Sunday, May 1, 2011

Songs Released in the Listening Room!

Posted by Jenny
In honor of the 25th Annual
Pickle Festival which took place over the weekend in Mount Olive, North Carolina, we are releasing two of our original songs. The first, entitled “Kosher Dill Love”, is a folk ballad with a jug-band feel chronicling the romance of two pickle-lovers who meet at the New Year’s Eve Pickle Drop.


The second is a simple children’s song written about God’s glorious creation entitled “God Made Me and You.” Jenny came up with this one while walking to campus one beautiful spring day while she was still in grad school.


A third song, a cover of Melanie Safka’s “Look What They’ve Done to My Song, Ma” will be released via Jenny’s Facebook page. All teched-out, this song features a cameo appearance by David’s father, Charlie, and illustrates what happens when studios distort an artist’s original musical intentions. Be sure to check out Melanie’s original version of the song, too!


Visit our Listening Room to hear our original songs.

Saturday, April 30, 2011

45th Annual Spring Suzuki Festival Concert

Posted by Jenny


On Saturday, April 30th, the Greenville Suzuki Association held its 45th Annual Spring Suzuki Festival Concert in Fletcher Recital Hall at East Carolina University. I had the pleasure of leading the group in the folk song Go Tell Aunt Rhody. The final piece was led by my Suzuki Pedagogy professor, Mrs. Joanne Bath. Accompanied by her husband, pianist Dr. Charles Bath, she led everyone from the high school seniors to the three year old Pre-Twinklers in Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, so that everyone could enjoy the final applause. Check out the video below!



Monday, April 18, 2011

63rd Annual Merritt Reunion

Posted by Jenny

We are thankful that our friends and families were not touched by the historic tornado outbreak that wreaked havoc across North Carolina on Saturday, April 16, 2011. David and I were in church celebrating the Palm Sunday vigil service when the storms hit our area. Torrential rain poured down over the church before shifting to hail and almost drowning out Deacon’s homily. But the worst soon passed and we thank God that we didn’t experience worse than we did. Many in the old north state were not so fortunate and our hearts go out to them.

So needless to say, we were especially happy to see friends and family at the 63rd Annual Merritt Reunion at Trinity United Methodist Church on Sunday, April 17th. We are not kinfolk of the Merritt family, but we love them just the same! I have played for their reunion service several times in the past, although I haven’t been able to go in quite some time. I’m happy that I was able to make it down and see everyone, play a little while, and of course, partake of a delicious pot-luck picnic.

Listed in the program as the Clear Run Pickers because we all jam together at Clear Run Grocery, we entertained the family with old time and bluegrass gospel tunes House of Gold, They’re Holdin’ Up the Ladder, The Old Cross Road, and Will the Circle Be Unbroken.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Wahl-Coates Violin Recital

Posted by Jenny

I recently had the pleasure of helping my very first violin students perform in their very first recital. The group, which I co-taught with other ECU Suzuki Pedagogy students, demonstrated for their parents and schoolmates the various exercises they have learned: clapping and singing rhythmic variations; standing in rest position and moving to playing position; bow control exercises; and playing two rhythmic variations on the open E string. I’m quite proud of all that these dear preschoolers have accomplished since October 2010! (I think their parents were, too!) You can watch an excerpt from the program below!


Sunday, January 23, 2011

Gillian’s Winter Recital

Posted by Jenny

Our niece, Gillian, played her first solo pieces on violin at her recent Winter Recital. She played a piece called Rigaudon and a French traditional song. Bravo!

Sunday, January 16, 2011

April Verch Concert and Canadian Fiddle Workshop

Posted by Jenny

After hammering away together for two solid weeks on a multimedia project, David and I knew we wanted to do a little something extra special for our nice, long, 3-day weekend as a way to reward all the extra effort we exerted. I checked around online, especially with Our State magazine and discovered that the April Verch Band would be in Oriental, NC on Saturday the 15th. We put that on our list of ideas, thinking it could include a stopover in New Bern.

Then, on my way to Suzuki class, I saw a beautiful, lush green poster that caught my eye on a bulletin board in the music building. Lo and behold, April and her band were scheduled to play at the Turnage Theatre in Washington on Friday night, which made it convenient for us to go there after we got off of work; And, to make things even more special, they advertised that she would be presenting a Canadian fiddle workshop the next morning. Right then I knew what our plans for the weekend would entail and I ordered tickets as soon as I had the chance.

It was a great show, and we both highly recommend that you see them if you ever have the opportunity. April is a super nice person with a sugary sweet voice and she’s very enthusiastic about sharing her music, dancing, and culture; she’s a fantastic fiddler, and the guys playing with her, Cody Walters on bass and Clay Ross on guitar, are awesome, too.

The guitarist brought out a curious percussion instrument- a set of kosikas- which look like two egg shakers connected by a rope. I think some of the folks in the audience weren’t quite sure what to think of those- but I think they were quickly won over by his skill and intricate rhythms. Even David had never seen those before and he’s seen some really strange instruments given his Latin percussion background. Needless to say he’s got a new item on his wish list.

Here’s a brief clip of April’s Ottawa Valley Step Dancing combined with Clay’s kosikas set to Cody’s claw-hammer banjo.

After the show we got autographs on our poster as well as the CD and songbook we bought and headed out on our long journey home. Our late night was followed by an early morning so we could get back to Washington on time for the fiddle workshop. I wondered how many people would attend since I don’t always see a lot of fiddlers around at jams, but there actually were several fiddlers and violinists there of various skill levels.


During the first part of the workshop, April talked a bit about the regional styles of Canadian fiddling. Having been introduced to Natalie MacMaster’s music by David’s uncle Duane, I was pretty familiar with the Cape Breton style (which sounds much like Scottish music because the area was settled primarily by Scottish immigrants) but I knew nothing of French-Canadian or Métis style fiddling. And, interestingly enough, the Old Time music of Canada is not quite as old as the American Old Time music. It was all really quite interesting. I found an article in The Canadian Encyclopedia which explains a bit about Canadian regional fiddle styles if you’re interested in further reading. (I’m not going to spoil it for anyone else who wants to go to one of her workshops).


After that, she taught us all a tune called Jonah’s First Change. I learned that in dancing, the first change (or set of steps) is always a jig, so the tune could also be called Jonah’s Jig. I really enjoyed the workshop because I learned a bit of history, I learned a new tune, and April was a very kind, positive, and knowledgeable person to learn from. I highly recommend it to anyone else interested in fiddling!



Sunday, January 2, 2011

Ringing in the New Year

Posted by Jenny

We rang in the 2011 in a very special way this year. It all started with surprising my Dad with an unexpected visit from my sister Trish a few days after Christmas. Immediately after The Great Elvis Sing-Along, David and I arranged to meet my parents at a local restaurant for dinner on the spur of the moment since we were “out driving around to look at all the beautiful snow” which we got about a foot of the day after Christmas and lingered around for several days. He and I were to entertain Mom and Dad until Trish and my other sister Sherri could arrive at the restaurant.

Just as we see Trish’s van pull up in the parking lot and the two of them get out, Dad suddenly stands up and turns around. Worried that the whole thing is about to be botched, suddenly a car alarm goes off adding to the melee. Dad fumbled in his pocket, turned off his car alarm which had gone off as he stood up, and then reached for the ketchup on the adjacent table. Meanwhile Trish and Sherri are already in the restaurant trying not to laugh as they waited for him to turn around. Trish walked up to him and the shock was all over his face. It was one of those priceless moments as the shock turned to joy and I think he might’ve even got a little teary-eyed.

Trish, being from Florida and never seeing something so ridiculous, was excited about going to the Mount Olive Pickle Drop for New Year’s Eve so the whole family went out and enjoyed free pickles, cocoa, and music by Samantha Casey and the Bluegrass Jam. At the dropping of the pickle at 7pm (Midnight, Greenwich Mean Time), a bagpiper piped Auld Lang Syne. After sharing dinner together, we parted ways as Trish had to “return to Florida” early the next morning.



Or so Dad thought. In reality, she was heading to the VFW hall in Mount Olive to get ready for Dad’s 75th Birthday Surprise Party. It was the plan all along, and even amid several near-misses, somehow the secret managed to stay secret and Dad didn’t have a clue about the party. In fact, that became quite obvious as all the guests were gathered for the party and the guest of honor didn’t arrive on time. Finally I called Mom after they were several minutes late and here is how the conversation went:

Ring, Ring, Ring.
Mom: A scratchy voice whispers “Hello?”
Jenny: “Mom, what’s wrong with your voice? Are you sick?”
Mom: “No, it does that of a morning.”
Jenny: “Huh? Are you still in bed? You need to get out here, everybody’s waiting. You were supposed to get Dad here at 12:30!”
Mom: “Oh God I set the alarm and it didn’t go off! Barney, get up and get dressed, we’ve got to go to that luncheon!”
Click.

See, Dad was under the impression he was going to a free New Year’s Day luncheon for veterans at the VFW and had to provide proof of his veteran status. Mom had to figure a way to get him inside first- he’s such a gentleman that he always opens the door for her. She said, “You go first, I might not know any of those people.” It ended up being quite a joke later on since every one there was a dear friend. And when he finally arrived, wearing his VFW cap, boy was he surprised when everyone there started singing, “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow!” as he walked in the door.


He was in such a state of shock that he went around shaking hands with all the guests, including Trish who he shook hands with and didn’t even recognize. It wasn’t until he met up with his cousin and sister that he finally realized the party must actually be for him. After he had greeted everyone, I walked up to him to give him a hug and ask if he was surprised. He said, “Yeah. Boy it’s too bad Trish had to leave this morning, it would have been nice if she could have stayed.” I was so startled that he had missed her and I exclaimed, “Dad, she’s right over there! This is the whole reason she came up here at all!” Once it dawned on him and he saw her across the room he went right over for a hug.

After that, we had a delicious traditional New Year’s Day meal of ham, collards, and black eyed peas (made by my fantastic mother in law who can cook anything well even if she’s never done it before) and after lunch, all the friends gathered in a circle to play bluegrass and gospel tunes.

Above: The Infamous Davids

Above: The Lovely Mandolin Section: Wanda Tatum and Deborah Owen



Above: Millard Owen- Bass Player, Singer, and Comic Relief :)