Follow me to F-M International Folk Dancers home page and schedule of classes, dances and events!
The past spring, I got a number of correspondences about this website. Odd, because I thought the site had disappeared about a month after we left Fargo-Moorhead, which I thought was Tripod policy. As many of you know, Doug and I left the Valley in July 2001 when Doug got a position at St. Joe's U. in Philly. As long as this site is up, please consider it "archival." It appears that the schedule of regional folk music events has been taken up by fmbluegrass.tripod.com. Hooray and thank you!!! As for the radio show part... I'd suggest getting directly in touch with North Dakota Public Radio, and be sure you know what you're getting into ;-). We miss you all and will keep in touch!
Follow me to F-M International Folk Dancers home page and schedule of classes, dances and events!
Follow me to a calendar of folk dance and music events in the Red River Valley and beyond!
Follow me to Water From Another Time, a program of folk and world music, Sundays at 9 pm CT on North Dakota Public Radio!
This is big! Even bigger than Dean Kamen's diary! An outfit in Britain has figured out how to send musical instruments over the Internet!... well, alright, it's actually a template for making a Cardboard Ocarina. I have actually tried this myself, wouldn't post it if I hadn't, and it does indeed work! With a few caveats.
The instructions recommend all sorts of glues and tools, but I only used a good, sharp mat knife and white school glue, protecting my work surface with an old Christmas catalog, to test the integrity of the design (also because I am impatient). The resulting instrument has a range of about an octave, with the upper range very breathy and th topmost note requiring a bit of imagination on the part of the listener. It's also in the key of F#, which is hard if you are playing with a musician of modest talents (i.e. me). Perhaps a bit more care would yield a better result.
But having said that, I do think this is exceedingly cool! You need to print it on cardstock, and then an hour or two of work and you have something that plays tunes! It's very low budget, and you get the satisfaction of playing something you've made... just the sort of things to look for in a real folk instrument!
Nick Hawes, on the slow jam (a session where tunes are played at half speed so they can be more easily learned):
"If you think that it's boring to play slow, you can be just as boring playing fast and you'll take up less of our time."
Earl Gaddis, on the strathspey:
"I can't believe the strathspey wasn't invented until the seventeenth century. It's like a culture waiting to invent eating!"
Scott Higgs, on English country dancing:
"Dancing is not about waiting for something to happen."
Bill Holm, on aging:
"Cultivate your eccentricities. They are what make life interesting in your old age."