Come and enjoy St. Paddy’s victuals and libations in the lovely Waterhouse Restaurant and Bar, in Depot Square, Peterborough. Carey Bluhm on fiddle, Richard Backes on fiddle, mandolin, banjo, maybe accordion, and who knows what else. Lizza Backes on flute, whistle and concertina, Gordon on guitar. We’ll be playing high energy reels, toe-tapping jigs, and lovely airs and waltzes, drawn from the Celtic repertoire, with maybe a few New England dance tunes thrown in for good measure.

Sponsored by the The Strathspey and Reel Society of New Hampshire.
Workshop at Concord Community Music School, Concord, NH
23 Wall St., but use the Fayette St. entrance
Free and open to the public.

In all genres of music, there is an opportunity for what might be called theatrical expression – the conveyance of emotion that goes beyond the mere notes. This can be suggested in written music by dynamic indicators, and arrangements of harmonies and voicing. But truly dramatic playing comes from spontaneous execution, and spontaneous response to such execution, which leaves listeners feeling that the piece has never quite been rendered that way before, and never will be again.

Traditional music, which in many cases was created without specific musical notation detail, and without specifically designated instrumentation, particularly lends itself to dramatic playing. In this workshop we will spend the first half playing pieces which the attendees are likely to be familiar with, experimenting with various rhythmic devices ranging from tapping instruments to create a percussive background, to playing just the opening notes of each measure, and more. The second half of the workshop will be an experiment in finding harmonies.

Music readers will be encouraged not to rely on written harmonies, but to listen to the melody and use instincts to make note choices. Possible a short third half (as it were) of the workshop will combine the rhythm and harmony explorations.

The tunes which we will be working with will be drawn from the following (we cannot guarantee that we will get to every tune).

February 2012 Workshop Tunes (PDF)

Flowers of Edinburgh

De’il Among the Tailors

Scotland the Brave

Campbell’s Return

Glencoe (Cape Breton)

The Marquis of Huntly’s Highland Fling

Lady Madeline Sinclair

Niel Gow’s Lament on the Death of His 2nd Wife

Amelia’s Waltz

Downtown Amherst (MA) Contra Dance

Masonic Lodge 99 Main Street – Amherst, MA

(near the Black Sheep Deli and the Police Station)

Admission: $10, Students: $8 , High School: $6

Folks have been saying this band has some qualities not heard since Fresh Fish (the band I had with the late Kerry Elkin from the mid 80′s to the mid 90′s) . Come hear for yourself.

• • Perin Ellsworth-Heller, fiddle
  • Matt Garland, flute, whistle
  • Lizza Backes, flute, whistle, concertina
  • Richard Backes, fiddle, guitar, mandolin, banjo, accordion
  • Gordon Peery, piano

  Trip to Nelson Many years ago (maybe 1982) Metamora (Pete Sutherland, Malcolm Dalglish, and Grey Larsen) did a concert in the Nelson Town Hall. The next day I was driving the band to Boston for their next engagement. Pete was sitting up front with me, scribbling away the whole time. After I helped them into Sanders Theater with their gear, I returned to my car, to find a some music sitting on the passengers seat. Pete had written it on the way down, and called it Trip to Nelson. It’s a somewhat unusual jig in its phrasing. The band Fresh Fish used to play it, and now it’s nice to have it revived by this new band which takes its name from the tune.

  

   

   

Newcomers workshop at 7:30.

Admission: $8 ($6 for students and seniors)

Nils Fredland, calling

Skip Gorman, fiddle