The Pepper Song

Here's a song that was inspired by one of those spontaneous statements from a child at one of the Early Childhood centers where I get to share folk music.

"I don't like Peppers!" was the exclamation, which sure sounded like the start of a new song...which is exactly what we proceeded to create.

And, true to form, the kids had lots of creative ideas, which of course lead to creative participation in both the song creation and performance.

Other children at other centers have embraced it as one of their favorites!

Here is the latest mix to come from my recording process as I work on a recording of music for the kids that I love to share music with.

The Pepper Song

As we started tracking, it started to head in a western, mariachi-style direction and Russ (KIVA RECORDS) coaxed me into bringing my trumpet in.  

In the Studio

Old Black Cat & Kitty Puss on Galax Style
Dulcimer built by Ben Seymour

It has been a while!   2007 was the last time that I was in the studio working on a new recording project of my own, not being a session musician for someone else's project.

Being reunited with Russ Hopkins at KIVA Records has got the creative juices flowing!

In co-production with Russ I've been recording and polished tracks since December and we're having a great time honoring Old-Time songs and the people from whom I learned them, as well as new and old songs for kids.

The process is evolving into at least (2) recordings:  Porch Pickin' Old Time and a Kids Recording.

Here is a demo sample of the Old Time:  Kitty Puss (that I learned from my friend Don Pedi in North Carolina.

And here is another demo sample of a one of the Kids' Project tunes.
Old Black Cat Couldn't Catch A Rat is another traditional tune I learned from Don Pedi.

However, when I play this with kids in my Early Childhood Classes, they can't figure out why the cat couldn't catch the rat.

So we started to make up verses and came up with a pretty good tale of explanation!  (The Folk Process at work!)

The recording, listening, adding, subtracting and editing are a part of the creative process that I so fully enjoy, it is hard to find words to describe it!

So, let's play!            (photos by Russ Hopkins)

Long-Distance School Songwriting "Residency"

What a great time this morning!

Student's Song Ideas from November 2010 Workshop
at Montrose Elementary School, Bexley, Ohio

I woke up early to get connected with a school that I'm working with in the Eastern Time Zone so we could have Skype Lessons with the music classes at Montrose Elementary in Bexley, Ohio.

Bill Manchester and Nonon Matthews are the teachers for these lucky students!  They are creative, inspired and inspiring teachers who are helping their students explore their creativity and equip them with skills to engage and interact with their world and their imaginations!

Thanks to funding support from grants within the Bexley City School system, I've been contracted to conduct a year-long, long-distance "residency" with these students, to help them with songwriting.

The overall theme for the school year is "What's Your Story?" and creating songs as a vehicle for telling those stories is a perfect fit.

We began with me being present with them for (2) days of workshops in November, to get acquainted and begin talking about songs, and trying out our ideas.

Chicken on a Fence Post

We have continued to correspond via a special googlesites page I set up (Mr. Steve's Songwriting Workshop) on which I post lessons, examples and resources, and they share their song ideas, beginnings, fragments and recordings of their demos!

In today's Skype lessons, I was able to meet with two classes (and the strings class came in to accompany the group singing "Old Joe Clark") to sing and play with them, and brainstorm and work on the song ideas further.



Bailey's 2nd Grade Class is working on a song about going to Market for food, but finding the food (a chicken) entertaining them!

Here is a screen shot of our Skype Lesson
(I'm in the lower Left Hand Corner but they are watching me on the screen in their classroom)

They are singing "Chicken on a Fence Post" as the verse and "Old Joe Clark" as the chorus.

The Birthday Song

Miller's 2nd Grade Class's song is about the excitement that comes with a birthday party.

Normally, a school residency takes place within a shorter amount of time (like a week or a few days).  By conducting this residency over the year, we aim to have a lasting effect that a "one-shot" concert or workshop cannot accomplish.

We will continue to meet long-distance and share our ideas, hone these and other songs, and then I will travel to Ohio in early May for (2) more days of workshops and the schools big Arts Festival.

Thanks to the vision of these teachers and the school staff, and some effective use of technology we are helping to awaken and equip these young people to have creative skills to apply in all parts of their lives!

I love my job!

Nothing Like tunes on a sunset sail off of Key West!

Here's the recipe:

Fly to Fort Lauderdale,
Drive until there is no more "where" to go,
Have a dulcimer festival
Finish it off with a sunset cruise with nothing between the land and the sun but Gulf of Mexico
Find a friend and play some music.

Here's Butch Ross on hand (and leg!) percussion, me playing "Da New Rigged Ship" on mountain dulcimer and the wind adding its voice to the mix.



Thanks, Bing, Jae & Sheri for a great January weekend!

Reunion for Random Acts!

Willafjord and Spootiskerry

Back in 1999 I produced the debut recording for teenaged fiddling sisters, Carole & Teresa Lundgren, entitled Random Acts of Fiddling.

Crawdad Song

We had a good time producing a good recording and then played several gigs to support it around northern Colorado and Wyoming.

The girls have grown up, Carole has moved to Seattle and Teresa is now teaching art to middle schoolers.

Maquiladora

To help support the Winter Farmer's Market in Opera Galleria, we helped open the season on
October 30, 2010.

This fun gig led to Teresa agreeing to play in my 30 Dulcimer-Filled Years Concert at the Rialto in Loveland in early January 2011.

We dusted off several of the old tunes we used to play, unearthed and gave voice to some others, sometimes with new instrumentation.

Soldier's Joy & Barlow Knife

Si Bheag/Si Mohr & Irish Washerwoman

A set of jigs

One slightly embarassing experience was that my spouse, Connie (who took these pictures), had to ask me to close my mouth when I played the hammered dulcimer so she could get a photo without it hanging open!  (Such was my concentration, I guess.)

Teresa has since joined me in KIVA studio, with Russ Hopkins, where I've begun working on some new recording projects!

Travel Plans Interrupted...by Destiny

So here's the story:  

Last Thursday, after highway traffic delays, I arrived at the Denver airport last week and check in to learn that my plane was delayed by 20 minutes.  

Plenty of time!  

I saunter over to gate A39 and take a seat to catch up on some work.  

"Steve?!" 


I hear my name called by an old friend who sits down to catch up.  He celebrates serendipity and says that he's been meaning to call and schedule a music lesson for over a month.  He ends up booking a music lesson for the following week.  


We finish our conversation and I realize that his plane (from THIS gate) is going to a different California city than I am, so I go check the schedule board. 


Standing there, I realize that I am not only at the *wrong gate*, I'm in the *wrong terminal*!!  
I should be at C39.  I laugh at myself and haul my butt and my gear to the correct gate, in the correct terminal, in plenty of time for the flight.

When he arrives for the lesson tonight, I tell him the story and he laughs:  


"I'm sorry my destiny interrupted your travel plans!"

Kitty Puss

A few years ago I learned the tune Kitty Puss from my friend, Don Pedi and I love to play it on my Clemmer Dulcimer.

Mike builds his instruments with 5 strings, and I've adapted the tuning so the lowest bass string is an octave lower D.  The tuning (from bass to melody string) is D D' A d d.

This video is from Brian Bianchi, a fellow I met at the Ozark Folk Center in MountainView, Arkansas  when I taught there for mountain dulcimer week in August of 2009.  We met up again at a Celtic session in downtown Memphis this past summer and had a grand time swapping tunes.

(Brian also sent me the video of "Tie Me Kangaroo, Down, Sport" in which I play didjeridoo which is included in another post in this blog).