Irish Fiddling

One of my summer projects is to work on my bowing for Irish fiddle. It's one thing to play the notes of the song, it's another thing completely to use the correct bowing which is not quite related to classical violin bowing.  I was mentioning this to a friend of mine who plays fiddle, and he recommended this book. After starting the book, I realized that I should have ordered the CD, and I went right back to the internet to rectify that problem.  The CD arrived today, and I am just about to pop it in and have a go!

Chops

Last night I streamed this movie, Chops, on Netflix, and I'll have to say that I was hooked the whole way through. If you are a music teacher, a Duke Ellington fan, or just like to root for the underdog, you will enjoy this documentary about a group of high school kids from Florida who compete in a national competition for high school jazz bands called Essentially Ellington in NYC.

I loved how the students worked so hard on getting to the true essence and spirit of jazz in general and Ellington in particular. I loved how these kids became a family through music. This movie gives me hope about the youth of America.

Zimbabwe to Appalachia

I have not been absent from music endeavors lately, just absent from blogging about them! 

A few weeks ago I went to a concert at the Folk Music Center to hear a duo play fusion music from Appalachia and Zimbabwe.  Joti Rockwell of Pomona College played a variety of instruments from guitar to mandolin, fiddle and banjo, while his friend (whose name I don't remember) played the thumb piano (aka kalimba or mbira).  They switched back and forth between music from both cultures and the effect was fabulous.  I pieced together two short clips from their 90-minute concert for your listening pleasure. The first one is obviously the song from Africa.

Ballad of Serenity

I now have an arrangement for violin and cello for The Ballad of Serenity, the theme from Joss Whedon's awesome series Firefly.  I ran across someone's transcription for the violin part on the internet some time ago, but it doesn't really hold up without the melody, so I knew that Lynn would like playing it...and now I have it so we can play it for fun!

Listening Assignment

Tonight at a party, my cellist friend Josh recommended a recording of the  Bach violin sonatas and partitas by Henrik Szeryng, and because you can own 30-some tracks for only $12, I came home and purchased this album. I will be spending some serious time this next week or so listening to this.  Bach is heavenly.