Washington, D.C. – Dudley Laufman, a musician and barn dance caller from Canterbury, N.H., has been awarded the nation’s highest honor in the folk and traditional arts, the National Heritage Fellowship. The National Endowment for the Arts, which bestows the fellowships, announced this year’s 11 winners today.

Laufman is the third New Hampshire resident to receive the award. Contra dance musician and composer Bob McQuillen of Peterborough earned a National Heritage Fellowship in 2002, and Littleton basketmaker Newt Washburn was selected in 1987.

“I really didn’t believe it at first,” Laufman says of the honor, which comes with a $25,000 honorarium and will be celebrated with ceremonies and performances in Washington, D.C., September 21-24, with the public performance on Thursday, September 24. Read the rest of this entry »

Jack in the Green at Neffa

The question arises: why do people Morris Dance? The reasons for the tradition are well documented – welcome in the spring and facilitate fertility of the earth and the creatures living here. The history of Morris dancing becomes somewhat obscure prior to the time of Shakespeare, though there are certainly indications of much earlier activity. In more agrarian times, fertility rites might have had greater urgency and relevance to survival, but one can speculate that Morris dancers of old were also inspired by those things which move the modern Morris men and women to engage in activity that seems at once ridiculous and exhausting.

I ask several Morris dancers this question – why do they Morris dance – what’s in it for them? Curiously, the word “tradition” didn’t even factor into an answer until my sixth or seventh victim (though I happen to know that all Morris dancers are knowledgeable and respectful of the tradition).  Camaraderie was a frequent word – describing not only the relationships of the team, but of fellow Morris dancers around the country, and indeed around the world. “I love to dance” was a common answer, and appreciation of the music ranked high as well.  Several  referenced the importance of the figures – the patterns and repetition . And of course, it’s just plain fun to dress up and be silly, then go to pubs for a few rounds of brew and song.

I’m not sure if anyone has ever measured the caloric expenditure of Morris Dancers, but I doubt there’s any machine at a fitness center that is more effective. Then there is the precision of the figures – the sound from those sticks hitting each other tells you that they are not kidding around. You need to have a lot of confidence not only in your own movement, but that of your teammates as well. This is a lot of work, and of course it takes a lot of practice, which in turn represents considerable dedication.

The Harrisville Morris Women

I believe that’s where the magic comes in. Hard work, focus, and perseverance – the good earth can appreciate that – add a shot of pure joy (music) and you indeed have the ingredients for fertile ground.

Locally, our Morris folk (some of whom have been dancing for 30 years) have dared to deviate somewhat from the exact traditional practices that were handed down to them as being correct, and I found no dancer who was particularly doctrinaire in their thinking about it. This is a good thing.  There is a delicate balance between preserving the technical details of a tradition and preserving the spirit.  Of course, a little spirited debate on this subject is welcome, and you can make your comments here!
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The Town of Nelson has a strong connection with Cape Breton music, largely due to the influence of Nelson fiddler Harvey
Tolman. On Monday nights at the contra dance Harvey’s repertoire is rich with Cape Breton tunes rendered in the traditional style. Roger Treat, another Monday night regular, also focuses on Cape Breton music; both fiddlers have spent quite a bit of time in Cape Breton, drinking straight from the well.  Over the years the legendary fiddler Jerry Holland has become a good friend of Nelson audiences, and it might be safe to say that Nelson enjoys something of a reputation among Cape Breton players, who recognize and appreciate an educated audience.

We are very excited to be presenting Kimberley Fraser,  one of the foremost of the new generation of Cape Breton fiddlers. Like the Morris Dancers, Kimberley is solid in her traditional roots, but she is not afraid to take it to new places.  News Flash: Kimberly will be joined by the fabulous Mark Simos! You can hear some of Kimberley’s playing from her website, and you can order tickets to her May 16th concert in the Nelson Town Hall right here.

See the Morris Dancers

May 1st:      5:30AM - Pack Monadnock
May 2nd:   Keene, NH - Local Tour
10:00AM - Agway
11:15AM - Colony Mill
1:00PM - Railroad Square
2:15PM - Langdon Place
May 3rd:   10:45AM - Nelson, NH May Pole
May 9th:      4:00PM - Tracie’s Farm - Fitzwilliam, NH
May 10th:  10:00AM - Lilac Sunday - Boston, MA
May 16th:  Dublin & Peterborough, NH - Local Tour
9:30AM - Dublin General Store
1:00PM - Children Of The Arts Festival
2:15PM - NH Nursing Home
3:30PM - Summerhill Assisted Living

More Details and Extend Schedule: Jack in the Green

Last weekend I had the pleasure of playing the piano for a Square Dance in Arlington, MA. The caller was Woody Lane, from the Portland, OR area. It’s always great to meet folks from far away, and to see what is unique about their styles.  Woody presents a cheerful and casual demeanor which allows him to teach incredibly complicated figures with an air of simplicity. I thought of a master post and beam builder, who painstakingly creates well-thought-out joinery behind the scenes for a house or barn which is then flawlessly raised.

I don’t believe that complexity is Woody’s goal for most of his dances, but he was working with some interesting material on this evening: not only were most of the attendees experienced dancers , but there was also definitely a high geek factor (engineering and computer types). Having sat at the contra piano bench for over 30 years now, I can’t help but have noticed that certain dancers relate to contra choreography as an engineering problem, and they get a sort of gleam in their eye as they work their way through the solution. The proximity to MIT and other bastions of intellect must have something to do with this. There is something amusing about seeing a flirtation executed with algorithmic glee.

Up here in Nelson the dancing tends to be more primitive, more down to earth (or this time of year, mud). Sure there are some dancers who  think a bit too much about what they are doing, but the primary MO still seems to be about fun. The satisfied smiles of completing a challenging figure are replaced by broad grins and laughter. The figures are executed with varying degrees of finesse, but ultimately the dance seems more about the social value. Read the rest of this entry »

The attic of Horatio Colony House Museum is a classic ‘grandmother’s attic’,  full of items that were no longer useful but too good to throw away.  However, amongst the old suitcases, unwanted furniture and unfinished knitting projects, we found a treasure  . . .  a graphophone and three boxes of wax cylinder recordings.

The graphophone was an improved version of Thomas Edison’s phonograph invention.  The improvement was in the technology of recording sound onto the wax cylinders which resulted in clearer sound.
The trade name ‘graphophone’, a reversal of Edison’s term ‘phonograph’, was coined by Columbia Records for their version of the machine. And this is what was discovered in the attic.
The Colony family’s machine dates to 1897.  The cylinder recordings date to the late 1800’s as well.  The collection includes parlor songs, various instrumental recordings, along with concert band and symphony orchestra selections, just to name a few.

The museum has been working with the music department at Keene State College to catalogue the cylinder collection.  This summer the department will make professional recordings of the cylinders as a permanent record of the collection. Read the rest of this entry »

My maternal grandparents lived their entire lives within a mile of where they both were born,  in West Wareham, Massachusetts, just before you get to Cape Cod. My grandfather was a cranberry farmer, so he had a professional as well as general interest in the weather. From early childhood visits, to my teenage years when I lived with them during the summer, I remember every morning the presence of Don Kent, WBZ’s weatherman, penetrating the living room. Don was the first radio and television meteorologist in Boston, with a career that began in the mid nineteen thirties, until his official retirement in the mid eighties.  Concepts like warm front, cold front, and even the jet stream had not been discovered when he started out. His own skills were based less on education and more on intuition and powers of observation. While serving in the Coast Guard in WWII, he had a lucky break when he foresaw the possibility of freezing rain occurring when practice flights were being made in preparation for the invasion of Normandy. He wasn’t influential enough to persuade the Navy to cancel their flight plans, but his own Coast Guard folks trusted his judgment and kept their planes on the ground. As it turned out, several of the Navy planes iced up and went into the ocean off of Cape Cod. His forecast, and the credibility he had earned, saved several lives that day. The war facilitated a significant advancement in the science of weather, and it’s been growing in leaps and bounds ever since.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Monadnock area is well-known as being the home to many celebrated professional musicians in the New England Fiddle and dance music genre.  But what really makes our region rich are the numbers of folk who play, largely for their own pleasure, out of sheer love for the tunes.  In any given week there are numerous gatherings, often in private homes, with fiddles, guitars, mandolins, flutes, banjos, and - well just about anything goes. Many of these gatherings are semi private - that is to say, if you know someone who goes regularly, you might get invited, but the event is not highly publicized, largely because of space considerations.

Among the more public sessions: on Monday night there is the “Baby Band”, where a dozen or so musicians of varying skill gather for an hour before the contra dance in the Nelson Town Hall. The repertoire is based on an ever-expanding photo-copied hand out, the Portland Collection, The New England Fiddler’s Repertoire, and the Waltz books. It’s a round robin affair, with each player requesting a specific tune (and sometimes introducing “new” ones). Hilliare Wilder is fixed at the piano (to provide consistent accompaniment). Lisa Sieverts “moderates” the session, making sure newcomers feel welcome, and generally keeping things on track. Read the rest of this entry »

It‘s unusual to have an opportunity to use the words “young” and “veteran” to describe the same people, but in this case it fits.  Lynn Mahoney of Marlboro , Vermont, and Will Thomas of Rindge are twenty-something scions of families deeply involved in the music and dance communities of their respective states, and veteran performers of vocal music: both having begun touring with the acclaimed Village Harmony chorus as young teens.

Unlike many “graduates” of youth musical companies who turn to other pursuits as they enter their college years, Mahoney and Thomas delved more deeply into traditional song. Both studied music at Marlboro College—Mahoney as a performer, Thomas as a composer, and continue to tour, both as singers and collectors. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: sacred harp, Windborne

Perley Swett, known as “the Hermit of Taylor Pond,” was born in 1888, in an old farmhouse located in Stoddard, near both the Sullivan and Munsonville town lines. He spent his childhood learning to work hard, with little time for frivolity. When he came of age, he bought his own place a couple of miles away in Sullivan. He soon married and had several children, and achieved what might be considered rural prosperity (lots of land, and an adequate cash flow) before events unfolded that resulted in three years of imprisonment at the County Farm in Westmoreland. After his release he eventually returned to the original homestead. Alienated from family and friends, he began a more reclusive existence, taking comfort in his herd of goats (which numbered over 100 at one point). Eventually he became a local, and then a national legend – his “simple” life style (most of us can at least now imagine living without electricity) and his astute and candid observations about life conveying wisdom which, unknown to many, had come at a very high cost. Except for one day trip to Boston, he never left the Monadnock region, and seldom left his little tri-town corner. When he died in 1973, his life had intersected and influenced a remarkable number of people in ways that could never have been imagined. Read the rest of this entry »