to hit up north, so...


If there's any reason to cancel, I'll e-mail everyone AND post it on the blog.

See you tomorrow night!

The Trad

Irish Slow Session at The Jam & Sing Thing

Hi, Friends! I'd like to invite you all the come to the Jam & Sing Thing this weekend (http://www.jamsingthing.webs.com/ for schedule, ticket prices, staff/workshops, etc.), January 15-17, 2010 on Madison Avenue in Albany, NY.

We're doing an "As If" Old Songs Irish Slow Session so folks who haven't visited us at Old Songs on the second Wednesday of the month can see what we're all about.

Tonight, Friday 1/15, we have guest teacher David Smith teaching one of four tunes (we'll see what people want to work on). We will provide sheet music, so bring a pencil to mark changes. Bring a recorder to capture what the tunes sound like! I will also lead a tune, and then we'll take suggestions from the group for tunes to work on slowly. We'll also play some of our standard Old Songs Slow Session sets (look to the right for more info), and we can see if we have tunes in common to share!

If you're an intermediate player and have 50-150 tunes at speed, feel free to participate in the Tri-City Trad Irish Mist Session that will follow in the same location. Those who are newer to the music are invited to stay and participate when they can!

See you at the Jam & Sing Thing!

The Trad
fidilkid at hotmail dot com