More on the Arts Festival

This was my "instrument petting zoo" tent at the arts fair, before anyone arrived. In the distance on the right is one of the arts/crafts tents, and off to the left, you can see Main Street. We were right across the street from Liam's, an Irish restaurant/pub, featuring an enticing, if not Irish, "Lobster Rolls!" sign in the window.

Johnson String is within walking distance, so I carried the 6 or 7 violins and violas in a "beach cart," shown in the far left of this photo, and close up, in the next, taken in the shop, surrounded by acoustic and electric cellos and violins. Always a great environment! I carried the two cellos on my back (in soft cases) and wore my hat (the one I share with my cello case). It was a fine day for a walk, even attired thusly.


The next instrument petting zoo I am involved with is at Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival (Ancramdale, NY), for the Bluegrass Academy for Kids. My daughter and I will be camping there for four days in July and enjoying all the bluegrass music one could possibly want. Lots of wonderful bluegrass performers are scheduled, including two groups with cellos: Crooked Still and the Sparrow Quartet. More on this later.

Just for the record, the tunes the fiddlers played at our performance on Saturday were:

Old Joe Clark
Over the Waterfall
Going to the Fair
Long Black Veil
Whiskey Before Breakfast
Arkansas Traveler
Liberty
Jessica's Waltz
Golden Slippers
Fish Song
Capt. Bing*
Rabbit in the Log*
Redwing
Midnight on the Water
Alligator Song*

I was not familiar with the starred ones, but it is easy enough to play some sort of backup.

Tunes are often not planned in advance for these events, so you can't really practice for a concert, except that you practice all the tunes as often as you can, in the various sessions. As someone else said, you are under no obligation to play a tune the same way twice.

For my "break" on Old Joe Clark, I experimented with different rhythms, articulations, and ornaments, but in the end, I played it straight. Due to scheduling problems, I never did rehearse the break with the fiddlers before the concert, so didn't want to take any chances. It worked out well, so I will work on the "improvisational" stuff for the future.