Northeast Concertina Workshop

Northeast Concertina Workshop

April 14th, 2012 in Greenfield Massachusetts USA

The Staff


Jan Elliott	Jan Elliott, of Woods Hole, MA, grew up playing early music on the recorder. She first became smitten with the English concertina as a teenager, when she tried a friend's Lachenal and discovered that tunes simply "fell out of it." Having been involved in traditional dance since childhood, she quickly applied concertina techniques to various kinds of dance music and found it a most satisfying and versatile instrument. Her two Wheatstone Aeola trebles have been her trusty companions for over 3 decades. Today she dances and plays regularly for Morris, sword and English country, with occasional forays further afield; her early music group Passacaglia is now branching into Middle Eastern and Latin-inspired music. An independent music teacher on several instruments, Jan especially enjoys that "eureka" moment when a student finally understands or masters something new, and hopes this workshop provides many such moments for all its participants.

Claire Keville	Claire Keville, musician, music teacher, and broadcaster, is originally from Claran in Co. Galway. She won the Oireachtas as a teenager and later studied music at University College Cork, where she obtained a distinction in performance, playing both classical and traditional music. Since 1999, she has presented a weekly programme on Clare fm called Music in the Glen. The programme is very traditional in focus, with a strong adherence to the rich musical heritage of Co. Clare/Galway. She has performed on TV many times, most notably in Dec 2007, when she presented and played concertina on Geantraí, and she has appeared as a guest on Sé mo Laoch and The Miltown Sessions. She teaches each year at the Willie Clancy Summer School and frequently gives workshops at home and abroad. In 2009, she released a solo recording entitled The Daisy Field, playing both concertina and harpsichord. She currently resides in Galway.

Jody Kruskal	Jody Kruskal from Brooklyn, New York is known for his distinctly American style of harmonic and rhythmic Anglo concertina playing. He has been energizing US dancers for years with the contra dance bands Grand Picnic, Squeezology and Hog Wild. For the past few years Jody has been a solo performer and workshop leader at a number of English festivals at Sidmouth, Warwick, Ulverston, Bradfield, Broadstairs, Towersey and Whitby as well as the US Palestine Old Time Music and Dulcimer Festival, The Incredible Concertina concert series in NYC and the Northeast Concertina Workshop in 2005. A collection of Jody's original tunes was published in the Concertina World supplement by the ICA in 2008. Back at home, Jody is a freelance educator who teaches traditional music and dance in local elementary schools, implements the education programs of organizations like Carnegie Hall and the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra, composes tunes for traditional dance, gamelan orchestra, original scores for Shakespeare plays, puppet shows and modern dance performances. Find out more about Jody and his music at: www.jodykruskal.com.

Mary MacNamara	The emotional depth of Mary Mac Namara’s concertina music, free of artifice or histrionics, was nurtured within her musical family in East Clare, an area renowned for it’s haunting, ‘lonesome’ music. In the farmhouse kitchens of musicians like Martin Rochford, Joe Bane and Mikey Donoghue, she learned their distinctive repertoire and relaxed, uncluttered style. Mary’s music has the same swing and lift with which the local Tulla Ceili Band brings dancers to their feet.

Aaron Marcus	From Montpelier, Vermont, Aaron Marcus can be found throughout the east playing Hayden duet concertina for contra and English dances with the bands Giant Robot Dance, Gift of the Marcii, Frost and Fire and The Turning Stile. Aaron's experience with both traditional dance and classical music began at age 5; as a classically trained pianist, he enjoys sharing the theory behind traditional music. Aaron plays and writes within and beyond the dance traditions of England, Scotland, Appalachia, Ireland and Quebec, and was recently a guest on Vermont Public Radio's Interlude program with Joanne Garton.

Chris Stevens	Maine native Chris "Junior" Stevens has been playing traditional Irish music on the button accordion and anglo concertina since the mid '90s. Christian studied music at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, and is a regular at sessions and dances throughout New England. He has performed at various prominent festivals throughout the country and competed at the 2000 Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann.

Jeff Warner	Jeff Warner is among the nation's foremost performer/interpreters of traditional music. He grew up listening to the songs and stories of his father Frank Warner and the traditional singers his parents met during their folksong-collecting trips through rural America. He is the editor of his mother's book, Traditional American Folk Songs: From the Anne and Frank Warner Collection, and the producer of Her Bright Smile Haunts Me Still, the Warners' recordings of rural singers, many of them born in Victorian times. Jeff has performed widely, from large festivals in the UK to clubs, festivals and schools across America. He has toured for the Smithsonian Institution, taught at Pinewoods, Ashokan and Swannanoa, and recorded for the Flying Fish/Rounder, National Geographic, and Wild Goose labels, among others. Jeff is a founding officer of the Folk Alliance and a producer of the Portsmouth Maritime Folk Festival. Inspired by the singing and playing of Louis Killen, he has been playing English concertina since he got his first Lachenal in the '70s. His most recent recording, a 2011 release on Wild Goose, is Long Time Travelling--with plenty of 'tina playing on it.