For Christmas one year, my choir sang Sure On This Shining Night, composed by Morten Lauridsen. It's a beautiful piece of music, and it got me hooked on Lauridsen's other works. O Magnum Mysterium started as a choral piece, but versions for violin and orchestra and violin and piano were…
I've been reading, watching, and finding resources for what to do when in a rut, or when at the early stages of burnout. I recently published my birthday retrospective and I might have sounded a bit blasé or maybe a bit disengaged from my music. While I don't think I'm…
I just had my birthday this past week. Birthdays and new years always makes me think about what's happened this year, and what to look forward to next year. This year, I attended the Old Time Rollick at Ashokan for the second time. It is still my heart and home…
Arriving at the Ashokan Center felt like coming home. Within a minute of parking, I saw Debbie from last year with her fiddle at her side. We hugged and welcomed each other back. I took a bit of time to organize my luggage, shouldered my fiddle, and walked down the…
Inspirations for becoming a faster, stronger, deeper musician…
In 2019 I want to learn this tune Shetland Night from Blazin' Fiddles to a level where I can play along to the recording. This is what we're up to: It's a wonderful tune that I haven't found any tutorials or sheets to, so it'll be learn by ear. The…
2019 is the year to finally: get off-book: everything off book! learn by ear! memorise all the music I love and hold dear. No sheet music! Ever! learn music theory: I tried doing an online course in 2017 but for all of 2018 I avoided the topic. No longer! go…
I played harmony with ML on melody at the SoundCrowd Cabaret this Sunday. We were the only instrumental/fiddle duet in a program full of incredible and very talented singing. We played The Dawning of the Day, which had beautiful harmonies in this arrangement, and our teacher Ajineen had modified…