by Christine | Jan 14, 2014 | Welcome Column
Look at this post as pure speculation based on what I think I see as possible trends. These predictions are NOT necessarily what I wish to see, and should be treated as possibilities in the near or not-so-near future. It might be interesting to look back on this post...
by Christine | Aug 4, 2010 | Welcome Column
I remember a seminar I attended on doing presentations for groups of people. They said your presentation should consist of three parts: Tell them what you’re going to tell them, then tell them, then tell them what you told them. They said a strong finish and ending...
by Christine | Jan 29, 2013 | Welcome Column
There’s nothing quite as much fun as playing to a roomful of people who don’t know bluegrass from a hole in the ground. I like picking for a picking audience too, don’t get me wrong. The punishment, I mean feedback, is invaluable and I always come away a better player...
by Christine | Aug 21, 2017 | Welcome Column
“A mule can’t kick when it is plowing and it can’t plow when it is kicking.” (Anon)LESSONSHow we learn is not left up to us – A knock on the nog from dear old daddoes not allow his scattered thoughts into the nooks and crannies in your head.It’s accidental,...
by Christine | Dec 7, 2016 | Welcome Column
Musicians of all stripes are gearheads at heart. The search for the perfect instrument never ends – an instrument with the right feel, the right tone, the best playability and the best story. It’s always out there somewhere. We fill up our spare rooms with...
by Christine | Jan 22, 2010 | Welcome Column
My first paying gig was at the opening of a new McDonald’s restaurant in Virginia Beach, Virginia in 1972. With hardly any professional performing experience outside of singing solos in high school and church choirs and having never attended a bluegrass festival at...
by Christine | Mar 18, 2011 | Welcome Column
Howdy, What the heck is a dulcimer? I get that question all the time. A dulcimer is an easy instrument to play. It’s a four string American Appalachian instrument tuned an octave and a fifth or in unison and sits on your lap and you strum it. It often has an hour...
by Christine | Feb 7, 2019 | Welcome Column
The three most common words spoken at jams or at least the semi-amateur and other jams I’m in are: what’s the key? I started thinking about this about a month ago and as you will probably surmise, that can be potentially dangerous. Now you are warned. Keep your...
by Christine | Oct 5, 2011 | Welcome Column
I have never understood the notion of giving inanimate objects a “name”. Animals, sure, even plants, but what about things that really are just things? Your pets seem to understand the names you give them, at least the mammalian ones. I’ve never seen a snake raise its...
by Christine | Aug 18, 2019 | Welcome Column
Well, another festival in the bag; well not quite. Actually our Father’s Day Festival is a never ending, ongoing project that the Board and Festival Directors work on 24/7, 365/12. We actually started working on the 2020 FDF at the 2019 FDF but probably the real work...
