Concert announcement

[Jim Dalton]

Hi All,

Here is info on a concert I will be performing in with my wife and partner, Maggi.

In addition to banjo, I'll be playing guitar, mandolin and piano. Maggi is a soprano and a guitarist.

If you happen to be in the Salem MA area this Sunday:

"Cold is the Nightwind: A Victorian Christmas Program" : The Inaugural American History and Music Festival Event

Members of the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) New England States Touring program, Jim and Maggi Dalton have toured nationwide for over two decades. Jim Dalton is on the full-time faculty of The Boston Conservatory and an award-winning composer. Maggi is founding president of the Salem History Society, an award-winning author, and a frequent guest lecturer at The Boston Conservatory.

"Cold is the Nightwind" A Victorian Christmas Concert is a program which was first performed at the Harriet Beecher Stowe Memorial in Hartford, Ct. It features an historical journey across the United States, looking at the ways in which Victorian America celebrated the holiday season in song and first-person accounts -- much of which is drawn from primary sources.

Produced by the nonprofit Institute for Music, History, and Cultural Traditions, in cooperation with Salem Main Streets -- "Holiday Happenings"

When:
Dec. 21, 2008, 2 p.m.

Where:
St Peter's Episcopal Church
www.stpeterssalem.org
24 Saint Peter St
Salem, MA 01970
[phone]

For more info:
http://americanhistoryandmusicfestival.org

[John Masciale]

I wish we lived in the area. It sounds like a great concert

[Carl Anderton]

Jim,

You might share with us some of the songs on your program. Finding new (old) forgotten Christmas tunes is always a treat.

I do a "Cowboy Christmas" program with some of my old Bluegrass buddies each year. In recent years it's gotten to be more "Nineteenth Century" than Cowboy from my influence.

I've found most of the tunes in the LOC American Memory. The ones we do include:

Buckley's Sleighing Song.
Welcome Christmas.
Christmas Comes But Once a Year.
Heaven's Golden Doors.
While Shepards Watched Their Fields.

[Elaine Masciale]

This sounds so lovely! Wish I could be there! I'll be humming along here :)

[Greg Adams]

Wish I could hear you two. It sounds like a wonderful program. Let us know how it goes.

[Greg Adams]

Do you do "One Horse Open Sleigh"?
http://levysheetmusic.mse.jhu.edu/levy-cgi/display.cgi?id=062.044.0...

Levy Call Number: Box 062, Item 044
Title: The One Horse Open Sleigh. Song and Chorus.
Composer, Lyricist, Arranger: Written and Composed by J. Peirpont.
Publication: Boston : Oliver Ditson & Co., 277 Washington St.
Date: 1857
Form of Composition: strophic with chorus
Instrumentation: piano and voice
First Line: Dashing thro' the snow in a one horse open sleigh
First Line of Chorus: Jingle bells, Jingles bells, jingle all the way; Oh! what joy it is to ride
Dedicatee: To John P. Ordway, Esq.
Plate number: 18200
Subjects: Sleds & sleighs; Transportation; Courtship & love; Accidents


Carl Anderton said:

Jim,

You might share with us some of the songs on your program. Finding new (old) forgotten Christmas tunes is always a treat.

I do a "Cowboy Christmas" program with some of my old Bluegrass buddies each year. In recent years it's gotten to be more "Nineteenth Century" than Cowboy from my influence.

I've found most of the tunes in the LOC American Memory. The ones we do include:

Buckley's Sleighing Song.
Welcome Christmas.
Christmas Comes But Once a Year.
Heaven's Golden Doors.
While Shepards Watched Their Fields.

[razyn]

I'm still trying to get the hang of this Ning system, seems to revert all the replies to the first message on the thread, but I guess sequentially it will be at the bottom of the list where it belongs...

Carl Anderton said:
Jim,

You might share with us some of the songs on your program. Finding new (old) forgotten Christmas tunes is always a treat.
__________

For any but the most hardcore folks who must find it in a pre-1865 banjo tutor or not play it, a good source for earlyish tunes for this annual gig is Karen Willard's "American Christmas Harp." It's been out of print for a while, but there are rumors of a new 2008 edition. I'll paste in a link to a sort of review, by one of the producers of "Awake, my soul," a current documentary on the Sacred Harp tradition. (Mostly traditional, mostly American folk hymnody, set in four-shape notation -- but round-note people can read it, too. I don't know if tab people can. It's intended as choral music.)

http://amazingforums.com/forum3/AWAKESOUL/54.html

That link will open a different forum, but only to the discussion of the American Christmas Harp. You might put it on your to-do list, get one when it's available, and learn some unusual stuff for next year.

Dick

[Jim Dalton]

Well, I've been scarce here while preparing for this concert.

and now it is postponed until 12/28 (same time and place etc.) due to the inclement weather--Nearly a foot of "inclement weather" and expecting more.

I'll respond soon to the questions about repertoire. I'm not ignoring you -- just overextended...

[Jim Dalton]

UPDATE: CONCERT RESCHEDULED FOR THIS SUNDAY, DECEMBER 28.

Because of last week's winter storm, this concert has been rescheduled. Please come, if you are in the area.