Live Xmas Music Will Launch Your Spirit
For a Lively Twist, Get Your Xmas Music
from The O'Connor Family Band
Xmas music, gifts for music lovers, violin gifts
When I sat down at the concert last night, I wasn't sure if I was ready for Xmas music. But this is no ordinary Xmas music - with jazzy arrangements Mark O'Connor is connecting the past with the present. He says "Appalachia is the original melting pot of our country featuring more diverse styles of American music than just about anywhere." Appalachia is where many musical styles started, and they started with fiddlers. Both fiddles and songs were passed on for generations, but this heritage has largely been forgotten.
Mark is bringing it back to our culture with his new Method Books. "The “New American School of String Playing”, of which the O’Connor Method is a part, promotes a future in which young musicians around the world socialize in more creative, self-guided, and impromptu ways: jamming, listening together, forming bands, sharing ideas, improvising, composing, playing multiple instruments, and so forth." He has been traveling around the world giving workshops to young students. His summer camps sound like a fun way to learn and connect. That said, if you live in Nashville, (Marion) Illinois, (Lexington) Kentucky, (Pasadena, Costa Mesa, or San Francisco) California, (Seattle) Washington or (Portland) Oregon, you can see the group live on their Mark O'Connor's "An Appalachian Christmas" tour. Or buy albums on-line as stocking stuffers. (One would fit nicely in the back pocket of our Violettes Violin Purse.)
In addition to the famous Mark O'Connor, the traveling band includes highly accomplished musicians, Fiddler Maggie O'Connor, Fiddler/Singer Kate Lee, Banjo Player/Singer Cia Cherryholmes, Guitar Player Joe Smart, winner of 2005 National Flatpick Guitar Championship and his son Forrest O'Connor on mandolin and winner of 2014 Tennessee State Mandolin Championship in Clarksville, TN. Fiddler Maggie O'Connor, Mark's wife, sells sweet necklaces she makes with tuning pegs and recycled beads for funds to go towards Mark O'Connor Camp Scholarships. They can be purchased at concerts and on-line on her web site.
Xmas music, gifts for music lovers, violin gifts
Violin Gifts, Gifts for Musicians, Xams music
Maggie loves and wears her Violettes Handmade Violin Purse to any dressy occasion. Find your own at MusicTeacherGifts.com