It's that time of the year! A flurry of practicing is going on around the St. Louis Metro area.
Instruments featured at tonight's concert include:
- Pennywhistle
- Bodhran
- Voice
- Piano
- Fife
- Drum
- Hammered Dulcimer
- Mountain Dulcimer
- 2 Choirs
- Flute
- Guitar
- Violin
- Gaita Gallega*
Check back for audio clips of the performers (Lord willing, tomorrow).
Practicing for a folk music ensemble.
10 comments:
Wow, I wish we could come and see that but as we're several hundred miles away we'll have to settle for the clips.:)
Victoria
We're looking forward to the videos with fingers crossed.
Gaita is actually the provincial instrument of Galicia, Spain. My grandmother grew up in that region and recalled hearing gaita play at mass. So my son actually has some connection in his heritage to this somewhat obscure instrument. If anyone knows of other gaita players, please let us know!
Mrs. B
How fun. Can't wait to hear more about the concert.
Johanna
Interesting article (though the english translation directly linked is a bit, uhm, amusing....). I was unaware the pipes were/are common on different regions of Spain. It should be interesting listening to the audio once published.
So, Miss Rebecca, have you taken up playing the mountain dulcimer, or did you "just happen" to have it on your lap for this photo? Not many play this simple yet beautiful instrument well. How long ago did you take this up? It was very common throughout the Appalachian, Smokey, and Ozark regions, mainly populated by Scots and Irish settlers from the seaboard and New England. Do you play it with a genuine goose quill (the "original" pick) or some more "modren" implement? Hopefully we'll be able to actually hear the dulcimer in the audio (one of their "shortcommings" is that they are not very loud, and often will be overpowered by other more common instruments) They are wonderful instruments nonetheless.
Keep an eye out for a video clip of concert highlights . . .
Mr. Jesch,
Yes!!!!! A very kind family friend of ours gave me the dulcimer just a few weeks ago. I've had great fun learning it. Much more to learn! Last night as I was working on modal tunings . . . um, I broke a string. : ) Oh well. : ) I have a wooden noter and am using a guitar pick for strumming, however, I'll have to track down a goose quill somewhere!
Resting in His joy,
Rebecca
I have a wooden noter and am using a guitar pick for strumming, however, I'll have to track down a goose quill somewhere!
Miss Rebecca, that is wonderful!! As to what "tools" to use... I found the noter didn't work as well as my bare fingers, but then they were pretty well calloused from so much guitar playing. One more advantage (for later..) is that one can better use more than one finger, thus playing a countermelody on the middle string. Tricky but fun. As to the "quill".. besides the difficulty (and danger!!) of chasing down a goose and convincing her to part with some long feathers, I found they don't last long, though they are the perfect consistency for playing this instrument. Quite by accident, I came across an alternate that I used almost exclusively after that: find a man's collard shirt, one that is past the "dress shirt" stage of usefulness, find the stiffeners sewn into the bottom piece of the collar, get out your seam ripper, and remove it. Perfect stiffness, nice shape on the end, and the holes from the stitches make it easy to grip without slipping. They outlast goosequills by five or more times, and you'll never get pecked or winged when trying to gather them. I'm sure, with that household full of handsome brothers, there will be a shirt or two relegated to yard wear that could easily offer up those parts for such a fine cause.
Enjoy your dulcimer... as I am sure you (and those blessed enough to be nearby) are already doing.
One more bit-- if you bring the remains of the broken string to any competent music store, they can help you find a replacement of the proper guage. Perhaps bring the whole instrument, and they can identify the guage of all of the strings for future reference.
Mr. Jesch,
Got my new string today!! More to practice. Thanks for your tips. : )
Resting in His joy,
Rebecca
P. S. to Everyone: Video clips still coming . . .
Rebecca,
That's neat you got a dulcimer. A friend lent us hers for a few months but I never took it out to learn. Is it hard to pick up?
The first harp string I broke really scared me (the pop! was enormously loud) too. I imagine it wasn't THAT loud though. :) You use a quill for that? Interesting!
Looking forward to the clips, though not sure if we'll be able to view them here. Oh...dial-up! ;(
Sarah
Aha! I saw a picture of Jon and Beth on the bookcase! LOL.
I hope everything went well with Sarah's recital.
Johanna
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