Songs Released in the Listening Room!

Posted by Jenny
In honor of the 25^th 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.

45th Annual Spring Suzuki Festival Concert

Posted by Jenny

On Saturday, April 30th, the Greenville Suzuki Association held its 45^th 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!

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 63^rd Annual Merritt Reunion at Trinity United Methodist Church on Sunday, April 17^th. 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.

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!

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!

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 15^th. 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!

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 75^th 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 :)

The Great Elvis Sing Along

Posted by Jenny

It all began as a simple joke gift to David’s father, Charlie. We couldn’t resist the humor in giving the long-time Elvis fan a plug-and-play Karaoke set complete with a sing-along DVD of Elvis’ Christmas hits. It became an even bigger hit with our nieces after Christmas as they sang their little hearts out to Blue Christmas.

Cinnamon Apple Sauce Christmas Ornaments

Posted by Jenny

Remember I told you about making ornaments from cinnamon and apple sauce? Well, I spent Christmas Eve day relaxing by making a few of my own!

The Barnes Bluegrass Christmas Party: Bizzarro Edition

Posted by Jenny

It’s an annual tradition dating back to the time I was in middle school and, though the crowd of musicians has changed over time, it has always been the highlight of my holiday season, filled with fond memories: The Barnes Bluegrass Christmas Party.

This year included the attack of the Bizzarro Glasses courtesy of Archie McPhee. They were a joke gift to our family members last Christmas and my mom has used them all year to play jokes on all of her doctors, physical therapists, favorite waitresses and cashiers. Now was the time to trick all of her friends!

As each couple arrived for the party, she greeted them at the door wearing her beautiful optical wear. Results ranged from blushes of embarrassment to shouts of “Oh, my goodness!” Needless to say, she got the reaction she hoped for. The goal from that point on was to convince as many friends as possible to wear the hideous things. It was a happy evening!

The Malpass Brothers live at R.A. Fountain

Posted by Jenny
We had the delight of experiencing the Malpass Brothers live at R. A. Fountain. Things almost got out of hand when the brothers sang “If you’ve got the money, honey, I’ve got the time.” An older woman from the audience ran up to them waving dollar bills and stuffing them into their beautifully embroidered western shirts. Needless to say, it was a fun and eventful evening!

While we were at R.A. Fountain, a book caught our friend Libby’s attention and I got a chuckle out of watching Libby reading a book written about someone named Zibby. I couldn’t resist, so here’s a photo.

On a side note, he probably won’t remember, but Chris Malpass and I were in the same banjo class at our local community college when I was 14 or so and he was 11 or so. On the first day of class I got in trouble; someone from admissions came to class to ask me to leave because I was too young to be enrolled. My mom, feisty as she is, put up a fight; “I paid the money, she isn’t disrupting anything, and there’s a boy over there younger than my daughter.” Apparently the Malpass family had the foresight to register Chris under his father’s name because their situation was more easily overlooked. Exasperated, the woman looked at me and asked how old I was. I don’t like to lie and am sometimes naïve, so I said, “I’m 14.” “No, honey, how old are you? I finally caught her drift and shifted my feet nervously. Sighing, she scribbled something on my admissions form and said as she turned to walk out the door, “If anyone asks, you were born in 1978.”

Moonlighting… or more aptly, Noonlighting

Posted by Jenny

Just as I’ve begun to feel that I’ve stretched myself much too thin, a busy fall semester has come to a close just in time for a much-needed and quite longed-for Christmas vacation. What’s been keeping me so busy this fall? I am happily enrolled in the Suzuki Pedagogy Graduate Certificate program in the School of Music, which trains violinists to be violin teachers in the Suzuki Method.

This style of teaching focuses on starting young (as early as age 3), learning by ear before learning to read music (using our innate learning skills known as the “mother tongue” method), and creating a positive environment in which the parent, student, and teacher are all equally important in order for the young musician to blossom. It’s also the method by which I began studying violin with Joanne Melvin when I was 8 years old.

It’s been a great semester; I’ve met wonderfully kind and wonderfully talented new people, I’ve had the delight of learning from Joanne Bath, who is one of the first few teachers using the Suzuki Method in the United States, and it’s given me a welcome respite from the worries of the current economic climate. Classes are held twice a week so I’ve been going during my lunch break, hence the “noonlighting”. I am also now a member of the Suzuki Association of the Americas- complete with membership card!

I soon learned of an opportunity to teach violin on a volunteer basis barely a hop and a skip away from my office. A program for pre-kindergarten children at a nearby elementary school allows ECU students the opportunity to practice their teaching skills while providing free violin lessons to 3 and 4 year olds three days a week. So there went the lunch breaks for my other 3 days. But it has been worth it. I’ve learned what it’s like to work with 3 and 4 year olds, and they’ve learned a lot about violin and showed tremendous progress since they began.

Working with other ECU students, we split the class into three smaller groups so there were fewer children per teacher. I have been working with four delightful little girls. At first, I had a bit of trouble with one little girl. Often I would try to show her how to do something and she would jerk away and say, “Let me do it.” After much thought, I realized that she’s just a very independent girl and wants to do things on her own. Realizing this, I changed things up and said, “let me help you one time, and then you can do it by yourself,” or in activities where we would clap hands, and I would want to help her clap by clapping her hands, I would let her clap my hands (as long as she was doing it correctly) so she felt that she had a little more control. That minor adjustment has made a world of difference and we now work much better together; at times she will even say, “You can help me.”

We Suzuki student teachers got quite a treat one day. During the time normally scheduled for violin lessons, the children performed a nursery rhyme play for their family, schoolmates, and other teachers. It was fun watching the children dress up and act out the various nursery rhymes which they had rehearsed so thoroughly, such as Little Miss Muffett, This Little Piggy, and Hey Diddle, Diddle. Since it was an open event and people were taking photos, I took a few myself. You can see a snapshot of them performing the Itsy Bitsy Spider below. They did a great job and I was quite proud of them.

As if all of this wasn’t enough to keep me busy this semester, I decided to play with the choir at St. Mary’s for the Christmas Eve mass. The pieces we will play are all quite beautiful and it has been a wonderful exercise for getting back into the practice of reading music, given as I have played primarily by ear for the last several years.

As a side note, I learned from the Pre-K teachers that you can make aromatic Christmas ornaments from dough composed of equal parts of cinnamon and apple sauce. Simply mix it, roll it flat, and cut into shapes with cookie cutters. Be sure to cut a little hole for a string or ribbon and let the shapes dry out. They’ll stay hard for years and smell of cinnamon. I bought the materials last night and plan to try that project sometime during my break.

My vacation officially starts now, and I plan to keep busy with relaxing, visiting with family and friends, and trying out new projects like those cinnamon-apple sauce ornaments.

We wish you the Merriest of Christmases and the Happiest of New Years!

God bless us, every one!

III Century Singers Christmas Concert

Posted by Jenny

We had the good fortune of attending the III Century Singers concert again this year, this time at the First Baptist Church in Mt. Olive. The pieces were beautiful and for the first half of the performance, the group was accompanied by a string quartet. The harmonious voices of the singers combined with the acoustics of the church sanctuary created a phenomenal sound. It was such a full and round sound, that when I tried to put into words what I was hearing, all I could come up with was the mental image of a giant golden sphere hovering in the air above me, shining brightly. You could say what I envisioned was much like Harry Potter’s golden snitch, without the wings and not remotely so frantic.

Dancing by Starlight

Posted by Jenny

He was dressed in a sophisticated black suit and a blue shirt, wearing the tie she gave him for Christmas last year. She was wearing a beautiful new blue dress and the lovely sapphire jewelry he gave her a few Christmases ago. The handsome young gentleman escorted his loving wife to the dance floor, and together they swayed with the music.

Then he twirled her under his arm. Her golden hair caught on the buttons of his jacket sleeve. She followed through, hoping to come disentangled, but it was not to be. Wondering why she was not standing upright, the dashing young man felt a tug at his sleeve and, seeing his young wife bent over connected at his arm, he untangled her hair from his buttons quickly as possible, which naturally must have felt like an eternity to the young couple in the midst of a dance floor beneath the sparkling glitter ball.

They regained their composure and finished the rest of the song, but as it ended and they retreated red-faced to their seats to sit out the next song, an elderly gentleman pointed to them and said, “That’s what happens when you try to get fancy!”

Other than that little episode, we had a wonderful time at the Starlight Christmas Dance. We especially appreciated the local businesses who donated decorations, food and beverages for the evening. Thanks to: Excel Linde, Uncle Yammy’s Rib Shack, Pepsi Co., Wilbur’s Barbecue, and all the other sponsors for making the evening delightful- and delicious!

Downtown Lights Up and the NC Symphony Holiday Pops

Posted by Jenny

After watching as Goldsboro Mayor Al King flipped the switch to turn on the Christmas lights, and making our special requests to old St. Nick at Downtown Lights Up, we had the wonderful experience of enjoying the North Carolina Symphony’s Holiday Pops concert at Paramount Theatre with our parents.

It was a wonderful concert, complete with sing-along. We even spied a certain someone singing along whom I shall not embarrass by writing about here, but suffice it to say he is usually not ever caught singing. He must have been caught up in the Christmas spirit! Dad left his baton at home, but did a fair amount of light conducting to several of the pieces. Some folks tap their feet, my dad gently conducts the music.

For an encore, they played the rousing rendition of Sleigh Ride which I adore. Mom wanted to know what was making the whip sound and I pointed to the percussionist in the back corner holding an instrument which looked like two boards connected by a hinge. Mom laughed and said, “Hey, I think I found an instrument I could play!”

Essay: Our Summer Vacation

Posted by Jenny

Hey Friends!
Autumn doesn’t begin until September 23rd but when Independence Day passes and August comes on, we can’t get help but get that “back-to-school” feeling; especially since we both work in higher education! But of course when we were kids and school still started in September, back-to-school did mean fall was here; or fast approaching anyway. So even though autumn is still more than a month off, and school still doesn’t start for a couple weeks, we hope you are enjoying the last of the lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer before the night chill sets in and thoughts turn to spiced cider, candy corn, and Christmas lists.

That being said, we haven’t written to you nearly as much as we would have liked to this summer. But that doesn’t mean we haven’t been busy! Like you, we’ve been enjoying our fun in the sun and we even squeezed in a family vacation to the mountains.

We kicked off our vacation with the annual fireworks display at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base. This year’s entertainment featured Gator Allmond and the Spice of Life. I really enjoyed their performance. They had a tight and polished sound and I love any music with funk done right. I couldn’t find a website for Gator and his crew, but here’s an article where you can learn more about them.

Above: Gator Allmond and the Spice of Life.

The next morning we set out for beautiful, quaint Maggie Valley, North Carolina. My parents used to take my siblings and I there almost every summer and with my sister Trish and nephew Sean visiting, we all made the trek together. It sure was refreshing to breathe cool mountain air in early July!

Above: Sean, Trish, Jenny, Trudy, Barney, and Sherri wait for their train.

One of the highlights of the trip was our family excursion on the Great Smoky Mountain Railroad. The trip from Bryson City to Nantahala Outdoor Center offered beautiful views of the mountains and Fontana Lake. At the depot, before the train departed, a bluegrass band from Bryson City who call themselves the Barn Cats performed high-powered train tunes and lively old-time songs for the waiting passengers. They were good. If only I had my fiddle with me!

After the train returned to Bryson City we visited the Smoky Mountain Trains toy train museum which, next to wading in the Oconoluftee River in Cherokee, was probably the highlight of my trip. Trains of every scale filled the museum, and a huge model train layout with dozens of trains and tracks filled an entire room. And no toy train museum would be complete without a hobo encampment. When I look at this scene, I can almost hear the hobo with the guitar in the boxcar singing “Hard Time Killing Floor Blues” by Chris Thomas King off of the Oh Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack.
When vacation ended, that by no means put an end to our musical meanderings. Pickin’ in the Park was soon to follow. If you recall from last year, I was almost disappointed not to have the 9 o’clock train roll through as is customary. Well, it more than made up for it this time. The engine came through early as we were just getting started about 6:30. Apparently it was on its way to hitch up the cars because around 8:30 it rolled by again… and kept rolling… and rolling… I’m not sure how many cars were on that train. (Enough, I reckon, to take two hours to hitch up). But after a little break, we were right back to the banjo breakdowns.

Above: "Look a yonder comin', comin' down that railroad track. It's the Orange Blossom Special bringin' my baby back."

Last weekend, Mom’s cousins were visiting from Tennessee and we wanted to give them a grand night out. It just so happened that they timed their trip perfectly- they were here for the last Saturday of the month. And you know what that means. Yup, I got to go jam at Clear Run. For those who don’t recall, Clear Run is an old grocery on the Black River in Sampson County and is my favorite bluegrass jam. I don’t go as often as I like because it’s about an hour and a half drive from home. It was a great night, too. David brought his guitar and we had a great time jamming with friends both old and new. And of course we had to play Rocky Top for our Tennessee crew.

Above: The Little Wharvey Gals. Just kidding! Cousins Linda, Trudy, and Novella.

Orange Blossom Special: Round 2 (Amos missed it the first time!)

Well, time marches on and I must be off. Happy trails to you, until we meet again!