BROOKTONDALE NY - Long Time Courting - Workshop for musicians (instrumental and vocals) Sunday July 29th 2012 2:00-4:30 pm $20- at The Canaan Institute. RSVP to Mike to reserve a seat and for detailed directions mike@cinst.org
Long Time Courting will be performing for WVBR’s Bound for Glory radio show later that same evening.
Facebook event https://www.facebook.com/events/402306366486460/
Band website http://www.longtimecourting.com/home.html
Workshop details:
In this workshop, Long Time Courting will work with instrumentalists and vocalists to explore ensemble playing and arrangement of traditional music. Long Time Courting will teach a song/tune and use that piece as a springboard for creative exploration, diving into the different aspects of arrangement that can craft a song or tune set into a unique musical experience for the players and their audience.
We will explore groove and harmonic options that can add that extra bit of excitement to a tune set. In order to bring out the narrative structure of a song, we’ll demonstrate and experiment with the usage of harmony vocals and instrumental breaks. By looking at aspects of arrangement such as orchestration, form and harmony/melody, we’ll show participants ways in which they can shape their traditional repertoire into a unique sound that is both personal and well grounded in the tradition that they are drawing from.
This is a hands-on workshop, so participants should bring their instruments. While Long Time Courting specializes in voice, guitar, fiddle, whistle, accordion and cello, all instruments are welcome. Like instruments will be grouped together for some small “sectional” work and larger full ensemble playing will be done as well.
Long Time Courting: Bio (scroll down)
PHOTO from L to R: Valerie, Sarah, Liz, Shannon.
Take four individually accomplished traditional musicians and singers with fresh attitudes. Combine them, and you have the rich, soaring four-part vocal arrangements and high energy dance tunes that are Long Time Courting. Bringing together the talents of Sarah Blair on fiddle/vocals, Liz Simmons on guitar/vocals, Shannon Heaton on flute/vocals, and Valerie Thompson on cello/vocals, this Boston-based band shares a love of traditional Irish, Scottish and American folk music as well as contemporary material. They bring elements of these various genres to their repertoire in a way that is seamlessly innovative, inventively arranged, and skillfully rendered.
Meet Long Time Courting:
Sarah Blair “Sarah Blair is simply a great fiddler. Her combination of grit and control makes for music with drive, lift, and a compelling earthiness.” -Fiddler Magazine.
Sarah began playing Irish fiddle in Providence, Rhode Island’s thriving traditional Irish music scene. She honed her playing as a sought-after session leader in Boston and in the world of American contra dancing. With her band The Sevens and with other ensembles, Sarah has played at festivals, concerts, and dance weeks from Alaska to Quebec to Florida. Her most unusual gig was filling in for fiddler Liz Carroll for a portion of The Eagles’ singer Don Henley’s 2000 tour. In 2001, the Sevens were featured on NPR in an interview with Noah Adams. She is included in “Handy with the Stick: Fiddler Magazine’s Best of Irish fiddling,” a forthcoming book profiling top Irish fiddlers by Brendan Taaffe.
Liz Simmons “A honey-voiced singer. . .Simmons sings with winsome ease and genuine feeling.” -Dirty Linen Magazine
Liz grew up listening to her mother sing traditional songs from Ireland, Scotland, England and Appalachia, as well as the New Orleans brass music her father plays. Since then, she has developed a unique vocal and guitar style that incorporates the sounds of traditional and contemporary music. She is the lead singer of Annalivia, a string-band that fuses Celtic and Americana musical styles. Among her other performing credits are North Cregg, The Sevens, and The John Whelan Band. Her singing will be featured in the soon-to-be-released film “Time and Charges”, written and directed by Grammy and Emmy award winner Ernest Thompson.
Shannon Heaton “Shannon’s voice is the sun: remarkably light yet powerful, reminiscent of the 10,000 Maniacs’ Mary Ramsey…
Shannon’s flawless flute playing adds another layer of lightness…” -Molly Snyder, OnMilwaukee.com??Shannon is a veteran performer, having toured nationally with her husband, guitarist Matt Heaton, for over ten years. She developed her love of folk and traditional music early on, having lived in music-rich Nigeria and Thailand. It was in Chicago, IL that she discovered the local Irish music community and began learning tunes at Comhaltas and pub sessions. Since then, her keen melodic and arranging sensibilities, discerning ear, and exquisite Irish flute style has been featured with numerous Boston area ensembles.
Valerie Thompson “One of the most interesting female low end musicians isn’t technically a bass player. She is electric and acoustic cello player, Valerie Thompson.”-Bill Copeland - CTRL ALT Music
Kansas City native, Valerie grew up a classical cellist in a household filled with the music of Bach, The Beatles, The Chieftains and the blues. Entranced by dance music in her teens, she supplemented her formal studies by participating in summer folk festivals. She graduated with honors from the Berklee College of Music and is currently pursuing a masters in music in Contemporary Improvisation at New England Conservatory. She has toured nationally and internationally with musical projects as diverse as Fluttr Effect (world infused progressive rock band,) Laura Cortese’s Acoustic Project (acoustic folk pop,) and Goli (songdriven chamber duo.) Not just an engaged performer, Valerie is an active teacher and recording session musician in the Boston area and her original music has scored independent films and plays.
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